Video Production 4Narrative Film

The Main Product/Goal

A 15-25 minute long narrative movie

Professional—BIGGER AND BETTER—than anything you’ve ever done before! (yes, that includes you guys…the “repeaters”)

Created through extensive planning and teamwork…blood, sweat, tears…

At least 3 or 4 films in the class, groups of 3-5 people

Subject/story is your choice, but it will be chosen wisely and made with the utmost care and diligence!

THE STRAND THEATER—SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 2014

What else will we produce?

Individual, silent short films

Conversation scenes

Short movie adaptations

Short film treatments and scripts

Planning documents for “The BIG Show”

What ARE we learning?How NOT to get this rating…

The topics at hand

The fine art of Storytelling

Mise en scene and production design

Directing and blocking actors and sets

Advanced shooting (conversations and dialogue)

Character development and how to get performances from your actors

Advanced editing and pacing

Sound design and using music wisely

AND…

HOW TO WORK TOGETHER AND MANAGE CONFLICTS AND LEARN HOW NOT TO HURT EACH OTHER, EVEN THOUGH YOU REALLY, REALLY WANT TO…

What…is that it?

DUH! OF COURSE NOT!

What else will we do?Lots of scene analyses

Lots of writing…journals/prompts, informal screenwriting

Watching and critiquing projects

Acting games and exercises

Reading (*gasp*--oh, the humanity!) and discussing articles and chapters assigned in class/for homework

Planning for the BIG show

Holding casting calls for actors for you movies

Promoting your movies

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Pablo Picasso

Points to Ponder…

To be great at one job, you need to fully understand all of them.

You should be challenged to go WELL BEYOND your skill level (I’m talking to you, “repeaters” ) to experiment with new genres, techniques, and things you’re unfamiliar with.

You can learn from doing “the wrong things” or contradictory activities: highly edited vs barely edited films; silent films vs heavy dialogue; black and white vs color

YOU ARE CAPABLE OF DOING HIGH QUALITY, PROFESSIONAL, ORIGINAL WORK!!

Things I will need for this class

I will provide handouts, so you will probably want to get a binder or folder of some sort…I’m a big fan of binders

HIGHLY recommended: a 32G SD card that’s all YOURS

Creativity and an open mind

Chocolate to bribe the teacher with…