1. Year 13 Short Film Making Project
Task:
Create a short film or sequence from a feature length film aimed at the film festival
audience of 3-5 minutes duration.
Content and Theme:
You are free to choose content or theme but to help the creative process you may choose
to base your film on a piece of writing. You will need to keep in mind your target audience
when considering both content and theme. You should aim to produce a film that would
receive an M rating. As this film will be seen by parents and adults you will need to
consider carefully language (dialogue) and music (song lyrics).
Purpose:
One keypurpose of producing this film is to entertain/educate/inform your audience. You
will do this through the selection of theme, content, genre, narrative etc. Another purpose
for you is to demonstrate your ability to use micro elements and macro elements as
appropriate to the short film genre and express creativity.
Step One:Developing the Concept
Present an outline of your film (approx 3 pages typed). When writing your concept you
should consider the following:
Narrative Outline: Discuss the narrative/plot of your short film or sequence. Keep in
mind that the narrative needs to be simple and should have a beginning, middle and
end if you are making a complete short film. If you plan to produce a sequence from
a feature length film you need to explain where the sequence fits in to the wider
film.
The aims of your film. Is it to make your audience laugh, think seriously about an
issue, learn a ‘life lesson’, be aesthetically interesting. Are you trying to work in a
style of a particular director? How will you do this? Try to think how you can
creatively communicate to the audience.
The target audience. Who is your target audience, what are they like, what are they
in to, how is this film going to appeal to them, what will you do to make them like it?
Explain the ideas/messages/themes that you wish to explore in your film, how this
will be done and why you have chosen to focus on these ideas/messages/themes.
Try to think how you can creatively communicate to the audience.
Practical details- discuss what your film involves in terms of time, research,
personnel, locations, equipment, graphics and special effects etc.Consider what
problems you might encounter and how might you solve them?
What mood are you trying to create and how will you do this – link to specific ideas
about the use of micro elements. Try to think how you can creatively communicate
to the audience.
Step Two: Format
There are a range of formats that you can use for this project and you need to look a
examples so that you can choose the one that best suits your needs.

2. The formats are – Film, Extended Step Outline (documentary genre and must link to your
research project) or Script.
Study the example available and record you finding based on the following ideas:
What did you like about the examples you looked at?
What conventions did you noticed?
What advantages does this format offer?
What disadvantages does this format offer?
Once you have completed this task you need to choose a format and justify why you think
this is the best format for you. If you choose the film option you will need to create a
storyboard and plan of sounds, costumes, props etc so that you are prepared for filming.
You will find copies of student films in Students Resources on the Macs and there are
three examples of scripts that can be found in the top drawer of the teacher’s desk – these
are NOT to be taken out of the room!!! We have never had a student do the Extended Step
Outline at this level so the example are based on Year 12 work and can also be found in
the top drawer of the teacher’s desk. Don’t take out of the room.
You will complete this preliminary work in your unsupervised lesson (unless I have given
you another task), in your studies and as homework. There will not be any class time until
you are ready to start – Hopefully this will be in January.
There will be a reflective analysis to complete at the end and there will be an emphasis on
creativity.