Tutorial Four

Planning a Short Film

Scripting

Scripting is the starting point to planning a short film. The script provides the dialogue and what is seen on the screen. A script should include:
- Moods and expressions
- Facial expressions
- Vocal expressions
- Movement
- Interaction with other characters
- Special effects
- Sound track instructions
- Lighting
- Camera Angles and types of shot
- Background sound and setting
- On screen graphics and titles

The script needs to have a main point to it. This main point needs to be relevant to the audience. A main character needs to be created and a setting. These will all help to create a plot. Develop a beginning middle end for your plot and major activities included in this. The script should also include lighting, sounds and camera affects.


Storyboarding
“Storyboards are a series of illustrations displayed in sequence for the purpose of previsualizing an animated or live-action film” (Sunderland, 2010).
The storyboard tends to be a like a large comic sequence of the film with pictures of the activities to be carried out. This allows the director and cinematographers to visualise and discuss what shots are going to work and which are not.

Each scene in a film should be well planned out so everyone involved knows what is going on. The storyboard will ensure that nothing is left out or any scenes are misplaced. The production crew, cinematographer, director and editor should all make use of the storyboards.



Unpublished: Sunderland, J. (2010). Participation in occupation 1: film session. Cited with permission from the author.


Youtube.com

Youtube.com offers a website where can people upload video clips, share and view each others. Youtube was created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees. It is now owned by Google Inc.

Unregistered members can view youtube video clips, however to add your own videos you need to set up your own account with Youtube. Youtube videos can also be added to a number of different websites including, Blogger, Facebook, Bebo and Twitter. When using Youtube there are legal requirements that must be taken into account, just as there is with Flickr. In saying this videos that may contain potentially offensive content are only available to those of 18 years and over. To access these videos you must have a Youtube account and over 18years of age.

Wikipedia. (2010, April 20). YouTube. Retrieved May 27, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube