Pre Production Paperwork

This is an introduction to the paperwork that you need for your planning. Depending on your production, not all of it will be needed for your pre production folder. Download the checklist and make sure you have filled out all the planning you need to do.

The best thing to do is to collect the paperwork you feel most comfortable with. here I have presented the ones I like, in a logical order. If you make a model now, you will find it easier to plan later.

Production Check list – you may need to adapt this to what you need, the purpose is to make sure you have thought of everything.

The Pitch

You have a Brief to create a short promotional film for the college, preferably one that could go viral. So, next you need to…

Well, so your research. Sorry.

Find examples of Viral films; What is a viral film? What is the definition? Well, and film that is mainly transmitted by people recommending it to each other, and a lot of people are emailing it, could be going Viral. Luckily, the Guardian have plenty of examples in their weekly Viral Top 10.

So, having looked at examples, you should have an idea of what connects them  – the conventions – and what they are saying – The Codes. You may start to have some ideas forming in your head.

Again, do you research! will you idea work? how can you shoot it? How can you change it so you can get it shot? keep this information – it will form part of a pre production report.

Then you can prepare to pitch your idea. A pitch is a verbal sell of your idea – make it punchy, hit home and capture your audience within the first 30 seconds, and keep it to 3 minutes long. Any questions left in the audience’s head (“how are you going to stage a Zombie invasion?”) can then be answered based on your pre production report.

So, you have a few days to research before you need to pitch your idea after half term. Better get going!

And a few ideas to get you moving…

 

 

 

Viral Film Brief

What is a viral film?
A viral film is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites and email. Humour is often a characteristic of viral films, but not a defining one. A viral film is passed electronically, from person to person, regardless of its content.
Can you dream up a College viral that will capture loads of hits? The College Marketing Team is looking for a fresh viral idea that plays out in 30 – 90 seconds which entertains, informs, amuses and gets passed on because of its creative uniqueness!

Your viral film must relate to the College; being or becoming a student at the College, student life etc. Examples of themes include:

• A day in the life of…
• Things that scared you about starting College
•  Why you came to the College

Although the ultimate aim of the film is to promote the College it should not be a straight up promotional film but one that engages the audience in something that they can relate to.

Evidence

As part of the project you need to evidence the reasoning behind your final film with at least two interviews – this may include a member of staff, current College student, school pupil or parent. You should use these interviews to inform your planning and be able to provide evidence of these interviews either through a video/ sound recording or transcript.

Pitch
You will be required to pitch your initial ideas to the College Marketing Team, who will feedback and help you to develop your initial ideas. The team is happy to work with you and can provide you with additional information, logos etc. Your contact will be Holly Mees and you can get in touch via email at meesh@bridgwater.ac.uk. Use this contact to help progress your ideas, this is your client and you need to ensure that you meet your client’s needs.

Ensuring your content is appropriate
The final product must be appropriate for College use and will require you to use common sense i.e. no foul language or irresponsible actions and must not promote any actions that contradict the College’s Code of Conduct. Serious action will be taken for any films created that contradict any of these guidelines or are uploaded to any video sharing site against the wishes of the Marketing Team and/or your teachers. If you have any queries about the appropriateness of your content please speak to you teachers or use the contact above.

Securing the contract
The deadline for final submission is Friday 9th November at 3.30pm. On this date the films will be uploaded to the College’s You Tube channel. The films will be judged on two levels and there will be two main prizes awarded. One film will win based on the number of Facebook Likes, the other will be awarded the best film by a panel of judges. It is possible that one film could win both prizes. There will be a number of additional prizes awarded to students for their input.

GOOD LUCK!

Sound Design

Once you have listened to the original sequence that you based your swede on, you should have noticed the sheer amount of sounds that go into a sound design.

You next job is to make your own design for your swede.

You will replace all the sounds in the sequence – re record the dialogue (ADR), make the movement believable, add new music, add background sound that identifies the location, add any other effects that are necessary to make the world realistic and believable.

Your starting point will be to IGNORE YOUR ANALYSIS. Start afresh. Get your screen grabs / shot images onto a sound tracking sheet, watch your sequence and make notes about what sounds you need to make the sequence work.

Sound Tracking Sheet.docx

These tracking sheets will serve 2 purposes – firstly, give you a list of what sounds you need to source. This can be by recording them or finding royalty free sounds. Secondly, it tells you where you need to put them in the mix and enable you to keep them organised (although we will talk about deliverables later)

Remember – you are not recreating what you recorded, you are making a believable world – creating a diagesis. So you need to consider what the audience needs to hear to know what is going on within the scene. You can pull an audience into the film really effectively, you need to draw their attention to specific sounds that are relevant to the story. But you need to balance this up with creating a realistic sound environment. As Jonathan Nex says;

And if you want to take the film to the audience – broaden the sound field, if you want to take the audience to the film, narrow it.

So, What do you need to do?

• Design a soundtrack for your Sweded Scene.
  
• Write up a script and annotate it (You should have this form filming)
  
• Make a timeline / track sheet of sounds to be recorded (paper or digital)
  
• Make a recording schedule (record Next week!)
  
• Plan for a minimum of 3 recorded tracks
• Describe where you will obtain all the components from –

·       Copyright
·       Equipment to be used
·       Source
·       Location of recording

And just in case you want to do it digitally –

Sound Tracking Sheet.pdf

Sound Analysis

We want you to analyse the sounds in the sequence that you created the Swede for.

So, you have a storyboard made up of shots from the sequence. For each shot, you need to identify and classify the sounds into:-

• Foley
• Dialogue
• Sound Effects
• Ambient
• Music

First it is a good idea to define each type of sound – put this into a post. Then, for each shot paste in the image for it, and describe what you can hear in the shot. What are the sounds? Are the sounds Diagetic or non-diagetic? What do the sounds sound like?

As an extra, try to explain what these sounds communicate to the audience – are they communicating an emotion? Representing a character? Just making it realistic? Focussing the audience on a specific action?

You should end up with a Storyboard on your blog  that just identifies all the sounds in the sequence.

PASSport Week 2: Individual Edit and Blog

You have shot as a group, shared the fooatge, and now you need to complete your personal edit.

We will be doing an “Active Sesison”. This means that we have a targets set, and you complete them. But we have lots of different skill levels and speeds of working, so everyone will have slightly different targets. We will meet in the class, and set these as a group.

• What you have done so far
• What has gone well
• What problems you have had
• What you still need to do
• Where you need to do it
• What equipment you need

You will need to be specific, but simple. So, no generalisations – “I need to finish it” – but you don’t need too much detail. Just a simple “I have half of it edited, I need to add the next 3 scenes in and then check it. Then I can start on the evaluation”

You will need to do a short video evaluation of what you have done – so get screen grabs, make notes and remember how you have done it! You can then do a directors commentary about the process, or even a screen recording talking through how you edited the sequence.

PASSport Week 2: Get Sweded!

By now you should have chosen your film in your group, and completed your Pre production.

You need to have your own plan; you need to prove you can script, storyboard and shotlist yourself. And get these uploaded to your blog!

So, today you will need to show your planning, and once you have it all – get shooting! We need to see you working in groups, being productive and getting your sweded scene done!

Get your equipment and film.

When you edit, you will need to capture and save your footage to the Media Drive – make sure one of the Tutors helps you, and don’t log off unitl you have copied it over.

You will need to have your own, individual edit ready for 3.30 on Friday.