Lessons 8 - 10

You now have 3 lessons (and progress day) to complete your research & planning.

1. Lesson 8 - 4th November
2. Lesson 9 - 11th November
3. Lesson 10 - 18th November
4. Progress Day - 25th November (Media Suite open by arrangement only)

If you are up to date with everything, this means 4 weeks to add;

• Script
• Storyboard
• Animatic
• Actor's Release Forms
• Shooting Schedule

You should use Celtx to write your script; it will automatically use the correct conventions.

Your storyboard should include a frame for every shot, be annotated (INT/EXT, DAY/NIGHT. shot description), include any camera movements and have transition descriptions between consecutive frames (dissolve, straight, split, fade, etc). Use the revision page (see sidebar) to remind yourself of the appropriate terminology. Don't forget to include ident, titles, credits, etc. I have some blank storyboard templates that you can use (I'll post one on the documents page too).

Photocopy your storyboard and give me a copy to scan. I will then give you a pdf copy to post on your blogs and a copy of each frame as a JPEG to use in your animatic (import the JPEGs into FCP). Remember, your animatic needs to be as close to the final product as you can make it, using the scripted dialogue, appropriate soundtrack and shot lengths that allow for the planned action or camera movement. You can key-frame some camera movement using the storyboard images to give you an idea of timings and impact.

Blank actor's release forms can be collected from the Media Suite or printed from the Document page on this blog. Once completed and signed, give them to me for scanning (so you can post them as a JPEG).

Your shooting schedule should be presented as an independent document (hosted in Scribd?) that can be printed for use of location. Typical information on a shooting schedule includes;

• Date of shoot
• Time of shoot
• Scene / Shot No. (linking to storyboard frame number)
• INT/EXT & Day/Night
• Cast required
• Set or location description
• Props required / Mise-En-Scene
• Equipment required

You need to decide what information you are going to include. Perhaps producing the document in Excel would be most appropriate? (You can manipulate, hide, move, columns then until you have an effective document).

The deadline for all R&P is now 3.30pm on Friday 28th November (the Friday after Progress Day) but remember that many of us are busy on the Wednesday (HP) and there are lessons in the Media Suite periods 1 & 2 on the Friday. Manage your time carefully!

You are scheduled to shoot all your footage during December and, after Christmas, the AS students will have priority booking rights over the equipment, so...get on!

Out of Hours Learning

• Complete the script, storyboard & animatic.
• Update your Blog Monitoring page.
• Update the Learning Targets for Individuals page (list your personal tasks).

Film Terminology Revision

I've added a Film Terminology Revision page to the sidebar. Each term on the page is linked to a short film extract or image. Use the page to develop your use of technical language when discussing your films within your production team.

Lesson 7 - 21st October

In today's lesson you will answer the following questions;

1. What are the costume requirements for our short film?
2. How does these costumes represent our characters?
3. What are the location requirements for our short film?
4. How are these locations linked to the concept of representation?
5. What are the risks associated with filming at these locations?
6. What are the prop requirements for our short film?
7. How are these props linked to the concept of representation?

You should research and present your research for costume, locations and props in the same way as you did at AS Level. You should also complete and post a formal risk assessment (there are many models available). See the Blog Monitoring document for a summary of what should be posted. Once the research is presented, I should see the following formal documents presented too (embedded via Scribd so that they are standalone documents which could be printed for use on location);

• Costume Plot (Scene / Shot, Character, Costume)
• Props List (Scene / Shot, Character, Prop)
• Location Plot (Scene, Description of Need, Identify Found Location, Permission Required Y/N)

Out of Hours Learning

• Update your Lesson Targets for Individuals document.
• Complete costume, prop, location & risk assessment posts.
• Update your Monitoring Blog Progress document.

Media Suite Supervision

Don't forget to email me if you are available to supervise Yr10 media students at lunchtime. Just let me know when, and how often, you are available. I'll happily take folk in pairs too if you're lacking a little confidence!

Thanks

Mr Hood

Link to Learning Schedule

You can download the Excel document here.

Keeping On Top Of Things!

The following students need to update their Individual Lesson Target document;

• Tilly
• Dan S
• Charlotte S
• Charlotte B
• Jack

I would also describe the following students as 'behind with their blogging' (according to the Blog Monitoring document);

• Dan V
• Tilly
• Dan S
• Charlotte S

Please address these issues. If you fall behind too far behind, it will be difficult to catch up. It also impacts on the 'time management' criteria.

Lesson 6 - 14th October

In today's lesson you will answer the following questions;

1. What is our target audience? What evidence do we have to support this statement?
2. What is the narrative for our short film? (Treatment production)
3. What is the name of our production team?
4. How does this name represent our values and ethos?
5. How could this name and these values be represented visually?
6. What is my role within the production team?
7. What are our short, medium and long term targets/goals/deadlines?

To answer question 1, I would like to see a statement identifying your target audience and then some evidence from real media products that supports this statement. Perhaps some historic audience data from a product that is similar to yours in some way would be appropriate? What about advertising target audience data from Pearl & Dean? The similarity you identify could be linked to your narrative, character types, setting, genre, etc.

The narrative for your film (question 2) should be presented in the form of a film treatment. You may have produced a draft treatment before your commissioning interview and now revised it to include some new elements. Your treatment should be posted as an embedded Scribd document.

Questions 3,4 & 5 relate to your production team. Consider a name that represents your production values. How does your production team name help to market you as business? You then need to consider how this can be represented visually in your ident. You can chose an animated ident or a more simple static image (constructed using PhotoShop). At this stage I would expect to see some draft models, perhaps sketched in pencil and scanned. At some point though, you'll have to settle on a final design and construct your ident using the appropriate software. Who is the person with those skills within your team?

To answer questions 6 & 7 you need to produce and post some kind of planning document. I know Tina's group have used our Learning Schedule document as a basis of their plan. Why not 'steal' the learning schedule, remove some unnecessary columns and add a new one identifying individual responsibilities for specific tasks (with deadlines)? There are many other ways of addressing these questions too; the choice is yours. 

Tina, Tilly, Robbie & Dan

You have to pitch your film to me again this lesson. Consider how you are going to realise each of the scenes/shots you pitched last week. Also, I need convincing that your costumes & locations will look authentic. Perhaps some photos would convince me?

Out of Hours Learning

• Update your individual target setting document.
• Update your individual blog monitoring document.
• Publish the posts identified in the learning schedule.

Short Film Interviews

Your films from this morning are now posted on the Exhibition of Students' Work page. Copy the embed code and paste onto your own blogs.

A Favour

If any of you are free period 2 on Thursday, my GCSE class are filming a task similar to the AS Level Preliminary Task and I would appreciate some help. If I was able to assign a Sixth Form Advisor to each small GCSE group in that lesson, it would help them (and me) tremendously. Let me know if you are available and willing. Thanks.

If I get enough helpers, I will definitely publish the Dan/Beyonce evidence!

Lesson 5 - 7th Oct

In today's lesson you will answer the following questions;

1. Why does Dan model himself on Beyonce and where's the evidence?
2. Can we, as a production team, present a coherent short film pitch that we can defend, under scrutiny, that leads to the formal commissioning of our film?
3. Can we, as a production team, construct a workflow schedule that will enable us to meet the published deadlines? Can we identify key interim events and accountability measures that will ensure goals are met and that everyone contributes equally?

Ok, enough spoon-feeding! This is where you have to start to demonstrate effective time management. You have several tools to help you; the learning schedule, the monitoring of blog progress document and the learning targets for individuals document. You can use these documents to manage your production team in the following way;

Learning Schedule : Identifies interim deadlines, key events and suggests weekly blogging tasks that must be completed to 'keep on top of things'.
Monitoring of Blog Progress Document : Will identify the type and content of evidence required in the order that it is likely to be required; almost suggesting a logical workflow!
Learning Targets For Individuals Document : Allows you to identify individual roles and responsibilities with weekly deadlines for specific tasks allocated to individuals (like a 'to do' list).

You should also establish a weekly review procedure that holds individuals to account. Have they done what they said they were going to do? Consider how you are going to communicate as a team between lessons; it is the key to success. Of course, there will also be periodic Peer Satisfaction Rating exercises so that I have more evidence when allocating final marks.

Ok. See you at Christmas! ...only joking!

During this lesson your production team will be called to my office to present your final short film pitch. At the end of your pitch I will scrutinise your plans to negotiate the potential barriers that I have identified. Your film will only be commissioned if you are able to defend your idea by presenting realistic and achievable solutions to the potential issues I have identified. At the end of the session, there will be one of two responses...

"Film Commissioned" - You can audition actors, book equipment, book Media Suite time, etc.

"Film Not Commissioned" - You need to give some aspects of your plans further consideration and we need a further conversation next week. You can continue to blog and plan, but you can't audition actors or book filming equipment until you have resolved the issues I have identified.

The pitch and the scrutiny exercise will be filmed so that you can post it on your blog.


Out of Hours Learning

• Complete the tasks identified in your own workflow schedule.
• Publish the appropriate blog posts (identified by your production team).
• Identify completed posts in the monitoring blog progress document so that I know that you want me to review them.
• Complete the Individual Target Setting document, assessing progress towards meeting individuals targets and completing tasks assigned to you. 
• If necessary, address the issues identified in the commissioning interview under scrutiny in preparation for another team interview next week.