PLANNING: COMPLETE IN OCTOBER / START FILMING OVER HALF TERM

Order of work

1. Pitch me your 'topline' and 'big question' 

2. Write your treatment and pitch it to me

3. Once I green light it, start the storyboard

4. Start the shot list 

5. Next you create call sheets for every shoot 

In today's class we look at the OCR weebly guidance 2014. We follow Steve Thorne's guidance on story boarding and on how to create a convincing action sequence.

PLANNING: OUR TREATMENT

What is a film treatment?

A description in the present tense of what happens in your film. Keep the language simple yet forceful and declarative. The purpose of the treatment is to describe the events of the story so that it can be visualized and brought to life. This should be done using the fewest words possible.

How do I write a treatment?

You need to avoid editorial writing when writing treatments and instead speak in an active and present voice. Similarly, you should avoid using words and phrases like

"Next we see" - Don't start sentences with "we see". Tell the audience what they see without introducing your sentence with "we see". 

Instead say:

"Mr. Bugz B and Mrs DJ Spinna stand toe to toe in front of their microphones. Mr. Bugz rhymes and misogynistic rhyme stating "we don't want no ugly girls in here tonight" to which Mrs DJ Spinna retaliates with a rhyme mocking Mr. Bugs unusually large ears. The crowd goes wild. Mr Bugz continues, but with less steam. The insult has touched on a vulnerable part of his identity."
(Source: Lights Film School link here. 

SAMPLE FILM TREATMENT courtesy of Movie Outline HERE 
Notice that the first time that a character is introduced, their name is in CAPITALS.

What does a film treatment look like?

TIPS HERE

CONSTRUCTION: SOUNDTRACK + SPOT SOUNDS

You must create your own original soundtrack or at AS use copyright free music:
It is easy to create spot sounds and upload them into SoundCloud:

PLANNING: CALL SHEETS

Each group will produce a call sheet for each shoot (do not post your phone number or email online, though, but let your group have it)  as in this example.

• Title of page: AS Media Studies Call Sheet for [name of your film]
• Shoot date
• Location
• IMAGE: FROM GOOGLE MAPS
• Crew: [name of person, their phone number, their email]
• Crew: [name of person, their phone number, their email]
• Crew: [name of person, their phone number, their email] etc..
• Camera equipment (this heading then lists camera stuff)
• Lighting equipment (this heading then lists lighting stuff)
• Props (this heading then lists all props)
• Wardrobe [name of character]
• Wardrobe [name of character] etc

PLANNING: HOW TO SET OUT A SHOT LIST

Here is the first page of a professional shot list which you will use it as a model for your own productions. Each group should make their own and start to complete it so that you know who is in each shot, how the camera moves and what sound / voice-over accompanies each shot. 
Please change the 'PROPS" column heading to MISE-EN-SCENE (= props + location).

Groups have successfully collaborated on Google Docs to make the shot list.

Shot list by Howard Myers