This post was originally written as a reflection on my initiation into the Planning and Making a Film module I undertook in the penultimate year of my BA (Hons). The module's practice was undertaken between October 2011 to June 2012 and it provided me with a hugely enriching experience. For a more detailed overview of the module and the projects I undertook as a part of it, see Planning and Making a Film: The student filmmaking experience.
This post is just a catch up on what I have already done since I started the Planning and Making a Film module.
Week 1 Seminar 03/10/2011
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| Notes for the module |
This was a general overview of the course and how it is assessed, together with an introduction to the Broadcast Lab. The class was also registered on the Broadcast Lab’s catalogue system; this now enables us to reserve and borrow equipment.
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We we’re given an introduced to the module blog: BSU Making A Film 2011, which we're all expected to contribute to. In our first blog posts we had to select five short films less than 8 minutes long and say 3 good things, 2 bad things and 1 thing we would improve about them. We also had to select our favourite and state why. You can see my contribution as reposted on this blog here.
Week 2 Seminar 10/10/2011
For the first half, we were given a demonstration on how to operate the Z1 camera.
In the second half we were given a 12 page script: Where Will it all Stop, which is the script we will produce for our practice film. Personally, I don't think much of the story. However, for a script which requires us to nurture a variety of filmmaking skills it is a very good script to use.
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The Gatehouse, where the Broadcast Lab is located (it's much bigger on
the Inside). |
We were also arranged into our production groups with each group consisting of four people. So two groups will produce an individual adaptation, with one group taking the first half and the other taking the second. I was put together with Jenny Banks, Emily James and Sally Overton, and we do not yet know which half of the script we will be making.
The blog task for this week was to write loglines (a one or two sentence description of a screenplay) for the five films we had presented in our first blog posts. In addition to this, we had to choose an additional film to present and write a logline for it. We were also encouraged to write alternate endings for Where Will it all Stop. You can see my contribution as reposted on this blog here.
Week 3 Seminar 17/10/2011
We were given a demonstration on how to retrieve and log footage from the Z1. As well as a very brief demonstration on how to edit on Final Cut Pro.
We looked at how to take a script and break it down into beats, from which you can then decide on what shots to use. We were shown how to mark this on the script and how to create a shot list.
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| Some notes on using a clapper board and breaking down a script |
Finally, we were given a 1 page script: The Eager Student, which, in our groups of four, we will have to film and edit in the next session.
Week 3 continued 19/10/2011
I suggested that me and my group should meet to take a Z1 out and have a practice on it. This I did with Emily and Jenny. Using our notes we managed to get used to operating it.
Week 3 continued 20/10/2011
Me, Jenny, Emily and Sally met up and decided on the shots we wanted to use for The Eager Student and in what order we wanted to shoot. Now all that remains is to shoot it...
... and you can find out how the shooting went right here: The Eager Student - Filming
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