Guidelines for the preliminary moving image production task for the end of Year 12 Media Studies

1. PRODUCTION SKILLS –
MOVING IMAGE

2. Stages of production
 Planning
 Production (shooting)
 Post-production (editing)

3. Planning
 Idea
 Mood board, mind-map, brainstorm
 Set brief from OCR
 Script
 Including all dialogue but also direction, action
and settings. (Example Script)
 Storyboard
 Visualisation of the shots to communicate the
script

4. Production
 Camera
 Action
 Sound
 Lighting

5. Post-Production
 Editing
 Export and Presentation

6. Scripting
 A film script uses the following conventions:
 Dialogue:
 Character names centre justified
 Dialogue indented under the character name
 Action
 Left justified
 Key props or features (for the production designer) and
actions or sounds (for the director) in capitals
 See example script
 Return to Planning

7. Storyboarding
 A storyboard is a graphical representation of
the camera shots in a film sequence which are
connected together to create a “narrative flow”.
 The narrative of the sequence is visualised by
a series of drawings which depict
location, character, props and setting of each
shot
 Images are accompanied by text detailing
action, camera directions, lighting directions
and sometimes basic dialogue

8. What are storyboards for?
 Helps the director to visualise the flow of camera
shots
 Illustrates how the narrative will flow from one
shot to the next for the audience
 Used as the basis of discussion between director
and the director of photography to decide how
shots need to be acted, lit and shot
 In a production meeting, a picture really is worth a
thousand words. You can script a sequence in words
as clearly as you like, and there will always be some
misunderstanding. But if you use storyboards, it’s so
much easier to communicate your visual and
dramatic ideas.

9. The Storyboard

10. Example Storyboard

11. Example Storyboard

12. Example of Storyboard and
finished product
 Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood
 FinishedVideo
 Storyboard animatic

13. Return to
planning

14. Use of the camera – shot choice
LS
(Long Shot)
CU
(Close Up)
WS
(Wide Shot)
VCU
(Very Close Up)
MS
(Medium Shot)
ECU
(Extreme Close
Up)

15. The Grammar of shot choice
 Shots tell the audience different things
 LS and WS set the scene and give context.
When used at the start of a sequence these
are called establishing shots.
 MS is used for action including spoken action
 CU is used for reaction and emotional content
 VCU and ECU are used to show fine detail or
to make the audience uncomfortable

16. The “sentence” of a sequence
 In this sequence from The Ring notice how the
director uses a long shot as his exterior
establishing shot, then a wide two-shot to
establish the interior
 The beginning of the conversation is shot with
medium shots of each girl
 As the emotional content of the conversation
increases, he moves in for close-ups
 When the tension is released, he pulls out to
MS again for the action

17. The 180° Rule
 Two characters (or anything)
within a scene should always
have the same left-right
relationship with one another
 Imagine a line (the axis)
connecting the two subjects
 You can place your camera
anywhere on one side of the
line, but you can never cross the
axis 2 3
 When shooting a
conversation, OTS (over-the- 1
shoulder) shots help the
audience follow it
 The sequence of swapping from
one view to the opposite is Notice how the same sequence
called shot/reverse shot (from from The Ring obeys the 180° rule
angle 2 to 3 and back) and uses OTS shots.

18. Angles
 Commonly action is shot from the same level
 Shooting from below the action is using a low
angle shot. This puts the subject in a position of
power over the audience.
 Shooting from above the action is using a high
angle shot. This puts the audience in a position of
power over the subject.
 Shooting the action crooked is using a canted
angle. This creates disorientation.
 Notice how the director in The Ring uses high
angles to make Katie seem vulnerable here and
here.
Return to Production

19. Sound
 There are two types of sound in a filmed
sequence:
 Diegetic sound: this is sound that is contained in the
scene that you are filming. It can include
dialogue, noises made by the characters, or objects in
the scene. The characters will be able to hear diegetic
sounds. If you can hear it but not see it, the sound is
OOS (out of shot)
 Non-diegetic sound: this is sound that is added on
and separate to the scene. This can include musical
soundtrack, voice-over and effects. Characters will not
be able to hear non-diegetic sound.
 Listen for examples of non-diegetic sound in The
Return to Production

20. Lighting
 Lighting a scene is
critical to making it
look good
 Lighting which looks
natural, bright and
sunny with indistinct
edges is called high
key lighting
 Obvious lighting with
high
contrasts, creating
dramatic shadows and
Return to Production

21. Editing
 We use Adobe Premier Pro as our editing
programme in school
 It is available on all computers
 Please note that video files are very large
 We advise you to use a folder on the desktop of
your computer. If you use your area on the
network you will run out of space, and the network
may not run quickly enough. Make a folder with
your group’s name on it.
 You will need to work on the same computer each
time.

22. Transitions
 Transitions between shots also communicate
meaning. Don’t get too fancy…
 Cut: this is sequential in time from one shot to the
next. The second shot follows directly on from the
action in the first.
 Fade through black: indicates that time has
passed between the second shot and the first
 Dissolve/Wipe: can indicate a flashback or a
change of scene

23. Matching Action
 Cutting from one shot to the next should
directly sequential to the audience
 However, you will have filmed the two shots at
different times
 It is vital that you match the action from one
shot to the next so that there is no “jump” as
the camera cuts
 The cut should be invisible to the audience
 Notice how the director matches the action
across cuts in our sequence from The Ring.

24. Putting it all together
 This is a video made by two ex-students, now at
University studying Media
 Notice how they use the techniques of film-making
we have discussing including:
 Shot choice
 Angles
 Action matching
 Shot/reverse shot
 The 180° rule
 Diegetic and non-diegetic sound
 The Stairs

25. Preliminary Video Task
 Film and edit a sequence in which:
a character opens a door, crosses a room and
sits down in a chair opposite another character,
with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of
lines of dialogue.
 This task should demonstrate match on action,
shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
 Try and make this interesting!

26. Export and Presentation
 Once the sequence is fully edited in
Premier, export it as a .avi file and upload it to
YouTube before embedding it into your blog.
 Make sure you also post your planning
including script and storyboard
 Take some still photos of your video shoot and
post them to show what you were doing
 Take screenshots of the edit in Premier to
demonstrate your progress

27. Production Groups
 Billy, Joe, Jack, Cameron: Sherman
Productions
 Evie, Hannah, Jasmine, Tilly: Firefly
Productions
 Katie, Carly, Jess: JKC Productions
 Poppy, Emma, Keith, Louise:
Lights, Camera, Action Productions