AS Coursework Checklist – Film Opening
(There should be at least one blog post about each
stage)
1. Choose who you are going to work with and name your production company, design a logo
for your production company.

The coursework mimics real life production practices and therefore you have to
pretend to be a real life production company – this teaches you about institution.
2. Create your blog on either www.blogger.com, www.wordpress.com or www.tumblr.com. 
This is a requirement from the exam board.
3. Send the URL of your blog to Mrs B, so she can put it on
www.mrsblacksmedia2.wordpress.com.

This enables your teacher to check your work.
4. Upload your prelim task film and shot library. (If your groups have changed then you may
need to upload more than one).

The shot library gets you used to using the camera; the prelim is a requirement of the
exam board, if you don’t have the prelim task you cannot gain any marks for anything
else you do.
5. Complete the ‘jelly baby’ task for two of the film pitches (see additional sheet for info.)
Upload your photos to the blog with and explanation of your shot choices.

This task will let you apply your new knowledge of narrative!
6. Pick your film brief (see film brief sheet/blog post) and justify your choice on the blog.
Present a short pitch to Mrs B on why you have chosen what you have and how you
are going to do it.

This is the first chance you have to decide what you want to do for your main task,
and allows you to consider whether your ideas are ‘doable’.
7. Complete the remake task as appropriate to your chosen film brief.

This will show you how much you actually have to complete your main task and the
variety of shots and sound you need to consider.
8. Research films from the genre of your film brief and come up with a list of identifying traits of
the genre – things you will need to include.

This will give you a checklist you need to include in your own film opening.
9. Produce a graphic breakdown of the opening of a film from within your genre (see separate
sheet for details).

This will help you plan the timings of things like titles and the pace of the story in
your own work.
10. Research the opening sequence of several films (similar to your film brief). Each member of
the group should do a full textual analysis of at least 1 opening (cinematography, editing,
sound and mise-en-scene).

This again will help you define what is required of you in your coursework and gain
inspiration from already existing media.
11. Pick another film opening from your genre and choose the 9 key screen shots from it (see
www.artofthetitle.com for inspiration). Annotate the 9 shots describing why they are the key
shots and what you can take from them as inspiration.

This helps you focus on the visual aspects that are important in the opening part of a
film.
12. Create a mood board, scan or photograph it and upload it to your blog, write a short entry on
why you have used what you have on the board.
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This a commonly used professional technique to help you decide the font, colours and
‘look’ of your film, partly mise-en-scene planning.
13. Audience research – research which films people think have good openings, what attracts
people to films and what puts them off. Blog your findings.

If you don’t know your audience then how can you know how to cater for them and
attract them? You will be able to adjust your ideas to suit your audience.
14. Go to http://www.uktribes.com and http://www.findyourtribe.co.uk and use them to define
your perfect audience member. (Have some fun and find out what tribe you are too). Create
a complete picture of your audience member, from clothes to the food they eat, music they
listen too. You can get a friend to dress up in the appropriate costume and take photos.

This is a website set up by Channel 4 so they can tailor their programmes to teenagers
properly – by using it you get an idea that audience is a lot more than just
teenagers/girls/boys – it is a lot more detailed.
15. Go to the ‘Pearl and Dean’ website, look at the business section and investigate how they
categories their audiences. Can you fit your film to their ideas?

Pearl and Dean sell advertising space in cinemas and therefore have to know what
adverts go best with what film, this is real life industry information on cinema
audiences.
16. Research the institutions that might produce, distribute and exhibit your film

This ties into the section B part of your exam,and looks at the companies and
institutions who might want to buy and show your film.
17. Define the key elements you must include in your opening to conform to the expectations of
the genre you have chosen, the audience you have chosen and what is expected of a film
opening. Make a check list.

This will make sure you don’t miss anything vital out.
18. Create a story arc for the whole of your film; write a brief synopsis. Remember most films
have 5 ‘acts’, and most conform to normal story patterns.

The opening of films usually indicate something about the film later on, you can’t do
this effectively unless you know the whole narrative of the film.
19. Investigate narrative theories (Propp etc), find an interesting way of presenting them and
blog how your story fits them (or doesn’t).

This allows you to justify your choices against established narrative theories.
20. Create a storyboard (either drawn or photo-strip)

This is the most important part of your planning and all movies go through this
process, this allows you to go through your movie shot by shot without using the
camera. From this you can create a shooting schedule and shot list to make sure you
don’t leave anything out.
21. Plan the sound of your movie – are you having a soundtrack, or just Foley sounds? Blog
where you’ve found your sound and why you have chosen what you have.

Plan your sound against your shots.
22. Create an animatic of your storyboard.

This allows you to measure the pace of your film before filming.
23. Create a shot list and shooting script.

So you don’t go out filming and forget half the things you need to capture. The
weather up here is changeable and if you film in little bits you are likely to mess up
your continuity.
24. Plan locations and take location shots. Blog your reasons for choosing these locations.
Seek permission to use the locations.

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You can on go filming in places around school without warning people you are
coming.
25. Do a risk assessment.

Again mimicking real life and making you aware of the things that could go wrong.
26. Cast your film and take casting shots. Blog your reasons for casting who you have.

Use people who can act, not just your mates.
27. Plan and collect all props and costumes.

Otherwise it won’t look too good!
28. Shoot your film

29. Make a rough edit and check that you have all the shots you need.

This gives you a chance to check everything is working. This should be done as fast as
possible.
30. Do any re-shoots and pick ups needed.

31. Complete finished edit.

32. Post your finished film to your blog.

Now onto the evaluation!
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