5 DAYS TO HALF TERM! FILMING MUST BE COMPLETED BY MONDAY NOVEMBER 3RD!

You should have FULLY COMPLETED PLANNING by now, as this deadline passed over a week ago! If this is still ongoing, you need to work EXCEPTIONALLY HARD AND EFFICIENTLY over this week, to finish planning and start FILMING.

CHECK THE PLANNING LIST OF TASKS CAREFULLY - IF THERE ARE PIECES MISSING, YOU WILL ALL LOSE MARKS.

You are expected to find time to plan and film this week. A college day starts at 8.45 and ends at 3.45. If you normally come in late, or finish early, you need to re-assess this and prioritise college work to complete. We expect everyone to spend at least 3-4 hours each per week on this subject. Paid work is not an excuse for missing a deadline.

YOUR FILMING DEADLINE HAS ALREADY BEEN EXTENDED, AND MUST BE MET.

OVER HALF TERM, YOU WILL ALL NEED TO MEET TO FILM.

ADVANCE NOTICE - HOW TO ARRANGE TO FILM IN LESSONS

You will only be permitted to start filming when either myself or Andrew has signed off your completed planning. All planning stages must be completed before filming, unless there is a valid reason for delaying that has been agreed by us.

This is only possible once we are convinced that you have planned sufficiently well.  If you have a double period or the One and a Half Hour period, you may be able to extend this into lunch, break or study periods and thereby make a very lengthy filming session.  

If you intend to do this, you must get permission from  Andrew and myself- speak to us and send us an e mail explaining where you will be filming with a contact number.  


You cannot miss other subject lessons to do filming

A REMINDER OF THE CHECKLIST OF JOBS TO DO BY FRIDAY

Pre-Production Checklist – tick off tasks as you complete them

Have you created posts on all the following?	Done
Allocate pre-production roles in the group: location scout; prop ‘buyer’; storyboard artist/s; animatics director; sound designer; lighting designer; screenwriter; camera operator/s; costume, hair and make-up designer and ‘buyer’;
Any ideas that were rejected and why.
Group writes synopsis of short film – about 200 words posted to blog
Apply Genre to final idea – single genre? Hybrid? Or resist genre category? Will you use established film styles – eg Social Realism or ‘Noir’?  Decisions to blog with justification and links to similar real texts if possible (these may be feature length films)
Apply Representation to final idea – initial ideas about representation of social groups, places and ideas or issues covered by your story.  Make links to real texts
Apply Audience to final idea– initial ideas about your expected audience – by age, gender and social class. Link to expected viewing platforms for your film (where would it be screened ideally?).  Make links to real texts.
Apply Narrative to final idea – initial ideas about the structure of the story – linear? Non-linear? Circular? Use narrative theory here – Todorov; Levi-Strauss; Vogler etc.  Make links to real texts.
Apply Media Language to final idea – initial ideas about film techniques you’d like to use and examples or suggestions. Make links to real texts.
Script for dialogue
Storyboard Animatic One - CORRECT TIMINGS - should last 5 mins
Storyboard Animatic Two with commentary (any length necessary) - OR group film commentary on key shots or scenes, perhaps as inserts in film - again, this can be any length
Evidence of location research – rejections and final decisions with explanations.
Evidence of location permission (where required)
Health and Safety considerations – locations and roles.
Evidence of research and planning into Costume, Make up, Hair and Props
Organization of actors
Lighting decisions
Sound design – initial ideas about sound – soundtrack, foleys, ambient and dialogue. What needs to be organized and what are the likely issues in locations.
Shooting schedule – plans for the shoot
Evidence of experimenting with any new or complex techniques
Audience feedback – evidence that you have consulted on ideas and taken feedback into consideration.

YOU ARE NOW IN THE PLANNING STAGE - KEEP ON WITH RESEARCHING TOO!

Here's a reminder of what you need to be getting on with during the next 2 weeks. Keep using the checklist in your booklet to stay on track.

Deadline Two: Ongoing Research and Pre-Production Planning (refer to pages 7-8 of booklet)

- Ongoing Research into other short films following same structure as in deadline one.

- Pre Production Planning - Use the checklist on Page 8 and the advice on Page 7 of your booklet to document all aspects of this:- Roles, ideas rejected, Application of MRANG, synopsis of story, detail of plot on animatics (2), script, written permissions, location research, Health and safety, Costume, Hair, makeup and props for characterization, organization of actors, lighting, sound, experimentation.

-  audience feedback on story ideas, proposed characters and scenes (can be gathered and presented through social networking sites), with comments posted

- notes, images, links on initial research into short film promotion (advertising, reviews)

Friday October 10th, midnight

DON'T FORGET!

DON'T FORGET THAT THERE IS A LIST OF TARGETS FOR FRIDAY!
Some people are forgetting that analyses need to be made relevant to the emergence of your creative ideas - this means evaluating the film you are analysing, and stating what you think could be taken forward to your own emerging ideas (eg genre use? film language use and particular techniques used? narrative ideas?).
You could organise this as "Techniques and ideas we could use or adapt", and "Things that didn't work for me". Don't forget to explain your reasons.

WHAT TO POST BY THE DEADLINE ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH

Entangled | Short Cuts Canada | TIFF 2014 from TIFF on Vimeo.

Deadline One: Initial Research (refer to pages 4-6 of booklet)

- Your initial summer research on short films should be returned to and you should have acted upon comments made.

- Each group member to post research into a further 5 – 7 short films.  Remember to apply MRANG to each film.  See page 5-6 of booklet for guidance.

- Comment on aspects of the films you find successful or interesting, and suggest elements of these films that could inspire your group’s work.

- Complete a separate posting on titles and credits and document similarities and differences here and any initial ideas that you have - consider how the title works to intrigue the audience - can you account for the choice? Consider and explain the choice of font, colour, placement of title in the film itself (at start? after film starts?)

- Suggest audience profile for each, commenting on what may be learned by where the film was found (eg Youtube? Virgin Media? vimeo etc)

- Think about structure, format (multi-media) and variety of posts

- Clearly label each post with your Name, a title of “Initial research into Short Films” and then follow the advice at the bottom of page 4.

Friday September 26^th midnight.

SHORT FILM EXAMPLES

I'll be posting some more ideas of where to go to look for short film research inspiration. Here is a link to vime 'SHORT CUTS' - the new short film strand on vimeo.

Burnt Grass | Short Cuts Canada | TIFF 2014 from TIFF on Vimeo.