Principal photography in the context of "Rogue One"

Filmmaking or film production, is the process of creating a motion picture. It involves a number of distinct stages, including an initial story idea or commission, followed by screenwriting, casting, pre-production, shooting, sound recording, post-production, and screening the finished product before an audience, which may result in a film release and exhibition. The process is nonlinear, in that the filmmaker typically shoots the script out of sequence, repeats shots as needed, and puts them together through editing later. Filmmaking takes place in a variety of economic, social, and political contexts around the world, and uses a wide range of technologies and cinematic techniques. While originally films were recorded on photographic film, most modern filmmaking is now digital.

The production of a film typically consists of five major stages. The first is development, where the initial idea for the film is explored, rights to intellectual property may be secured, the screenplay is written, and financing is obtained. This is followed by pre-production, where all the arrangements and preparations for the shoot are made, including hiring cast and crew, scouting and securing locations, and constructing sets. The third stage is production, which is when the raw footage and other elements of the film are recorded.

Post Production, as explored here, is associated with entertainment and media production, and is part of a series on filmmaking. Often referred to in brief as Post it is not just a phase of production, it is an indispensable department on larger filmmaking and video production projects.

Post Production is synonymous with editing and editorial. It deals specifically with the processes of assembling, tailoring and building out the raw audio and visual assets of a motion or moving picture (movie, television, video, etc.), into an eventual audience ready entertainment product. In the legitimate entertainment industry, Post Production is not merely a term, it is a highly defined phase of processes, it is a department, also referred to as Editorial, and it is a budgeting definition, proper spelling is title case. It is not a sub-phase of a departmental process, ergo, Pre-Production (part of the Production department, and one of the many phases it is responsible for), so it is not hyphenated, nor is Post Production one word. Post often begins concurrently with principal photography, also referred to as physical production, and carries on after a production concludes, or wraps, its production schedule.

Filmmaking or film production, is the process of creating a motion picture. Traditionally filmmaking is thought of as a process specific for the creation of feature films, however its iconic methodology has been used in the creation of other types of filmed products including movies and episodic series for streaming and network broadcasting, commercials and advertisements, animations, music videos, documentaries. It involves a number of distinct stages, including an initial story idea or commission, followed by screenwriting, casting, pre-production, shooting, sound recording, post-production, and screening the finished product before an audience, which may result in a film release distribution and exhibition. The process is nonlinear, in that the filmmaker typically shoots the script out of sequence, repeats shots as needed, and puts them together through editing later. Filmmaking takes place in a variety of economic, social, and political contexts around the world, and uses a wide range of technologies and cinematic techniques. While originally films were recorded on photographic film, most modern filmmaking is now digital.

The production of a film typically consists of five major stages. The first is development, where the initial idea for the film is explored, rights to intellectual property may be secured, the screenplay is written, and financing is obtained. This is followed by pre-production, where all the arrangements and preparations for the shoot are made, including hiring cast and crew, scouting and securing locations, and constructing sets. The third stage is production, which is when the raw footage and other elements of the film are recorded.

"Above-the-line" refers to the list of individuals who guide and influence the creative direction, process, and voice of a given narrative in a film and related expenditures. These roles include but are not limited to the screenwriter, producer, director, and principal cast.

Often, the term is used for matters related to the film's production budget. Above-the-line expenditures reflect the expected line item compensation for an official above-the-line member's role in a given film project. These expenditures are usually set, negotiated, spent and/or promised before principal photography begins. They include rights to secure the material on which the screenplay is based, production rights to the screenplay, compensation for the screenwriter, producer, director, principal actors and other cost-related line items such as assistants for the producers, director or actors.

"Below-the-line" is a term derived from the top sheet of a film budget for motion pictures, television programs, industrial films, independent films, student films and documentaries as well as commercials. The "line" in "below-the-line" refers to the separation of production costs between script and story writers, producers, directors, actors, and casting ("above the-line") and the rest of the crew, or production team.

The top sheet of any creative project's budget serves only as an at-a-glance reference to a fully detailed and attached main budget document, which features total expenses including federal, state and local taxes, as well as insurance within the entire production, and/or production incentives. This painstaking task is usually assigned to the Production Manager or UPM of a production and should be completed before principal photography begins for any project.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Set in 1936, the film stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, a globetrotting archaeologist vying with Nazi German forces to recover the long-lost Ark of the Covenant which is said to make an army invincible. Teaming up with his tough former romantic interest Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Jones races to stop rival archaeologist René Belloq (Paul Freeman) from guiding the Nazis to the Ark and its power.

Lucas conceived Raiders of the Lost Ark in the early 1970s. Seeking to modernize the serial films of the early 20th century, he developed the idea further with Kaufman, who suggested the Ark as the film's goal. Lucas eventually focused on developing his 1977 film Star Wars. Development on Raiders of the Lost Ark resumed that year when he shared the idea with Spielberg, who joined the project several months later. While the pair had ideas for set pieces and stunts for the film, they hired Kasdan to fill in the narrative gaps between them. Principal photography began in June 1980 on a $20 million budget, and concluded that September. Filming took place on sets at Elstree Studios, England, and on location mainly in La Rochelle, France, Tunisia, and Hawaii.

Star Wars (also known as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and released by Twentieth Century-Fox. It is the first film in the Star Wars franchise and the fourth chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". Set in a fictional galaxy under the rule of the tyrannical Galactic Empire, the film follows a resistance movement, called the Rebel Alliance, that aims to destroy the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star. When the rebel leader Princess Leia is captured by the Galactic Empire, Luke Skywalker acquires stolen architectural plans for the Death Star and sets out to rescue her while learning the ways of a metaphysical power known as "the Force" from the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The cast includes Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, and James Earl Jones.

Lucas had the idea for a science fiction film in the vein of Flash Gordon around the time he completed his first film, THX 1138 (1971), and he began working on a treatment after the release of American Graffiti (1973). After numerous rewrites, principal photography began in March of 1976 in locations including Tunisia and Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England. Lucas formed the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic to help create the film's visual effects. Star Wars suffered production difficulties: the cast and crew believed the film would be a failure, and it went $3 million over budget due to delays.

A film producer is a person who oversees film production, from finding and selecting promising material for development, through to post-production, marketing and distribution of the film. They plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, directing, editing, and arranging financing. The producer supervises the pre-production, principal photography, and post-production stages of filmmaking. In some cases, the executive producer may hire and delegate work to associate producers, assistant producers, line producers, or unit production managers, to assist the main producer(s).

A producer hires a director for the film, as well as other key crew members. The producer must ensure the film is delivered on time and within budget. The producer typically manages logistics and business operations of filmmaking, while the director makes the creative decisions during the production, although some directors also produce their own films.