This document provides guidance and instruction for students on writing short film assignments. It discusses key concepts like describing versus explaining subjects, genres of film, cinematography techniques, and types of lighting. It also covers how to structure reports, the importance of examples, and a process for peer reviewing assignments that includes assessing descriptions, explanations, evaluations, and examples used by classmates. The goal is for students to understand expectations for their written work, improve their writing based on feedback, and use peer review to strengthen their assignments.

1. Short Film
Assignment
workshop

2. What were we doing
before half term?

3. Today
You will be recapping single camera theory, then continuing to
write your work.
You will learn how to improve your written assignments, then get
a friend to peer assess your report and identify areas where you
can improve.

4. By the end of today, you
• MUST understand the difference between describing and
explaining a subject
• SHOULD explain how cinematography is used to create mood
and atmosphere in a film
• COULD be able to analyse how filming and editing techniques
are used by film-makers

5. What do we think a single camera
production is?

6. Single camera
Films the action with just one camera.

7. What are the benefits of filming a
video with just 1 camera?
• Cheaper
• Easier with a small crew
• Easier with a small budget
• However, it does take longer but…
• Its also more creative and liberating.

8. What are film genres?
Are another way we have of categorising films based on their
themes and stories.

9. What do we expect to see in a
horror film or programme ?

10. What do we expect to see in an
action film or programme ?

11. What is cinematography?
“The methods of creating a films
visual look.”

12. How do we use to create the
visual style of a shot / film?

13. What are the 2 types of lighting?
• Low key lighting
• High key lighting

14. What is low key lighting?

15. What genres of film would you
expect to use low key lighting?

16. What is high key lighting?

17. What genre of film would you expect to
see high key lighting in?

18. As wellas lightingwecan use thecamerato
createmood,tension& meaning.

19. How does this shot make you feel?

20. How does this shot make you feel?

21. What effect does this shot angle
have on the viewer?

22. What effect does this shot angle
have on the viewer?

23. Today
You will use your knowledge of single camera techniques to
continue to write your report.
But first….
we are going to look at what makes a good report, identifying
what deeper thinking is and how we can use it to improve our
work.

24. What makes a good report?

25. Is it how long the report is?
• Don’t chase a high word count. Just because
you’ve written a lot doesn’t mean you’ve
written it well.
• The best reports focus on the content they’ve
been asked to explain in the brief, not other
areas of interest to the writer.

26. Should it be an in depth explanation
of everything you can think of?
• Stay focused on what the brief asks
you to explain. These should be
clearly bullet pointed in the brief.

27. Stay focused on what’s being asked
of you….
• All the text marked in red was
‘extra’ content the learner
wrote about, none of which
was relevant to the assignment.
• Did they get any marks for any
of this?

28. So what’s the main difference
between a pass level report, and
a higher grade?

29. The main difference is how in
depth you explain it…
Do you….
Describe
Explain
Evaluate

30. What does the word describe
mean?
• Cover the main points only
• We say ‘what’ something is.
• We use basic language to give a basic outline on a
subject
If I asked you to describe the purpose of music videos
you might say:
“The purpose of music videos is to
advertise a song.”

31. What does the word explain
mean?
• Give an in depth account of the subject
• We say ‘what’ something is, then explain why we do it,
how we do it, justifying our arguments with examples.
• We use explanatory language to build an in-depth
persuasive argument about a subject, using phrases
like ‘because’, ‘for example’, ‘although’, ‘this shows’ to
prove your points.

32. If I asked you to explain the purpose of music videos you
might say:
What does the word explain
mean?
“The main purpose of a music video is to advertise a single for a music artist or
band because video is a great medium for record labels to reach a wider
audience than traditional radio plays, especially since the advent of mobile &
broadband video. Although the main aim of the video is to convert views, either
online or via DTV, to sales of the single music videos also help provide greater
exposure for the artist, which could lead to increased album and merchandising
sales as well. For example, Katy Perry is a prolific recording artist whose music
videos are often seen as events themselves, helping her to build and reach a
wide fan base. Her music videos have over 11 million views and she has 12
number 1 singles. This shows her music videos have helped promote her to a
wide audience, and therefore helped her career and sales.
“The main purpose of a music video is to advertise a single for a music artist or
band because video is a great medium for record labels to reach a wider
audience than traditional radio plays, especially since the advent of mobile &
broadband video. Although the main aim of the video is to convert views, either
online or via DTV, to sales of the single music videos also help provide greater
exposure for the artist, which could lead to increased album and merchandising
sales as well. For example, Katy Perry is a prolific recording artist whose music
videos are often seen as events themselves, helping her to build and reach a
wide fan base. Her music videos have over 11 million views and she has 12
number 1 singles. This shows her music videos have helped promote her to a
wide audience, and therefore helped her career and sales.

33. What does the word evaluate
mean?
• Investigating the strengths and weaknesses of something
• Having a reasoned argument with yourself, and drawing
conclusions at the end.
• Using examples to prove your points.

34. If I asked you to evaluate the purpose of music videos you
might say:
What does the word evaluate
mean?
“…..Whilst music videos are a good way to promote an artist visually to an
audience, they rely on the quality of the film-maker as much as the quality of
the recording artists single. A good video director can make a bad song into
an interesting visual experience for the viewer, but likewise a bad director can
ruin a good singles chances of success by creating a video which does not
work well with the music. It could be argued that music videos are only as
strong as their weakest component; be it the video or the song. In fact recent
studies by Nielson have shown that there is little chance of someone buying a
single if they dislike the music; therefore the video itself can only build upon
the potential success of a single, it cannot make it into a good song.

35. Today
You are going to peer assess one of your classmates music
video theory assignment.
I want you to read their report and clearly mark up all the
areas where:
• they have described it
• They have explained it
• They have evaluated it
• Where they have used examples
• Where they have used examples to prove their points
Use the grading sheet I have given you as a guide, filling it in.

36. Task 2
Read through your feedback – what has the assessor said?
If you think the feedback is harsh I want you to remember –
whoever is grading you will be fair but sometimes it can be spirit
crushing getting disappointing feedback.

37. Task 3
• Make a plan of action; write down how you need to improve
your work.

38. Task 4
• Begin to redraft your work taking into account all the feedback
you have received.
• Use this as an opportunity to improve it to get the grades you
want.
• Peer assessment can help you to solve a lot of problems
before its too late.

39. Plenary