Task 18 - storyboard and animatic

Storyboarding is a CRUCIAL planning process and there must be evidence that prior to filming you have planned visually your shots.  You should storyboard all frames planned, as discussed in the lesson adding detail to also show:

• Any related sound
• Camera movement / framing / composition
• SFX
• titles

You should upload a group post, reflecting on how you carried out this process (who did what) and how your concept developed through the conversations you had about the shots.

Then, using Premiere, film and edit together your shots, with sample sound effects if relevant, in order to test the timing of your planned idea and cutting rate.  Have you planned enough shots?  Too many?

The animatic should then also be posted on the blog. 

Task 17: Group: Audience Research

At this stage of pre-production, you have firmed up your ideas, secured investment (!) and are preparing to go into production.  You are in the position of having a very established target audience for your film genre and at this stage you make the most of this and carry out audience research to ensure your concept fulfils their expectations but also offers them something different.

Devise a questionnaire, one per group, asking specific questions about sound, character, locations, lighting, narrative, font...Use this opportunity to test any of your uncertainties.  Once this process is complete you will need to write it up.  This is what you are working towards:

http://twgsbmedia15asgroup3.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/audience-research-questionnaires.html

This task is for Monday's lesson.  Type it up in word, bring it to the lesson where you will get feedback and probably have to make changes.  You will then circulate it to a sample of your target audience.

Task 16: Group - Pitch

Once you have completed the pitch, you upload it to the blog.  Underneath, you insert the following headings:

Feedback:

You then bullet point your notes taken from class discussion.  Include strengths, omissions and any questions.  You then insert the second sub-heading:

Next steps:

Here you bullet point anything you need to do to clarify any of the points which came up in the pitch.  If you had any content missing, you need to state specifically what you are doing to complete that task.  The next stage is audience research and storyboarding.

Task 16: Pitch

Ensure you answer the following questions in the pitch.  Use visual evidence throughout and be confident about your ideas:

1. How has your research and analysis informed your production?  (Be specific about films etc)
2. What is the treatment for your film?  How does it fit into the overall narrative of the film?
3. How are you using camera, editing and sound to convey meaning?
4. How are you using locations to create mood and narrative codes?
5. What characters are you going to use and who is going to act in your film?
6. How are you using titles in your opening?
7. What additional iconography are you going to include?
8. What ideas do you have concerning style and visual effects?
9. What challenges do you have to overcome? 
10. How are you going to manage your time?

Task 15: Group - Treatment

Write a detailed treatment considering character, location, plot. Use the sheet to inform your writing style. Ensure you create a sensory experience which is atmospheric rather than technical. Three paragraphs is a guide. Outline the beginning, middle and end of your opening sequence.

http://twgsbmedia15asgroup1.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=31

Due: Friday 4 December

Task 14 - GG: Technical analysis - title of film, (director, year)

Over the next two lessons, use group discussion time to develop your film opening idea. You will be also planning a recce, carrying out an individual technical analysis and writing a film treatment this week - so the quicker you arrive at decisions about the following, the more focused your planning processes this week will be. 

In order to complete the technical analysis, use the framework in your booklets as a guide.  You will need summarise your findings after completing the table, considering the media language areas.  You will also then need to link to your own production and outline any visual or aural ideas that have come from this analysis.  It is a good idea to post key frames that you think you would like to emulate.  You can use these in the storyboarding process and the pitch.

The outcome will be a blog post up by Thursday's lesson.You can choose how to present your discussion this week - it can be a mindmap, table, blog post of key notes, vlog or podcast.  This will be more formally presented in your pitch presentation - this planning task is about documenting your ideas as they happen. 

Key concept development areas:

1. Location(s)
2. Overall film narrative concept
3. Opening sequence plot
4. Narrative codes - how will you communicate plot? (action code, semic code, symbolic code, enigma code, cultural code - useful framework)
5. Character profiles and casting
6. Title, titles style, integration into footage
7. Sound
8. Any SFX - pro-filmic or in post
9. Representation and Ideology - binary oppositions?

Task 13 - Group: Preliminary Task

Task 12 - Group: Call sheet and Risk assessment - Wilderness Woods

Task 11 - Individual: Production Log - Wilderness Woods

You need to post a reflection on your experience at Wilderness Woods.  Some of you recorded a video diary at the end of the day.  You can edit this.  If you didn't do this, you can either do it in school or post a series of bullet points with video stills.  Please ensure you have covered the following points whatever your chosen form:

• What role did you take in the group?  What did you do?
• What did we learn from the filming experience
• Outline what you were most pleased with
• What challenges did you overcome?
• What didn't work as well?
• How has this experience influenced your production?
• This post should be entitled:  Initials: Production Log - Wilderness Woods.  It needs to be completed by Friday 8.00 pm

Task 10: Group - Wilderness Woods Short

Below are some examples of past short films produced in Wilderness Woods:

You have two hours in class to edit your footage as a montage with title screens or as a continuous narrative. 

• When complete you will need to upload your film to youtube and then embed it into a new blog post.

• You then post comments under the film outlining the process you undertook in Adobe Premiere Elements 9.0.  Use accurate software production terms and link to connotations and representation. Use bullet points.Possible production terms:  drag and drop clip onto timeline,  non-diegetic sound onto audio timeline, separate sound and visuals, fade to black, continuity, upload footage to Premiere, D drive, current time indicator, visual timeline, audio timeline, zoom in, cut clips, trim clips, cutting tool, organise, select, drag and drop, time stretch, overlay, edit, compress time, re-arrange, re-order, montage, continuity, duration, shot, cutting rate, media window, transitions, effects, video effects, audio effects, key frame, render, export, work area bar, motion, opacity, volume, balance, share, Mpeg, image control, lightness and contrast, saturation levels, colour balance, adjust hue, intercut, angle, monitor, sfx, freesound.org...

Task 9 - KJ: Analysis of Title Sequence - Dawn of the Dead (Snyder, 2011)

• Watch opening for American Horror Story.  What technical codes are used to create mood and tension?
  (on Netflix)

•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G2YAtFeVOM

Task:   Select an interesting opening sequence which is linked to the genre(s) you are exploring.   Deadline: Thursday 8pm 26th November.

Embed link to film title sequence.

• Content of post: -
  
  1. Order of titles – play and pause.  Copy exact titles as they appear on screen and in the exact order.  Note the duration between titles.  Is there a pattern?  What do you notice about the content and order of titles as they appear?  Where is the film title in the sequence?
  2. Typography - Denotation and connotations.  Analyse font in titles and film title.  Comment on size, shape, colour, positioning, animation.

What the connotations of this font, is it generic etc?
  3. Relationship between text and visuals - How is the text interacting with visuals?
  4. Own production - Consider your own film title and what it could look like.  Find a font you think would be suitable.  Type a possible title for your film.  Apply any visual effects.  Apply a background image or colour.  Analyse your still in the same way you have above.

Great resource:  Art of the title 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/feature/top-10-title-sequences-of-2014/

Task 8 - Group: Concept Development

Post a photograph of your initial ideas mindmap that you completed in class - introduce it and summarise how the discussion process moved your concept forward. Due Tuesday 17th November

Task 7 - Individual: Deconstruction of Opening Sequence - Film title (Director, year)

In your groups, decide on a range of relevant films for analysis. Each select an interesting opening sequence, ideally (but not compulsory) to be in a sub-genre that you are interested in working in. Watch it and make detailed notes, using the questions in your booklet 'analysing an opening sequence' as a guide. Write up your results either as a blog post, or as a prezi. You must use lots of media terminology and highlight key terms. Use a range of stills / images to visually communicate your analysis. This is vital for Level 4. This is one of the most detailed posts needed for planning and is vital to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of media concepts, so make sure it is thorough. Deadline - Thursday 19th November by 3.35pm

Task 6 - Individual: Institutional Context - Independent Horror/Thriller Film

Refer to booklet  planning tasks / institutional context.

Task: Find a contemporary independent production of a horror or thriller film (US, UK or worldwide).

• Upload the trailer or opening sequence (embed if you can)
• Research the production and marketing of the film. 
• Use the sub-headings 'Production': and then bullet point.  Then 'Distribution' and bullet point. 
• Use as many film industry terms as you can.  Include appropriate stills from the film.

Deadline for this task is Thursday 12 November - 6 pm.

Title this post (example): KJ: Institutional Context - Babadook (Kent, 2014)

Task 5 - Individual: still frame experimentation

Upload the horror/thriller still frame that you shot last term. This still should be annotated to show technical aspects of mine-en-scene as well as generic conventions, such as stock locations, plot, characterisation. This is a practical task that can illustrate your understanding of genre. You can either bullet point analysis underneath as a blog post, or do as a PPT slide or prezi. Remember to use a wide range of terminology and draw on your recent research into horror and thriller. This is a HW task for Monday night and should be up on the blog by Wednesday lesson P3.

Task 4 - Individual - Moodboard - Slasher (for example)

In your groups, each individual member is to select a sub-genre and create a mood board to begin to research visual techniques, mise-en-scene, stock plots, stock locations and iconography that are conventional of that sub-genre.

 This should be posted up on the blog - embedded into a post and accompanied by an analysis summarising your findings from this task.  You could use www.prezi.com and copy the 'embed' code into the HTML tab of the post tool when using blogger, or alternatively use PowerPoint, upload to www.slideboom.com and do the same.

Title this post: KJ: Moodboard - Gothic Horror (but your initial and sub-genre)

Example using ppt:

Key Iconography Of Gothic Horror

This sub-genre of horror is arguably the oldest and most established of them all, and still defines what many people see horror to be today. Some significant iconography of the genre are as follows:

• Gothic buildings, for example churches and graveyards. Large, stone buildings with plenty of dark corners and an unnerving sense of scale and grandeur.
• Classic monsters including vampires, werewolves and beasts. The sense of fear is generally created by preying on the fears of people at the time of the film's creation, for example the vampire in Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922) depicted the fears of the German government and disease. See the history of horror blog post for more on this subject.  
• Darkness, rain, fog and lightening. Grim, overbearing weather is a common image used in gothic horror, indeed the genre has made such weather a cliched element in film due to its famously iconic atmosphere in gothic horror.
• Damsels in distress. In most gothic horror films there will be a female character that is in need of rescuing or that serves as a victim for the antagonist to prey on.
• Black and white images. Due to the sub-genre being one of the oldest not just in horror, but in the whole history of film, the majority of gothic horror films are devoid of colour, making this an icon of the genre.

Example using Prezi:

Task 3 - Individual: storyboard

Watch the following famous scene from Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960). Make notes on any significant film language techniques. What comments could you make about representation and ideology?
Now watch this short documentary about the storyboarding of this scene. Which shot is the most iconic? Draw on the storyboard sheets, three iconic shots which you could have in your production. Take a photo of each one individually and then upload to the blog. Label each frame considering technical codes, connotations and representation.

http://nofilmschool.com/2014/02/who-murdered-marion-crane-some-say-it-wasnt-Hitchcock

Title this post: Group: Storyboarding - Initial Ideas

Task 2 - Group: Horror Films - Historical Context

Watch the following documentary and make notes on the most significant aspects of the development of the genre.
What ideas does this film generate for your own production? Have a discussion with your group members. Create a new post on the blog, call it: Group: Historical context - initial ideas. Bullet point any significant film clips and ideas which have come from watching them.

Task 1 - Individual: (title of research task)

Each group member is to post a response to their allocated task from the reading research on the shared area: /student shared/media studies/Y12 Resources / Foundation Portfolio / Horror research tasks/ Each reading source has accompanying questions. Consider the top tips for blog posts when posting up your responses. Due Friday 4 November.

WELCOME AS PRODUCTION 2016-17

Welcome Y12 to the central blog.  This site will be the hub of all work set for the Foundation Portfolio coursework. 

Evaluation - Deadlines

Holiday work:  Deadline - Monday 23rd February

• During half term your homework task was to draft a response to questions 1 and 2 using the sheets you were given.  You were also asked to gather screenshots from your own work (preliminary task and title sequence) and other film sequences which you analysed.  This is to be handed in to Mrs Fernandez in the lesson on Monday.

Evaluation:  Two week task - Final deadline:  Friday 6th March at 3.35 pm

• You will receive feedback on questions 1 and 2 in the lesson on Wednesday 25th February.  Your amendments are to completed and uploaded into your presentation by Monday 2nd March.  They will be checked during the lesson.
• You will be set questions 3 and 6 in the first lesson on Monday 23rd February.  Again your responses are electronic and screenshots and other visual evidence are a prerequisite.  The deadline for the first draft of these questions is Thursday 27th of February.  You will hand them in during the lesson.  Amendments to questions 3 and 6 will be handed back in the lesson on Monday 2 March.  You will have until Friday 6th of March to make the changes to content and organise into your presentation.
• On Monday 2nd March you will be set questions 4 and 5.  In order to complete these you will need to obtain audience feedback on your film openings.  The screening of your films is to take place in the Drama studio during lunchtime on Tuesday 24th of February.  You all are required to attend and should invite colleagues to give you the necessary feedback. 
• On Tuesday 3rd March you will be set question 7.  You will be working on this in the lessons and will receive feedback on how to improve during lesson time.  This must be organised into the main presentation by the deadline - Friday 6th March at 3.35 pm.

This is part of your coursework and needs to be completed under controlled conditions in the lesson which means that apart from time allocated for exporting screenshots from Premiere, you will work alone and in silence.

Task 23: Film Opening

Deadline Day!  Well done everyone, you have all done some fantastic work.  We (the teachers) have discussed your work and decided that many of you would benefit from some more time to refine your work and achieve the best grade you possibly can.  However as we now have to go back to the exam units, there is no more time in lessons. 

By the end of the day - Friday 30 January, you need to have exported your film and uploaded it to your blog.  Over the weekend you need to test your production on friends and family and get some feedback.  You could pose two simple questions:
     1.  What are the strengths?
     2.  What could be improved?

You then post the results of this underneath the exported film clip as Feedback.   There needs to be a contribution to this process from each of you.  You then have the opportunity to improve your production next week.  The final film will then need to be uploaded to the blog by end of school next Friday 6 February.  We will mark what is there at that time.  We understand that some of you will need support during the week to realise your ideas and we would rather you were ambitious and creative than safe! (within reason)

Task 22 - Group: Roughcut

In Thursday's lesson (12B) and Friday's (12A) you will need to export your timeline.  We will then play it in front of the class to give you feedback which constitutes your second example of audience feedback.  Your post includes the embedded export (upload to youtube first) and then bullet points of comments made by the class and teachers.  You then, under a separate heading should set out plans and targets for the next week up to the deadline on Friday.

Task 21 - Group: Soundtrack

Include links to any non-diegetic and diegetic sound you are considering/or using in the soundtrack.  Explain how and where the individual elements are to be used in the sound mix.

Task 20 - Group: Logistics

Upload an example of your most detailed call sheet and risk assessment.  Supporting comments should outline the purpose of such documentation as institutional practice and the challenges involved in completing the task.

Task 19 - Individual: Post Production, Wed 21 Jan

At the end of the lesson you do a print screen of the Premiere interface you have been working in.  You then use it as visual evidence to explain the process of editing carried out in the lesson.   Include as many techniques as possible and be detailed, showing off your ICT skills.  You should end by saying what should be done in the next lesson.  Each of you needs to do this.

Task 18 - Group: Typography Analysis

• By the end of the lesson on Wednesday you should have emailed your font requests to Mr Fiveash if you would like some downloaded from external sites. 
• You then need to post examples of the fonts you have researched and selected with supporting comments outlining why the font is suitable for your production; you could mention sub-genre, style, tone, background images, colour, post production effects, connotations, content, narrative, size...

Task 17 - Individual: Reflection on Shoot

After completion of a film shoot you need to reflect on what you did.  You can either do this as a blog post or record on location as a production log and upload as a short film.  You should aim to do both by the end of the module. 
You should upload a couple of clips as visual evidence for your points. Complete the following as bullet points:

1. When and where was the shoot?
2. What scenes were you focusing on?
3. What was your individual contribution to the shoot?
4. To what extent did your storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?
5. What do you think worked particularly well? (+ visual evidence)
6. What were the challenges of this particular shoot (+visual evidence)
7. How will you use this experience to inform your next shoot?

Complete this in lesson after shoot.

Task 16 - Individual: Analysis of title sequence

• Embed link to film title sequence
  Content of post:
  

  1.Order of titles and duration of each clip – write exact text as it appears on screen.

  
  

  2.Analyse typography.  Denotation and connotations.  Include font, shape, colour, positioning, animation.

  
  

  3.What have you learned from this in terms of relationship between text and visuals and content of titles (link to style, genre and institutional context).

  
  

  4.Link between research and production: How can you use these ideas in your own production?

Example: Dawn of the Dead (Snyder, 2011)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G2YAtFeVOM

Great resource:  Art of the title

http://www.artofthetitle.com/feature/top-10-title-sequences-of-2014/

Deadline: 12B:Wednesday 14th January, 3.35pm
                 12A: Friday 16 January, 3.35pm

Task 15: Group: Animatic

New project in Adobe Premiere.  Select and drag footage onto timeline. Using time stretch, edit each clip in accordance with the planned duration.  Key frame in any camera movement.  Add soundtrack and sound effects.  Include titles.
Reflect on this task by answering questions:

1. Describe the purpose of this task and detail the process you went through.
2. What have you learned from completing this task?  Comment on: cutting rate, range of camera techniques, length of film, relationship between sound and visuals, composition and framing.

Deadline:  Friday 9th January - 3.35pm

Task 14 - Group: Storyboard

Complete storyboards.  Upload to blog: 

Include supporting comments:
- What is the purpose of storyboarding as an institutional practice?
- What the challenges you encountered when carrying out this task?
- What did you learn about your concept when carrying out this task?

Deadline:  Friday 9th January, 3.35 pm