Contracts

There are 2 different types of contracts that can be used within the film and TV production industry, the first is the confidentiality contract and the second is the exclusivity contract.
Confidentiality contracts are used for very secretive projects, when the production companies do not want any kind of information or spoilers leaking to the public.  An example of when this type of contract will have been used recently is with the production of the new Star Wars film. During filming no photography of any kind was allowed on set. This was in order to make sure that the public did not receive any information that they were not meant to. Any photographs that were taken and placed onto social media would have been checked by senior members of production to ensure that everything that was include was okay.
Exclusivity is where a production company secures the rights to create a film or a TV show based on a story or already existing concept/idea. This type of contract also means that they are the only people with the rights to do so for as long as the contract states. The most common exclusivity contracts are used production companies whointented to produce a film or TV adaptation from a book. An example of where this was used is with Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones was orignally a very popular book entitled "A song of Ice and Fire" until HBO decided to use its story line to create their hit TV show.

Flowchart/ Job roles and working patterns

As a group we were assigned to making a flow chart organising management jobs within the film and TV industry. However we got a little bit carried away and did a flowchart that included all of the jobs. Through further research however I have realised that the flowchart is not entirely correct and there is in fact some mistakes within the art department of the diagram. Here is the correct list of jobs in the correct order of importance using average salary.
  Art Department:

Production designer

Supervising art director

Senior art director

Art director

Standby art director

Assistant art director

Production buyer 

Senior draughtsperson/set designer

Art department coordinator

Draughtsperson/set designer

Set decorator

Assistant set decorator

Junior draughtsperson/set designer

Art Department assistant/runner

Job roles in the media industry can be split into 6 categories.

• Technical
• Creative
• Editorial
• Managerial
• Sales and Marketing
• Financial

Technical jobs require the use of equipment and technology within the production of the media. The role requires excellent listening and concentration skills to ensure that you complete given tasks correctly and time management skills due to strict deadlines. Some jobs included in the Technical branch are ; Gaffer, Camera operator and Technical producer.
Creative jobs require you to be imaginative and able to expand on the ideas of others or yourself. It also requires a good level of team work for when it is necessary to work in groups. Some jobs included in the Creative branch are; Script writer, Set designer and Cinematographer.
Editorial jobs are mostly based in the print industry. The jobs require you to be able to check through work and ensure that there is not mistakes and also have good communication skills in order to communicate with the rest of your team to ensure you create the best product. Some jobs that are included in the editorial branch are; TV/Film editor and Newspaper editor.
Managerial jobs require you to oversee members of staff and there work. You must also be to take control of situations and communicate with the other people in your team. Some jobs that are included in the Managerial branch are; Director, Production manager and Floor manager.
Sales and Marketing jobs require excellent levels if communication with potential customers or businesses in order to promote the product. You must have people and communication skills as the sales market is highly competitive. Jobs in this category include; Marketing executive, publicist and film promoter.
Financial jobs require you to be able to handle a budget successfully and know how to channel money into new projects. Some jobs included in the Financial branch are; Producer and production accountant.
Contracts in the media industry are very different to the kind of contracts you would find within regular jobs. They are usually much more flexible than traditional jobs.

The most common types of contracts that are found in the media industry are;

• Full-time
• Part-time
• Fixed-term and freelance
• Shift work
• Office hours
• Irregular and anti-social hours pay
• Salaried
• On completion

Full time contracts mean that you work the hours of a regular member of staff, usually 39 hours a week. With a permanent contract you are also entitled to company benefits including pensions, sick pay etc.

Part time contracts mean you work lesson than full time still must work a specific amount of hours a week. This type of contract also entitles you to company benefits but on a smaller scale due to fewer working hours.

Fixed term or Freelance contracts are temporary contracts that only last for a limited period of time. With these contracts you are required to fulfil all criteria stated in your contract. Fixed term contracts can still entitle you to company benefits if specified in the contract but a freelance worker will have to sort out there own benefits such as pension and sick pay.

Shift work contracts mean that you receive certain set hours that you must work. e.g. 8am - 6pm. Shifts can include late hours or night shifts and are most commonly used for companies that must be active 24 hours a day like radio stations or TV stations

Office hour contracts are the most regular kind of contracts. They usually give times of 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday and are common in office based administrative jobs.

Irregular and anti-social hours are a bit like over time. This is for when an employee works for longer that there usual hours and are paid extra for it or for when the hours that are being worked are too early or too late and are deemed unsocial. This is very common in the media industry as not everything goes to plan and can involve working very early mornings and late nights. These extra payments are meant to make people want to work anti-social hours and for longer than their contract requires.

Salaried contracts are set annual wages that is broken down into a monthly wage. A salaried wage will be advertised as the wage per year but then will be paid out in 12 monthly instalments.

On completion contracts mean that you will only receive payment once you have completed the work set out in the contract fully. These are quite common in the media industry.

Film Timeline

Stoboscope

Early to Mid-1830’s Moving images were first made on drums and disks by Simon von Stampfer (Stroboscope) in Austria, Joseph Plateau (Phenakistoscope) in Belgium and William Horner (zoetrope) in Britain.

1839 William H. Fox Talbot made paper sensitive to light by putting it in a solution of salt and silver nitrate.

1867 The first machine that showed animated pictures was a device called the “wheel of life” or “zoopraxiscope” created by William Lincoln from America.

Zoopraxiscope

1878 Eadweard Muybridge takes the first successful photographs of motion, showing how people and animals move.

1885 George Eastman creates film made with paper base instead of glass, rendering glass plates useless.

1889 Thomas Edison and W.K. Dickson develop the Kinetoscope, a device in which film is moved past a light.

1891 The Edison company successfully demonstrated the Kinetoscope, enabling one person at a time to view moving pictures.

Kinetoscope

1894 The first commercial exhibition of film took place on April 14, 1894 at the first Kinetoscope parlor ever built.

1895 Louis and August Lumiere patent a movie camera and projector, able to project an image that can be seen by many people. They presented the first commercial exhibition of motion pictures. The Lumiere brothers were the first to present projected, moving, pictures to a paying audience of more than one person.

Mercury Lamp

1905 Cooper Hewitt’s mercury lamps make it possible to shoot indoors without sunlight.

1906 The first animated cartoon is produced.

1910 actors in films receive screen credit, the creation of film stars begun.

1912 Carl Laemmle forms Universal Pictures, which will become the first major film studio.

1915 The Bell & Howell 2709 movie camera allows directors to make close-ups without physically moving the camera.

1923 Warner Bros. is established.

1925 Western Electric and Warner Bros. agree to develop a system for movies with sound.

1928 Paramount becomes the first studio to announce that it will only produce “talkies”.

1930 The motion picture industries adopts the Production Code, a set of guidelines that describes what is acceptable in movies.

1934 The first drive-in movie theater opens in New Jersey, USA.

1937 Walt Disney’s first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is released.

1940’s Disney create more animated films like Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942) following the success of snow white and the 7 dwarfs.

1960’s The studio system in Hollywood began to be used less and less do to many films  being made on location in other countries, or using studio facilities abroad, such as Pinewood in the UK and Cinecittà in Rome.

VHS Tape

1980’s Viewers began increasingly watching films on VCRs. In the early part of that decade, the film studios tried legal action to get VCRs banned claiming that they were a violation of copyright, which was unsuccessful. Eventually, the sale and rental of films VCR became a huge “second venue” for the exhibition of films, and an additional source of income for the film industries as they decided to create their own VCRs and sell them to the public.

1990’s Independent cinema became a huge success in the United States.  Whilst increasingly being dominated by special-effects films such as Terminator 2 (1991), Jurassic Park (1993) and Titanic (1997), independent films like Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992) had huge success at the cinema and with home sales.

Major American film companies began to create their own independent production companies to produce smaller films. In 1994 Disney purchased Miramax after seeing the success of reservoir dogs. The year after the purchase Pulp fiction was released. The year 1994 was also the beginning of online film and video distribution.

1995 Pixar animations produce the first computer generated animation, Toy Story. Computer animation began to rapidly grow and allowed other companies such as DreamWorks to compete with Disney and produce their own animated films.

Late 1990’s DVD’s become the new standard way to distribute films to consumers for home use. They replace VHS tapes.

2002 Films started to be released for IMAX cinema

2009 The 3D film Avatar became the highest grossing movie of all time.

2010 3D films become more and more popular with the most successful films being released in 3D.