This document provides guidance and templates for planning a film production. It includes sections on visual planning with concepts boards, storyboarding and shot lists. Organizational planning covers casting, locations, schedules and forms. Soundtrack planning addresses diegetic sounds that would be heard by characters and non-diegetic sounds for the audience. Templates are provided for scene breakdowns, character details, equipment lists and credit tables. Students are instructed to customize the templates with details of their own short film and to continue adding details as planning progresses.

1. EMILY GRACE PORTER

2.  This template PowerPoint presentation includes all the relevant
elements you need to cover your film production.
 It is suggested you save this PP in a different name so you
always have a copy – some sections require you to delete the
information on the slide and replace with your own work
 Add more pages to each section where necessary [you should be
doing this!]
 Add visuals as you see necessary
 This document will be added to as you progress through the pre-
production phase.
 Remember, you need to give as much attention to your
sound planning as you do to your visual planning

4.  Use the story development resource to help structure your short
film with more detail
 Not all the aspects have to be followed verbatim, use the
resource the plan out character, motivation, stakes and the arc of
your film, this will help to ensure that it works structurally
 Proforma is on bb
 Add a structural breakdown of each scene once you have done
this

7.  Breakdown your film into it’s basic sections [e.g. via scene
breakdown or similar] and apply broad visual ideas to each
section. You should list the shots required
 You can use this as the master template for your production, then
add more shots to each section when you develop your full visual
plan
 From this you could work on a conventional script if you want, but
using the scene breakdowns should be enough

8. Scene No. Approx timing What happens Visual notes Audio notes
1 8 seconds Protagonist appears
to be asleep, his
surrounding is shown
Every take is
taken as an
extreme close up
Tv white noise,
dripping tap
2 7 seconds Protagonist wakes
up and glances at
the clock
All extreme
close ups
Protagonists
breath
3 4 seconds Protagonist gets
up and walks
towards to kitchen
Filmed from floor
angle, only shows
his feet and
bottom of his leg
Footsteps
across wooden
floor
4 10 seconds Protagonist gets
everything
together to make
his dinner (soup)
Quick short
takes all close
ups
Cupboard opening
and closing,
pouring soups,
turning the knob
5 5 seconds Protagonist pours
out the soup and
begins is stirring it
and still stretching
from waking up
Low angled shot
from behind the
soup looking up at
the protagonist,
close up of
protagonist
Stirring soup and
faint whispers
when the
protagonist looks
over his shoulder

9. Scene No. Approx timing What happens Visual notes Audio notes
6 4 seconds Protagonist is still
cooking the soup and
in a bit of a daze
Low angles shot from
in front of the pan
looking up at the
main character
Soup- bubbles,
stirring liquid
7 5 seconds The soup beings to
bubble and pop with
the colour slowly
turning dark and
disturbing
Birdseye view of
soup. Low angled
shot from in front of
the pan of the
protagonist
Soup –bubbles,
popping
8 5 seconds Protagonist looks
confused and stirs
the soup and also
alters the
temperature
Birdseye view of
soup. Low angled
shot from in front of
the pan of the
protagonist
Soup – bubbles and
pops
Oven – knob tuning
9 5 seconds annoyed by his
confusion he slowly
bends down and
takes a big whiff of
the soup, as he does
his eyes roll to the
back of his head and
he follows falling
backwards to the
floor.
Low angled shot
from in front of
the pan, looking
up at the
protagonist
Big Whiff,
Fall to the floor
10 5 seconds Protagonist dead on
the floor with
statement over his
body.
Birds eye view of
protagonist dead on
the floor, statement
over.

10. Visual Planning

11.  This section is concerned with the visual planning of your film
 You should use this section to develop the sequencing or your
video, establish the visuals look and sequencing of your film and
create a structure for you to follow when filming
 It is important that you ‘pre-visualise’ the film before you make it; it
will make filming and production a more streamlined process
 The following tasks are part of your visual planning
 Pre-visualisation and concept boards
 Storyboarding
 Shot list

12.  Tool for exploring the direction and visuals
 Provides inspiration and information for the “look & feel”
 Presents key moments in your video
 A means to sketch/plan ideas
 Information on colour/lighting
 Defining the “mise-en-scene”
 Include as much here as you like, but keep it relevant to the
production, the following slides have been left blank for you to
approach in your own way, add more as you need to
 Suggestion: include your edited short sequence of clips that have
inspired or influenced your video [similar to this:
http://io9.com/5941145/this-directors-video-pitch-for-hunger-games-
might-be-better-than-the-real-movie]

13. Low key: Created by the use of a back light, it’s mainly used to
represent a dark atmosphere, which is scary or mysterious. It will
produce a sharper contrast of light in darker areas on screen in
order to develop deep shadows and silhouettes formation.
Under lighting: The light comes from beneath the subject. This
has a tendency of having a altering effect on the subject that is
being lit up, it is able to bright up the subject as well as part of the
background.
In my own short film I will be using different levels of low key
lighting as it creates a mysterious or suspenseful atmosphere.

14. Colour is key with Mise en scene as we associate
emotions and thoughts with different colours. In my
Short thriller I’ll keep within a dark range of colours, e.g
dark grey and dark blue. I also want to incorporate a
little bit of dark red as red is a connotation of danger
and blood.

15. In my short thriller film I have a one man cast therefore all the focus is
one my main character and what he's doing. I want viewers to like my
character and I’ll offer many reasoning's for them to like him. My
character lives alone in a studio flat, and looks always fed up. He’s
portraying a single lonely young male. His body language will be
sluggish, portraying a life of passing through your days as they come.
Just getting through each one to get to the next. I want the audience to
pity and sympathise for my character and feel sorry for his boring and
dull life and then feel even worse for him when he meets his untimely
death.
My characters characteristics are shown through different angles of his
expressions. For example my protagonist is lazy this is protrayed
through an extreme close up, low angled shot of his face appearing to
be sleeping with the angle my character appears to look more sluggish
therefore connotating his laziness.

16.  Your storyboard should bring your idea to life
 Provide an idea of the sequencing of you film
 Provides a basis for production
 Suggested online storyboard creators are:
 https://www.storyboardthat.com
 http://www.pixton.com [very complicated]
 http://www.storyjumper.com [allows you to insert your own images]
 Alternatively, hand draw or photograph your storyboard and scan
or copy to insert it onto your slides
 There are lots of tips collected together on Blackboard!

18.  Your shot list should contain the sequential breakdown of what
you need to shoot for your film
 It should work in partnership with your storyboard
 It will be your working document when you film
 It should contain the shot number, scene number, shot
description, framing, cast/location info and action you will see
 It should also have information on performers in the scene and
other props, etc
 Shot list template is on Blackboard in the pre-production folder.

20. Organisational Planning

21.  Include names, contact info, and defined roles at difference
stages of production, using a table is suggested

22. Protagonist – Ben Harr-gadon
Sex: male
Hair colour: Brown
Eye colour: Blue
Height: 5 ft 11
Reasoning: Fits the character profile and also I live with him
therefore film timing won’t be an issue as we can film on any night
where I’m not at work.

23.  Information and images of your location[s] for filming
 You should have address details, clearance/premissions for
filming, recce photos and floorplans [including camera, equipment
and cast/crew layouts]
 Where possible, have a plan B fallback location option
 Assess each location for any issues and suggest solutions

24. Address:
Flat 3
3 Wenlock Terrace
YO10 4DU
I only have one location for my short film, I wanted one
small proximity to film in for multiple reasons. One being to
keep the filming stage simple so I can put most of my time
into editing and another reason because of my genre I
wanted to give a claustrophobic atmosphere and by filming
in a small, dark, gloomy studio I think I’ll get the affect I
want.
The location I chose was my own flat,
therefore accessibility and permission is not
an issue.

28.  Provide an outline of what you will do on which days during
production

30.  Any place you film and anyone you use in the filming of your
video must have a completed form
 Blank forms are on Blackboard for you to complete and insert
here

31.  List, explain how you’ll acquire and provide an overview of
anything else you’ll need for your production – this is about
anything that isn’t cast, crew, technical equipment and
locations, but could be how those things will be moved to a
location, for example.

32. PROP LIST
• 3 Tins of leak and
potato soup
• Wooden spoon
• Pan
• Alarm clock
• Candle

33. Soundtrack Planning

34.  These are sounds in the environment, part of the ‘world’ your
character experiences – these can be recorded on location,
produced afterwards using foley techniques, etc. Some use of
royalty free sounds is permitted, but you must list their sources
and information
 Consider what you might need, how you are going to get it, etc

35. DIEGETIC SOUND
I found I spooky whispering audio online, which built up into a dark loud
horrific scream. I wanted to feature the whispering quietly throughout my
film beginning right at the beginning before the alarm goes off, I also
wanted to finish with the painful scream. I felt the whispers
foreshadowed something bad was gojng to happen for the audience and
the build up to the ending scream adds depth the genre and the ending
itself.

36.  These are the sounds/audio that the audience experiences, but
are not part of the ‘world’ of the character[s], this could be music,
sound cues, etc
 Consider where you are going to get these, only royalty free
sources and original content is permitted – please track your
sources

37. NON- DIEGETIC SOUND
I had to record lots of short sound effects for my film, due to all the close ups
of each and induvial action having its own shot. I wanted the soup effect for
each action taken place to be dominant and almost louder than it sound be if
you where doing the action yourself, therefore creating an atmosphere of
intrusion to the audience, the unsatisfying noises intruding the sense of
sound. For the two sound effects I found hard to record myself and get the
loudest effect possible, I got royally free offline, these included pouring of the
soup and the thud of my protagonist falling to the floor.