Close Up!

ProductionBest Practice DayDecember 2nd 2009

Order of Day

Scriptwriting: Your ExperiencesFrom Script to ScreenThe ShotFilmmaking Do’s and Don’tsBreaking Down Your ScriptShot Lists and Storyboards‘In-Camera’ Filming ExerciseShare Session

Feedback on Scriptwriting

Group Discussion: In groups consider: 1: How did you go about generating ideas for

your film? How did you decide which idea[s] to develop further?

2: How did you develop your idea[s]? What methods did you use? What worked well, what worked less well?

3: How did you consider the relationship between subject [content] and filmic style?

From Script To Screen

Taking Your Script Into Production

A complex creative and logistical task!

Use shot lists and storyboards to visualise your shots and sequences

Visualising for the screen

Visualisation is a way of coming up with new VISUAL and NARRATIVE ideas before shooting begins. This may be a single arresting image in a scene, or the decision to stage action for a long sequence rather than fast cutting. It may help find the dramatic centre of a scene or it may reveal a dishonest line of dialogue. It helps focus the vision for the final film. Make every shot and every sequence count! – Steven Katz on Directing

Shot Types and Movement

Know your Shot Types terminology!

Use abbreviations [CU, MS, LS, MCU]

hand out

Know your Camera Movement terminology!

Pan, Tilt, Zoom

The Shot

Is the basic division of a film or TV programme, in the same way as a play is divided into scenes or acts, or an orchestral piece into parts and bars.

A shot must provide the viewer with a number of key elements.

Each shot has a particular function within the overall story of you film.

Visions of Light [1992]

Elements of the Shot

Filmmaking Do’s and Don’ts

The Six Elements of a Shot:Motivation – Karel Reiz On Editing InformationComposition – framing: isolating a viewSoundNew camera angle – [see hand out]Continuity –

That Fatal Sneeze [1907]

Breaking Down Your Script

Marking Up Your ScriptOverhead Plans – hand outThe aim is create Shots flow

Shot Flow

Shot ListsStoryboards:

Shot NumberShot TypeShot Information: action, dialogue, soundCamera MovementUse arrows to indicate movement [hand out]

The Shoot

Slates [Shots] and TakesBlocking Rehearsing camera and subjectProduction Logs to record takes

In-Camera Filming Exercise: Creating The Shot!

Storyboard, Shoot and Share the following: Someone sits in a chair, silently reading. They hear a sound nearby and are suddenly interrupted by something unexpected.

Make sure you devise your shots according to the Six Elements. Make the sequence as engaging as you can. Make every shot count!