Presentations and paperwork

The presentations tomorrow will take place in the following order:-

1. Maureen, Rory and Alana
2. Ali, Lavinia and Shannon
3. Callum
4. Josh and Jordan
5. Lucy
6. Simon, Louis and Bethan
7. Jade and Lauren
8. Ryan, Josh, Niall and Taylor

At the end of the lesson I will check to see if all your planning work is complete in order to allow you to collect your equipment. Over the half term, you must ensure that all planning work, research and your presentation for your short film is uploaded onto the blog under Planning and Production Management section. After the half term, we can concentrate solely on the edit of your short films. Good luck for tomorrow!

Pre-Production and Presentation

The following is a list of pre-production activites that need to be completed, this work needs to be more detailed and precise than ever. Don't just do the bare minimum, think about what else your group could submit that highlights your preparations for production?

1. Script
2. Detailed, relevant Storyboards
3. Synopsis
4. Production schedule
5. Production information such as locations, actors, props

Alongside this, Wednesday 24th your group will be expected to present your idea. This is for crieria for Unit 3: Production Management and is a large part of the grade for this unit. You need to treat the presentation as a real pitch for your short film and must include evidence of both primary and secondary research. Think about using purposeful questionnaires, vox pops, interviews etc to give weight to your decisions. You need to make sure you cover the following areas:-

1. Narrative outline
2. Target audience
3. Funding
4. Visual style
5. Exhibition
6. Bibliography

This work needs to split up amongst your group and completed before the end of term in order for you to book out the cameras and shoot over the holidays.

Inspiration Week

Throughout last week you experienced different ways to generate ideas. You need to blog the outcomes of these experiences. Here's a reminder of what we did:- narrative game, post secret, poetry, art, song lyrics, news articles and collages. Throughout these you also learnt about narrative theory including Todorov, Barthes, Levi-Strauss and Propp i.e. structuralism. If you missed a lesson, you must think of ways of generating ideas for your short film.

Research

The deadline for the initial research into Short Film was Friday, well done on blogging all of this research, your blogs look great. We are now moving on to the planning of your own short film ideas. This week, "Inspiration Week", you will be examining ways in which to originate ideas. You must continue to blog the results of your lessons as well as using the blogs as a group to plan your productions.

Short Film Festivals

Raindance Film Festival
This is a worlwide, western film festival accepting work from New York, Canada and London, just to name a few countries. This festival runs from the 6th to the 7th of February. This festival was founded in 1991 and becoming a member of the festival will cost anyone interested £50.

Submitting your films to this festival is done through another website called Withoutabox.com were you can fill in an application form and leave a hard copy pf your film and a digital press kit.

The only submission limitation is that the work being entered must not have been screened on the internet. Raindance take a wide range of genres of work from comedy to drama and many more.

Some of the awards they offer are

• Best Uk Feature
• Best International feature
• Best Debut Feature
• Best Documentary
• Best Microbudget Feature
• Best UK Short
• Best International Short

Research Task- Another production company that specialises in short film production. Coffee Shorts Production

Coffee Shorts Production- http://www.coffeeshorts.co.uk/



Coffee Shorts production is a short film production site that deals with independent filmmakers who produce short films. The films vary from music videos, experimental/avant garde films, documentaries, comedy, drama, and animated shorts.

The site showcases these films and advertises each director/producer and allows filmmakers to put their work online via their main site or via facebook myspace etc where Coffee Shorts will display the work.



Coffee shorts also have links with short film festivals and nominates work to be awarded if it i s of a high standard.


The films on this site are generally by aspiring filmmakers hoping that the originality of their work will get them noticed by industry specialists. The films in general are quite unique and are very creative.

The logo on the site is representative of the name of Coffee Shorts and consists of a coffee cup and a clear font. The site itself is professional and done of a high standard.

THE ASSIGNMENT

1. THE RESEARCH BLOG: The following is a list of research areas that will need to be covered on your blog. Many, but not all will be introduced in your structured lessons. You must use your ‘self-directed’ study time to blog key notes from lessons, workshops, film screenings and your own personal research and reflections. In order to gain above a pass grade you must extend on class notes and independently source information from a wide range of sources. You will receive marks for approaching and recording the research in an organised, engaging and professional way.
• Short film codes and conventions
• Short film textual analysis
• Short film messages and ideologies
• Short film history
• Target audience
• Directors
• Actors
• The funding and production of short film
• The distribution and exhibition of short film

2. REFERENCING AND BIBLIOGRAPHY: As well as referencing secondary information correctly in individual posts you must create a seperate ‘Bibliography’ post that you use throughout your research to record ALL sources that you refer to or have taken information from.

RESEARCH BLOG: SHORT FILM

This unit will explore short film and the institutional contexts of its production. You will investigate the artists, companies and organisations that produce, promote and screen short film and consider how particular social groups, ideas and ideologies are represented within them. The outcome of this learning will be a comprehensive individual research portfolio that will be submitted in the form of a blog. This unit is in preparation of unit 3: Production Management where in groups you will plan, produce and evaluate your own short films.

From week 2 you will have two structure lessons where particular research areas will be introduced as a starting point. The remaining lessons will be ‘self directed’ in order to record and extend your learning. The lessons will be organised as follows:
• Monday: Home study and blogging
• Tuesday: HKN lesson
• Wednesday: APB lesson
• Friday: Registered Design Studio blogging session

The following is a lot of work and it will not be possible to complete at the last minute. You must carry out the work on a regular basis every week. It is as much about organisation and self discipline as it is quality of work. We trust you to be sensible and use the self directed time as stated. Please don’t let us down!