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64-432: In filmmaking , dailies or rushes are the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture . The term "dailies" comes from when movies were all shot on film because usually at the end of each day, the footage was developed, synced to sound, and printed on film in a batch (and later telecined onto videotape or disk) for viewing the next day by the director, selected actors, and film crew members. After

128-420: A cast and crew of hundreds, while a low-budget, independent film may be made by a "skeleton crew" of eight or nine (or fewer). These are typical crew positions: In production, the film is created and shot. In this phase, it is key to keep planning ahead of the daily shoot. The primary aim is to stick to the budget and schedule, which requires constant vigilance. More crew will be recruited at this stage, such as

192-464: A certain appeal of the film to a possible audience. Not all films make a profit from the theatrical release alone, however, the studio mainly targets the opening weekend and the second weekend to make most domestic profits. Occasionally, a film called a "word of mouth film" does not market strongly but its success spreads by word of mouth. It slowly gains its audience. These are special circumstances and these films may remain in theaters for 5 months while

256-538: A film, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, traditional distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. In the past, most independent filmmakers have relied on film festivals (such as Sundance Film Festival , Venice Film Festival , Cannes Film Festival , and Toronto International Film Festivals ) to get their films noticed and sold for distribution and production. However,

320-441: A freelance job held by recent university graduates, does not feed scripts into the system that are ready for production nor already produced. "Coverage" is a way for young screenwriters to be read and their ideas might make their way up to an executive or famous producer and result in "meet and greets" where relations with up-and-comers can be formed. But it has not historically yielded ideas studios pursue into production. The studio

384-430: A green light may have protracted difficulties in making the transition to pre-production and enter a phase referred to as developmental hell for extended period of time or until developmental turnaround . Analogous to almost any business venture, financing of a film project deals with the study of filmmaking as the management and procurement of investments . It includes the dynamics of assets that are required to fund

448-622: A high-quality viewing will simply use the highest quality viewing device available given the resolution. A high-quality viewing device makes it much easier to check for correct focus and smaller details. In the production of low-budget films with few crew and a short and uninterrupted shooting period, review of the takes may be very quick and a formal, regular group viewing of dailies may be forgone. Many films have one main film unit which does all primary filming and one or more smaller film units shooting additional " pickup " shots, stunts, or shots involving special effects. These shots are included with

512-415: A pairing of producers with writers , where they develop a "take", a basic story idea that utilizes the concept given by studio executives. Often it is a competition with several pairings meeting with studio executives and "pitching" their "take". Very few writing jobs are from original ideas brought to studios by producers or writers. Perhaps one movie a year will be a "spec" script that was purchased. Once

576-527: A second unit while the crew is still on location or producers can get timely updates while travelling. Dailies serve as an indication of how the filming and the actors' performances are progressing. The term was also used to describe film dailies as "the first positive prints made by the laboratory from the negative photographed on the previous day". In some regions such as the UK , India and Canada, dailies are usually referred to as rushes or daily rushes , referring to

640-601: A sequel. They will additionally acquire a completed and independently financed and produced film. Such notable examples are Little Miss Sunshine , The English Patient , and Roma . Studios hold general meetings with producers and screenwriters about original story ideas. "In my decade working as a writer, I knew of only a few that were sold and fewer that made it to the screen," relays writer Wayne Powers. Alan Watt, writer-director and Founder of The LA Writer's Lab confirmed that completed original screenplays, referred to as "specs", make big news when they sell, but these make up

704-414: A small amount of the previous day's footage is viewed. If viewing dailies on video, often all the footage is transferred and the viewer can fast-forward as desired. Dailies on print film are more expensive to produce and cannot be easily fast-forwarded. In this case, during shooting the director will specify which takes they want converted to dailies. When a take is completed, the director yells " Cut " and if

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768-418: A typical film run is closer to 5 weekends. Further earnings result from pay television purchases, foreign market purchases and DVD sales to establish worldwide distribution gross of a film. Once a screenplay is "green-lit", directors and actors are attached and the film proceeds into the pre-production stage, although sometimes development and pre-production stages will overlap. Projects which fail to obtain

832-445: A very small portion of movies that are ultimately given the green light to be produced by the president of a studio. The executives return from the retreat with fairly well-established instructions. They spread these concepts through the industry community, especially to producers they have deals with (traditional studios will have those producers in offices on their lots). Also, agents for screenwriters are made aware. This results in

896-414: A video copy of the dailies. When the film is telecined, keycode numbers are logged which assign a number to each frame of film and are later used to assemble the original film to conform to the edit. When using a video camera or digital motion picture camera , the image and sound are often recorded simultaneously to video tape or hard disk in a format that can be immediately viewed on a monitor, eliminating

960-419: A videotape with film dailies from the 1950s TV show Gunsmoke . These film dailies have been used by many film schools for the last 40 years. Rushes and dailies are also used to create trailers , even if they may contain footage that is not in the final movie, or the trailer editor and the film editor may use different takes of a particular shot. Filmmaking Although filmmaking originally involved

1024-401: A visual effects or animation supervisor. They will contain the previous day's work by animators and effects artists in various states of completion. Once a shot is at the point where additional feedback from the director is needed they will be assembled and screened for the director either as part of the normal dailies screening or as a separate weekly VFX dailies screening. Dailies delivered to

1088-547: Is common for several members of the film crew including the director, cinematographer, editor, and others to view and discuss the dailies as a group, but some productions opt to distribute multiple copies of the dailies for individual viewing. They may be distributed via a network to individuals on set or remotely. Some filmmakers may choose to distribute dailies via a storage medium such as DVDs or USB sticks for security reasons. Individual copies may be uniquely coded or serialized to help discourage and prosecute unauthorized leaks of

1152-479: Is customary for the production office to arrange a wrap party , to thank all the cast and crew for their efforts. For the production phase on live-action films , synchronizing work schedules of key cast and crew members is very important. For many scenes, several cast members and many crew members must be physically present at the same place at the same time (and bankable stars may need to rush from one project to another). Animated films have different workflow at

1216-454: Is drawn up to plan expenditures for the film. For major productions, insurance is procured to protect against accidents. Pre-production also includes working out the shoot location and casting process. The Producer hires a Line Manager or a Production Manager to create the schedule and budget for the film. The nature of the film, and the budget, determine the size and type of crew used during filmmaking. Many Hollywood blockbusters employ

1280-468: Is meeting their respective expectations as investors. Commonly, asynchronous daily sequences are repetitious, often including multiple takes of the same shot. When production was done using film, directors and producers preferred to view dailies on film, rather than on DVD dailies. However, because of the costs involved and depending on the target quality of the film, some productions viewed dailies on DVD. With digital production, directors and others who need

1344-404: Is the film distributor who at an early stage attempts to choose a slate of concepts that are likely to have market appeal and find potential financial success. Hollywood distributors consider factors such as the film genre , the target audience and assumed audience, the historical success of similar films, the actors who might appear in the film, and potential directors. All these factors imply

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1408-460: Is up!" to inform everyone that a take is about to be recorded, and then "quiet, everyone!" Once everyone is ready to shoot, the AD calls "roll sound" (if the take involves sound), and the production sound mixer will start their equipment, record a verbal slate of the take's information, and announce "sound speed", or just "speed", when they are ready. The AD follows with "roll camera", answered by "speed!" by

1472-438: The film editor reviewing the footage with the director and assembling the film out of selected takes. The production sound (dialogue) is also edited; music tracks and songs are composed and recorded if a film is intended to have a score; sound effects are designed and recorded. Any computer-generated visual effects are digitally added by an artist . Finally, all sound elements are mixed down into "stems", which are synchronized to

1536-432: The internet has allowed for the relatively inexpensive distribution of independent films on websites such as YouTube . As a result, several companies have emerged to assist filmmakers in getting independent movies seen and sold via mainstream internet marketplaces, often adjacent to popular Hollywood titles. With internet movie distribution, independent filmmakers who choose to forego a traditional distribution deal now have

1600-481: The property master , script supervisor , assistant directors, stills photographer , picture editor , and sound editors . These are the most common roles in filmmaking; the production office will be free to create any unique blend of roles to suit the various responsibilities needed during the production of a film. Communication is key between the location, set, office, production company, distributors and all other parties involved. A typical day shooting begins with

1664-567: The First Draft. Preliminary discussions are minimal with studio executives but might be quite detailed with the producer. Next, a screenwriter writes a screenplay over a period of several months, or however long it takes. Deadlines are in their contracts but there is no pressure to adhere to them. Again, every writer's process and speed vary. The screenwriter may rewrite the script several times to improve dramatization, clarity, structure, characters, dialogue, and overall style. Script Coverage,

1728-436: The ability to reach global audiences. Cut (transition)#Verbal command In the post-production process of film editing and video editing , a cut is an abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another. It is synonymous with the term edit , though "edit" can imply any number of transitions or effects. The cut, dissolve , and wipe serve as the three primary transitions. The term refers to

1792-617: The actor's performance for anything but the edited movie. In most other English-speaking countries, the actors' unions have similar contracts which limit the distribution of all film dailies. New Zealand does not have this limitation, which is why the dailies from Xena and Hercules are included on the DVDs for these shows. Every year American Cinema Editors holds the ACE Film Editing Contest in which they make dailies available to 50 film students for an editing contest. ACE also sells

1856-411: The advent of digital filmmaking , "dailies" were available instantly after the take and the review process was no longer tied to the overnight processing of film and became more asynchronous. Now some reviewing may be done at the shoot, even on location, and raw footage may be immediately sent electronically to anyone in the world who needs to review the takes. For example, a director can review takes from

1920-548: The advent of home video in the late 1970s, most major films have followed a pattern of having several distinct release windows. A film may first be released to a few select cinemas , or if it tests well enough , may go directly into wide release . Next, it is released, normally at different times several weeks (or months) apart, into different market segments like rental , retail , pay-per-view , in-flight entertainment , cable television , satellite television , or free-to-air broadcast television. The distribution rights for

1984-409: The camera and sound stop recording. The script supervisor will note any continuity issues, and the sound and camera teams log technical notes for the take on their respective report sheets. If the director decides additional takes are required, the whole process repeats. Once satisfied, the crew moves on to the next camera angle or "setup", until the whole scene is "covered." When shooting is finished for

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2048-419: The camera operator once the camera is recording. The clapper loader , who is already in front of the camera with the clapperboard , calls "marker!" and slaps it shut. If the take involves extras or background action, the AD will cue them ("action background!"), and last is the director, telling the actors "action!". The AD may echo "action" louder on large sets. A take is over when the director calls "Cut!" and

2112-404: The camera. The numbers are also read aloud to label the audio recording. Once the camera and sound are rolling, a camera assistant will close the clapper creating a visual and auditory reference point. During the synching process after the film has been developed, the technician will look at the numbers on the slate board and then match the numbers with the verbal slate. Then the technician looks for

2176-424: The crew arriving on the set/location by their call time. Actors usually have their own separate call times. Since set construction, dressing and lighting can take many hours or even days, they are often set up in advance. The grip , electric and production design crews are typically a step ahead of the camera and sound departments: for efficiency's sake, while a scene is being filmed, they are already preparing

2240-466: The cut in this manner conforms to the goals of continuity editing , which deemphasizes the presence of the film crew. Cuts serve as transitions between camera angles, such a wide establishing shot and a medium shot . Footage of a moving character may be captured from multiple angles rather than a tracking shot , either for aesthetic reasons or to lessen the risk of damaging a camera while in motion. Cuts are often used in sections of dialogue so that

2304-615: The development process proceeds from there and how much detail a writer returns to the studio to divulge before beginning writing can vary greatly. Screenwriters are often protected by the union, the Writers Guild of America , or WGA. The WGA allows a screenwriter to contract for One Draft, One Revision, and One Polish. Bob Eisle, Writer and Member of the Guild Board, states, "Additional writing requires an extension of contracts and payment for additional work". They are paid 80% of their fee after

2368-473: The director may employ close-ups without unnecessary (and visually disturbing) movement of the camera. Such cuts usually follow the 180-degree rule , where the camera angles are kept on the same side of an imaginary border drawn between the subjects. On a broadcast television multiple-camera setup , cuts are performed at the vision mixer by the technical director by simply selecting a different source. On single camera or film setups, cuts are performed by

2432-402: The director to order a reshoot if necessary while venues and talent are still available. The ability to implement timely reshoots also helps mitigate continuity issues such as weather changes in exterior shots. Dailies are also often viewed independently of the production crew by producers, and studio executives, not engaged, day-by-day, in production but who must have assurances that the project

2496-503: The director wants the take converted to dailies, the director will also yell "Print". Once the director yells "Cut! Print!", the script supervisor, the camera assistant, and the sound person circle the take number on their log sheets so that only these circle takes will be printed that night by the film laboratory. The end of a daily reel may contain sound that was recorded without simultaneous picture recording called wild sound. Visual effects shots are often assembled daily for viewing by

2560-540: The director's "Action!" command are also recorded. These are edited out to effect a seamless presentation. In practice, the cut does not break the suspension of disbelief necessary to keep an audience engaged to a narrative or program. The cut represents a continuous transition in setting and time —in turn, the dissolve and wipe respectively identify changes in time and setting. In many cases, cuts are also used in place of dissolves or wipes for minor changes, or to edit away insignificant details to maintain pace . Usage of

2624-407: The director, to cast and crew. (It is very unusual for others to yell "cut" without an exceptional reason; mistakes are re-shot during the same take, if possible.) In contrast, a "roll" command signals the beginning of shooting. In between these commands and the actual footage to be captured, various marking elements (the slate ), preparatory actions ( extras , effects, or other costly elements), and

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2688-413: The editing department will usually have timecode and keycode numbers overlaid on the image. These numbers are used to later assemble the original high-quality film and audio to conform to the edit. Depending on how the dailies are produced, these numbers may only be on the editor's copy of the dailies or all copies of the dailies. During the typical filming of a motion picture, a movie camera captures

2752-403: The film are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. The distributor and the production company share profits and manage losses. Filmmaking also takes place outside of the mainstream and is commonly called independent filmmaking . Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized and economically viable. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit

2816-622: The film is advertised and promoted . A B-roll clip may be released to the press based on raw footage shot for a "making of" documentary, which may include making-of clips as well as on-set interviews separate from those of the production company or distributor. For major films, key personnel are often contractually required to participate in promotional tours in which they appear at premieres and festivals and sit for interviews with many TV, print, and online journalists. The largest productions may require more than one promotional tour, in order to rejuvenate audience demand at each release window. Since

2880-455: The film is carefully designed and planned. This is the phase where one would narrow down all the options of the production. It is where all the planning takes place before the camera rolls and sets the overall vision of the project. The production company is created and a production office established. The film is pre-visualized by the director and may be storyboarded with the help of illustrators and concept artists . A production budget

2944-586: The filmmaking and liabilities incurred during the filmmaking over the time period from early development through the management of profits and losses after distribution under conditions of different degrees of uncertainty and risk. The practical aspects of filmmaking finance can also be defined as the science of the money management of all phases involved in filmmaking. Film finance aims to price assets based on their risk level and their expected rate of return based upon anticipated profits and protection against losses. In pre-production, every step of actually creating

3008-429: The filmmaking process. They are also desirable to film students and teachers to illustrate how a film is shot and as a tool to practice editing. For a variety of reasons, major motion picture studios never release their dailies for outside use. One cited problem is that SAG-AFTRA has a clause in its contract to protect its actors' privacy which says that the producers of all union productions must give up their rights to

3072-475: The frame where the clapper first closes and for the beep or clapping sound on the audiotape, adjusting one or the other until they happen simultaneously when played back. This needs to be done for every take. Systems exist which record synchronized timecode onto the film and audiotape at the time of shooting, allowing for automatic alignment of picture and audio. In practice, these systems are rarely used. Before computer-based editing tools became widely available in

3136-427: The image on 35 mm film and a separate audio recorder (such as a Nagra tape recorder or digital hard disk recorder) records the sound on-set. The film negative is developed and printed or telecined so that the images can be viewed on a projector or video monitor . The sound is synced to the film using a clapperboard as a reference. The clapperboard is labeled to identify the scene, shot, and take number for

3200-486: The images on the screen, and the film is fully completed ("locked"). Distribution is the last stage, where the film is released in movie theaters or, occasionally, directly to consumer media ( VHS , VCD , DVD , Blu-ray ) or direct download from a digital media provider. The film is duplicated as required (either onto film or hard disk drives ) and distributed in cinemas for exhibition (screening). Press kits, posters, and other advertising materials are published, and

3264-409: The late 1980s, all feature-film dailies were printed on film. These pieces of film are called the workprint. After viewing, the workprint is used by the film editor to edit the movie using a flatbed editor . Once the workprint is edited and approved, the negative is assembled so it is identical to the edited workprint. Today, most editing is done on computer-based non-linear editing systems which use

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3328-416: The main unit footage on the dailies reels. A typical pickup shot might be a simple shot of the exterior of a building that does not involve any actors and is filmed with a smaller crew to save time and money. If a unit shoots with more than one camera usually all the shots from one "A" camera will be followed by all "B" camera shots because of the way the dailies are processed. To save time, ordinarily, only

3392-400: The material. Viewing dailies allows the film crew to see exactly what images and audio were captured with the takes, to detect technical problems such as a dirty lens, focus issues, exposure, etc. It also presents an opportunity for the director to evaluate the actor's performances and to confirm having captured a scene from an adequate assortment of camera angles. Timely review of takes allows

3456-572: The media and real life, as well as many other sources, to determine their yearly agenda. For example, in a year when action is popular, they may wish to explore that topic in one or more movies. Sometimes, they purchase the rights to articles, bestselling novels, plays , the remaking of older films , stories with some basis in real life through a person or event, a video game , fairy tale , comic book , graphic novel . Likewise, research through surveys may inform their decisions. They may have had blockbusters from their previous year and wish to explore

3520-413: The need to undergo a conversion process to create dailies for viewing. The footage recorded each day will still usually go through a daily process to create a second copy for protection and create multiple copies on DVD or other media for viewing by producers or other people not on set. Outside of their use in producing a motion picture, dailies are desirable by fans as a collector's item and to see more of

3584-441: The next one. While the crew prepares their equipment, the actors do their costumes and attend the hair and make-up departments. The actors rehearse the script and blocking with the director, and the camera and sound crews rehearse with them and make final tweaks. Finally, the action is shot in as many takes as the director wishes. Most American productions follow a specific procedure: The assistant director (AD) calls "picture

3648-416: The next shooting day. Later on, the director, producer, other department heads, and, sometimes, the cast, may gather to watch that day or yesterday's footage, called dailies , and review their work. With workdays often lasting fourteen or eighteen hours in remote locations, film production tends to create a team spirit . When the entire film is "in the can", or in the completion of the production phase, it

3712-409: The other hand, preferred shooting for shorter lengths, editing together shot footage. In either case, film was cut (and subsequently joining the cut segments) to remove excess footage, focusing attention on significant elements. The cut has retained its purpose to this day, with alternative uses arising to achieve special effects. To signal the end of media capture, this command is issued primarily by

3776-418: The physical action of cutting film or videotape, but also refers to a similar edit performed in software; it has also become associated with the resulting visual "break". Due to the short length of early film stock , splicing was necessary to join together segments into long-form. Actuality directors spliced together reels prior to shooting to record for longer periods of time. Narrative directors, on

3840-784: The producer and writer have sold their approach to the desired subject matter, they begin to work. However, many writers and producers usually pass before a particular concept is realized in a way that is awarded a green light to production. Production of Unforgiven , which earned Oscars for its Director/Star Clint Eastwood , as well as its screenwriter, David Webb Peoples, required fifteen years. Powers related that The Italian Job took approximately eight years from concept to screen, which, as Powers added, "is average." And most concepts turned into paid screenplays wind up gathering dust on some executive's shelf, never to see production. Writers have different styles and creative processes; some have stronger track records than others. Because of this, how

3904-461: The production phase, in that voice actors can record their takes in the recording studio at different times and may not see one another until the film's premiere. Animated films also have different crew, since most physical live-action tasks are either unnecessary or are simulated by various types of animators . This stage is usually thought of as starting when principal photography ends, but they may overlap. The bulk of post-production consists of

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3968-439: The scene, the assistant director declares a "wrap" or "moving on", and the crew will "strike", or dismantle, the set for that scene. At the end of the day, the director approves the next day's shooting schedule and a daily progress report is sent to the production office. This includes the report sheets from continuity, sound, and camera teams. Call sheets are distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up

4032-409: The speed at which the film prints were developed. In animation, dailies are also called rushes or sweat box sessions. Film dailies may also refer to the process of viewing dailies in a theater, usually by a group. Dailies may be viewed by members of the film crew on a regular basis either early in the morning before filming starts, during the lunch break, or in the evening after filming ends. It

4096-596: The use of film , most film productions are now digital . Today, filmmaking refers to the process of crafting an audio-visual story commercially for distribution or broadcast. Film production consists of five major stages: The development stage contains both general and specific components. Each film studio has a yearly retreat where their top creative executives meet and interact on a variety of areas and topics they wish to explore through collaborations with producers and screenwriters, and then ultimately, directors , actors, and actresses. They choose trending topics from

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