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We’ve all watched movies and television shows before, but how do they get made? It starts with an idea and progresses through many stages until you are watching that movie, short film or television show wherever and whenever you watch.  The making of a motion picture is a complex collaboration on multiple levels.  From the spark of an idea through to the release of a film or television show, many different people and organizations come together to find a place of creative cooperation.

Both live action and animated productions follow a very similar phased process of creation, with different timelines.

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A simplified version of the stages of the production process and basic business models (how the money gets made) are detailed below.

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The first phase of the process is called development. This involves the screenwriter and producer. The idea may be adapted from a previous work (a novel, a stage play, a comic book) or based on an original screenplay. In the case of unscripted formats such as documentaries, the idea and those people who appear on camera (experts, subjects) are considered during the development phase. In the development of animated shows, development will involve the early stages of character design (drawings which develop the appearance, poses and gestures of characters) and scriptwriting.

In addition to developing and writing the screen story, the development phase includes raising money to pay for the production stage of the feature or television show, one of the producer’s primary responsibilities. Money can be raised from the marketplace, primarily broadcasters, streaming platforms and film distributors. Money can also be raised through public support in the form of grants and tax credits. The money-raising process can take some time – years even – therefore, most producers work on several projects concurrently in order to ensure a pipeline of film and television projects.

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Once the money has been raised to produce the feature or television show, the team moves into a pre-production (also known as prep) phase which covers casting performers (except where star performers are secured through the development phase).   Depending on the size and complexity of the project, locations and the technical and creative preparation begins. The pre-production period phase can be several weeks or months long.  

For animated shows, pre-production involves design of characters, props and backgrounds and the voice record of the actors performing the voice of the animated characters.  These elements come together to create storyboards and the animatic. 

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Following pre-production, the production period begins. A production period can be a single day of production for a short film, or many months for a high budget drama series. Production is where the teams of skilled workers from craft, technical, logistics and management transform those screenwriters’ words into a fully realized screen story, as acted by performers.

The production phase of the project is when the greatest number of people are working on a project in a highly concentrated time period. The hours are long and the pressure to get each scene filmed makes for some challenging days at work.

For animated shows, production passes through four key phases: layout, paint, posing and animation.  Layout is the process of establishing each scene and assembling the characters, props and settings for each scene.  The paint phase involves filling in all the backgrounds per the design specifications.  Posing is the phase where individual drawings are put together in sequence.  Finally, the animation phase is where all of the drawings are sequenced to create the illusion of movement.

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During live action production, the post production process begins, with the director and editor working to build the story together. Post production also includes the process of layering in music, sound, colour, visual effects and subtitles for watching the show in other languages.

For animated shows, the post production process begins with editing,  followed by compositing, two dimensional effects, colour correction, post sound and final export.

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Once the film or television show completes its post production process, the project is ready for release to audiences through the sales and distribution process. To create interest, sometimes a film will premiere at a film festival to develop excitement for audiences and awareness of the film. Marketing managers may create buzz through publicity tours which create media exposure and cultivate fandom through social media and other platforms where fans hang out.

Most often, those partners who financially supported the project way back in the development phase will have some exclusive rights to show the film or television show during a fixed time period, known as a “first window”. Following that first window, sales and distribution agents will sell the project to TV channels, streaming services and other platforms where film and television projects are watched.

In the case of animated shows, whose production process enables translation into mulitple languages,  many are sold (and even pre-sold) into the global marketplace.

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Live Action Production

Much of the film and television that we watch is made using a technique called live action production, which is the process that involves capturing performers on film.  In live action, performers can work on location (in private, commercial or public spaces) or on sound stages.

• Using locations means filming within an existing space (a neighbourhood, a city park, a mountaintop), which can be “dressed” to change its appearance.
• Using a sound stage means using a special type of structure built to accommodate and support the technical requirements of filmmaking in a controlled environment. Many comedies are filmed on a sound stage in front of a studio audience. Sound stages are also used for feature films when they are creating large “set pieces” – often sequence of big scenes which require lots of planning and logistics.
• Using visual effects means that a live action production employs visual effects as part of their post production process. This can range from simple modifications to removing elements in a scene (such as removing cell phone towers visible in a scene on a period film), adding creatures such as dinosaurs or dragons, to explosions or extending scenes to create the illusion of a real location.

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Large live action productions are comprised of skilled labour, organized by department. Creative Pathways has detailed descriptions of the below-the-line departments and the job roles within them. Sometimes members of those departments will be organized by units to accomplish a set of tasks. These teams of department members are called units.

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The Main unit is directed by the film’s director and involves the film’s main performers.  Dialogue scenes are almost always shot by the main unit.

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The Second unit is a smaller crew tasked with capturing shots and elements which do not feature the main performers.  These could include cutaways, close-ups of hands, establishing shots, etc.  They will be directed by the 2nd Unit Director, although they are ultimately following the guidance of the film’s main director.

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Also known as “practical effects”, special effects unit shoots stunts, action and special effects elements such as wind and rain.

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Aerial unit is charged with shooting from the air, which normally consists of establishing shots and very wide shots of driving sequences.

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Visual effects unit films things they may need during post production, such as plates and elements.

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Other units can be used when dealing with specialist equipment such as underwater filming.

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Animation Production

Animation is most often used to tell stories in these formats: television series, feature films and short films. The studios that make animated content must maximize profit to cover the costs of longer production cycles and labour-intensive processes required to create animated productions. These projects will often be created in one language (for a local market) then adapted and translated for sale to international audiences, whether for children around the world or for adult fans of comedy and anime.

• Children’s programming – particularly animated series and cartoons for children are especially adaptable into many languages for international sales and distribution.
• Three different processes – there are three ways to make animated content: 1) stop motion, 2) two-dimensional/2D, also referred to as traditional hand-drawn, and 3) three-dimensional/3D computer animation. Some animated productions use all three of these processes.
• Single or multiple studios – unlike live action production, in animated productions, the production and post production process are mostly done within one animation studio, although sometimes parts of the animation process can be divided for completion by separate studios.

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Did you know?

• The generic term for the workplace during production is “on set”, regardless of whether this is on a location or on a soundstage.
• Depending on the script and the filmmakers’ vision, a production can range from ultra-low budget to a very large budget. How that film and television production is made and which audience it is intended for will determine how the project is financed, which is a major component of the business side of filmmaking.
• Films are not shot in the order they appear on the screen. The logistics of cast and location availability means that each scene is shot out of sequence and then reassembled in the picture editing process, which is part of the post production phase. This means that many crew members must pay careful attention to a performer’s appearance, props, and costumes so that shots are seamless, despite being filmed days or even weeks apart.

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Next Steps in Careers

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