CIM312 FILM
Sydney
Sydney
Basic agreement and goals of the Module: Study Hours, Expectations, Learning Outcomes, Transferable Skills, Projects, Grading Criteria and Assessment.
See Campus Online
See Campus Online > This module > Sydney
10mins duration.
An engaging story including a character arc, with a setup, a conflict to be solved, and a resolution. Stories must be realizable with available resources. Major projects must be a valuable asset for all crew and a significant target audience, not the indulgence of a single crew member, e.g. the writer or director. Storytelling is the goal. You must create a viable storytelling product, identifiable in relation to competitors and genre, which will be distributed to a proven target market and audience, with an understandable cultural context and screen language. Greenlit projects are expected to plan for, investigate, and apply to festivals and awards programs.
The films to be greenlit for pre-production support are evaluated by the mentors, with input and comment by the cohort of film students. Not everyone has to pitch an idea. Students may form groups to workshop ideas and pitch as a group. The number of projects approved depends on the number of students enrolled in the module - for projects hosted in the Film discipline, we look for a minimum of 5 crew per team. This means a cohort of 15 students can make a maximum of 3 films - 2 well-crewed films is better than 3 poorly-crewed films. You must be proactive, recruit team members, and apply to work on teams.
Getting and maintaining green light status for pre- and production means regularly meeting key milestone deadlines, with deliverables and processes adhering to quality standards and scope limits. Greenlight is a binding agreement.
Budget & Fundraising is up to each team. The film’s brand includes the SAE brand, so all fundraising and events must be respectful, legal, and safe.
See Content Guidelines - you must provide Content Warnings for any content that may be confronting to anyone.
See: Team Project Essential Deliverables
Examples: Music Videos, Games, Multimedia Projects.
You are required to create our discipline's Essential Deliverables, to suit the project, whether or not the external team has a different way of doing things. For example,
If the other discipline doesn't do any part of our deliverables, you are expected to do the work. This includes complete Bible, Storyboard, Pre-Production Edit, and Pre-Production Audio, this trimester, thank you.
If the other discipline doesn't have a producer and/or a director skilled in directing our discipline, you are expected to provide the producer and/or director, as needed for our discipline's part of the project.
Screen duration will be limited by team size. Please kindly work with at least two other students, in our discipline. Working solo is discouraged.
The Film: Project Scope Guidelines still apply, e.g. your screentime duration. Your workload will be the same. You will be graded as a student of our discipline.
You are asked to respect the standards of the external discipline.
See the Audio Department's specific requirements for collaboration and green-light conditions, during pre-production. Please follow them.
This is your first assessable project,
Due at the beginning, middle and end of the trimester, shared and published.
Submit your published link in Campus Online > Module > Assessments/Projects > Learning Journal.
Journals submitted after Week 3 will be graded as overdue.
See Student Setup
Set up your
GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER
STUDENT JOURNAL
PITCH PACKAGE
Use a computer. Sign out of any personal Google accounts, and only use your SAE student Google account.
Create a Major Projects GDrive folder for your own material, and for any group project you're organizing.
Edit the student GSite that contains all your previous SAE work.
In your student GSite, create your Journal page for this trimester-module.
Share (or options > Share) >
Share with People and Groups >
austudent@student.sae.edu.au (SAE Students)
moderation_au@sae.edu (SAE Academic Staff)
Access type – Viewer
Alternatively, you can set Viewer permissions to
Anyone with the Link (Easiest)
Every class / mentor meeting:
Sign in, open your Journal editor, and take notes.
Publish some content.
What to show:
Progress of any kind
WIPs - inserted or embedded media evidence, Gdrive folder, screenshots,
Highs, lows, achievements. Activity days/hours.
Constructive self-critique on at least one or two of the Learning Outcomes and Transferable Skills from the Module Guide. Select one or two that feel appropriate for your recent weekly activity. Focus mainly on your own responsibilities. For example:
I used a lot of communication and collaboration skills this week, and resolved a conflict. I improved my pre-production documentation, testing and visualization.
Your fellow colleagues' work: constructive feedback and critique.
Peer/Team feedback, Mentor feedback, and learning discussions. Feedback response, and WIP versions.
Creative discussions, negotiations, resolutions and agreements.
Example Journals:
Michelle Jasan, Journal (Film)
Anita Hampson, Journal (Film)
Bianca Sappey, Journal (Film)
Aidan Parkes, Journal (Film)
Alexander Robinson, Journal (Film/Animation)
All Students: join this module's group forum.
See your email for a link to your current trimester-module forum.
If the invite is expired, email the module coordinators for a fresh one.
Make sure to update your nickname so it is clear who you are and what discipline you are in.
All students, please be active in the forum.
From Week 1, use the forum to introduce yourselves, your strengths and interests, and your project ideas. This is also important for students who don't attend Week 1.
View other student's pitches in the forum. Be constructive. Comment on the pitches in your Journal with warm and cool feedback, and be prepared to offer feedback, when asked. Consider your proposed roles on multiple pitches, and record this in your Journal.
After greenlight, enroll in project groups to communicate with your teams. Please check in and communicate regularly with your teams, even if you can't attend something, and give notice of any lateness for anything.
Team Leads:
During pitching, share the link to your Pitch Package Page with everyone in the cohort via the forum.
After greenlight, create a forum group for your project and ensure all team members enroll in it. Pin a welcome message, with a link to the director's / producer's Production Project Page, so crew can easily find it.
GDrive: create a folder named for the proposed project, and bundle all pitch materials together.
Embed all pitch materials as tiles into a pitch page in your student GSite,
Publish and share the page link with our module cohort via group forum (e.g. Discord) and in the class spreadsheet provided.
Example student pitch packages/pages:
Anita Hampson, Follow Suit (Film)
Alexander Robinson, Kaiya (Film/Animation)
Joseph McGuire, Cat Magic (Animation) (warning: contains permission errors)
Ginny Wu, Water Cycle (Animation) Pitch, Bible, Animatic/Previz
A Title, and a Logline.
A 1-minute "elevator pitch" synopsis, written and verbally presented. This is also a great way to keep yourself focused on the essence of the story. Make it interesting.
A slide deck presentation of reference, for the characters, look, lighting, acting, style, and sound.
Beat Outline, Treatment, and Script.
Genre, medium, duration.
Proposed Team (names of people who are already attached), as well as Crew Needed.
A Director and a Producer (Above The Line) are needed first.
Heads Of Departments (H.O.D.) are needed next.
Proposed teams already attached are a major selling point of the pitch.
A 5-minute formal pitch, presented by the team lead(s) and proposed crew, with 5 minutes for discussion after each pitch.
Requirements are strict. Material too far from requirements when the formal pitch is due will not be accepted for formal pitching, or reviewed for feedback. We reserve the right to hear, read, and sponsor only sales pitches that meet our requirements, that we have time to review, and that we are interested in.
Please have your pitch packages ready and rehearsed, for spoken/visual presentation in class, or pre-recorded video presentation if you prefer.
We'd like all pitches to be complete by Week 3. Please address all feedback. We want greenlight status confirmed by Week 4, please.
Rehearse and prepare to present your pitch
to the entire Major Projects cohort,
to your discipline/class, and/or
as a guest, to another discipline's class,
multiple times, with revisions.
Please pitch as a team, as soon as it is possible to do so.
Relax, introduce yourself, breathe, speak loudly and clearly from your belly.
As well as the Pitch Package requirements, above, there are many other factors which contribute to the assessment of a pitch, such as the story, the quality of the creative content, quality of the source / reference material, variety of content, inclusivity, workload distribution, popularity with students, potential for festivals/awards, and many other factors. Some pitches may be ready more quickly than others, have better quality material, be more popular, or have stronger teams attached, so they will be preferred.
You must prepare yourself to handle rejection of any sales pitch.
With large numbers of pitches, not all will be accepted for a formal pitch presentation and review. It depends on time available.
All relationships are voluntary. Major Projects students network and organize themselves.
You must follow the Pre-Greenlight Workload instructions on securing roles. You must network, and advertise your strengths, interests, and portfolio in your Journal, on time, or they won't be considered.
Brainstorming and Development - suggested exercises.
Brainstorming with a team is strongly recommended. There may be some in-class development and brainstorming if time permits and if projects need it. Otherwise it's up to students to be proactive and form teams. Team leads, please invite feedback from prospective and attached team members.
In free-form brainstorming, all ideas are okay.
Use improvisation techniques, "yes, and...", and act out your ideas physically.
Use a high ratio of positive feedback to critical feedback. Be specific.
Start with a character with personality attributes. What is their most fundamental motivation/goal (the character’s super-objective in a story?)
Choose or create another character with conflicting goals.
What does character A want to do to character B to get what they want? What does B want to do to A?
Create a story from this, with a setup, a conflict, and a resolution. Ensure you can tell the story in one or two sentences. Include a character arc.
Find a way to introduce a random idea into the story. Use online random word generators, to create phrases. No matter how unrelated an idea is, integrate it. There is also a game app called Story Cubes.
Add character details and sensory attributes:
Tag characters with shapes, colors, sounds, textures, scents, or animal images e.g. Tom moves like an arrow, Mary's color is red, Bruce is a square, Veronica sounds like a bell, Lester is smooth, Kirk smells like oranges, Brody is like a horse.
When brainstorming, be liberal and allow any idea to be okay. Afterwards, you can edit.
Tasks & Workload for ALL STUDENTS
Contribute to development. Yes, this means YOU, even if you are not pitching.
View other student's pitches in class, or in the group forum (e.g. Discord). Offer feedback. Mentors and team leads are expected to listen to your feedback. Comment on the pitches in your Journal with warm and cool feedback, and be constructive.
If you do not provide information in your Journal on time, your feedback on pitches will not be taken into consideration.
Participate in supporting and/or developing a colleague's pitch, for example by brainstorming as a team, by writing or contributing creative material to their pitch package, and by signing up for a role. Signing up to a project is a vote for that project.
Pitch a proposed project idea, take feedback and develop it further.
Develop a Pitch Package, a Team, and a Script. See Pitch Package requirements.
Plan and Fill your Workload, and secure Roles.
Please develop your proposed roles for multiple projects (3 maximum), for different greenlight outcomes:
Plan A
Plan B
Plan C
In your Journal, please advertise your current skill sets, and insert media evidence. Use your Journal as a portfolio. Announce your availability in class, and in the group forum (e.g. Discord).
Major Projects students are expected to be skilled, and to take on roles within their capabilities.
Seek roles by applying to the proposed team leads of pitches, and selling your skills, so that you have multiple options, and also so that proposed teams can be a selling point of the pitch. This must be voluntary and pro-active.
You must plan your workload for all of this trimester, the break, and next trimester of Major Projects.
Please insert a link to the director's pitch page of any project you are approaching, into your Journal.
Major Projects students organize themselves. You must prepare yourself to accept that people may or may not be interested in working with you. It is up to you to sell your strengths and interests, sell your vision and skills, draw attention to yourself, network and form connections. We may advise you, and ask you to do certain roles, but we will not intervene. All relationships are voluntary.
If you do not provide information in your Journal on time, your strengths and interests will not be taken into consideration.
You must get yourself attached to strong, reasonably popular pitches, and showcase your Journal, so that students will be interested in recruiting you. We cannot help you advertise your strengths and interests, or help you find an interesting role, unless you communicate your strengths and interests to the student body.
If time is available, and depending on the number of students, we may have in-class group exercises to share your Journals, and discuss your strengths and interests, to facilitate networking. Please contribute, so we can ensure all students have full workload assignments, and all projects are fully crewed.
We do not guarantee you will have a senior role on any team, because we do not provide a degree in Directing, Producing, or any Head Of Department role. Senior roles cannot be purchased for the price of an undergraduate degree. Institutions typically offer either 2-year, 3-year, or 4-year Bachelor programs in general filmmaking, not in senior roles. To guarantee you will be educated for a senior role, you must be accepted into a Post Graduate or a Masters Degree program. For example, a student who completes a 2 or 3 year Bachelor program in Medical Science does not pop out of college and say "I'm a Doctor."
To consider roles, and get ideas for tasks you can help with, you may
Use the Production Tracker (search this page to find it),
For Pre-Production, offer to contribute elements of the Bible, Storyboard/Animatic, Fundraising/Events, BTS/Marketing, Catering, Pre-Production Temporary Audio/Music, Schedule/Tasker, Production Design, Props, Set/Prop Construction, Cinematography / Lighting Plan with Set diagrams / layouts, Location Scouting, Casting, Hiring Professionals e.g. Stunt Co-Ordinators, Color Key Reference, Lighting Reference, Acting Reference, Sizzle Reel footage, FX reference, VFX Previz, Live Action Previz, etc.
Offer anything of value to the project
Rating, market viability, warnings.
Research and learn the industry guidelines for the content rating of your project, for it's medium, it's target market and demographics. Examples: G, PG, TVPG, M.
A simple content advice notice is required for coarse language / explicit lyrics, violence, animated fantasy violence, and mild sexual references.
Examine similar, competing works within your genre, and learn the needs of your proposed target audience. Your project must be viable within a market.
Let's be aware of each other's diverse needs. As creators in a university setting, we address a wide range of subjects, including challenging and sensitive subjects.
If you are going to present material that might be confronting, have extreme or mature content, please give a trigger warning. See suggestions from Oxford Student Union.
For serious mental health subjects, please also include mental health resource information, in your pitches, introductions and credits:
Lifeline 24/7 Crisis Support Tel. 13 11 14
All projects require an on-set Safety Plan, managed by Producer and 1st AD.
Sets/locations must be safe work environments, compliant with:
Employing children / minors requires the Production to follow the procedures described here in the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian Guidelines for Student Employers. In summary, you must
Thoroughly read the guidelines, understand and follow all of them.
Develop a Code of Conduct distributed to the team, and ensure it is read and understood.
Obtain a permit for the period covering casting, wardrobe, rehearsals, pre-production recording, filming, post-production recording, and publicity.
Have a dedicated Supervisor for the children, at all times. This must be a parent, a parent nominee (in writing), or an adult with childcare qualifications depending on the child's age, and a WWC check.
Any risky action, extreme sports, violence, combat, falls, or accidents require an experienced, professional Stunt Coordinator for rehearsals and on-set.
Inform all local neighbors, traffic and passers-by that filming is taking place. Post ushers at your shoot perimeter in public places to engage with curious people. You may obtain private security if necessary. You may obtain an estimate of the cost to pay for NSW Police to attend and protect the perimeter of your film shoot from traffic and passers-by, if necessary.
Weapons of any kind require constant supervision by an experienced professional Armourer (weapons safety officer). All weapons must be fake replicas. Prohibited weapons and firearms require extra safety measures; no firing of blanks. If you want to know why, search for Gold Coast Stuntman Killed by Blanks. Use of fake/replica firearms requires you to attach a licensed Theatrical/Film Armourer to the pitch, and hire them. You must obtain an estimate of costs before greenlight, and a guarantor of payment. If you can demonstrate a strong story need to show gunfire on screen, your actors must convey the kick of a gun being fired, and you need to prove you have a skilled VFX student/artist attached to your project who can do camera tracking, flash and smoke in post production. Regardless if the weapons are fake/replicas, you must also obtain a Theatrical Firearms Permit from NSW Police, you must ensure the local police station at your location is informed, and you must obtain written permission from the location owner. You must inform all local neighbors, traffic and passers-by that actors will be wielding fake weapons, otherwise someone WILL call the cops. For exterior scenes, obtain an estimate of the cost to pay for NSW Police to attend and protect your film shoot perimeter. Interior scenes are easier: an option is to use cardboard cut-out firearms. For exterior scenes, even cardboard can deceive an average person from a distance, and result in a distress call to law enforcement, panic or accidents. Even a good actor pretending to hold an invisible weapon can frighten the public, and surprised police may quickly open fire on someone who is brandishing a weapon in public (no kidding).
Shadows and off-screen firearms are, naturally, okay, and this is an opportunity to get creative. It's also easy for your Audio person to add gunfire sounds in post.
Animals in rehearsals and on-set require the services of a professional Animal Handler to be attached to the pitch package and hired for the project. See the ScreenSafe guidelines.
Ergonomics, taking appropriate breaks, avoidance of Repetitive Stress Injury, regular pacing of work sessions over time. This is also important for editors, vfx, animation, long sessions at workstations, and crunch times near deadlines. Long periods of holding a specific posture require stretch & movement breaks.
We must all follow the SAE Code of Conduct.
Do not engage in frivolous outrage, personal attacks, or defamation. If you disagree with an idea, inquire into it, or debate it in a civil and respectful manner. If you are having a hard time, seek a support meeting.
Exercise the presumption of innocence, be tolerant, be resilient, respect difference of opinion, liberty and individuality.
We must support one another's well-being.
Stay in regular contact with teammates and mentors.
Book a confidential appointment with the Student Counselor Syeda Rahman s.rahman@sae.edu, or with SAE Counseling Services for support.
21T2 - 21T3
21T1 - 21T2
20T3 - 21T1
20T2 - 20T3
Anita Hampson - “Follow Suit”
Todd Drinkwater - “The Fine Line”
Aidan Parkes - “The Crook, the Brother and the Boss”
Ethan Price - “Song Boy”
Alex Robinson - “Kaiya”
Lautaro Lombardo - “Looking Now”
Bianca Sappey - “Beautiful Hollow”
Chantelle Japardi - “Polaroid”
Nathan Marsh - “Just Trust Me”
Jasmine Lee - “Persona La Ave” Music Video / short film
Directors, Producers: once a project is greenlit
All students: once you're on the team of a greenlit project
In your student GSite. Sharing Audience: Team/Students, SAE Mentors/Moderators
A Student Project Page for the main projects you work on in Major Projects, next to the weekly Journal.
For most students: this is simply each project's Schedule that you're following and the Deliverables (embedded), with your role description(s).
Directors, Producers:
One or both of you maintains the main page for the project. This contains the Pitch, Schedule, Script, Storyboards, Bible, GDrive, Previz, EDIT, Production Docs and key Production Management information, embedded with visual tiles and links to the actual assets, so everything important can be seen quickly by team members, and used.
H.O.D. Supervisors
Contains the main deliverables for your department so team members can quickly find and use them.
Share this page's link with your team. Pin a link in your group forum.
Directors:
Re-use (or duplicate) your pitch page. Rename the TITLE to Project Name Production or something similar.
Please share the link to (a) Production Project Page and (b) GDrive project folder, with your team.
Producers:
Set up page sections for your schedules, task trackers, and all production management information for the team. Share with the team.
Everyone Else:
Anita Hampson, Follow Suit (Film)
Marcus Kennedy, Song Boy (Film)
Alexander Robinson, Kaiya (Film/Animation)
Joseph McGuire, Cat Magic (Animation) (warning: contains permission errors)
Nhu anh thy Huynh (Trish), Scarlet Dance (Animation)
Pre-Production: 9 hours/week per student.
Production and Post-Production: 18 hours/week per student.
Contribute to development and team building. See Pre-Greenlight: Workload
Main Project: Pre-production, Production, and Post-Production Roles.
Secondary Projects: Pre-production, Production, and Post-Production Roles.
Pre-Production requires 9 hours per week, Production and Post requires 18 hours per week, including class time. At minimum, your task schedule must fill these hours. Remember this is your capstone project and deserves your best efforts.
As an example, a "very highly employed" student is someone who has 2 pre-production roles, 1 production role, and 2 post-production roles, on 2 projects. This is 10 roles, a very busy student! A more reasonable "average" expectation is 3 to 4 roles, spread out over your main and secondary projects for 2 trimesters, to fill your hours.
Example Pre-Production Roles (Film):
Producers and 1st ADs organize everthing, supervise the Schedule/Tasker, legals, financials, administration, and safety.
Writers, Designers and Storyboard artists have high pre-production workloads, and may need assistance with specific scenes.
Directors and actors need to rehearse, workshop lines, psychological intentions, emotions, transitions, and physical choices. This should be further developed into storyboards, still photo references or video reference, with assistance needed for reference capture.
DOPs, ACs and Gaffers gather reference for composition and lighting, and plan the types of lights, cameras and lenses to be used. They do set diagrams, planning the positions of cameras, lights, and actors. DOPs typically supervise or prepare the script breakdown into the shotlist, and supervise or prepare the storyboard. Both DOPs and Gaffers work with SPFX artists to prepare for FX scenes.
VFX supervisors, designers and artists will gather reference, do VFX previz, tests, and designs for pre-production. They will work with the team to do the script FX breakdown. They will attend shoots to ensure green screen lighting is correct, take measurements of camera and actor positions, and photograph the lighting. SPFX supervisors and artists will do the same for practical, in-camera special effects, using sets, props, lighting, makeup, costume, etc.
Title and Credit designs need reference, and are designed, tested and pre-visualized in pre-production, included in the Bible, and edited into the Previz.
Sound artists provide reference, temporary music, temporary sound effects, and temporary voice for previz/animatics and the Bible.
Editors provide reference for timing/pacing, and edit the previz/animatics, with temp audio/music.
BTS and Marketing crew contribute to pre-production marketing, by helping to organize fundraising events, interviewing the Director, Cast, and/or Team, showing early elements of key art / Bible, and developing short marketing videos, for pre-production fundraising campaigns.
Other FILM crew: To consider roles, and get ideas for tasks you can help with, you may
Use the Production Tracker (search this page to find it),
For Pre-Production, offer to contribute elements of the Bible, Storyboard/Animatic, Fundraising/Events, BTS/Marketing, Catering, Pre-Production Temporary Audio/Music, Schedule/Tasker, Production Design, Props, Set/Prop Construction, Cinematography / Lighting Plan with Set diagrams / layouts, Location Scouting, Casting, Hiring Professionals e.g. Stunt Co-Ordinators, Color Key Reference, Lighting Reference, Acting Reference, Sizzle Reel footage, FX reference, VFX Previz, Live Action Previz, etc.
Offer anything of value to the project
There is limited flexibility about your workload, depending on your project complexity, role, and types of alternative tasks available. Please discuss, as needed.
Sign a written work agreement with your team. You'll be expected to participate in schedule/tasker meetings and communicate regularly with your Producer, embed your schedule/tasker into your GSite, and follow your schedule/tasker.
Lateness, work quality: if there are valid issues affecting your schedule or workload, please:
Promptly give notice of any lateness, or any issues, to your team leads, and mentors.
Ask for help.
Document issues in your Journal.
Apply for a Special Consideration to modify your grading expectations, such as granting a time extension or a lower workload. Use the form under Campus Online > Module > Welcome, and supply evidence.
To pass the module, you must show your contributions to development / pre-production, with weekly work history and evidence in your student site. Document everything you do in your Journal, write down the hours you spend, take photos and screenshots, save images, and use media evidence. You must regularly engage with your team's schedule, tasks and due dates, and show this in your GSite.
Please go to the Projects, Crews and Roles sheet for this trimester, below, and edit it.
Create a heading row for your project, using the included examples.
Fill all blank cells, starting with your project's page links, director links, and producer links.
All team members listed in the greenlight-approved Pitch must now be entered into the sheet, please.
This is due immediately after greenlight.
You may also insert new rows underneath your projects for more crew.
For any roles that remain unfilled, advertise and recruit in class, via your Pitch page, and via group forums (e.g. Discord). Recruit within this module first, then in modules below, then via other networks after discussing with mentor.
Producers, please set up a detailed Schedule and Task tracker immediately after greenlight. Track all team members' productivity, engagement, and timeliness, as well as each task. Your entire team must be assigned Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production tasks, to fill the workload / hours required by the Module Guides, for the entire two trimesters of Major Projects.
Work Agreements:
Producers must establish a group work contract with all teammates.
All team members must apply professional behavior and contribute equitably to the project.
Examples: see Module Guide, check with mentors
Please go to the Projects, Crews and Roles sheet for this trimester, below, and edit it.
Find the heading row for each of your projects. You may insert a new row underneath for yourself.
Please fill out all information on your Main and Secondary project roles.
Fill all blank cells. Instructions are available in the sheet.
21T2 - 21T3
21T1 - 21T2
20T3 - 21T1
20T2 - 20T3
Name the forum after your greenlit project.
Producer, Directors, and 1st ADs should have admin privileges.
Be supportive and respectful to all team members and recognize their contributions, no matter how small. Adhere to the SAE Code of Conduct. Support your team leads. Accept that some people may have different opinions and tastes to you, including your mentors.
Invite your Mentors
Pin a welcome message, with a link to the Director's or Producer's Production Project Page, so crew can quickly see the Pitch, Schedule, Script, Storyboards, Bible, GDrive, Breakdowns, Production Docs, Previz, and Edits, at a glance.
Ensure all participants of any meeting you host are allowed to screen-share by default, so work, visuals, and audio can be shared and discussed.
Schedule weekly recurring Google Calendar meetings, using student email addresses, with automatic reminders, and a link to the forum.
You may publish the link to your group forum in the Projects & Crews sheet.
Please meet with your fellow producers, and organize the Master Schedule, below. Student Producers edit the Master Schedule. If the current version for this trimester has already been started, use it. Otherwise, nominate one Producer to create it using a new copy of the previous trimester as a template. It must be labeled clearly, stored inside a GDrive folder, and shared using standard permissions (search: Student Setup in this page).
Producers are asked to negotiate any schedule conflicts of Crew or Resources directly with other students. If necessary, your Mentors can mediate on your behalf. Please keep track of crew assignments in the Projects, Teams & Roles sheet and update changes. The biggest issue is to manage people time, more than equipment.
Our main shooting window for Major Projects is the standard 3-week break in-between trimesters, to ensure equipment and rooms are available and do not conflict with classes during trimester. Major Projects have exclusive access to the equipment during this window. While all T5-T6 bachelor students have borrowing privileges, no bookings may interfere with greenlit projects. The Producers of greenlit projects take priority for all bookings.
A shoot duration for a 10-minute film is approximately 4 - 5 days.
For previz, it is approximately 2 days.
Pickup time is 4:00PM, dropoff time is 3:00PM. SAE TECH STORE is not open on weekends during the trimester break.
We prefer 2 simultaneous shoots.
Example 1: Bookings for 2 simultaneous shoots, 8 shoots total:
4pm Fri Week 13 to 3pm Thu Week 14 (6 days)
4pm Thu Week 14 to 3pm Wed Week 15 (6 days)
4pm Wed Week 15 to 3pm Tue Week 16 (6 days)
4pm Tue Week 16 to 3pm Mon Week 01 (6 days)
Example 2: Bookings for 2 simultaneous shoots, 10 shoots total:
4pm Fri Week 13 to 3pm Wed Week 14 (5 days)
4pm Wed Week 14 to 3pm Mon Week 15 (5 days)
4pm Mon Week 15 to 3pm Fri Week 15 (4 days)
4pm Fri Week 15 to 3pm Wed Week 16 (5 days)
4pm Wed Week 16 to 3pm Mon Week 01 (5 days)
The Master Schedule may be modified to represent 4-day / 5-day blocks*, 6-day blocks, or 7-day weeks.
Using Google Calendar is required, to help schedule the shooting blocks.
We strongly prefer 2 simultaneous shoots.
SAE TECH STORE may have enough equipment to schedule 3 simultaneous shoots, in a pinch.
While equipment bookings are an obvious constraint, the bigger constraint is people time. It's the job of the Producers to agree, to carefully book all crew, and shuffle the shoots around, to avoid conflicts of crew scheduling during the same shooting blocks. Just like a camera, a crew member can't be on 2 simultaneous shoots.
We want all live action Major Projects to finish production by Week 1 of the upcoming trimester, so that all projects benefit from a full 3-week Production window of maximum equipment availability, and a full 10 weeks of Post-Production. For re-shoots or additional shooting time, please consider using extra/spare equipment in the main shooting window, or as a last resort, using weekends in the first week of next trimester. We cannot guess class requirements for equipment and rooms before next trimester.
We suggest beginning with projects of contemporary realistic live action genres/styles, requiring less pre-production, and projects which have the potential to be ready sooner. Highly visual fantasy genres/styles, period settings or FX-intensive projects need more pre-production time for design, acquisition, and testing.
Major Project Production is required during the trimester break.
Studios, Edit Suites, Equipment, Wacom tablets, Bookable Rendering Equipment
See SYD TECH STORE and BOOKING SYSTEM
Maximum lead time for bookings is usually 1 month or so.
21T2 - 21T3
21T1 - 21T2
20T3 - 21T1
20T2 -20T3
Weekly activity, work history log, weekly reflections (including 1 or 2 Learning Outcomes or Transferable Skills), mentor/peer feedback, revisions/changes, WIP version media. Journals are graded at beginning, middle and end of trimester. See Student Setup.
Directors, Producers and Department Supervisors: Milestones, and/or latest versions of Essential Deliverables
Publish and share to your team.
All students: Embed some of your team's milestones.
Producers / Assistants: please update with any changes.
All students: Please check your details and workload. Update any changes.
Class is introduced to module pre-production Resources, Roles, Deliverables, and Project Management expectations.
Each team meets with their Team Leads to discuss their Pre-Production Briefing.
Producers - overall project status, project health, scheduling, budgeting, negotiations, business, managing overall team performance and timeliness
Directors - communicating/selling vision, storytelling principles, character arcs, motivation, journey. Referee for team creative brainstorming. Acting examples, style examples, coaxing and nurturing artistic and creative ideation, staging/layout, blocking out acting on stage/set, roughs and early moodboard ref for beatboard/storyboards, color keys, cameras, staging/layouts, and lighting.
DOPs, ACs, and Gaffers - Cinematography, lensing, lighting, layout
1st ADs and Assistant Producers- detail task management, standards/conventions, docs, safety, locations, relations between directors/producers and crews. Coaxing Director/Producer and Team about task status, delegation, reminders and ETAs.
Editors - pacing, timing, style examples, consultation with director, titles and credits,
Audio - pre-production temporary audio/music, production recording, post-production audio, works with editor/director
Production Designers - Color, Texture, Light, Character Styling, Costumes, Sets, Props
Director/DOP/Artist - detailed Storyboard art, and/or photos/images
FX, SPFX, VFX Supers and Artists
Marketing, BTS (pre, pro, and post)
Continuity / Script Supervision
Assistants, team value, and delegation: recognize all members.
All Team: all department's Pre-Production combined into a Bible
All Team: Pre-Production Edit with Previz stills/footage and Animatic stills/footage
Pre-class and Post-class routines
See the Essential Deliverables list.
Producers: All Producers must agree on one Master Schedule for the whole group of projects.
Producers: Create one Detailed Schedule / Tasker for each project. Embed/link in your Project Page. Distribute the link. All team members must embed/link it.
All students: Embed/link Schedules/Trackers in your Project Page. Ensure all your tasks are in it.
A detailed Schedule and Task Tracker is due in Weeks 5 - 7. It is one of the earliest and most important tasks in the Production Tracker, and is also an Essential Deliverable. It is to be updated with every milestone delivery. It is to be prominently displayed and linked in all team materials.
Producers and Assistant Producers are responsible for creating and maintaining Detailed Schedules and Task Trackers, with assistance from 1st ADs. This includes dates, people, Pre, Production and Post. We suggest Producers work on the Schedule, while the Director and creative Crew work on version 1 of the Storyboards, Designs, Bible, Casting actors, workshopping Scripts and Rehearsals, and Previz/Animatics. If it is too difficult to work in parallel, do the Schedule first.
Please kindly use the Production Tracker sheet and Essential Deliverables list on this page, to schedule all requested tasks, and key milestones for the deliverables.
You may use any of these PROJECT MANAGEMENT resources:
Trello. Online (web-hosted) and free. Assign tasks and completion dates to users. Kanban-board style. No Gantt chart. You must share your Trello board for PUBLIC viewing.
Potential for investigation: ClickUp (online), Agantty (software/app), TomsPlanner (online).
SAE Animation Project Management Framework
Shotgun online project management, scheduling and tasking.
Please embed/link schedules/taskers in your Production Project Page and Bible, and pin in the group forum, with a prominent heading, image and link. It should be shared for public viewing.
All tasks must be assigned to individual user accounts (multiple people are okay) with automated reminders of due dates for WIPs. Please regularly track ETAs and completion status.
For all detailed schedules and taskers, tasks should be estimated in days or hours.
Producers, 1st ADs: Please use Google Calendar Events with automatic Reminders for all scheduled crew appointments.
Your entire team must be assigned Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production tasks, to fill the designated workload and hours required by the Module Guides, for the entire two trimesters of Major Projects.
No crew member should expect to pass this module if they are only assigned to production or post-production roles.FILM:
Our main shooting window for Major Projects is in-between trimesters, to ensure equipment and rooms are available and do not conflict with classes during trimester. A desirable shoot duration for a 10-minute film is approximately 4 - 5 days. For previz, it is approximately 2 days. We prefer 2 simultaneous shoots. If necessary, we are informed by the SAE TECH STORE there may be enough equipment to schedule 3 simultaneous shoots. The main task is to carefully schedule your team's people time.
Use the Production Tracker to book all items, including Cast/Crew bookings for acting rehearsals, video reference shoots, studios, equipment, edit suites, render farms, etc. To assist negotiations between projects for equipment, please create a desired Resources and Equipment list and share it in your Production Project Page and Bible.
Assign the task of completing the detailed Shooting Schedule with a due date around Weeks 8 - 10.
Studios, Edit Suites, Equipment, Wacom tablets, Bookable Rendering Equipment
See SYD TECH STORE and BOOKING SYSTEM
Maximum lead time for bookings is usually 1 month or so.
Pre-Class:
5:00-6:00: Compulsory regular class time for all students:
Marking the Roll, Part 1. Please be timely.
Short peer to peer feedback comparing journals
Current class subjects and milestones for all projects and students
6:00-7:15: Group Meetings
Project/Team Groups in breakouts, run by Producers or Directors, or by their nominated representatives.
Role/Discipline group breakouts.
External Unit and Inter-Discipline Class Visits
e.g. Film, Animation, Audio, Games, External Units, meetings, pitches or presentations
We may rotate.
7:15-7:30: Return to Main class for conclusion.
Post-Class:
Update Journals.
1 to 1, special meetings or difficult issues, scheduled as required.
Tasks assigned by your groups
Working on-campus, your team may share a network project folder on the LAN server
Windows > Explorer > \\fs1syd\Students\Public\[Team Project Folder] or
MACOS > Window > Connect To Server > smb://fs1syd/Students/Public/[Team Project Folder]
Team project folder name: MAJOR_PROJECTNAME_21T1
SYNCHRONIZE these two folders, weekly.
\\fs1syd\Students\Public\[Team Project Folder]
GDrive > [Team Project Folder]
All projects require a detailed Audio Plan, included in the Bible.
Audio Plans for FILM:
For typical live action, use mainly temporary audio in your pre-production edit. You are going to sync most of your final audio in post-production.
For music videos, musicals, and sound-driven scenes, you want to record audio in pre-production. Performers must sync to this audio during the shoot. You also want a lot of synchronized, high-quality/final audio in your pre-production edit (animatic and/or previz). Request pre-production audio lock from audio collaborators by Week 10, please.
Audio Plans for ANIMATION, VFX and Motion Graphics:
Higher-quality animation: you want to record audio in pre-production, and you will animate to this audio during production. This also applies to keyframed animation for VFX or motion graphics. You also want synchronized, high-quality/final audio in your pre-production edit (animatic/previz). These are the preferred methods in feature animation and higher budgets. Request pre-production audio lock from collaborators. Animation looks better when it follows sound, and animators can sync to it. You will need to schedule recording session dates in the pre-production trimester and show the dates in your schedule.
Lower-budget animation: use mainly temporary audio in your pre-production edit, and sync most of your final audio in post-production, e.g. with ADR. This is the less-preferred method.
For regular live action and lower-budget animation plans, you are encouraged to synchronize your pre-production edit to the rhythm and emotion of your pre-production temporary audio. Your Audio collaborators will also benefit from following a guide soundtrack.
For high-quality animation and music-video plans, you are required to use rich synchronized audio. It's urgent to get high-quality sound into your edit, and fully synchronize it. Schedule your spotting sessions with Audio students before Week 8, and show the booked dates in your schedule for high-quality recording sessions during pre-production this trimester. See your Production Tracker and Schedule.
Pre-Production Audio is essential, regardless of plan type. The minimum requirement is reference / temporary quality, for all EDITs (previz, animatics) with at least 3 Audio Tracks,
Music (Score)
For temporary music, you may use any source.
For high-quality / final, you must use royalty-free suppliers such as a Production Music supplier, or a Composer.
Sound FX (Sound Design)
For temporary sound effects, you may use any source.
For high-quality / final, you must use royalty-free suppliers such as sound effects libraries, or record Foley in a studio.
Voice
For temporary verbal dialog, you may use the audio from shooting video reference previz. Another fast/easy method, popular for animatics, is for students to use simple headsets to record their own voices directly into Premiere: Voice Over, or into sound software. For temporary non-verbal voice, such as sighs, grunts, hmms, laughter, and walla, you may also use royalty-free suppliers. Please do not use voice synthesizers or AIs, they sound generic, and lack passion.
High-quality / verbal dialog acting must be performed by a trained actor, and recorded by an audio specialist, in pre-production Studio/ADR recording for animation, in production shooting for live action, or in post-production ADR.
Plan, schedule and task all pre-production, production, and post-production sound.
Recordings: Which pre-production recordings can be temp quality? Which ones must be final, and why? What post-production ADR and Foley will be required?
Schedule and Task all collaborative Audio Sessions, including Spotting, Recording and Editing.
Spotting sessions (Director's Audio Brief) must be completely documented. Create detailed notes and list all Voice, Music, and Sound FX (including Atmos) for each scene
Get pre-production audio (reference, temp, or final) for your pre-production edit
Document the source supplier of all audio clips to protect against copyright issues. Royalty-free audio suppliers are okay.
Document any unique audio equipment or software, with tests, requirements and expenses.
Resources (royalty-free or low cost suppliers):
Example: https://freesound.org/home
Example: http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/
Example: https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/
Example: https://www.zapsplat.com/
Example: Search for “royalty-free music” or “production music” and then search within the site for mood/style/keyword required.
High quality: WAV or AIFF, Sample Rate 48KHz, Bit depth 24 or 16
Low - Medium quality: MP3, Sample Rate 48KHz or 44.1KHz, Bit depth 16, Bit Rate 128 - 320 Kbps
High quality: For projects requiring high-quality audio in pre-production i.e. music video, animations. For voice/performance, ask your performers if they have private recording equipment: preferably a condenser mic, or a dynamic mic, with a usb amplifier interface to the performer's local device, running sound software. Even a usb podcasting mic is better than the average built-in mobile device mic. Ask for a quiet room with soft surfaces. You can direct the performer by video chat; do not bother with the low-quality audio stream from the video chat. Ask the performer to send the high-quality audio files after the recording session. For sound design (sfx) and music, audio students may use software on private devices.
Temporary (scratch) quality: For projects that only require temp audio i.e. regular live action, low budget animation. For voice/performance, film students, animation students or audio students can do the audio recording themselves. You may use headsets, earphone mics, built-in mics on mobile devices, or mobile video capture. For sound design (sfx) and music, you may use any source. This is the minimum requirement for the pre-production edit, for all projects.
Directors, Producers, please:
Update the Projects, Crews & Roles sheet.
Update your Project Page and Bible with your Audio Plan, including Pre, Pro, and Post.
A/V TECH RUN and TESTING
All A/V recording and workflows in your plan must be tested, quality checked, proven and approved by mentors.
Producers must schedule these tests.
See A/V Tech Run requirements.
Develop your main characters' personalities, looks, and styles of acting
Character's personality profiles are a typical part of a pre-production Bible - see examples and Resources. Here are some things to consider:
Description of attributes - e.g. background, super-objectives, innermost fears/desires, typical physical behaviors, leading body part, walk, gestures, poses and expressions, animal image (psychological image). Seek examples or templates, and make your own.
Design and/or Reference Images - Color, shape, costume, typical poses, gestures, and expressions.
Video Reference of acting and actions. Use short clips, and be very specific, e.g. be true to the age, personality, and other attributes of the character. Select the specific key shots you'll want reference for.
Audio - Voice characteristics
Schedule Rehearsals and/or do Acting/Improv Exercises to improve your acting language and communication skill.
Capture your own acting reference, for example by shooting video, to further develop reference.
Directors, please prepare these materials with help from your team, so that you can use them when you are casting/auditioning, and/or directing actors, storyboard artists, character designers and/or character animators.
Weekly activity, work history log, weekly reflections (including 1 or 2 Learning Outcomes or Transferable Skills), mentor/peer feedback, revisions/changes, WIP version media. Journals are graded at beginning, middle and end of trimester. See Student Setup.
Directors, Producers and Department Supervisors: Milestones, and/or latest versions of Essential Deliverables
Publish and share to your team.
All students: Embed some of your team's milestones.
Producers / Assistants: please update with any changes.
All students: Please check your details and workload. Update any changes.
Schedule update. Producer consensus, feedback.
Finalize your storytelling principles, character arcs, motivation and journey.
Storyboards
Assemble storyboards, stills, moodboard ref, sizzle, audio, and all pre-production media for the edit.
For a 10-minute film this is approximately 2 days. Yes, really.
Embed WIP Bible in Production Project Page.
1st, 2nd, 3rd versions of Bible. Designs, boards. feedback, change requests.
Casting / Auditions finalized
Directors working with actors, workshopping the psychological emotions/intentions, physical choices, transitions. Rehearsals.
Briefings on crew roles and running the set. Delegation.
Script Revision lock.
Set elements, Models, Costume, Props, Rigs, sourced
Important milestone deliveries of the essential deliverables.
Audio Recording (high-quality) for sound-driven scenes and projects
Actors in physical proximity - maintain social distancing if required.
Consider theatrical and broader styles of acting for full-body long shots. Counterpoint with close-ups and extreme close-ups.
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
Stage combat and/or stunts - rehearsals are critical, safety/stunt officer and/or weapons trainer. See emails about methods.
For critical shots, cover your options with several takes, such as anticipation and wind-up, then fast into the action, cut to another angle for the reaction. Best not to cross the line without either a reset shot (e.g. centerline or POV), or the actors clearly swapping sides.
See Resources: Acting & Staging, below
See: Resources: DOP Creative & Tech Brief
Frame Rates
Lens length
Aperture (F-Stop), and depth of field.
Shutter angles, shutter speeds, anti-flicker.
Motion blur
Staging
Focused lighting
Fog, or haze
RED anti-flicker tutorial and calculator
Good design can help give more life or excitement to scenes where actors are separated. In some cases VFX can be used to make actors shot separately appear closer together, for social distancing purposes.
VFX Previz required. Test and include VFX design in your Pre-Production Edit (Previz/Animatic).
Audio Recordings: High quality required for musicals, music videos, animation. Temp quality required for others. See your Audio Plan.
Good use of voice, sound design and music can give more life or excitement to scenes, making proximity more believable.
A/V Tech Run with audio handover must be scheduled during Pre-Production, this trimester, with scheduled review & written approval from an Audio Mentor.
See Audio Plan for Audio requirements.
Full workflow Tech Run
Required for all projects collaborating with Major Projects Audio.
Scheduled before Week 11 by Producers.
Test SHOOT of an A/V scene, 2-actor action, dialog, and atmos audio recording, on-set.
All booked equipment is checked and used.
A/V EDIT setup, sync, and HANDOVER to Audio.
Editor must follow all steps in the Film/Audio Workflow standards (in Resources below) that are applicable.
Audio: do a DAW import, cleanup, simple mix, master and bounce.
Audio: Handover audio mix, back to Film Editor/Director.
Audio Dept: Review and written approval of the audio files and workflow by an Audio Mentor, sent to a Film Mentor. This is a requirement for Film production greenlight.
VFX: all processes requiring student-filmed footage are tested. Test layers are rendered, color corrected, composited, returned to Editor/Director at high resolution.
Colorist: Test footage is color corrected and graded, returned to Editor/Director at high resolution.
Film A/V tests are mastered in the EDIT, exported to a high quality A/V standard, checked/approved by a Film Mentor.
Tech Run for projects not collaborating with Major Projects Audio:
Unusual or small projects may not be collaborating with Major Projects Audio students, or not using a full-scale DAW like Pro Tools. These projects may be collaborating with audio students in lower modules, using sound artists within the visual crew, using audio features in Premiere, or using Audition or similar tools. State this in your Audio Plan.
Do the test shoot, audio recording and all steps as described above to suit the project's workflow, with mentor advice. Audio mentor advice may be useful, but Audio mentor approval is not required for these types of projects.
All teams:
Production Project Page: Bible, Animatic/Previz, WIP Milestone deliveries of your Deliverables. Send links to crew.
Detailed elements, e.g. Design, Board/Animatic updates, Casting, Rehearsals, Recordings, Locations, Assets (props, models, rigs, costumes), Previz roughcut, VFX tests.
Weekly activity, work history log, weekly reflections (including 1 or 2 Learning Outcomes or Transferable Skills), mentor/peer feedback, revisions/changes, WIP version media. Journals are graded at beginning, middle and end of trimester. See Student Setup.
Directors, Producers and Department Supervisors: Milestones, and/or latest versions of Essential Deliverables
Publish and share to your team.
All students: Embed some of your team's milestones.
Producers / Assistants: please update with any changes.
All students: Please check your details and workload. Update any changes.
Essential Deliverables due, presented in Production Project Page.
Please: Publish in time for feedback and revisions!
Audio Lock is due now for sound-driven scenes & projects.
A/V Tech Run and Tests are due now.
Presentation of the Essential Deliverables as per Module Guide, with all revisions complete, led by Director and Producer, with all crew in attendance to discuss their roles and contributions. If time is limited, presentation in a small breakout group is fine.
Green light review, to approve project for Production.
Submissions to Campus Online, most important links:
Your Student Project Page in your Student GSite
Your Student Journal page in your Student GSite.
Grading
Student Surveys
Check out the Major Projects: Exhibition and Distribution Resources ~ you'll be doing this next trimester!
As a group, identify all project deliverables, and schedule at least three W.I.P. milestones for each.
Share Audience: Crew/Students, Lecturers/Moderators.
ALL students: contains just your project's current deliverables, with summary of your role(s).
Directors, Producers, or Supervisors: also contains the key production information needed by your team. Share the link with your team.
See Production Project Page guide & examples.
Please kindly embed or link the Detailed Schedules & Tasker in the producer's and director's project pages. Share those pages/links with team members and facilitators.
Including logline, synopsis, script link, designs, character profiles, storyboard link, color, locations/sets, lighting, style guides, tech guides, departments, etc.,
Film: See
examples 1,
examples 2,
templates,
search "Bible" in CIU212/330 Online Guide
Resources: Bibles
You may use still photo images or reference as storyboard keys. Keep track of scene:shot numbers. A folder of sequential images is okay. A formatted storyboard with panels, pages & text is optional.
A Pre-Production A/V EDIT of the entire motion-picture project. Essential.
PREVIZ footage:
Live-action: Warm up, rehearse, and do a live-action reference previz shoot, using any available people as actors, and similar spaces and lenses to your full shoot.
VFX Animation Previz tests.
ANIMATIC footage: specific scenes, shots, or the whole film, using stills, or very simple motion, of 2D artwork storyboard keys, graphics, photo stills, moodboard reference stills, vfx previz stills, simple vfx previz animation tests, and/or SIZZLE footage: 3rd-party ripped video.
Essential: for all scenes or shots with non-live-action elements: Titles, Credits, Motion Graphics, Animations, SPFX and/or VFX.
Essential: for any unfinished live-action previz footage.
AUDIO: the A/V edit must include rich, clear pre-production audio, of at least temporary quality, with music, sound effects, and voice. Essential.
Please represent good design, composition, camera motion, focus points, edit pacing/timing, audio, motivation/acting/action, and mood.
With everything backed up, including source footage, WIPs, etc.
See Student Setup for detail.
Use a reliable, high-resolution motion picture format and codec for production, editing and exporting. Please keep all departments informed of your chosen format and frame rate, particularly editing, animation, and audio. See also Editing, Audio & Animatics for basic production formats.
Production and Editing: At least HDTV 1080p 16:9, square pixels.
Frame rate: In our region, filmmakers work in 25 fps for general purposes, and 24 fps for animation, international cinema, or special purposes.
25 fps is the most flexible and popular frame rate for live-action in our 50Hz electrical system, allowing a wide variety of shutter speeds with flicker-free artificial lighting.
24 fps is an international cinema standard. It is also convenient for animation timing, as it's easier to divide one second into halves, thirds, or quarters, and for very fine editing.
High frame rates (e.g. 96, 100, 120, 240, 250, 300 fps) are useful for slow motion.
Production W.I.P. previews:
Export to Format: H264. Preset: Match Source - Adaptive (Low, Medium or High) Bitrate.
Public Exhibition and Distribution: Use a popular compressed format, with visual levels and loudness set for the target platform, e.g. YouTube/Vimeo, or Broadcast/Cinema.
Export to Format: H264. Preset: Match Source - Adaptive High Bitrate for most purposes, and extra versions for specific platforms if needed.
Mastering and Archiving: Use a reliable, lossless codec, with visual levels and loudness set to normal levels.
Export to Format: Quicktime. Preset: Apple ProRes 422 HQ.
A Show Bible (or "Production Bible" or just "Bible"), is a document (usually Slides or PDF) that any clueless new production employee, investor, or executive, who is joining the production, can be given, and they will fully comprehend everything about the show. It's the complete instruction manual for building the greenlit project, for anyone involved with it, or working on it.
The Bible is the primary pre-production document your team must create, combining everything your team is doing in pre-production. The Bible is an Essential Deliverable.
Film: See examples 1, examples 2, templates, or search "Bible" in CIU212/330 Online Guide.
A script is about 1 minute per page, plus titles and credits.
Describe action only as the audience sees and hears it. Example:
Harry thinks about his concert dreams while being inspired by music No mind-reading, please.
Harry puts on his headphones and we hear BIG BEAT MUSIC. He gazes into the distance, bops his head, and starts to write.
Acting notes and EMPHASIS words are useful. Example:
SARAH
(worried, whispering)
You mean, it's HIS baby??
Use SPFX: or VFX: for action descriptions containing critical effects, and SFX: for critical sound effects.
Documentaries require scripts with narration, subjects, interview questions with timeslots for answers, and action description. You may also search online for resources to help you with documentary scripts.
Real-time mediums, such as Games or VR: a script is an average user's story experience and duration.
Character profiles are useful, separate from the script.
A storyboard for a 10-minute film may contain anywhere from 60 to 180 shots. Most are 100 to 120 shots. You must use at least 1 still image key per shot, so that is the number of images to find and/or create.
You may use rough stick figures, nice drawings, still photos, moodboard-reference image grabs, stock imagery, altered or unaltered, and/or any combination of these, as storyboard keys. Some alteration is preferred, but there are no copyright or plagiarism issues in pre-production, paying tribute to an original, and/or altering context.
Calculate your storyboard labor time, and aim for 10 minutes per still image key frame, maximum. Use whatever methods are fastest and most convenient for your team. You may recruit a skilled student, if 2D drawing quality is desired, but this is not necessary.
The storyboard should please match the shotlist / script breakdown; this is often supervised by the DOP. Shot numbers should be visible, if possible. Camera & action instructions may be used as needed, including text or arrows, but are not necessary. Dialog text is also optional.
Create the board in a convenient way for your team, in a format that will be used during the shoot. For example:
An online sequence of still photos/images in a GDrive folder, named in sequential order.
Drawn in an A4 spiral-bound sketchbook.
Drawn on a stack of A4 printer paper, held by a large clip.
Drawn digitally with tablet & software (see Resources: Storyboarding Fundamentals).
Publish the board digitally. Please use compressed images in a lightweight format, such as jpg.
Due to the large number of images, it is best not to include the storyboard in the Bible. Use a separate digital format.
Some artists draw on A4 copy paper, then put the stack of sheets into the automated sheet-feeder of a bulk scanner.
You may use one still image key per screen (modern slide show format), or multiple keys per page (traditional page layout, usually 3 to 6 keys per page). This is up to you. Page layouts aren't necessary.
Please also save and share the high quality source files in the project GDrive, so that Photoshop layers and/or high resolution images can be shared for teamwork.
For non-live-action sections of your film (including titles/credits), visuals must be created. You may be collaborating with other disciplines for non-live-action elements: see Resources: Storyboarding Fundamentals > Details for examples to help you design scenes with elements of graphic design, animation, motion graphics, titles, or VFX.
Use storyboard still keys as footage in the Previz Video edit, for any UNFINISHED PREVIZ. All vision in your film must be previsualized in the previz edit, at least as a rough 2D sketch or reference photo for every shot, even if you don't have video. Do not use black video for unfinished work.
Information such as shot numbers can be easily overlaid, in video editing software, on an animatic or previz edit, instead of on the storyboard images. If desired, the previz video edit can be used during the shoot, as the storyboard ref.
It is highly recommended to use your storyboard images to create an animatic video edit of still keys, with music, before the previz shoot.
See Resources: Storyboarding Fundamentals, for modern digital-drawing storyboarding methods, and the Adobe workflow that we support.
Story and Acting Keys
Principles of Camera, Composition, Layout, Screen Direction, Focus Points and Shot Flow
Photoshop Digital Drawing Workflow & Layer Comp Keyframes
Industry Conventions used in contemporary feature film storyboarding teams
Resources for 2D Design Pre-Production
At The End Of The Day - Pre-Production Edit Draft 1 (moodboard photo animatic), by SAE student Michelle Jasan.
Created during 2020 lockdown.Premiere Pro Workflow
PREVIZ footage
ANIMATIC storyboard and/or photo stills footage
AUDIO
Formats and standards
Break up parallel lines and symmetry
Break up shapes of light and shadow
Show clear emotional expressions and poses in characters. Change intention, shape, and line of action.
Wide / establishing shots
Medium Shots
Closeups
Low, medium and high angles
45 degree, straight-on, and side-on angles to the subjects
Monsters, Inc. establishing shot
Dolly Zooms
Creating Depth perception with Color, Atmosphere and Contrast
Creating Lighting Atmosphere with Haze and Fog
Gels and Black Lights
Theatrical/stage lighting, scrim/gauze, and backlight
Backlight, fog, forelight, complementary colors, dual subject focus.
A longer shutter angle & shutter speed (more exposure time per frame) increases motion blur. This smooths fast action, decreases jitter in pans, and gives your photography a smoother, more natural and cinematic look. Check RED's shutter-angle tutorial on motion blur.
Use a longer lens to make actors appear closer together. You need more physical distance on set from the subject for the action to be well-framed. Reccy (survey) the sets/locations with lenses, and measure your spaces.
Use a larger aperture (F-Stop) and longer lens to give a softer, shallower depth of field effect, blurring the less-important parts of the frame. This also gives atmosphere. See RED's depth-of-field calculator.
(Also, Directors): In cases where a longer lens is not possible, staging one character to be larger or higher in frame than the other helps to convey changes of status and power negotiations.
25 fps is the most flexible and popular frame rate for general purpose film in our region. See Format Standards.
For 24 fps, specific shutter speeds are required for artificial light, to remove flicker in our 50Hz electrical region. Check RED's anti-flicker tutorial and calculator.
See Premium Beat's tips on shooting the artificial light from digital screens, and on simulating it. If possible you may adjust the digital screen's refresh rate to 50Hz to reduce flicker.
Using a darker overall color scheme, and narrowly focused lighting, helps to draw attention to the important focus points in the scene, while hiding less important parts, and adds dramatic tone. Focused lighting can help in both indoor and outdoor scenes. Consider color temperature of lights, warmer light on the subject also helps focus attention.
Fog, or lighter haze, may help to focus attention on subjects, partly conceal other elements, while giving depth and atmosphere. This also gives opportunities for interesting lighting. Check out a DJ rental store for a fog unit or a haze unit. Fog/haze may draw significant power, and may not be compatible with smoke alarms or fire safety plans, so read the instructions carefully and run tests.
RED anti-flicker tutorial and calculator
Film Lighting Explainer @ The Conversation
Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express (1932), directed by Josef von Sternberg. Image: Wikimedia CommonsPublic Liablity insurance covers everyone working on the production, SAE staff and students, and 3rd parties: external collaborators, actors, stunt coordinators, and locations managed by governments, organizations and individuals. 3rd parties will typically request proof of SAE's current insurance as Certificates of Currency, along with your shooting permit application.
Option 1: Direct access to current certificates
You must be a Producer on an SAE approved project to forward these certificates to any 3rd Parties, please. Do not share these files with other students or projects. Check to ensure this GDrive folder is current with latest certificates, or request it to be updated, if necessary.
Option 2: SAE Module Coordinators or Lecturers can forward the certificate copies to the 3rd party. You can provide the 3rd party with the email addresses of Module Coordinators or Facilitators, for example in the application form, and the 3rd Party will contact us for Certificates of Currency. If the 3rd party uses a web upload portal for documents with your application, upload your own Producer's letter, stating that the 3rd Party's Film Officer is to please contact SAE Staff at (our email address(s) and request the Public Liability Certificates of Currency.
Marketing, BTS, All Crew
Producers estimate all income and expenses in a spreadsheet and embed into Bible / Project Page.
Expenses to consider
Marketing, advertising, social, and events.
Fees for future Festival Submissions and/or Attendance, Trade Show submissions and/or Attendance.
Hard drives for archiving (and if required for distribution)
Catering for on-site production
Transport
Professional Actors, Professional Stunt & Combat Coordinators, Professional Licensed Armourers, Professional Animal Handlers, Stunt Drivers, other specialist professionals or services.
Location Fees/Permits, Set elements, Props, Costumes, Makeup, Hair, Bodypaint, Tattoos, Special Effects.
VFX Software licenses, render farm fees, software plugin licenses
Crowdfunding fees
Fees for security guards or NSW Police to protect your shoot perimeter
Theatrical weapons permits
Anything else you can think of
Income
Contributions from director, producer, and crew.
Contributions from family and friends
Contributions from donors, philanthropers and potential fans, responding to your social marketing and public outreach. GoFundMe is a basic cause-focused platform. Idea-focused and arts-focused funding platforms, such as Patreon, IndieGogo (recommended), Kickstarter, and associated services, may help you find the types of people who are already interested in contributing to your genre, e.g. comedy, dance, thriller or drama films. Investigate! Offering rewards and recognition to contributors adds incentive to donate.
Set up a crowdfunding campaign:
Use your existing Pitch materials
Add more fundraising material, such as pitching/fundraising interviews with Director and creative leads. Fundraising videos must be done in pre-production e.g. by the BTS crew.
Set crowdfunding targets, and your platform. Multiple platforms/campaigns are okay if necessary. Use "stretch goals" for expenses you aren't yet sure about. Reward backers with mementos and prizes.
Advertise the campaign using social media and events. Learn and get to know your potential audience. Include friends and family. Find philanthropers and potential fans.
Events to consider: Barbeques, Chook Raffles, Publicity Stunts with Costumes, Bake Sales, Garage Sales. Also consider approaching organizations sympathetic to your project's message and theme.
Raffles must be legal. See this quick NSW Raffle Rules guide.
Remember your film's brand includes the SAE brand so all fundraising events must please be respectful, legal and safe.
Notes
SAE Institute and Screen Australia do not fund student films.
Believe in your film, and your supporters will believe in it too.
See also Resources: Pitching, Fundraising, for examples.
Location scouting
Flow Studios
Dirty Shirlows
Two Flies
Tortuga Studio
Create or Die
Mothership Studios
North, Middle, and South Heads, ex-military concrete bunkers, on National Parks bushland.
Sydney Trains Unused Tunnels
Water Reservoirs, Towers, and Unused Tunnels
Fox Studios Australia
The Old Fitzroy Hotel in Wooloomooloo, has a cozy, blacked-out, downstairs theatre with stage lighting rigs. See Broadsheet Photos.
The Kirk, a gothic church in Cleveland St, Surry Hills, a former site for bawdy burlesque shows, owned by Madame Lash.
Belvoir St Theatre, Surry Hills
Farmhouses, period architecture properties
Massive empty prison
Various Sydney photography locations
The above locations are fairly safe.
Consider your power requirements; some locations may require a generator. If you are using fog/haze/smoke, check with the location owners and run tests, to ensure smoke alarms won't be triggered, and power supply is sufficient for fog machines as well as lights and other equipment.
Abandoned buildings and remote locations may be unsafe, due to broken stuff everywhere, or have difficult access, such as special vehicles, or athletic/hiking/exploring skills required. Please see Safety for professional guidance.
Little Garie, Era, and heritage-listed shacks in the Royal National Park
Hawkesbury region and other dilapidated locations
Terminus Hotel Pyrmont, Dunlop Factory Alexandria, Balmain Leagues Club, St John's Orphanage Goulburn, Others,
Give the film a unique look, that is true to the script, characters, setting and world.
Moodboards / Reference for the Bible done? Cool.
Concept art and color design sketches are fantastic, too.
Next step: Production Designers / Art Directors source and cost all items. Document all donations, purchases, rentals and loans. Producers log all line items in the budget. Supply photos, sources, and costs for the Bible. Document your work and your hours in your Journal.
Include costumes and items supplied by actors and extras. Online sources are a good start when the team is remote.Color schemes for the overall scenes are standard. On top of overall color schemes, specific colors are useful to help main characters and subjects "pop" out from the background. Usually, it is better to apply lower contrast and saturation to secondary characters, backgrounds, and scene elements, while applying higher contrast and saturation to main characters and important subjects. In coordination with cinematography and focused lighting, this also contributes to scene depth, color, tone and contrast hierarchy. See Creating Depth in Art and Photography
In addition to Costuming, you must also identify expenses and requirements for Makeup, Hair, Bodypaint, and Tattoos. You may need a Stylist. There are schools for Theatrical and SPFX Makeup, and Styling, with students whom you can recruit for your film.
Production designers also frequently work with SPFX artists to help co-ordinate the color, texture and style of in-camera SPFX makeup, set elements and props. They also co-ordinate with VFX people and Gaffers on overall color, texture and style. All FX methods and materials must please be tested in pre-production, and included in the FX and lighting shotlist breakdowns.
Thrift Stores and Opportunity Shops
St Vincent Du Paul
Salvation Army
Sydney Used Furniture
Garage Sales and Yard Sales
Vintage Fashion
U-Turn Recycled Vintage Clothing
Crown St, Darlinghurst (near Oxford St) - vintage fashion stores
Theatrical / Production Costumes
Google it
Production Props
Pink Cactus
Sydney Props / Rocket Studios
Fox Studios Australia
Use of Copyrighted Brands, Company Logos, and Government Logos
If you're doing product placement, or you're making the brand look good, you can ask permission, or even hustle up some sponsorship from a corporation.
Government insignia
https://pmc.gov.au/government/commonwealth-coat-arms
https://www.nsw.gov.au/copyright
You can also use ancient or vintage material that is out of copyright.
For all other uses, please alter brand names, titles and slogans, use different spellings, change the logo design, colors, flip sides, and change some of the shapes.
Editing, Rhythm, Pacing, and using Sound to Pre-Visualize timing
Slow-mo, speedups, and time remapping footage
You must adhere to the Project Scope guidelines for maximum screen time.
The standard duration will be the official SAE version, for cross-discipline collaboration, grading, and exhibition.
This suits the average in-class crew size.
Any non-standard versions of the film's duration are subject to approval by all discipline's mentors linked to the project, as well as SAE Department Coordinators, through all pre-production, production, and post-production phases. This is regardless of the opinions of any students, and includes the Audio and Animation Departments. Non-standard-duration versions may be reviewed for feedback if mentors wish, but are not supported for SAE cross-discipline collaboration, grading, or exhibition.
Film and animation are collaborative mediums, which means we have to keep several stakeholders happy. Directors have to demonstrate they can stay within scope, to satisfy the requirements of budget, schedule, sub-contractors, collaborators, producers, exec producers, clients and/or sponsors.
Films: under 15 mins are preferred by many film festivals. Animation: quality and consistency depends on good use of very limited screen time. Festivals are selective.
In your future career, your short film can be the basis for new versions with more screen time. Short films can also be used to develop a series pilot. Here’s a touch of inspiration.
Adobe.com
3D Camera Tracker Help Page
3D Camera Tracker - Ian Robinson
Others
3D Camera Tracker and Blender - Academy of Edits
3D Camera Tracker - School of Motion
Pre-visualize, test and design all scenes and elements, with storyboard keys for shots, and color keys for scenes.
VFX tests should convey color, composition, motion and timing in a previz edit.
Visual Effects
Green Screen
Any outdated links are now available on LinkedIn Learning
Schedule Rehearsals and do Acting/Improv Exercises to improve your acting language and body language skills.
Directors, performers, and character animators use acting language and body language to communicate.
Prepare scripts, visual style, character profile, character reference (including video), storyboards and shotlists.
Warm up and rehearse first. Create a positive, relaxed, playful atmosphere. To help everyone relax, it's best you don't use cameras until you've warmed up, rehearsed, experimented and played with it, adjusted for feedback, and revised a couple of times.
Video and audio reference may be captured at the same time. This is useful as it's already synchronized.
Temporary guide voice (scratch audio) may be recorded with a simple headset.
It's recommended to use a DSLR with a zoom lens, and keep records of the lens focal length used for each shot. Make it as much like the actual shoot as you can, i.e. cover every shot, use similar lens focal lengths, and location. As well as acting, consider measurements of the set, and distance from camera to subject. Consider composition, space, and light.
For accuracy, capture video reference at your production frame rate, typically 25 fps for live action, or 24 fps for animation.
If shooting on a mobile device, apps such as MoviePro on iOS or Open Camera on Android can be used with mobile devices to configure your frame rate, format, and other settings.
The realistic world is full of information noise, which is often irrelevant to the story. Reduce these distractions. Focus on the essence of the story and performance. Push and clarify it.
Edit your reference into your pre-production edit, preferably on its own track.
You may use published, 3rd-party content you don't own, e.g. art, photos, stills, sizzle video ripped from an inspirational film, anything, altered or unaltered, inserted directly into your edit. There are no copyright or plagiarism issues in pre-production reference. It is the same as using moodboard reference in pitches and bibles. You are only asked to select and edit reference to fit your film's look, sound, and timing, so that it fairly represents and fits your production intent.
For accuracy, your editing platform should be allowed to automatically convert all 3rd-party footage reference to fit your production format, and frame rate, typically 25 fps for live action, or 24 fps for animation.
You can put some vision into a smaller thumbnail, over other vision, if desired.
Still images or photos are okay for animatic keyframes.
High quality: For projects requiring high-quality audio in pre-production i.e. music video, animations. For voice/performance, ask your performers if they have private recording equipment: preferably a condenser mic, or a dynamic mic, with a usb amplifier interface to the performer's local device, running sound software. Even a usb podcasting mic is better than the average built-in mobile device mic. Ask for a quiet room with soft surfaces. You can direct the performer by video chat; do not bother with the low-quality audio stream from the video chat. Ask the performer to send the high-quality audio files after the recording session. For sound design (sfx) and music, audio students may use software on private devices.
Temporary (scratch) quality: For projects that only require temp audio i.e. regular live action, low budget animation. For voice/performance, film students, animation students or audio students can do the audio recording themselves. You may use headsets, earphone mics, built-in mics on mobile devices, or mobile video capture. For sound design (sfx) and music, you may use any source. This is the minimum requirement for the pre-production edit, for all projects.
Place audition advertisements for actors locally, using casting calls with actor's forums, agencies, or with acting schools.
Starnow - free listings for performing arts jobs
Kino Filmmaker's Guild - a Sydney community for low-budget short filmmakers
Screenwise Acting School - for acting students
A few days before the audition date, supply all actor applicants with:
Page(s) extracted from your script, called an "audition side", to be used in the audition.
Character's description, psychological profile and acting references.
Your film's Pitch slide deck or Bible.
Make appointments, and conduct auditions.
Be fair and respectful to applicant actors. Create a relaxed, playful atmosphere. Supply some light hot drinks and a comfortable space. SAE has sound studios and various rooms where you can record actor's audition tests.
Typically, a director and/or an assistant will help to voice the scene description and/or other characters, during the audition.
Encourage the actor to be fully physical in the body and/or intimately detailed. Improvisation is okay. Explore a variety of voices and styles.
Discuss transport, and dates of availability.
For live action filming, discuss any wardrobe, hair or make-up requirements.
We want to see audition test video/audio (filmed auditions or self-tapes) published for group feedback on GDrive and your site. Kindly ensure actor's CVs/showreels are linked, and short clips of actor's reference and auditions are embedded as playable media, first in the Director's and Producer's journals for feedback, and then in the Bible when the casting is developed/done.
Be selective and careful in your choices, don't just settle for anything.
Investigate rates, and include quotes in your budget. Acting students from acting schools may work for free on student films.
Notify successful and unsuccessful applicants, politely and with gratitude.
Have the actors sign a release form and contract/agreement. The actor's contract should include actor's availability for
rehearsals,
pre-production voice recording,
the production shoot,
post-production ADR,
re-shoots/re-recording.
Book the appointments, and adjust your schedule, as needed.
You may also contact other SAE student directors and producers for suggestions about casting actors.
For production-quality filming, voice recording, or reference: It's okay to cast non-actor SAE students as EXTRAS, if they give a good performance in rehearsals, auditions and temporary video previz/reference tests. For all other roles, please use trained actors.
For animation voice recording, please also capture video of all actor auditions, reference, and production-quality voice recording sessions, so the video can be used as acting reference or lipsync reference, as needed. This is a routine practice. If your audio plan is for the production-quality sound recordings to be done in the pre-production stage, it's great if you embed short video/audio clips of the recording sessions into the Bible.
For pre-production temporary reference/previz, generally, you rehearse it yourselves, with other SAE students at first, with script readings and action; then record your temporary reference versions, to have fun for creative development, improve communication, and develop the film's timing, acting and editing. You may also wish to work with actors, as soon as possible, and this is okay too. Discuss your reference / previz with group feedback, and plan as needed. If you feel the temporary reference is going to be good enough with SAE student actors, great. Optionally, if it feels like it needs something more, you may wish to use actors for your temporary video/audio reference/previz. If it is practical, adjust your schedule, to allow for this.
You will need to schedule at least 2 rehearsals, get actor's release forms/contracts signed, ensure they are prepped with call sheets, WHS safety and professional stunt coordinator for action, and supply catering as needed for rehearsals, previz, and production shoots / recording sessions. You will also need to book your actors for post-production ADR sessions. See the Production Tracker for schedule requirements.
Practice, rehearse, reflect on performance, adjust performance as needed, focus the actors, and inspire the actors! Record a few different takes, so you have different options to play with later in editing.
Directors, learn enough about acting that you can imagine yourself in the character, imagine yourself in the acting process and use acting language to communicate blocking and intent. See also Acting & Staging
Film and Audio crews must follow these requirements for collaboration.
A full-crew A/V TECH RUN, including a complete audio post workflow, must be completed during pre-production. It requires written audio mentor approval, and this discipline's mentor approval, for production greenlight. See A/V TECH RUN requirements.
Complete all steps in the Film/Audio Workflow Requirements (below)
Post - Production for Audio - All Visual turnovers to audio teams must be at 25fps (regional film/video) with timecode burn-in starting at 00.00.00.00, or 24fps (traditional film/animation/international).
Film projects must be PICTURE LOCKED prior to turnover to the audio team and include opening and closing titles, timed to correct length. Temporary pre-production titles and credits can be used, but everything must be the final duration and timing.
All location audio channels must be used in film edit so that an all channel OMF can be turned over to audio at Lock off.
Film (under construction), 2D & 3D Design, Animation, Editing, AE comp & effects