Pre-production planning

Media products are controlled in different ways, and the controls have three separate names. Regulation means setting and enforcing the rules for media content: it decides what may be shown, published or broadcast, and what happens to a company that breaks those rules. Classification means placing content into age categories, such as a film rating, so audiences can see who a product suits. Certification means confirming that a product has been officially rated or approved, such as a game that carries a rating symbol on its box. Classification and certification often go together: a body classifies the content, and the symbol on the product shows it has been certified.

Which body is responsible?

There is no single organisation for all media. The responsible body depends on the type of product being made.

Imagine you plan a cartoon character for a smoothie advert. The advert falls to the ASA. If you then make a short animated film starring the same character, the BBFC classifies it. If you turn it into a phone game, PEGI rates it. One character, three products, three different bodies, so you must check which one applies at the planning stage.

Why these systems exist

• To protect audiences from unsuitable or harmful content, especially children.
• To inform consumer choices, so people can judge whether content is right for them or their family.
• To maintain standards across media products, so companies work to the same rules.

Ratings are not friendly suggestions: they can restrict who can watch, buy or play something, and regulation can require changes to content. That is why a producer needs to know early on which body is responsible for the product being made, and plan the content, audience and packaging around its rules rather than leaving it until release.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regulates the content of adverts in the UK. This covers adverts on television and radio, in newspapers and magazines, and online, including social media.

Self-regulation

The ASA is self-regulatory: the advertising industry writes and follows the rules itself, rather than being controlled directly by the government. The ASA is also funded by the advertising industry, not by government money. This works because advertisers know that if they ignore the rules, their adverts can be stopped.

Stopping adverts that mislead

One of the ASA's main jobs is to make sure adverts do not mislead audiences or exaggerate the quality of products and services. An advert must not make false claims or create a misleading impression about what a product can do or how much it costs. If an advert breaks the rules, the ASA can ban it, so it can no longer be published or broadcast.

The ASA cannot fine advertisers itself, but a ban is still serious. The advert cannot be used, the money spent making it is wasted, and the brand's reputation can be damaged. A banned advert can also attract negative publicity, which may put customers off.

Planning adverts that pass

For media production, this means advertising content has to be planned carefully from the start. Any claim you make must be accurate, you should hold evidence to support it, and the finished advert must follow the advertising rules before it is released. A producer checks every headline, image and voiceover in pre-production, because changing an advert after it has been banned costs far more than getting it right first time.

Ofcom (The Office of Communications) is the UK regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications. It sets and enforces the rules for what television and radio can show or broadcast, and it also covers telecoms services such as phone and broadband.

Protecting audiences

One of Ofcom's main roles is to protect the public from harmful or offensive material. Broadcasters must follow Ofcom's rules about what can be shown or broadcast, including rules that protect audiences from content that is unsuitable for them. For example, Ofcom's rules stop TV programmes that are unsuitable for children being shown before 9pm. Because of this, a producer has to think carefully about who is watching or listening, what time the programme goes out and what the content actually contains.

Licences and complaints

Ofcom oversees broadcasting licences. A broadcaster needs a licence to operate, and Ofcom can set conditions on that licence. If you are a viewer or listener and you think something on TV or radio broke the rules, you can complain to Ofcom. Ofcom then investigates the complaint and can take action if a broadcaster has broken the rules.

Powers and their impact on production

Ofcom's powers include fining organisations and revoking a broadcasting licence. Revoking means taking the licence away, so the broadcaster can no longer broadcast at all. A broadcaster that ignores the rules therefore risks a financial penalty or losing the right to broadcast.

For media production, a television or radio product has to be planned and made to meet these rules from the start, not patched up afterwards. Choosing the audience, the broadcast time and the content carefully keeps a product inside the rules, while ignoring them can mean fines or the loss of the licence.

Ofcom does not regulate the content of adverts; the ASA handles those.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is the organisation that gives films and video products released in the UK an age rating. It judges what is actually in the product and places it in the age band that fits that content. A rating is not a guess about who would enjoy the film: it shows who the content is suitable for.

The content decides the category

It is the content that moves a product up a band, not its style. A cartoon about two friends building a go-kart for a school race, full of slapstick crashes and a dog that keeps stealing the sandwiches, would be a U. Keep the same characters and animation but add a crash where a driver is badly hurt and blood is shown, plus two uses of strong language, and the film would move to at least a 12. Nothing about the drawings changed — only what is shown and heard.

12A and 12 are not the same rating

12A is only used for cinema screenings and lets a child under 12 in as long as an adult goes with them. 12 is used when the film is released to watch at home and is suitable only for people aged 12 and over, so there is no 12A version of a home release. One film can carry 12A at the cinema and 12 when it is sold, because the two ratings work in different places.

A rating on a product lets an audience see straight away who it is suitable for, which helps families and friends choose something that fits.

The BBFC does not simply count swear words or seconds of violence. When it classifies a film or video it weighs up a set of factors: violence and gore, theme, horror, language, sex, drug use and nudity. No single factor decides the rating on its own. What matters is how much of each one there is, how it is presented, and how it fits with the rest of the product.

Guidelines set a limit for every rating

For each rating the BBFC publishes guidelines. They set a limit for every factor: violence, imitable dangerous or anti-social behaviour, glamorised weapons, discriminatory language, drug misuse, bad language, nudity, sexual content and frightening sequences. The limit is different at each rating, so the same issue can be acceptable at one rating and not at another. One scene where a pupil is laughed at in class can sit inside a 12, but a film that piles on scene after scene of bullying will be pushed higher.

Presentation matters as much as amount

Violence is judged on how it is shown, not only how much is shown: a punch in a slapstick comedy is treated differently from the same punch shown close up with blood. Imitable dangerous behaviour and glamorised weapons are taken seriously because younger viewers may copy what they see, so an escape trick with a kitchen knife that a child could try at home can raise a rating even when nobody is hurt. Frightening sequences are judged the same way, because a jump scare an adult shrugs off can genuinely upset an eight-year-old.

Worked example: a producer planning a 12-rated adventure film checks the guidelines during pre-production. A character sliding down a banister and being copied in the playground may stay within 12 if it is clearly shown to be foolish, but a scene showing a character tortured with a power tool would push the film to 15 or 18. Spotting that before filming lets the producer change the scene rather than lose the audience they were aiming at.

PEGI (Pan European Game Information) rates computer and video games across Europe. It is a European system, not a UK-only one, so the same badge appears on game packaging and store pages in many different countries. The rating is based on what is in the game, so it tells buyers and players who a game is suitable for.

The five age ratings

Each rating means "suitable for this age and over". A PEGI 7 game is fine for a 10-year-old, not just for 7-year-olds. A high rating is not a ban: it simply limits the game to older players.

What the rating is based on

PEGI looks at what is actually in the game, including:

• violence – cartoon bumps are treated more gently than realistic injuries
• language – swearing and insults
• fear or horror – scenes and sound designed to unsettle the player
• sex, drugs and discrimination – adult themes and how they are presented
• gambling – content that teaches or encourages the player to gamble
• in-game purchases – spending money inside the game, including on loot boxes

So a game where characters bop each other with cartoon hammers might stay at PEGI 7, while one showing realistic fighting could be pushed several bands higher, because younger players may copy what they see or find it frightening. In-game purchases work differently: they do not change the age band, but the game gets an in-game purchases notice next to the badge, warning buyers that it may cost more than the price on the box.

An age rating is worked out from what is actually in a product, not from who the producer hopes will watch or play it. That links content and rating together: a punch thrown in close-up, a rude joke or a scene that keeps the tension going can push a product into an older category, whatever the original plan was.

Planning around a rating

Producers choose the audience first, and the rating follows. A team making an animated film for family viewing checks the script against the guidance for that category while it is still being written, so anything likely to push it up a band is caught early. A studio building a puzzle game for young children might fill it with friendly robots and cartoon bumps, but must keep the scares gentle and the language mild to stay in the low age band they want.

The rating is decided at the end, but the decisions that cause it are made in pre-production. Changing a script, a storyboard or a level design before anything is filmed or coded costs far less than re-editing a finished product, or discovering too late that the content no longer suits the audience you were aiming at.

Showing the rating

People need to see the rating before they pay, so it appears on packaging and promotional material such as a box, a poster, a trailer or an online store page. Planning documents must make room for it: the layout plan for a magazine advert, for example, needs a space where the symbol will sit.

Why it matters

Ratings restrict access — a cinema can refuse entry to a child, and a shop cannot sell an age-restricted game to someone below its rating — and they help audiences judge whether content is suitable. So compliance shapes the whole project: themes, language, images and marketing all have to fit the category chosen. A producer who ignores this risks a higher rating than planned, a smaller audience, or a product retailers will not stock.

Health and safety in media production means protecting anybody who might be put in danger by the work. This covers the crew, on-screen talent, contributors, clients, visitors and bystanders. A hazard is something that could cause harm; the risk is the chance of that harm happening and how serious it could be. Safety is not something you switch on when filming starts: it must be considered in every phase of a project.

All phases

In pre-production, planning and location checks help you spot hazards before anyone travels or lifts equipment. During production, filming and recording must be organised so that people are not put at risk. In post-production, editing and other computer work bring their own risks, such as eye strain or poor posture from long editing sessions. The producer’s responsibility therefore runs through the whole project, not only while the camera is rolling.

Employer duties

Businesses and employers have a legal duty to look after their workers and anyone else who may be affected by their work, including clients, visitors and members of the public. They must also provide health and safety training for staff in the procedures relevant to their work, so people know what to do rather than guessing. For example, a runner joining a small video company should be shown how to report a hazard and what to do if an area becomes unsafe, not just handed a clipboard.

Reducing risk sensibly

The aim is to reduce risk as far as is reasonably practicable. This means doing what is sensible and proportionate, not trying to remove every possible danger. A control is a precaution that lowers the chance of harm or the seriousness of it. Media producers must identify risks and put controls or precautions in place to reduce or eliminate them. For example, before recording an interview in a community centre, a producer might notice a portable heater placed next to a curtain and move it away from the fabric. The risk is reduced without cancelling the recording.

Media production happens in busy, unfamiliar places where people move fast and work long days. A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm; the risk is the chance that harm actually happens.

Physical hazards

• Working at heights – on ladders or scaffolding, where a fall can break bones.
• Trip hazards from cables and equipment – leads and kit left where people walk.
• Slips, trips and falls – wet floors or uneven ground cause sprains and head injuries.
• Collisions – people, vehicles or moving kit crashing into each other.
• Electric shock or electrocution – damaged leads or water near power.
• Lifting or moving heavy equipment – carrying a rolled backdrop upstairs strains back and shoulder muscles.
• Firearms, stunts, vehicles and crashes, drowning – such as a scene filmed on a river bank.
• Blocked fire exits – boxes piled in front of a door trap people in a fire.
• Very hot or cold locations – heat exhaustion on a sunny parade, or hypothermia on a cold hillside.

Hazards that are not physical

The general public can cause harm too: excited fans may surge forward as a presenter interviews guests at an outdoor screening. Long working hours bring tiredness and exhaustion, and a tired crew member makes more mistakes and is more likely to injure themselves. Stress, anxiety or psychological harm can come from distressing content: an actor asked to perform a violent scene many times may feel real distress, so producers plan rest breaks and limit retakes of upsetting scenes.

People who may be harmed

Producers must think about every group, because a control that protects one person may not protect another: the production team from runners to camera crew, presenters, performers and supporting artists, contributors such as a member of the public being interviewed, audiences watching a studio recording, visitors and members of the public passing the location, children who may not understand warning signs, and people with disabilities who may need a different escape route or extra help.

Once hazards are identified, you put controls (precautions) in place. A good control makes an accident less likely or the harm less serious.

Heights, electricity and heavy kit

Working at heights, such as a camera on a raised platform, is controlled with safety barriers to reduce the chance of a fall, plus personal protective equipment (PPE) such as a hard hat for anyone working underneath.

Electrical risks are controlled by managing cables and choosing the location carefully. Wall sockets are safer than extension leads stretching across open floor, because there is less to trip over and less chance of damage.

For heavy equipment, set weight limits for one person, so heavier items become a two-person lift, and move very heavy kit on wheels or with a hoist rather than carrying it.

Slips, trips and movement

Carry out a location recce and allow time on arrival to walk the site, so loose flooring, low doorways and uneven ground are spotted before people carry kit. Wear suitable footwear: sturdy shoes with a good grip that cover the foot.

Avoid trailing cables; any cable that stays on the floor should be secured or covered so it cannot catch a foot. Film from a static position where possible; if the camera must move, a colleague walks ahead and calls out obstacles so the operator can watch the shot.

Vehicles, stunts and fatigue

Keep the walking route between the vehicle and the set separate from moving vehicles. Pick a firm, level, well-lit way in with clear edges and no steps, so everyone can reach the set safely, including wheelchair users and people with sight impairments. Control or stop public traffic while filming, use trained stunt performers for collisions, and manage fatigue with an agreed schedule that has realistic hours and breaks.

For a two-day garden centre shoot, controls could include barriers around the raised platform, lighting cases unloaded at the door so nothing heavy is carried across the site, a marshal stopping customer cars at the entrance, a level boardwalk over gravel, and a timetable with proper breaks.

Filming after dark brings health and safety problems a daytime shoot does not have. Tiredness, poor visibility, security and the noise you make all need planning before anyone arrives.

Risks that grow after dark

• Fatigue — cast and crew have often already worked a full day, so reactions slow and mistakes creep in.
• Reduced visibility — a torch flattens shadows, making kerbs and steps hard to judge, and someone in dark clothing is almost invisible to a driver. High-visibility vests and head torches help.
• Security — a camera bag or tripod left on a dark street with nobody beside it is easy to pick up and carry off.
• Noise and light — voices, a generator or a lamp shining into a bedroom window upset the people living nearby.

Planning the shift

Work out journey times first. Check the last bus or train, and pay for taxis or overnight accommodation when the trip home is long, so nobody drives back exhausted.

Schedule higher-risk activity early, while everyone is alert. A stunt, or an actor working up a ladder, does not belong in the last hour.

People who work nights regularly can be asked to complete a health assessment questionnaire, so the producer knows about anything that tiredness could make worse.

Site and neighbours

• Keep the filming area clear of equipment and cables, and mark a lit route between the set and the car park.
• Tell the police or the local authority the dates and times you will be on site, take their security advice, and park vehicles in a secure, lit car park.
• Brief the whole cast and crew on the hazards at the start of the night.
• Keep noise to a minimum, and consider how long you record for — a shorter session disturbs residents far less. Agree a finishing time and stick to it.

Post-production work such as editing a school prom video, colour grading or mixing audio can keep you at a computer for hours at a time. Doing that day after day can lead to aching backs and necks, headaches and repetitive strain injury (RSI), where the wrists, hands and shoulders ache from repeating the same small movements like clicking and typing.

What employers must do

An employer must carry out a risk assessment of the workstations their employees use, and act on what it finds. They must also:

• build in frequent screen breaks so nobody stares at a monitor for hours without stopping
• pay for an eye test if an employee requests one
• train staff in how to set up and use their own workstation safely

What the assessment checks

A workstation risk assessment might check that light from windows or ceiling lamps is not bouncing off the monitor as glare or reflections, that the display does not flicker, that the size of the text on screen is comfortable to read, and that monitors are kept clean and free of dust. It should be reviewed whenever someone new joins the team or fresh equipment is brought in, for example when an editor is given a second, larger monitor.

Setting up and working safely

Training covers correct body alignment: sitting with a straight back and keeping your arms horizontal when typing. Safe practice means adjusting your chair height and seating position, setting the screen at a suitable distance, placing the keyboard and mouse comfortably, and raising or lowering your desk or display until the screen is at a comfortable height. Anyone editing sound through headphones or speakers should keep the volume low enough that it cannot damage their hearing.

A hazard is anything that could cause harm, and a risk is the chance of that harm happening and how serious it would be. A risk assessment is the document that records these for a media production. It is not simply a list of dangers: it shows who might be hurt and in what way, how serious the danger is judged to be, and what actions will lower or remove it.

Its purpose is to identify every potential risk before work starts and show how each one will be reduced or eliminated. This helps keep the production safe and shows that the producer has planned health and safety in advance, rather than reacting after something goes wrong. A risk assessment cannot remove every danger, so the aim is to reduce risk as far as is reasonably practicable, and the precautions recorded matter as much as the hazards.

How it is recorded

A risk assessment must be written down. Smaller productions often use a printed template or checklist with clear headings; larger companies may use an online form builder, which makes forms easier to store, share and update. Forms vary, but they normally record the same things: the hazard, who might be harmed and how, the evaluation of the risk, and the precautions that will keep people safe.

The evaluation judges how likely the harm is and how serious it would be, which helps the producer decide how much the precautions need to do.

A location recce is a visit to a place before filming to check and assess it. You go there in person, look around and decide whether it will work. A producer may visit several possible locations.

What a recce is for

The main purpose is to:

• Check access – can the crew, cast and equipment get in?
• See what is there – what the place really looks and sounds like, not how it seemed on paper.
• Identify the best positions – where to put the camera, lights and sound kit, and which angles will work.
• Assess environmental considerations – things around the location that could affect filming.

For example, a college team planning a short drama in an empty shop might recce three units. Two are too dark inside, but one has big windows, a wide back door for camera cases, and a side yard for sound kit away from the street.

Why it saves money

Recces help avoid expensive problems. Filming can cost a lot each day once you pay for crew, performers, travel and equipment, so a wasted shoot day is costly. Finding a problem on a recce costs nothing; finding it after the crew has arrived can mean losing a day.

A recce can also show that a location will not work at the time of filming. Seasonal changes, weather or new obstructions can get in the way. A beach that was empty at a spring recce could be packed with holidaymakers in August, and the nearby car park might be full every Saturday because of a weekly market. Roadworks or a new fence can block a view that was clear a few months earlier.

Small scale or large scale

Recces can be small scale, such as one student checking their garage before filming a bike-repair tutorial, or large scale, such as a team spending a day at a country park, testing the camera in different light and timing the walk from the car park to the lake.

A recce is not the risk assessment itself; it is the visit where the producer gathers information.

A location recce is a visit to a place before filming to check whether it will actually work. You take the script with you and look at the site through the eyes of the camera operator, the sound recordist and the rest of the crew.

Fitting the script and looking after people

A recce checks whether the location suits the script or story. A scene set in a busy café needs a room that can pass as a café, with enough space to stand a camera and a few crew without everyone being squashed together.

You also check access — can the equipment van get close, or is the track too narrow? Is there parking for the crew, and are there toilets on site or nearby for the crew and actors? On a long shoot day these matter, and discovering a problem after everyone has arrived wastes time and money.

Light, sound and awkward objects

Lighting checks include which way the windows face, how the sun crosses the site during the day, where shadows will fall, and how many daylight hours you have. A room with windows along one wall may be bright in the morning but gloomy after lunch, so the recce notes the best hours for filming.

Background noise is checked too: a playground, a skate park or church bells could ruin the sound, so note the times when the noise is minimal and plan to record then.

Look out for anything that would look out of place in the shot — a bright plastic playhouse in the corner of a garden, or a low ceiling that blocks high camera angles. The recce may also note the typical weather for that time of year, so wet weeks can be planned for.

Hazards and power

The recce is when hazards are spotted — a steep step, a pond, loose floorboards — so that controls or precautions can be put in place before anyone arrives. Every hazard found is written into the risk assessment: the recce is the visit, the risk assessment is the document.

Finally, check whether power sources are available. No sockets in a field means hiring a generator.

Intellectual property (IP) covers intangible assets: things that have value but cannot be physically touched. A folder of original drawings on a laptop has no physical form, yet it can be worth money, so the law treats it as property belonging to the person who created it.

IP law protects different kinds of work. Creative works are things like artwork, music, video and writing. Brand assets are the signs that tell customers where a product or service comes from, such as a company name or logo. Inventions are new products or processes that solve a problem in a way nobody has before. Three main types of protection cover them.

The three main types

Why IP legislation exists

IP legislation gives creators control over how their material is used. Without it, anyone could take a photographer's picture or a band's recording and sell it, and the person who did the work would get nothing. The law helps prevent copying without permission, so the creator decides who can use the work and on what terms.

It also lets creators be rewarded for their creative effort. Because the work belongs to them, they can agree a fee or a licence, and that income lets them carry on making new things. Brands gain too: a trademark stops a rival cashing in on a name someone else built up.

What this means for media producers

A media producer must follow current IP law whenever they use someone else's work, including photographs, music, footage, logos and designs in a magazine, game, website or video. Finding out who owns an asset and getting the owner's agreement is part of planning a product, because using protected material without it can lead to legal and financial consequences.

Copyright is the legal right that gives a creator control over how their work is used. It lets them choose who may copy, share or sell their material, and it lets them stop anyone who copies it without permission. Copyright protects original creative works. These can be music, video, graphics, layouts and designs — such as a children's picture book, a recorded podcast episode, a set of icons or the layout of a leaflet page.

Protection happens automatically

A work does not need to be registered to be protected. Copyright applies as soon as the work is produced. Because of this, a creator may need evidence of when the work was first made, such as dated drafts or saved files, so they can show that someone else copied it later.

A copyright notice helps to show who owns a work. It normally shows the © mark, the year the piece was made or released, and the name of the creator or the organisation that owns the rights. It can also make clear that the item is protected, state when protection runs out and give contact details for anyone asking to reuse it. For example, a photographer printing a picture for a local exhibition can put that notice on the back of the mount, making it clear who made the picture and who should be asked before it is copied.

How long copyright lasts

For a film, the period is measured from the death of the last surviving member of that team, because more than one person can own rights in the same film. For a transmission, the period is measured from the first time it was sent out, rather than from a death.

A trademark is a sign that identifies a product or service and shows where it comes from. Copyright does not protect names, titles or slogans because they are too short or too simple to count as creative works, so trademark law may protect them instead.

What trademarks protect

Trademarks protect signs: logos, symbols and slogans. A trademark stops other people and companies using the same sign, or one so similar that customers could be confused about who made a product.

• A logo, such as a swirl of three leaves for a juice brand.
• A title, such as a game called Sky Cabbages.
• A slogan, such as “Brewed Before Breakfast”.
• A character name, such as Captain Bramble.

What can and cannot be trademarked

Most logos are too simple to be copyrighted: a shape, a name and two colours are not artwork. They are normally protected as trademarks instead. A very detailed, complicated logo might also qualify for copyright as a piece of artwork. A film title is normally too brief to be protected by copyright, though trademark protection may still be available. A product name can be a trademark only when it does not simply describe what the product is. “Fizzy Orange Drink” describes what is in the can, so it cannot be trademarked; a made-up name like Zingle can. A colour scheme can be trademarked if it is distinctive, such as a mint-green and cream combination used across a whole range of cereal boxes.

Registering and using trademarks

To get the strongest protection, owners apply to the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) to add their mark to the official register. This entry has to be renewed. If the owner does not renew it, the mark is recorded as dead and protection ends.

You should not use a trademark in a media product without permission from the trademark holder. For example, a magazine advert that includes a soft drink’s logo would need the owner’s agreement first.

Patents protect inventions: new products, machines or processes. A patent gives the inventor the right to stop others making, using or selling the invention without permission, for up to 20 years. In return, the inventor shares how it works, so patents are a trade-off.

What an invention must be

To get a patent, an invention must be:

• New – it must never have been described publicly anywhere in the world, even in a blog post.
• Inventive – it must solve a problem in a clever, non-obvious way; a small tweak, like a 2 mm thicker phone case, is not enough.
• Something made or used – a device, a substance or an industrial process; an idea alone is not an invention.

A bike lock that texts you when its cable is cut could be patented: it is new, inventive and a real product. Just saying "bike locks should send alerts" protects nothing.

What cannot be patented

These cannot be patented:

• Creative works: books, plays, scripts, music and artwork are protected by copyright instead.
• Medical treatments and diagnosis: you cannot patent treating or diagnosing a patient.
• Scientific theories and discoveries: you cannot patent a discovery.
• The presentation of information: a chart or form layout is not patentable.
• Non-technical software: an app that just stores a shopping list is not patentable.

Software with a technical effect may be patentable: a program that compresses video to save storage does something technical.

Ideas and formats

An idea cannot be protected by copyright or by a patent. Copyright protects the finished expression of an idea, such as the actual script or the recorded song, not the concept behind it. Trying to protect an idea or a whole format is a grey area in law: an idea alone cannot be protected, but formats are made of many separate parts that may be protected.

Individual creative parts of a format can be protected by copyright – for example, an original theme tune or a written rulebook. Whether the overall format can be protected is less certain: it may be possible if its distinctive media components create a whole format, but this is hard to prove. Keep dated records of each part.

To use another person's work in your own media product, you normally need the owner's permission or a licence that covers how you use it. A producer should be able to prove permission was given before publication.

Steps to take

1. Find out who owns the copyright. It may not be the person who posted the asset — a photographer might have sold the rights to a picture library.
2. Contact the owner and ask for permission, explaining exactly how the asset will be used.
3. Negotiate and pay a fee or royalty, or buy a licence that matches that use.
4. Acknowledge the author, creator or owner on the finished work, in the credits or beside the asset.
5. Keep evidence of the permission — emails, signed agreements, licence numbers or receipts — so it can be proved if questioned.

A school eco-club wants a local illustrator's drawing on a poster. They email the illustrator, agree £25 for a run of 200 posters, credit them under the drawing, and save the email and receipt in the project folder.

Royalties, royalty-free and licences

A royalty is a payment made to a creator each time their work is used or sold, so a popular asset keeps earning. Royalty free does not mean free: a one-off licence fee is usually still needed, and once paid the licence may allow repeated use for ever. The watermark on a preview is only removed when that licence is bought, so this must happen before you publish.

Fees depend on how the asset will be used — a clip in a paid advert costs far more than in a school newsletter — so the correct licence must be bought before use, never afterwards.

When permission is refused

An owner may say no, especially if the use is controversial or could damage their brand or reputation. The producer must accept it and buy another asset or create their own. Respecting IP rights means getting permission, paying fees or royalties, crediting creators and keeping records.

If you use someone else's copyrighted work without permission or a licence, you have committed a breach of copyright. It does not matter that you did not mean any harm, or that you credited the creator afterwards: the work is being used without the owner's agreement, so the owner's rights have been infringed.

The consequences for a company

• Forced to stop selling: a court can order the company to take the product off sale until the copied material has been removed. Stock already in shops may have to be recalled, and the packaging or artwork redesigned before it can go back on sale.
• Fined: the company can be ordered to pay a sum of money to the court as a punishment, on top of anything else it owes.
• Prosecuted: a serious case can be taken through the criminal courts, which means the people responsible can end up with a criminal record as well as a penalty.
• Sued for financial loss: the copyright owner can take the company to court to claim back the money they lost — for example the licence fee they would have charged, plus any sales they missed — along with their legal costs.

Worked example

A small games studio called Bright Buoy Games releases a puzzle game with a photographer's picture of a harbour on its start screen. The designer found the picture on a blog and used it without asking. The photographer spots it, proves the photo is hers, and complains. The studio has to pull the game from the app store while new artwork is made, pays the photographer a backdated licence fee and compensation, and covers its own legal bills. A game that was meant to make money has now cost the studio far more than a licence ever would, and the complaints piling up on its social media have put off new customers.

That mix of lost sales, penalties and damage to reputation is why a breach is treated so seriously, and why producers sort out permissions, fees and licences before the work is used — see Using Copyrighted Material Legally.

When you use someone else's image, video or brand, symbols and watermarks give you clues about who owns it and whether you are allowed to use it.

Symbols and what they mean

For example, a photo of a mountain might carry © in its corner. A diagram on a school wiki might show CC. A bakery's logo could have TM beside it, while a well-known soft drink logo might carry ®.

Watermarks

A watermark is a mark laid over an image or video, such as a logo or the word PREVIEW. It is often a sign that the work is licensed but the fee has not yet been paid, so the copy you are looking at is only a taster. Pay for the licence and you are usually sent the clean version, with no mark on it.

Some people still copy watermarked work illegally, for example by cropping the mark off the edge or taking a screenshot. A watermark does not make an image free or safe to use; it is usually a reminder that permission and payment are still outstanding.

Creative Commons (CC) is a set of copyright licences. Each licence gives permission for an asset to be used in particular ways. A CC asset costs nothing to access, but free to download does not mean free to use in any way: the licence still sets rules about what you may do with it.

Every CC licence except CC0 asks you to credit the creator. Depending on the licence, you may be limited in whether you can make money from the asset or change it. The conditions are combined:

• Attribution (BY): you must credit the creator.
• Non-commercial (NC): the asset cannot be used commercially, for example in something you sell.
• Share alike (SA): if you alter the asset, your new version has to use the same licence.
• No derivatives (ND): you cannot alter the asset.

You download a free set of brush textures for digital art. The textures are released under CC BY-NC-SA. You may use them in artwork for a free online gallery as long as you credit the creator. If you change the textures, your changed set must also be shared under CC BY-NC-SA. You cannot sell prints made with the textures.

CC0 (public domain) is different from the other licences: anyone may use the work for any purpose, including selling it or changing it, and no credit to the creator is needed.

Fair dealing is a set of limited exceptions to copyright law. It lets you use someone else's copyrighted work in certain situations without asking for permission, as long as the use is genuinely fair. If your copying would significantly affect the copyright owner, for example by taking away sales, it is not fair dealing.

What the exceptions cover

• Non-commercial research or private study: you can copy a short excerpt to help you learn or investigate a topic, such as a few paragraphs of an online encyclopaedia entry for an assignment. Copying or reposting the whole work goes beyond this.
• Criticism, review or quotation: you can quote parts of a work when you are analysing or judging it, as long as you credit the creator. A board game reviewer might quote one confusing sentence from a rulebook while explaining why it is unclear.
• Reporting current events: a news site can quote a short part of a public speech in a report about a local decision. The exception does not cover photographs, which need permission separately.
• Teaching: a teacher can show or copy extracts for non-commercial instruction, such as projecting a single map from an atlas while explaining coastal erosion.
• Copies for disabled people: if someone cannot read or hear a work because of a disability, an accessible copy can be made for them, such as an easy-read museum leaflet.
• Time shifting: you can record a broadcast to watch or listen to at a more convenient time.
• Parody, caricature or pastiche: you can make a humorous imitation of a work, such as a funny spoof of a famous advert's jingle.

The limit that matters most

Fair dealing does not let you take another person's work and build it into something new that you share widely. Using a wildlife charity's illustration as a character in your own comic fits none of the exceptions, and the charity loses the chance to sell or license that artwork. The use has to fall inside one of the exceptions above, such as a short quotation you have credited.

Privacy is the ability not to be seen, observed or disturbed by other people. It lets someone keep parts of their life out of the public eye, free from unwanted attention and interference, such as time with family, what happens at home and private messages.

The law recognises a right to respect for a person's private and family life, their home and their messages (including letters, emails and calls). This does not mean a person can never be photographed or filmed. The right is not absolute: if you are in a public place, you may be seen or recorded by others. A media producer therefore has to balance the freedom to record with the privacy rights of the people who might appear in their images.

Invasion of privacy

Invasion of privacy happens when media producers intrude on a person's private life or private space without justification. The key word is justification: recording something that is genuinely in the public interest may be defensible, while intruding simply to get a more dramatic shot is not.

Homes and gardens are private spaces. Filming into private property without permission can invade privacy, even if the camera is held in a public place. For example, a drone flying over a garden fence to film a family's party intrudes on space where people reasonably expect to be left alone.

What producers must consider

Before recording, a media producer should ask whether the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in that situation. A crowd at an outdoor event may be recorded as part of the scene, but a person relaxing in their own garden is in a private space. The producer must decide whether the recording respects the person's privacy, and whether any intrusion can be justified.

Harassment means repeated, unwanted communication or contact with someone that is likely to cause distress or fear. A single sharp word or one accidental photo of someone in the background is not harassment; the important words are repeated and unwanted. In media production the unwanted attention often comes through a camera rather than directly from a person.

When a camera becomes harassment

Persistent, aggressive or intimidating photography or filming can amount to harassment, even in a public place. Standing on a public pavement gives you the right to be there, but it does not give you the right to pursue someone with a lens. Imagine you are filming at a beach and one swimmer says "stop filming me" and walks away. Following them along the promenade and keeping the camera on them for several minutes is repeated unwanted attention. So is holding a reflector board across someone's path so they cannot step away while you keep filming.

Purpose and circumstances

Whether behaviour counts as harassment depends on the purpose and the circumstances, and a court decides each case. Filming a stranger twice for two seconds in a busy crowd is very different from following them for an hour, and filming a burst water main to warn people away may justify more intrusion than filming a stranger's startled reaction to a prank. Because every case is judged on its own facts, there is no simple list of shots that are always allowed.

As a media producer you should avoid persistent or intimidating behaviour when photographing or filming people. Plan your recording so that people are treated respectfully: shoot from a fixed position instead of chasing people, stop when someone clearly asks you to, and never block a person's path. Being in public does not mean a person should have to put up with repeated unwanted attention from a camera or a crew.

Before you record any images, work out two things: whether the space is public or private, and who owns it. Getting this wrong can mean trespassing or being made to stop.

Public and private spaces

A public place is somewhere anyone is allowed to go, such as a village green or a public footpath. Somewhere that feels public may still be privately owned — a railway station concourse belongs to the company that runs the station, which can ban filming without a permit.

Private property is land or buildings owned by someone, such as a farm, a back garden or a workshop. You always need the owner's permission to film there; without it you are trespassing. A private place that the public are allowed into, like a hotel lobby, still runs on the owner's rules. If staff ask you to leave and you refuse, you are trespassing too.

Personal, editorial and commercial use

The purpose changes what is allowed.

Commercial use is the strictest because the images are selling something. Even in an open public space, a crew with lights, tripods and a lot of equipment can need permission, and may have to close or cordon off part of the area — the landowner or council decides. Being allowed to record somewhere is not automatically the same as being allowed to publish.

Release forms are written agreements that allow a media producer to film, photograph and publish images of people or property. Getting permissions in place before a shoot avoids problems later: if someone refuses or withdraws their agreement after the work is finished, the footage or photographs may be unusable.

A property release form is signed by the owner of a property. It allows images or video of their land or buildings to be used. A model release form records a person's agreement to be filmed or photographed and for the resulting images to be used. It is needed for each person who can be recognised, including extras and people visible in the background, not only the main actor.

Other permissions cover where and how you record:

• Location permission comes from the landowner or council and lets the crew and actors use the land.
• Buildings permission applies when a key or famous building, such as a clock tower, is visible in the background.
• Highways permission is needed when the crew will block or make use of a road, path or pavement, such as setting up a tripod on the pavement.

For example, filming a scene in a village hall needs location permission from whoever runs the hall, and a model release form from every actor and extra who can be recognised.

Consent should cover the intended use. A photo for a personal album is different from publishing an image or using it commercially, which usually needs explicit consent. Where consent is required, anyone who does not agree should be left out of the image or made unidentifiable, for example by cropping the shot or choosing an angle where they cannot be recognised.

Some people may not be able to give informed consent, for example a child or an adult with a learning disability. Extra care is needed, and consent may need to come from a parent, guardian or carer.

Before publishing images for commercial purposes, media producers must have the appropriate permissions for people, property and locations.

Defamation is when a false statement is made about a person or an organisation and it harms their reputation. It is against the law, so a media producer who publishes untrue content about someone can be taken to court. A statement only counts as defamation if it is false as well as damaging. Saying something unkind but true, or something negative that is clearly an opinion, is not defamation.

Defamation comes in two forms, depending on how the statement is made.

Libel is written or published defamation, so it is in a permanent form that can be seen again and again. Libel also covers material sent or posted online, such as a monthly email newsletter or the text on a web page. Libel is the bigger worry for media companies, because whatever they release stays in a form that people can save, screenshot or read again later.

Defamation can apply to businesses as well as to individuals. For example, an advert in a free local newspaper that wrongly claims a family-run bakery uses out-of-date ingredients could harm the bakery's reputation and lose it customers, so the bakery could take action.

To avoid defamation, media producers must check that what they publish is accurate and not false. This means verifying facts with a reliable source, keeping evidence such as recordings or emails, and taking care with wording so a true fact is not twisted into an untrue claim. If a producer is unsure whether something is true, it is safer to leave it out.

A data subject is the individual whose details an organisation holds. Personal data is information about a living individual who can be identified from it, such as a name, email address or photograph. Media producers collect, use and store personal data, so they must follow data protection principles. These do not stop data being collected; they set rules for doing it properly.

For example, an online youth magazine runs a photo competition and collects each entrant's name, email address and age to judge entries and send prizes. The entrant is the data subject and those details are personal data.

The principles

What media producers must do

• Explain why they are collecting personal data.
• Process it fairly and lawfully, and only for the reason it was collected.
• Hold it securely to prevent hacking or accidental leaks.
• Not share it with another organisation without consent, or unless required by law.

The magazine should tell entrants that ages are only used to check prize eligibility, keep entries on a secure system, delete them after the competition, and name a member of staff responsible for looking after the data.

A data subject is a person whose personal data an organisation holds. Media producers collect personal data all the time, such as the names, ages and contact details of people appearing in a production, and data protection law gives those people rights over it.

The right to view data

Every data subject has the right to view the data held about them. This means a person can ask an organisation what personal data it holds about them and see that information. To make this possible, a media producer must keep personal data organised and somewhere it can be found quickly, and must deal properly with a request rather than ignoring it.

The right to have data corrected

Data subjects also have the right to have incorrect data about them corrected or updated. If a record says something wrong or out of date, the person can ask for it to be changed. The producer should check the request and update the data where it really is wrong.

These rights exist to protect individuals from misuse of their information and from the harm that inaccurate records can cause. A producer that refuses a correction can leave someone stuck with wrong records that follow them around.

For example, a local radio station runs a schools quiz and keeps each entrant's details in an online form: their name, school year and contact email. One entrant is down as Year 7 when she is actually in Year 9, so she is placed in the wrong prize category and sent questions meant for younger pupils. She asks to see the entry stored about her, spots the error and asks for it to be updated. The station checks her original form and corrects the record. Without that right, the wrong year group could have stayed on file and affected later competitions.

Legal considerations exist to protect individuals from three different kinds of harm: privacy rules guard against intrusion, defamation law guards against false statements, and data protection guards against the misuse of personal information. Ignoring them harms the person involved and creates consequences for the media producer.

Impact on individuals

Publishing inaccurate personal information can damage someone's reputation and cause genuine distress. Anyone can be affected, not just famous people. If a community radio station wrongly names a volunteer as the person who took money from a charity stall, that volunteer is harmed in front of friends, family and future employers, and the story may follow them online for years. Personal data handled carelessly causes a different harm: a young performer whose date of birth and school name are published in a behind-the-scenes blog loses control of details that were only collected to check they were old enough to take part.

Impact on media producers

If inaccurate personal information you publish is a false statement that damages someone's reputation, it is defamation. In written or published form it is libel, and the person can take the producer to court and claim compensation. A data protection breach — for example, reusing an old sign-up list to send marketing emails about a new release to people who only agreed to be contacted about audition dates — can lead to fines and legal action. Producers also risk reputational damage: audiences, contributors and clients stop trusting an organisation known for publishing inaccurate information about people or losing their details.

Hardware means the physical equipment used to create and work on documents: the parts you can touch. This includes the components inside a computer, such as the processor, memory and display, the devices you plug in, and non-electronic tools such as pens and paper.

A peripheral is a device that plugs into a computer, such as a mouse, keyboard, scanner or printer. A peripheral is always hardware, but not all hardware is a peripheral. The webcam and speakers built into a laptop are hardware even though nothing was plugged in to add them.

Three groups of hardware for planning work

• Input devices put data into the computer. A keyboard types text, a mouse selects items, a graphics tablet draws, and a scanner captures an existing picture or page.
• Output devices present the work so you can judge it. A display shows the document on screen and speakers let you check recorded sound.
• Non-electronic drawing materials are hardware too, because pens, pencils, rulers and paper are physical tools. They are used to sketch layouts and jot ideas by hand before anything is typed or drawn on screen.

For example, imagine you are planning a four-panel comic strip about a school trip. You sketch the rough panels with a pencil on paper, type the speech bubbles with a keyboard, and check the final colours on a printed proof from a printer. Paper, keyboard and printer are all hardware, but each does a different job.

All three groups are physical equipment used at different stages of planning, so a document can move from a hand-drawn sketch to a typed and displayed digital version.

Input hardware is any physical device used to enter data or instructions into a computer. Output hardware presents the work so you can see or hear it. When planning on a computer, you need both: a way to get your ideas into the computer, and a way to check what you have made.

Input devices and their jobs

The device you choose depends on what you need to put in.

A keyboard is usually best for words and a graphics tablet with a stylus is usually best for drawing, because each one matches the kind of data going in.

Seeing and hearing the work

A display or monitor is the main output device: it shows the document on screen so you can judge its layout, colour and spelling. Speakers let you check any audio you have recorded. Without output hardware you could still type and draw, but you could not tell whether the result looks or sounds right.

Two displays, more space

Adding a second display gives you more desktop space. You can keep the document full size on one screen and put the things you are referring to on the other, instead of switching windows all the time. For example, while laying out a leaflet for a local climbing club, you could keep the leaflet open on one display and the club's logo files and a list of session times on the second. The two displays can also show different views of the same work, such as the whole page on one and a zoomed-in corner on the other, so small alignment problems are easier to spot.

Non-electronic drawing materials are physical tools used to plan work by hand. They include pens, pencils, rulers and paper. Because they are physical objects you can touch and use to create pre-production documents, they count as hardware too, even though they do not plug in or use power.

You can use these materials to sketch a layout, write short notes or arrange early ideas. A ruler helps you draw straight edges for a rough page plan, while a pencil lets you rub out and change a line without starting again. The paper becomes the working surface for the document.

Where hand drawing is chosen

Storyboards, visualisation diagrams, mind maps and mood boards are often created on paper or board. Drawing by hand can be easier when you do not have a graphics tablet, because you can pick up a pencil and start straight away. Paper also lets you sketch quickly and annotate ideas in the margin without opening software or saving a file.

This makes non-electronic materials especially useful in the early stages of planning, when ideas are changing fast. For example, you might sketch four rough storyboard frames for an animation club film in pencil, then rub out the weakest one and redraw it in a new position once you have settled on the order.

A hand-made document can later be digitised if it needs to be shared or edited on a computer, but the first planning work can still be done with simple drawing materials.

A graphics tablet is an input device used for drawing. You draw on the tablet with a stylus, and the tablet copies what you draw onto the computer screen.

How the stylus works

The stylus behaves like a mouse. Moving it over the tablet moves the pointer on screen, and resting the stylus tip on the tablet is like pressing the left mouse button: keep the tip down and drag to draw a line, or lift it to stop. This means you can sketch shapes and lines, annotate an image with notes and arrows, and select items in software. Tapping the surface selects an item, just as clicking once with a mouse would.

Pressure sensitivity

Some styluses have pressure sensitivity. In brush-based software, pressing harder can make a brush stroke thicker, while a lighter touch makes it thinner. This gives more natural-looking lines, especially when sketching. For example, when sketching a poster layout for your school's book swap, you could use light strokes for thin guides and press harder to make the title stand out.

Where it is useful

A graphics tablet suits pre-production documents that need drawing or annotation, such as visualisation diagrams, storyboards and digital mood boards. It is not the best tool for a script, because a script is a typed document and a keyboard is more suitable for entering text.

The stylus and graphics tablet are not the same device: the stylus is the pen-like tool, and the graphics tablet is the surface you use it on.

The best hardware depends on the document you are making and the situation you are making it in. A keyboard, a pointing device and a display are the common set for almost every digital pre-production document, because together they let you type, select and see what you are creating.

Documents that are mostly typed

For a script, the keyboard does the main job: you type dialogue, character names and stage directions. The display lets you view the script and check its layout, such as whether scene headings line up on the left. A mouse is used to select, cut and paste sections when a scene needs moving. Writing a two-minute radio advert script, you would type it, then drag the mouse to move the closing lines so the advert ends on the price.

A graphics tablet is not a good choice for a script, because a script is a typed document. A stylus is clumsy for placing a cursor between two words, while a mouse selects and moves text precisely.

Documents that are drawn as well as typed

For a visualisation diagram, the keyboard is used for text and annotation labels, a mouse selects and moves objects around the design, a graphics tablet is used for sketching the layout, and the display shows the work in progress. A visualisation diagram of an arcade game's start screen needs both sketched graphics and typed notes explaining which button does what.

Swapping one device for another

A trackpad or trackball does the same job as a mouse, and a touchscreen used with a stylus acts as both graphics tablet and display, because the drawing goes straight onto the screen. That is why scripts, storyboards and visualisation diagrams often share the same hardware, with a graphics tablet or stylus added for the drawn ones.

Match the hardware to the job: typed documents need a keyboard and pointing device, drawn or laid-out ones may need a stylus as well, and a paper sketch must be digitised before it can be shared.

Digitisation is turning a paper or board document into a digital file so it can be shared with others. For example, a handwritten recipe from a food technology lesson could be photographed and emailed home instead of the paper being lost.

Scanners and digital cameras mainly digitise existing documents; they do not create a new document from scratch.

Scanners

A flat-bed scanner has a glass surface where you lay the page flat. Some scanners are built into another device, so you may already have one. A sheet feeder pulls through and scans many pages automatically, saving time. A scanner lights the page evenly, so you avoid shadows or poor lighting, and it can capture images and photographs at high resolution.

Digital cameras

A digital camera is a quick way to digitise a document. A professional camera gives more control over image quality, aperture and focus, while a camera already to hand may be good enough for a simple note. A camera beats a scanner when the item is very large, three-dimensional, textured or cannot be scanned easily. For example, a scale model of a stage set can be photographed from several angles so the director can see each scene from the audience; a flat scan could not show that.

Graphics tablets and sharing

A graphics tablet is a flat pad used with a stylus. Whatever you draw on the pad appears on screen, so a game character can be created and saved as a digital file straight away. You can also place a pencil sketch on the tablet and draw over its lines with the stylus, turning the paper drawing into a digital file. Scripts are rarely handwritten, so a script is unlikely to need digitising; it is normally typed and saved digitally from the start.

Digital documents are generally easier to share than physical ones. A physical document can still be digitised with a scanner, digital camera or graphics tablet before it is shared.

Different programs often provide similar tools, so focus on the software type rather than only the brand name. Knowing the type helps you choose a tool that matches the pre-production document you need to make.

Image, slide and page software

Image editing software edits graphics and photographs. Raster (bitmap) editors work with pixels and suit photographs; vector editors work with paths and shapes and suit crisp logos. Presentation software can create and arrange some pre-production documents, such as a mood board or a simple storyboard.

Desktop publishing (DTP) software is used for page layout: magazines, books, posters, leaflets and brochures. Its layout tools make arranging images and text easier than in a word processor, which is designed mainly for typing and editing text, not for precise page design.

Dedicated and general tools

Mind mapping software is dedicated software for creating mind maps, with branches and nodes that you can move and reorganise.

Dedicated applications are made for one particular use, such as script editing, storyboard editing, wireframing or flow chart creation. They may run on a computer or as an app, be free or paid for, and be downloaded or online. Because they focus on one job, they can be quicker and offer tools that general software lacks.

General software can create many different documents. For example, a word processor can make a simple table for a storyboard or asset log, but a dedicated storyboard app may add numbered frames and shot notes far faster. Choose general software when it is good enough; choose specialist software when its extra features save time.

Mind maps, mood boards and scripts can each be made with more than one type of software, depending on whether the document is mostly text, drawing or images.

Mind maps

A mind map can be hand drawn with pens, pencils and paper, which is quick and needs no equipment. Or it can be made digitally using mind mapping software, presentation software or desktop publishing software. Mind mapping software is built for the job: you add a branch and it moves the rest to fit, which paper cannot do automatically. Presentation software works because a slide can hold branches built from shapes, text boxes and connector lines.

For example, planning a school talent show: a central idea with branches for acts, stage times and ticket sales is easy to sketch on paper, but on screen you can drag branches around and insert photographs of the venue straight in.

Mood boards

A physical mood board uses real materials on a surface, such as printed photographs, magazine cuttings and coloured paper shapes glued onto a large sheet of card, so you can compare how the printed colours look together. A digital mood board on a computer or tablet can be made with image editing software, presentation software, desktop publishing software or specialised mood board software, which can arrange images in a grid and let a team comment on a shared board.

Scripts

A script is nearly all text, so it is made with a word processor or a dedicated script editor. A word processor is often used because it lets you easily go back and edit text: you can cut, paste, comment and check spelling as the story changes. A dedicated script editor adds advanced features such as layout tools that set out scene headings and dialogue in the correct format, and character identification, which recognises names in the dialogue and keeps them consistent. That makes it faster for a long script, though a word processor is enough for a short one.

A storyboard is a sequence of sketched frames showing what happens shot by shot. You can make one by hand, often on a printed template of empty frames, or digitally on a computer or tablet by drawing with a graphics tablet and stylus, or with a touchscreen (often with a stylus).

You do not need special software to make a storyboard digitally. Presentation software works well because each slide can hold one frame and the slides are already in order. Image editing software and desktop publishing (DTP) software can also be used, while a dedicated storyboard application is built only for storyboarding and may add extra tools.

Storyboarding software features

Useful features save time and keep frames consistent:

• Layout tools and drawing and aligning boxes to build frames and line them up tidily.
• Inserting assets and images, such as character drawings or photographs.
• Sketching directly in the software, plus adding text, annotation and scene information such as shot type or camera movement.
• Copying and pasting backgrounds and objects, then resizing and reordering frames when the order changes.

For example, in a storyboard for a 30-second advert about a rescue dog, you could paste the same kennel background into six frames, change only the dog's position, then drag frame five before frame four.

Visualisation diagrams

A visualisation diagram is a rough plan of what a finished product will look like, such as a recipe booklet cover. You can create one with image editing software, presentation software or DTP software. Professional designers often favour desktop publishing or image editing tools for this work because they offer stronger design controls, including accurate positioning of text and pictures.

In image editing software, you can insert photographs and images directly from image libraries into a digital diagram. A digital diagram is easier to edit, move items around in, and share than a physical diagram, which must be digitised first.

Wireframes, flow charts and asset logs can each be created with a range of software, and sometimes without any software at all. The table shows the main choices.

Wireframes and flow charts

A wireframe layout can be sketched quickly with pen and paper, which suits early ideas that are still changing. General software such as a word processor or presentation software can build one, but drawing and aligning every box and label yourself can take longer than using pen and paper or specialist wireframing software, which has tools made for the job.

A flow chart is usually made on a computer but can be drawn by hand. Basic software can add shapes and join them with arrows. Specialist flow chart software offers ready-made decision diamonds and connectors that stay attached when a box is moved, which saves time when a chart is edited.

Creating an asset log

An asset log records the assets a project needs. Dedicated asset log software exists, and a log can also be made with database, spreadsheet, word processing or desktop publishing software. Spreadsheet and database software suit logs because each asset can sit in a row and each detail, such as a file name or owner, in a column, making the list easy to sort and search. An asset log is typically created on a computer or tablet using a keyboard to type entries, a pointing device to select and move between cells, and a display to view the list.