Continuity Task: Planning and Storyboarding!

These past couple of weeks we've been working on our preliminary; designed to gauge an understanding of where we're at in terms of our ability and filming skills, the task has been subjuect to a lot of stressing out. The short film has to last around 60-90 seconds (not long!) and the focus of the task is not so much about the concept or the script, but about our ability to work as a team, creating a shotlist and (eventually) a storyboard, and film/edit our film into a clean, smooth product. There were several guidelines that we were given by Mr.Michie to give our film a focus, and it's imperative that we acknowledge these rules, given that it is these guidelines that are going to get us a good mark. They include the following:-

-You must not break the 180 degrees rule

-You must include a shot reverse shot 

-You must include a variety of appropriate camera angles

-You must edit so that continuity is apparent and meaning is clear

-You must include more than one location

-You must include some interaction between characters

-You must include some non-diegetic sound

On the surface of things, the task seemed pretty simple; however, creating something that follows all of these guidelines, as well as making the piece engaging and flowing,is much harder than it once seemed. First of all, we went about discussing the 'concept' for our film. We decided unanimously; we all agreed that the concept needed to give us the ability to use various locations, shots, angles etc. Therefore, we decided upon the idea of an angered student, who realises that his pencil case has been stolen, and looks around the school angrily, attempting to find the 'pencil case thief'. It's pretty infantile but, as I say, we thought the content would give us the ability to 'show-off' our film-making skills. We then went about the casting, and decided without too much discussion: I would play the angered student, opposite Jacob Smith who would play the innocent 'thief'. We then thought of locations: the corridors of the 6th Form centre conformed to the stereotypical idea of a 'school' setting that we wanted. Then, after this, we needed a setting for the confrontation between the two characters; we decided that the Drama studio wouldhave the appropriate lighting for a suitably dramatic face-off. Also, the room's walls are black, which acts as a metaphor for the raging anger our protagonist feels. So far, so good. After, it was down to business: the shotlist-

1) Long shot of person A approaching the doors of the 6th form centre,with an air of malice/anger (pan).

2) Close-up of the door being opened aggresively.

3) Medium shot of the back of the protagonist, looking around hurriedly.

4) Cut to the Drama studios; establishing shot of B (isolated/alone) writing an essay.

5) The door to the studios opens; person A enters, acknowledges his victim; smile crosses his face.

6) Over-the-shoulder shot (at a low angle) of B looking at A; conveys weakness of B; A approaches B.

7) Shot-reverse-shot of person A yelling 'Wheres my pencil case?!'; cut to B's fear/anxiousness; cross back to an even more infuriated person A.

8) Over-the-shoulder shot (at a high angle) of A looking at B; conveys dominance of A; B says 'Please, I really, really need it!'

9) Slow motion shot of A snatching pencil case of B; close-up.

10) Transition- screen cuts to black.

11) A leaves using the same door as before; long shot; distant wailing can be heard.

I was pretty happy with this, it had the potentitial to convey our ability, demonstrating a wide range of shots, angles whilst still being (hopefully) engaging. Next part was the storyboarding, which was inevitably full of heated-debates. I say 'inevitably' because everyone envisioned the shotlist in a slightly different way: which is good. If this process went smoothly (which it didn't) I genuinely don't think we'd have a storyboard of as high a quality. Together, we visualized the shotlist, bringing it to life, as well as considering, dialogue, non-diegetic sound/ diegetic sound, as well as the shots length. The storyboards can be found below:

Entering Chikara centre angrily



Arguing... Finley style

Leaving a bloodied Jacob, pencil-case in hand

For all those keen readers, you'll realise that the shotlist and the storyboard is not identical and I think this important; as good a shotlist you may have, it can be improved upon, especially when you're actually visualizing your shotlist through a storyboard: you realise that maybe that shot didn't work quite as well when actually putting pencil to paper. I guess thats something I've learnt throughout this process: all good practice before the real thing. So there you have it; we've basically constructed and built a minutes-worth short film that (at this stage) looks good, ready for filming. I'm happy with the progress that we have made, our group dynamic being more productive and efficient, and, quite simply, this bodes well for our final piece. So I'm looking forward to filming, which I'll blog about very soon...

Learning More About Storyboarding!

In one of our previous lessons we received the help and knowledge of a previous Media Studies student, who has since gone on to become a professional animatic storyboarder. Given that we are currently in the process of storyboarding our continuity task, I felt that the information she could offer regarding storyboarding was invaluable, and her advice could then be used to improve upon my own work and  storyboarding skills. We begun the lesson by looking at her own animatic storyboard; the purpose of this was envisioning what the sequence would look like before filming too place, pointing out the various shots, angles and movement of the characters, as well as establishing any flaws that can then be smoothed out.
The clip (entitled Full Circle) can be found below and is around halfway through the playlist:-

*Copyright Disclaimer: I Do Not Own This* 


After this, she discussed her top tips when storyboarding. For instance:-

- Ensure that you have thoroughly planned your sequence in your head; a detailed shotlist should have bullet pointed the various shots you are going to use. This care makes the storyboarding process smoother and more efficient and organised.

-You shouldn't be too worried about the chronology of your storyboard. Ideas can be jotted down on scrap paper and can be moved around if need be to establish where each shot goes.

-Finally, the 'Rule of Thirds' should be acknowledged. The frame of your shot is segmented into three parts; if you want to establish a protagonist, they should take a centralised position within the frame, as opposed to characters who are unimportant being positioned on the sidelines so to speak.

We ended the lesson by viewing a comparison between a cartoon's animatic and the final result itself. This emphasised the importance of storyboarding and how storyboards don't necessarily need to look identical to the final product; (for instance there is no movement of the characters):

*I Do  Not Own This*


Overall, this lesson gave me a better understanding of storyboarding and it's complexities. I also learnt about animatics, and how they act as the middle-ground between ideas and the actual final product; I alsop received advice on how to improve my storyboarding (from no less than a professional storyboarder!) I now feel more confident with storyboarding and I have now grasped it's importance to the film-making process...

Learning The Basics #1: The 180 Degree. It's Kinda Simple Once You Get Used To It...

The 180 degree rule is something we have been discussing recently in our lessons; it's absolutely imperative the rule isn't broken, otherwise it feels disjointed, confusing and generally just headache-inducing. Having said that, up until recently I didn't fully grasp the rule and I felt I needed some further research- in other words, what you are reading now! The 180 degree rule is there to create spatial awareness, unconsciously making the audience aware of where characters are in relation to one another without actually having to view the set in it's entirety. When filming, it's important to imagine an axis between two conversing characters:

Note that the axis goes straight through both of our characters

As you'll notice, the imaginary axis goes between both our characters. The director must then make the decision of where to position the camera for the first shot, thus determining what side of the axis said camera will REMAIN. Once this decision is made, all shots must come from that one side of the 'semi-circle' per se, other things will get really, really confusing for the audience to watch. Take a look at this summary diagram:

Pretty Self-Explanatory

Yes, it really is that simple. But, and I stress but, the 180 degree rule is unbelievably important if you even want to get close to an A grade. Therefore, as film-makers, we've got to constantly bear this in mind whilst filming to ensure we can get a product that looks professional and well thought out. I can apply this research to our Continuity task, and I feel as though I now have a complete understanding of the 180 d. rule.

A really helpful video (ie. understand what seemed like a very confusing concept in 5 minutes) explains the do' and don't s of the 180 degree rule- enjoy...

* I do not own anything, the video is being used for educational purposes*

Storyboarding

Storyboarding is important. Very important, it seems. In our past Media Studies lesson, we explored storyboarding as a film-making process and it's significance in regards to making a film that is of a higher standard. An inevitably long, monotonous process, storyboarding is ultimately incredibly significant:

- It links planning to the actual filming process itself.

- Storyboarding allows the director to revise the sequencing and narrative of the film.

- Gives the director room to make mistakes, allowing improvements and revisions.

- Unites the entire production crew in the sense that they all have one vision of the film before the filming.

- Storyboarding can be effective for pitchng an idea to film production companies.

- Helps give the director an idea of timing and sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic.

As you can see, it's kind of imperative to the film-making process. Following this, we then analysed a behind the scenes video from M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense. It gave me an insight into the ways in which storyboarding was used on a big-budget Hollywood production and how it was incredibly useful when structuring the layout of scenes, particularly for the sequences that required extra preparation. I came to the realisation that as long-winded the process might be, benefits that can reaped from storyboarding are priceless, especially if you're on set, with limited time to film and a budget to retain. 

Overall  I've learnt about the importance of storyboarding and the role it plays within the fimmaking process. I can apply this learning now to the storyboarding for the continuity task...

The Sixth Sense Storyboard