SUMMARY
Role: Director
Intention (SMART Goal)
Specific: I will practice using story beats and identifying them in the film as a director.
Measurable: I can measure my progress for this goal by checking for story beats in the film once it’s done.
Achievable: I have the skills to meet this goal because I’m already familiar with identifying specific aspects of stories.
Relevant: I’m setting this goal right now because I recently learned of the concept in class. It’s also an important concept to understand and use in filmmaking.
Time-Bound: The deadline/the time given for this project was about 2 weeks, which is fair and realistic.
PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY
Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)
Primary Source: Shaun of the Dead
- Director: Edgar Wright
- Music and editing synced up with movement/action
- Fast pacing
- Making anxious/horrific moments comical and humorous
Secondary Source: Edgar Wright – How to Do Visual Comedy
- Uses humor using visuals
- Create inventive jokes out of moving characters from location to location
- Use interesting foreshadowing
- Utilizes the ability to take the most mundane scenes and make them authentic
Edgar Wright is an incredibly unique filmmaker that always prioritizes making original and enticing films. Through visual gags, synchronized audio, and many more profound techniques, Wright does a great job at perfecting his films with small, yet substantial techniques that, in the end, make his films stand out.
Training Source(s)
- 0:41 – Your audience needs to understand your characters
- 1:54 – Prioritize competent sound design
- 2:52 – Make reasonable and logical casting choices
- 5:24 – Shoot through doorways to add depth
- 6:20 – Try to add color to walls
- 7:10 – Have adequate lighting (at the least), you need to see what’s happening
- 7:30 – Know when to add insert shots and make them meaningful
- 9:00 – Try to reduce lingering in scenes
- 13:18 – Avoid obvious clichés
- 14:00 – Hook audience in the beginning
- 15:30 – Avoid generic music in scenes (resort to no music over generic)
Project Timeline
- Choose roles (Pre-production)
- Research
- Create logline
- Brainstorm story ideas with group
- Collaborate with team while group work takes place
- Start production (once script is done)
- Find competent location that is appropriate for context of the story
- Observe filming location and plan out what the film will look like
- Decide who will act
- Plan out scenes before recording
- Check with screenwriter, actors, cinematographer, and audio person to make sure they understand the scene being created
- Shoot/record all scenes from script
- Start Post-Production
PRODUCTION – ACTION
The (FILM, SOUND, or GAME Creation)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19Vt-3o3cZNyjeXtTYazyDbZyT7Qssqhv/view
Skills Commentary
- 0:24 – Made music fade out before story beat
- 0:27 – Censored distracting visuals
- 0:47 – Suspenseful music begins as character gets questioned
POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION
21st Century Skills
Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)
Ways of Thinking: During the process of the filmmaking, there was a lot of critical thinking as a director. One of the first and most significant choices I had to make was the location of filmmaking. We decided on a location that was close, convenient, and relevant to the screenplay.
Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)
Ways of Working: My team members and I communicated through out the whole process of the film. Before making any significant choices, I checked and communicated with my team to make sure everyone understood what was happening.
Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)
Tools for Working: For this specific project, I used resources provided from the class folder. I researched and learned about useful directing tips.
Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)
Ways of Living in the World: During the production, I spent a lot of time working at my former job. When I wasn’t working I was busy doing school work at SPSCC and doing finals. Outside of work and school, I would spend my free time watching TV and movies, hanging out with friends, and doing tech (for theater).
Reactions to the Final Version
After present our film to the class, Daniel (another director) gave some feedback saying “the intentional censor bars, if explicitly stated, could’ve been played off as a joke, but It came off as more distracting than an actual joke.” (That wasn’t the exact quote, but it’s the same idea of what he said) Now I know next time to specify and make it clear what aspects are jokes and what aren’t.
Self-Evaluation of Final Version
Simple – The premise of our story, the log line, is concise and easy to understand.
Unexpected – Near the climax of the story, when Ethan gets confronted about 3 am videos, there is an unexpected twist in the story when Ethan is taken away.
Concrete – The consistent use of having Ethan talk in only three word sentences was a concrete aspect of the final version.
Emotional – Our film was a thriller and with the music, actors, lighting, etc, it was made clear and a strong, consistent emotion was active throughout the film.
What I Learned and Problems I Solved
For this production cycle, I learned that there are boundaries to the stories that are created in specific situations and that some ideas are too explicit for class. A problem I solved was helping the audio person with the music. Our audio person wasn’t able to produce any music that would fit well with the movie, so I helped contributed to the music in the film.
Grammar and Spelling
Grammarly
Editor
Deandre