Media Studies homework Summer 2013

Creating a storyboard to show all the shots in the video

preliminary task (or ‘prelim’).You will all make a short film early in Term 1 of the AS course which will be a crash course in how to use digital video cameras, tripods and iMovie, the editing software on the iMacs in E8

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

The brief Your prelim must follow this basic structure

and must contain the following features:Continuity task involving filming

and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting

down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then

exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.

This task should demonstrate match on action,

shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

Here are some previous efforts:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7T0BbM27Eo

http://lukebarnettmediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2012_09_01_archive.html

But this is just the basic outline.You can choose any genre, any storyline, any characters you like.For instance, you could make your prelim a spy thriller. Or a rom-com. Or a zombie horror.

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

However, before you can do any of the filming, you will need two things:

A script A storyboard

Creating these is half of your Media Studies summer holiday assignment.

Media Studies homework Summer 2013Film script / screenplay

A script will have the dialogue for your performers just like the playscripts that you studied for GCSE. But film scripts look different and contain extra

information.

CHARACTER’S NAME IS IN CAPITALS AND COMES ABOVE THE LINES.

Information about where and when the scene is set, what the character does when he’s not speaking is written across the full

page width.

The dialogue is in the centre of the page and has wide margins on both sides.

(Any directions for the actor to do during the lines come after the name and sit between brackets)

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

You can read all of this script here:http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/

scriptsample.pdf

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

This annotated script lets you know the names of the different parts and is a clear example of what a film script / screenplay needs to contain.

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

StoryboardA storyboard is the most important tool for a director to communicate his or her vision of what the finished film will look like to the people operating the cameras, designing the sets and costumes and even editing the finished footage together.

It is very similar to a comic book, as it shows a range of ‘camera shots’ and angles as static images. It also has a set of conventions for showing movement within a shot.

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

StoryboardingProfessional storyboards are drawn by artists who

often come from a background in comics but the real skill is being able

to visualize someone’s ideas of how every shot will look so other people know how to make that

shot happen.Simple drawings and stick

figures can be just as effective.

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

Here is the storyboard for the most famous scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963

classic ‘The Birds’.And you can check out the YouTube clip of the scene as it appeared in the film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydLJtKlVVZw

AND here is a spoof version from the sketch

TV show ‘Big Train’. See if you can spot the link to

Shaun of the Dead…http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLToN2pjik8

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

http://www.slideshare.net/andywallis/preliminary-task-story-board

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

The storyboard you make has got to show every shot that you want to have in your prelim. We recommend that it is at least 12 shots long but can be many more. As you will only have two lessons to shoot your movie, you probably won’t be able to film many more shots.You’ll also only have two lessons to edit your prelim so you don’t want loads of footage to sort through and cut.

Storyboard practicalities 1

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

Storyboard practicalities 2

• Use this template for storyboarding; it’s also on the

media blog. Or find another one online that you prefer. Or design

your own.

• Include written information if you need to explain camera

movements such as tilts, pans, zooms etc.

Do

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

Storyboard practicalities 3

Just do a single image for a ‘scene’. The scene of someone coming in through a door (part of the brief) needs to be made up of several different shots – that’s how you show match-on-action editing.

Don’t

Media Studies homework Summer 2013

And finally…There are shedloads of resources on t’interweb to help you storyboard. Here’s my favourite video resource for guidance and advice:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yeI83fN6sWhat you need to have is an IDEA. And a sense that all films and TV drama are made up of lots of different shots which have been edited together. But they all started out as ideas in a writer / director’s head and ALL existed as storyboards before any actor stepped in front of a camera!