Task 19: 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 and/or stills 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?

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?