This document provides a 9 step guide for making effective film openings for an assessment task. It discusses the importance of researching existing films and student work, brainstorming original ideas, thorough planning, strong execution of the shoot, careful editing, and reflective evaluation. The steps emphasize skills development, investigating film techniques, maintaining evidence of the process in a blog, gaining feedback, and addressing common student mistakes to achieve high marks.

1. making film openings

2. www.petesmediablog.blogspot.com
@petesmediablog

3. “ I t ’s i m p o r t a n t t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e
‘aggregation of marginal gains’.
Put
simply….how small improvements in a
number of different aspects of what we do
can have a huge impact to the overall
performance.”
Dave Brailsford, UK Cycling coach

4. lots of small things add up
to get you better marks

5. 9 Steps to best results!

6. Strengths and Weaknesses?

7. Strengths and Weaknesses?

8. Step 1: take stock
• what’s the task?
• what’s the assessment?
• what’s the timeframe?
• what’s the equipment?

9. task and assessment
• Titles and opening of a new fiction film
• up to 2 minutes
• 20 marks Research and Planning
• 60 marks Construction
• 20 marks Evaluation

10. timeframe and equipment
• build your skills
• build up your research
• build up your planning
• give yourselves time to shoot and edit
• keep evidence throughout the whole
process

11. Step 2: set up a blog
• and keep evidence of everything you do!

12. Step 3: build up skills
• sound
• camerawork
• editing

13. foley

14. preliminary task

15. re-make

16. ident

17. Step 4: investigate
• what do film openings actually look like?
• what does other student work look like?
• what do you need to know about titles?
• how are you going to do something that
stands out?

18. search for student film
openings on youtube
and vimeo (G321)

20. Step 5: brainstorm ideas
• possible scenarios for pitches/treatments
• 25 word pitch
• moodboard treatment
• peer and teacher feedback
• realistic expectations- keep it simple

21. Step 6: planning
• experimenting with camera and editing
• recce shots of locations
• examples of shots, costumes, props, etc onto
blog
• post-it storyboard, animatic, moodboard
• logistics planning- including risk assessment

22. Step 7: the shoot
• people, places, props, costumes
• rehearsing, directing
• equipment, jobs on the day
• keeping a record of the process

23. Step 8: edit
• all having a voice/hand in it
• screengrabs of process
• importance of audio and titles
• foley - not just music
• rough cut deadline and peer feedback

24. big picture before fine detail

25. Step 9: evaluation
• seven guiding questions
• 20 of the 100 marks
• need to be creative in execution
• digital depth
• act on teacher advice!

26. six most common student film openings
• Saw: victim tied up in shed
• Scream: hooded stalker follows female victim
• Se7en: killer sticks knife in polaroid photos
• Lock, Stock: gangsters play cards and kill each other
• Waking up: clean teeth, brush hair, leave house
• Flashback or Flash forward: “2 weeks later...”

27. six most common problems
• looks more like a trailer or a short film
• insufficient titles
• poor sound, poor lighting
• poorly directed actors, not costumed
• confusing for the viewer
• uses one of the six common openings(badly)

28. you are the ref- what score and why?

29. Level 1: minimal ability 0-23
Level 3: proficient 36-47
Level 2: basic ability 24-35
Level 4: excellent 48-60

30. key advice
• plan for everything
• keep all the evidence
• avoid the obvious
• pay attention to detail
• make your blog varied
• learn from other work

31. www.petesmediablog.blogspot.com
@petesmediablog