Portfolios & Last Class

Please prepare and complete your portfolios this morning. Everything missing should be turned in by the end of class today. Please save any files on a jumpdrive or by emailing yourself that you want to keep as our computers will be wiped this summer. Any personal files kept on the computers will be removed.

Have a nice summer and good luck on your finals!

If you have completed your work, here are a few gaming sites to enjoy:

Gamehouse
Addicting Games
Free Online Games

Portfolio & Reflection

After screening the completed films, please complete the following tasks today:

1. Take the film project survey (this should only take you a few minutes to complete)
2. Look through your portfolio. Remove any hand-written and homework assignments from it. Gather your fiction together, gather your poetry together, and gather your script drafts together.
3. If you have it, take out and read your letter to "The Enemies of the Writing Process" (see post:  )
4. Reflect on your progress as a writer this year. In a 2-4 page reflection (double spaced) reflect on what you did well, what you need more work or help on, and your overall growth that you feel you made this year. You may reference your English and Journalism classes as well. If you participated in any extra curricular activities, reflect on these as well (particularly how they helped or hindered your progress as a writer).

Your portfolio (with reflection) is due as your FINAL EXAM on Monday, June 10.

Film Project Due!

Please continue to work on your film project. It is due by the end of class today. Please allow 10 minutes or so at the end of class to render your film (this takes a bit of time!)

When you complete your film, please upload it to Youtube and send me the address link. You will also need to save your MP4 file on my jumpdrive for storage.

HOMEWORK: None. Congratulations on making a film!

Film Projects

Please use the time in the lab today to work on your film projects.

Our coffeehouse celebrating our senior class is occurring tonight. Feel free to stop by and participate! 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater.

HOMEWORK: None. You should plan to complete the shooting of your film by next class. Remember that editing takes a lot of time! Film projects are due June 4, Tuesday of next week. Please plan accordingly.

Film Project; Tips on Shooting a Film

1. Work on your film project with your group.

• Producers: get with your director and discuss time and schedule for the film project. You are running out of time. The film project is due by the end of the course. Set up a schedule that works within this boundary. Realize that editing takes time. Producers! It is your job to see that the project is completed by the deadline: JUNE 4, 2013!
• Directors: work with your actors, editor, technicians, cinematographer, etc. Find out people's schedule. When can you shoot the scenes you need to? Make a schedule and hand this to your crew. You may use class time to plan, shoot, edit, or trouble-shoot with your crew.
• Actors: get a copy of the script you are working on and read it. Prepare your scenes by reading and reading and reading the script. Memorize, if possible. Work with your director on scheduling scenes you are in, run lines with other actors, ask questions of the director for anything unclear in the script or with your character. Help out the crew or the director where needed.
• Writer: Be available to the director to change anything needing changing in the script. Yes, you may want your site locations to blow-up at the end of the film, but is this possible? (the answer is no, by the way.) As the writer, help out the editor and director by preparing a cast and crew list. You may also easily double as an actor, cinematographer, producer, director, crew, or editor. Complete jobs where needed.
• Cinematographer: Your job is to plan HOW the script is shot. Will you use a long shot or close up? Will you use high-key lighting or low-key? Will you shoot a scene with an oblique angle or a high angle or low angle? Go through the script and make some decisions. Create storyboards to help you visualize a scene. Take into account the writer's wishes, but feel free to change anything that will make your film project more visually interesting.
• Editor: Start working on the credits. You will need both opening and closing credits. You can do this even if you haven't started shooting your film yet. Use iMovie to create opening and closing credits. You can also help out by finding sound cues or stock footage. Prepare all sound cues as needed. If an actor has a VO (voice over) sequence, use class time to record the voice over (even if you haven't finished shooting the scene it is attached to). Once you have film shot, you may begin editing. I suggest the editor is NOT the director, although this may be unavoidable.
• Crew: Help out. If something needs to be completed, help your team get the film done on time. Like actors, be available to fill in and help where needed at any time. If the editor needs help, help. If the writer needs help, help. If the director needs help, help. You get the idea.

DO NOT WASTE CLASS TIME!

Check here for some advice about making a film (Please watch!):

• Basic Shot Types
• The 5 Deadly Sins of Amateur Video
• Basic Camera Movement
• 180 Degree and Other Sequence Shots

For the following clips, please watch the relevant clips during class today (i.e., if you are a cinematographer, then you should view the clips for the cinematographer...)

Director/Producer: How to Schedule a Film
Director/Producer: How to Plan a Movie (pre-production)
Director/Cinematographer: How to Shoot a Short Film
Director: How to Direct
Cinematographer: Shooting Tips
Cinematographer: Tips for Cinematography
Cinematographer: Tips for Angles & Locations
Editors & Cinematographer: Continuity Editing
Writers: Story Telling Tips
Actors: Acting in Film with Michael Caine

HOMEWORK: Shoot your film! Even if you can't complete the entire shooting, shoot some of your film this weekend--then plan to complete the film ASAP. You should really try to complete the shooting though, as your editor will NOT have time to complete the project in less than three class periods. Editing takes a lot of time!

Film Script Draft Due!

Your film script draft is due today by the end of class. Groups: help your writers accomplish this task. The director, actors, editor and producer can assist by suggesting lines of dialogue or suggesting camera shots, and details for the setting.

NOTE: writers! Consider limiting the # of actors you might need. A large cast is difficult to manage, schedule, and organize. You are not making a million dollar blockbuster here--this is just a school project.

Your script draft should be around 4-7 pages (with scripts no longer than 10 pages in length). Your film script drafts should have a definite beginning, middle, and end and tell a simple story. You do not have the length or time in this project to make your story too long or epic. Be reasonable.

I do expect your script to be written and turned in using proper script format. Apart from the handouts you should have analyzed, copious videos you should have watched, and the script sample I asked you to read for homework, and the link to the side of this blog (see film script format to your right), the following advice may be helpful:

Headings are CAPITALIZED in UPPERCASE and left justified:

1. Master scene headings include:
a) Camera location - EXT. (exterior or outside) or INT. (interior or inside)
b) Scene location (LOCAL RACE TRACK)
c) Time (DAY or NIGHT). NOTE: the day/night information is for the director of photography to decide which lens to use, and for the lighting designer to determine how much light is necessary for the scene. Some night shots in film are actually shot during the day (and vice versa)!
2. Secondary scene heading
3. “Special headings” for things such as montages, dream sequences, flashbacks, flash forwards, etc. are indicated in the heading.
4. Camera shots (camera shots MAY be noted in the heading, but are not required. In shooting scripts this becomes more important. The # of the shot and scene are also indicated in the heading line in shooting scripts. You are not writing a shooting script.

Narrative Description is left justified but not uppercase. It includes description of:

1. Action
2. Character and settings (what we see visually)
3. Sounds (including specific music or sound effect cues--diagetic and nondiagetic)
4. PROPS and CHARACTER names are CAPITALIZED within the narrative description. This helps actors and technicians find important information.

Dialogue:

1. The name of the character speaking appears at 2.5", in CAPS. (That's 5 tabs in!)
2. The actors' direction is separated by parenthesis and indented on its own line at 2". Try to avoid these as much as possible. Both the director and actor appreciate the writer letting them do their job. Keep adverbs short and succinct, if you must use them.
3. The speech. Is generally 1" in (2 tabs) or 1.5" (3 tabs) and blocked together (all aligned)

Camera Shot Abbreviations:

• CU (close up)
• LS (long shot)
• XCU (extreme close up), XLS (extreme long shot)
• FS (Full shot)
• Medium shots are default, so don't bother specifying them.
• MCU (medium close up; shot shoulder-to-head)
• WS (Wide shot)
• Establishing shot (sets up setting)
• Master shot (a shot indicating that the scene is shot over again from different camera positions so that there are various shots for editors to use)
• 2-S, 3-S (2 shot or 3 shot)
• OS (over-the-shoulder shot)

Film Editing Terms:

• Cut to (used as a clean transition from one scene to another)
• Dissolve (one scene image dissolves into another to indicate juxtaposition or comparison)
• Fade In/Fade Out (a slower transition than cut to:)
• Fade to (fade to black is default, often used to indicate the end of the film or a major act/scene; fade to white indicates transcendence or death)

Special Terms:

• POV (point of view)
• EXT (exterior)
• INT (interior)
• VO (voice over)
• SFX (special effects)

HOMEWORK: If you did not complete your draft today and turn it in on time, please complete the draft as homework and turn in late. Points will be deducted, of course.

Info About Your Film Project

Today, please work on your script. You should have your script completed by Wednesday. The script draft is due Wednesday, May 22. It should be between 4-10 pages in length. Please do not write a script that goes OVER ten pages, as that will be too long for your project. You will be graded on your creativity, accurate script formatting, and effort as translated into page length. 

Once your script draft is written, prepare to shoot your fictional film project. Schedule and organize what steps need to be completed by the end of this week. The final film project is due TUESDAY, JUNE 4. It will take some time to film and edit your film. Usually editing takes between 3-4 class periods. Once you have some of your script ready, begin shooting footage. See previous posts for more information about what members of the film project team should be doing with their time in lab. Do not waste your time...

The film project (treatment, script, digital film) and a final exam in the Craft of Writing will determine your marking period grade.

HOMEWORK (extension): I am giving you an additional two days to complete your previous homework (reading a film script). In order to get a better understanding of formatting and writing a film, please choose and read a film script of your choice for Wednesday, May 22. If you missed any of the videos from last class, please watch these.