The Film Production Cycle

The main stages of the film cycle are: Production, Marketing & Exchange, Distribution and Audience Consumption.

PRODUCTION

• Pre-Production: This is when all the research for the film is done. This includes; getting the actors together, planning where you want the location to be, creating a storyboard and sorting out the budget for the film.

• Production: This is where all the filming takes place. All the planning that was made during pre-production comes together. You make sure that the equipment is there, the actors and the setting is ready.

• Post Production: This is when you start editing the film by adding special effects, add titles, graphics, soundtracks, music and the speed and timing of the film, making sure that all the scenes are in the right order and are recorded properly. You also do some advertisements such as on; posters, billboards and trailers to promote the film.

There are some other film crews that are involved in making a film:

• Director
• Assistant Director
• Screenwriter
• Casting Director
• Location Manager
• Art Director
• Props Master
• Costume Designer
• Hair & Make-up Artist
• Film & Sound Editor
• Boom Operator

 MARKETING & EXCHANGE

This is when you the filmmakers start promoting the soundtracks of the film, they advertise
t-shirts, bags, and possibly toys to do with the film. They also show you film trailers so that the audience can get excited about the film and so that the film will be popular once it's officially out.

DISTRIBUTION:

This is when the film is ready to be released to the audience at Cinema's. The filmmakers decide on a date when the film should be released and what Cinema's the film should be screened on. The film gets displayed in some Cinema's for a few weeks as a little tester to see if there's a lot of people that want to watch it. If there's a big audience that want to watch this film, it will be screened longer.

AUDIENCE CONSUMPTION:

This is the most important part of the film cycle. If someone watches at film and they like it, they go and tell others about it and by doing that, more and more people will watch the film and it becomes very popular.
However, if someone watches the film and they didn't think it was good, they go and tell others that they didn't like it and then some people may not bother watching it because of what their friend said about that film.
The audience's reviews on the film could influence the profit for the film because of 'word of mouth'.