PreProduction is planning. Before you start "SHOOTING" a video or animation, you must:
Define your Concept, Identify your target audience
OBJECTIVE- What is the MESSAGE? What is the objective of your piece?
Prove a Thesis ie - America's eating food that's bad for them (SUPERSIZE Me)
Recreate the experience
Document the event - making of...
TARGET AUDIENCE- who is your piece intended to influence? How will it reach them?
Students
Organizers
Parents
Sponsors
In house audience vs External Audience
CLIENT - Who is "commissioning" your work? Who wants to see it succeed?
PreProduction work that you do can serve several purposes
Describe the project and convince "Investors" that your production is worth committing to
Coordinate the efforts of those involved in the production
BRAINSTORM the original story idea or “Concept”
WRITE a script or outline for the story. LINE the script with visual imagery.
STORYBOARD the script
REVISE
Write a Script (Even the best movie idea can be a BAD film - look at Battlefield Earth) The basic script themes are:
Love — hate, sex, desire, etc
Death - permanent changes, etc
Justice — morality, rules, etc
Family - fatherhood, motherhood, childhood
Fear — escape, jeopardy, terror, etc.
>>>>>>>ACTIVITY: COME UP WITH 3 MOVIES IDEAS IN 3 MINUTES. <<<<<<<<
Draw up a Storyboard identifying locations, special effects, titles, sound effects and voiceovers
In Google Drive if needs be
The storyboard is
A “Visual Script” for your production, looking very much like a comic strip version of the story.
A production “Blueprint” for your crew to follow.
A detailed list of the assets you need to create: graphics, video, dialogue, sound effects, text etc.
The storyboard is intended for
The “studio” for approval before production is started
The production crew, to assemble the assets
To work out and discuss your ideas, and to fix bad stories before they get made
To visualize how your production will look, and get creative with shots and action
To describe how your production is sequenced, and act as a step by step guide to making and shooting your film
To plan where and what type of additional sound effects or dialogue will be included
Put your shots and scenes of your storyboard in an order that tells your story clearly.
Plan your story so that the visual images and the script can be clearly understood by reading your storyboard.
Plan your production in the most interesting and appealing way possible for the audience.
Plan not only what happens in each shot, but also how fast or how slow you want it to happen.
Eliminate unnecessary or repetitive shots and add missing shots. Cut long boring shots and break them down into shorter more interesting shots.
Ensure that there is a smooth, clear, logical flow from shot to shot and scene to scene.
A great example of a storyboard:
Extra rationale for storyboarding:
Storyboard Blanks - 1.2.3 blankstoryboard.pdf
Finally - if you get tired of drawing things manually - try StoryboardThat or more professionally StudioBinder both completely free storyboarding and production tool.
CHOOSING A RATIO: Often the choice of aspect ratios determines the look and feel to a film. As discussed in grade 11, a wider aspect ratio (2.35:1) makes a more cinematic hollywood-style feel to a story whereas an old letterbox (4:3) give the look/feel of a mid 20th century production. There are extremes (for example Hateful Eight chooses 2.76:1 on 70mm film) that give a particular expansive feel to movies that might otherwise have felt differently being shot/shown in any other ratio.
Taking pictures needs to have that same attention given to the angle and distance from your subject to clearly capture the detail and mood that you want your audience to experience.
The angle from which you take your picture or video will have an impact on how your audience sees and reacts to it. This is very important in setting the mood in a shot.
A low camera angle is created by placing the camera below the normal eye level. With the camera looking up at the subject, this angle gives the viewer a feeling of inferiority or even fear.
For a high camera angle, the camera is placed well above the normal eye level. Viewers are looking down on the subject and feel as if they are in control.
An eye level angle is obtained by shooting at eye level with the subject. This allows the viewer to feel like they are part of the action as this would be the way they would normally view things.
Sometimes you want to create a dynamic view where there appears to be energy, drama or action. This can be achieved by turning the camera to a 45 degree angle creating a dutch tilt.
In the extreme wide shot, the view is so far from the subject that s/he isn't even visible. The point of this shot is to show the subject's surroundings.
The EWS is often used as an "establishing shot" - the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place.
It is also useful in scenes where the action is very spread out. For example, in a war movie an extreme wide shot can show the scale of the action.
The EWS is also known as an extra long shot or extreme long shot (acronym XLS)
Very Wide Shot
Wide Shot
In the wide shot, the subject takes up the full frame. In the above left, the girl has a heap of headroom and footroom between the edges of the frame. The difference between the VWS and the WS is that the WS has only a bit of headroom/footroom.
With a WS, the subject doesn't take up the whole width and height of the frame, since this is as close as we can get without losing any part of him/her . The small amount of room above and below the subject can be thought of as safety room — you don't want to be cutting the top of the head off. It would also look uncomfortable if his feet and head were exactly at the top and bottom of frame.
As with many shot types, the wide shot means different things to different people. However the wide shot seems to suffer more from varying interpretations than other types. Many people take the WS to mean something much wider than our example, i.e. what we would call a very wide shot.
The mid shot shows some part of the subject in more detail, whilst still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the whole subject. In fact, this is an approximation of how you would see a person "in the flesh" if you were having a casual conversation. You wouldn't be paying any attention to their lower body, so that part of the picture is unnecessary.
The MS is appropriate when the subject is speaking without too much emotion or intense concentration. It also works well when the intent is to deliver information, which is why it is frequently used by television news presenters. You will often see a story begin with a MS of the reporter (providing information), followed by closer shots of interview subjects (providing reactions and emotion).
As well as being a comfortable, emotionally neutral shot, the mid shot allows room for hand gestures and a bit of movement.
The medium closeup is half way between a mid shot and a close up. This shot shows the face more clearly, without getting uncomfortably close.
In the closeup shot, a certain feature or part of the subject takes up most of the frame. A close up of a person usually means a close up of their face (unless specified otherwise).
Close-ups are obviously useful for showing detail and can also be used as a cut-in.
A close-up of a person emphasizes their emotional state. Whereas a mid-shot or wide-shot is more appropriate for delivering facts and general information, a close-up exaggerates facial expressions which convey emotion. The viewer is drawn into the subject's personal space and shares their feelings.
A variation is the choker shot which is typically framed on the subject's face from above the eyebrows to below the mouth.
The ECU (also known as XCU) gets right in and shows extreme detail.
You would normally need a specific reason to get this close. It is too close to show general reactions or emotion except in very dramatic scenes.
A cutaway is a shot that's usually of something other than the current action. Cutaways can emphasize important details or add detail and meaning to a scene.
The cutaway is used as a "buffer" between shots (to help the editing process), or to add interest/information. It helps to solve continuity problems by providing context to the next shot.
As seen in the shot sequence above, if you cut from a shot of a woman sitting to a shot of the same woman standing in the same spot, without showing exactly how she got to that standing position, you will produce a confusing jump in time. The cut will break the continuity of time. By cutting the clock into the middle you imply a passage of time.
Like a cutaway, but specifically refers to showing some part of the subject in detail.
Can be used purely as an edit point, or to emphasize emotion etc. For example, hand movements can show enthusiasm, agitation, nervousness, etc.
There are a few variations on this one, but the basic idea is to have a comfortable shot of two people. Often used in interviews, or when two presenters are hosting a show.
A "One-Shot" could be a mid-shot of either of these subjects. A "Three-Shot", unsurprisingly, contains three people.
Two-shots are good for establishing a relationship between subjects. If you see two sports presenters standing side by side facing the camera, you get the idea that these people are going to be the show's co-hosts. As they have equal prominence in the frame, the implication is that they will provide equal input. Of course this doesn't always apply, for example, there are many instances in which it's obvious one of the people is a presenter and the other is a guest. In any case, the two-shot is a natural way to introduce two people.
A two-shot could also involve movement or action. As seen in the shot of Vincent and Jules above, it is a good way to follow the interaction between two people without getting distracted by their surroundings.
This shot is framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject. The person facing the subject should usually occupy about 1/3 of the frame.
This shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from the other's point of view.
It's common to cut between these shots during a conversation, alternating the view between the different speakers.
In older 4x3 framing, the person facing away from the camera would typically be cut off just behind the ear (see example on the right). In 16x9 and other widescreen framing, there is more width available and more of this person can be shown (as above).
This shot can be varied quite a bit to include the shoulder or back of the person facing the subject.
This shot shows a view from the subject's perspective. It is usually edited in such a way that it is obvious whose POV it is
Often edited as:
wide shot
POV
OSS
POV
In this type of shot the subject is the weather. The sky takes up at least 2/3 of the frame. This type of shot is common in television programs where the weather is of particular interest, e.g. sports shows.
Although the usual purpose of this shot is to show the weather, it is also useful as an establishing shot, for setting the general mood or for overlaying graphics.
A weather shot doesn't have to show the sky. Other shots often used to illustrate weather include:
Puddles, drain spouts or any example of rainwater flow.
Trees or anything else blowing in the wind.
People sunbathing.
Snowmen, snowball fights, snow sledding, etc.
Also known as pathetic fallacy
Dutch tilt, Dutch angle, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, or Batman Angle are terms used for a cinematic tactic often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. A Dutch angle is achieved by tilting the camera off to the side so that the shot is composed with the horizon at an angle to the bottom of the frame.
A less-common term for tracking or trucking.
The camera is mounted on a cart which travels along tracks for a very smooth movement. Also known as a tracking shot or trucking shot.
Dolly (zoom)
A technique in which the camera moves closer or further from the subject smoothly. It helps to accentuate focus on a subject (or reveal context or surroundings if it's a dolly zoom out).
Follow
The camera physically follows the subject at a more or less constant distance.
Pan
Horizontal movement, swivels left and right. Reveals additional info in the scene, or follows movement.
Pedestal (Ped)
Moving the camera position vertically with respect to the subject. No tilting. Because it's slow it's often a way to build up tension.
Tilt
Vertical movement of the camera angle, i.e. pointing the camera up and down (as opposed to moving the whole camera up and down). Can follow action, or again, reveal information such as scale of something.
Track
Roughly synonymous with the dolly shot, but often defined more specifically as movement which stays a constant distance from the action, in a side-to-side movement. Keeps character in the frame typically as a character moves in their environment.
Truck
Another term for tracking or dollying.
Zoom
Technically this isn't a camera movement, but a change in the lens focal length with gives the illusion of moving the camera closer or further away.
Crane
Movement up and down in the air. Reveals more of the environment and gives sense of scale.
The steadycam combines the stabilized steady footage of a conventional tripod mount with the fluid motion of a dolly shot and the flexibility of hand-held camera work. While not completely replacing the role of the dolly shot. While smoothly following the operator's broad movements, the Steadicam's armature absorbs jerks, bumps, and shakes and yields professional quality footage. Rather than a fixed position camera this allows the freedom to reveal a scene in a natural way.
Setting up the AllSteady balanced gimbal: Youtube Video
Using the AllSteady gimbal settings: Youtube Video
The student is to plan out (before they leave to shoot) and obtain 8 different shot types and/or movements of their choice. Try to keep a balance between shot types/movements. Sound is not being evaluated in this assignment. You may get rid of the audio completely if you want, but put in a soundtrack. Try to tell a story with the shot progression
Once filming is complete, sew the clips together in Premiere and TITLE EACH CLIP with the appropriate title screens. Submit the rendered clip (render as a h.264 MP4 file at 720p quality). Submit the piece to the handin folder. Groups may share footage, but each student is to edit and submit their own finished product.
1. We'll use professional online software StudioBinder.com. We're going to try to get as much out of it as we can, but the free version is limited. Create an account with your ocdsb email.
2. Pay special attention to making the correct way for formatting your script. We're going to use the default STYLES inside of Google Docs
3. Finally, we'll LINE our script for props.
Step 1: Create a NEW PROJECT
Step 2: Give it a name
Take the default and hit CREATE PROJECT
Start writing, but wait - you have to create a NEW DOCUMENT. And it's going to be a SCREENPLAY. Give the document a name (I kept it the same)
Determine the scene descriptor for your first scene. Click on the Scene Setting button
Any of the description of what's happening in that scene gets marked as ACTION
Use CHARACTER and DIALOGUE tags to properly treat that text as such. Note the PARENTHETICAL tag used below COED
WHEN YOU'RE DONE WRITING. Please make sure to include a handful of extra scenes. The website will only let you line the first half of your script, so by adding an equal amount of 'garbage' after your actual script you'll be left with what you want.
Use the IPSUM GENERATOR to make extra blocks of fake text. Then create a bunch of false scenes
Make sure to put in the SCENE SETTINGS in between each paragraph.
When you're done head to the top right and SYNC TO PROJECT. Then UPDATE SCRIPT. Note the lock icon.
When you're done you'll head to the left side and choose BREAKDOWNS
You'll start seeing scene by scene a listing of what's available. To 'line the script' you'll just highlight a word (words) of interest and include what they are. For example:
*Props: (objects actors will interact with)
*Set dressing: (important objects that appear in the scene but that the actors don't touch)
*Wardrobe:(clothing)
*Extras: (Non-speaking, non-named actors that appear in the scene).
You'll notice your CHARACTERS will have automatically been done
You can see here we've lined EXTRAS, PROPS and a SET
You can see why we created some false scenes at the end. All of our actual content is here :)
Switching to the Reports tab and selecting ‘Scene Breakdown' provides you with a list of all the scenes and which actors, props and other elements are required to film it.
The breakdown of options is truly amazing. Play around with the elements view, cast members, etc.. and look at all of the reports that can be created.
Nothing you'll do this year will be complex enough to require this, but it might serve you in future years
Try to target 30s of "final on-screen film". Write a short story using the website. Note that this is not a creative writing class and your work will not be judged on its writing style. Instead make sure your script follows the proper screenplay format. You WILL be given an option to storyboard and film this script so put some thought into it if that's something of interest to you.
Create a list of the actors, props, set dressing, extras, animals and vehicles in the scene (LINING your scene).
When done please submit the following 2 things
a) download your script as PDF (top right of the script page). Attach that to Classroom please.
b) click on SHARE on the top right of the the REPORTS summary page. Paste the URL it gives you into Classroom. (THIS STEP NO LONGER WORKS, THEY HVAE PAYWALLED THIS FEATURE). Please take a couple screen snippets (windowskey+shift+S) and paste examples of your lined script into a google doc and attach that to classroom as this portion.
When you're done I should have A) a PDF of the script and B) a google doc with screen snippets of your lined script
Online find a 30 second sequence from the film, and storyboard it. Include not only shot types, camera movements, key dialogue & rough timecode. Target about 5-10 sheets of storyboard. More if your sequence is complicated, less if it is not. Alternatively you can storyboard your script generated in Assignment #2
Use this blank template for your storyboarding - 1.2.3 blankstoryboard.pdf
Alternatively, if you want to storyboard online feel free with : https://www.storyboardthat.com/ or StudioBinder