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Media studies homework summer 2013
1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Media Studies homework Summer 2013
Film 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)
6. Media Studies homework Summer 2013
You can read all of this script here:
http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/scriptsample.pdf
7. 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.
8. Media Studies homework Summer 2013
Storyboard
A 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.
9. Media Studies homework Summer 2013
Storyboarding
Professional 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.
10. 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=yd
LJtKlVVZw
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
11. Media Studies homework Summer 2013
http://www.slideshare.net/andywallis/preliminary-task-
story-board
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
-yeI83fN6s
What 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!