Controls and Constraints

All media productions face a number of controls and constraints that help shape the final product. These can include formal controls (laws and rules), or practices influenced by available technologies, economic/budgetary factors, political pressure or beliefs and values.

“Controls are limitations imposed by authorities and place restrictions on the freedom of media production. Constraints are situational limitations placed on the freedom of media production.”

PETBAT Political Ethical Time Budget Audience Technology

POLITICAL Political controls and constraints involve the laws of the country where the product is made and sold. This includes issues such as censorship, ratings classification, privacy laws, and copyright.

ETHICAL Ethical constraints concern the personal values of the producer. This involves what they include, what narratives, and what they will do in order to create and complete their product.

TIME Most media productions will have a deadline of some form or another. Hollywood movie production shoot: Twelve weeks Soap opera TV show production: One week, five episodes. Video game production: three years Other time constraints: world events, awards or trade shows, release seasons.

BUDGET The amount of money available will determine the scale of the production. It will also determine the calibre of talent involved, and what they will be expected to do.

BUDGET What would you do if you had $50 to spend on a film? What you would do if you had $100 million to spend on a film? Eg Robert Rodriguez

Robert Rodriguez El Mariachi $7000 budget (Approx $500 without film cost) Made over $2000,000

AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS The audience will have expectations from previous experiences, their own values A product that is too distant from mainstream values will struggle to become popular. With the Internet, audiences, especially fans, have become more powerful.

TECHNOLOGY All media products are restricted by what the available technology can achieve. Some established producers may be able to develop their own technology to fulfil their needs (ie George Lucas)

You need to recognise that : Constraints are a normal part of media production, and will impact on the creation of all media works.

Example (Monsters) The gap between low budget and Hollywood is decreasing due to technological advances. stories-video-film-and-audio/monsters/ stories-video-film-and- audio/adobegarethedwards/ stories-video-film-and- audio/adobegarethedwards/