Language, Camera, Action!
Language on Film
Regional Film-making Project & Competition
for KS3 Language Learners
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Foreign Film-making Project – Teacher’s Pack
Contents
1. Overview of the Project
2. Stage 1 - Development
3. Stage 2 – Pre-production: Scripting
4. Stage 3 – Pre-production: Storyboard & Shot-list
5. Stage 4 – Production: Filming
6. Stage 5 – Post Production: Editing
7. Links and contacts
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Project Overview
Aim
The aim of the film competition is for students in Key Stage 3 to write, direct and
produce a short film of any genre (max. 5mins) in a foreign language (with
English subtitles).
Process
There is a training day for Regional Co-ordinators on 9th July 2009 at ARU.
Three subsequent training days for Co-ordinators and one member of each
participating group will be held at ARU at the beginning of the pre-production,
production and post-production stages:
1) Pre-production
2) Production
3) Post-production
10th September
2nd December
Feb 2010 (date tbc)
Making a short film is a complicated and lengthy process, so schools should
launch the competition at the beginning of the autumn term. Students should
be encouraged to work independently on the project during their lunch / break
/ after school. They should meet regularly with the School Co-ordinator to
ensure that they are on schedule to meet each deadline.
The competition has 5 stages to guide the participating groups through the
film-making process.
There is a deadline for completion of each stage of the competition which is
worth a percentage of the overall score for the film. Participating groups must
submit evidence of completion of each stage through their School Coordinator and this is assessed centrally by a judging panel at Anglia Ruskin
University (ARU) who will allocate scores at each stage.
Final deadline for the finished films is Friday 7th May 2010
Films may be produced in any language apart from English and all films must
have English subtitles.
Participating groups are only permitted to use digital video cameras / Flip
cameras and Microsoft Movie-Maker – no professional film-making software is
permitted.
Films should be a maximum of 5 minutes in duration and can be animated but
they MUST be made using Microsoft Movie Maker as the editing software and
foreign language dialogue is a key component.
A Premiere Evening will take place at the end of the project where the best
entries will be premiered at the Picturehouse Cinema, Cambridge. After the
screenings there will be a formal awards ceremony.
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Stage 1 - Development
Teams should:
a. allocate pre-production roles:
i. Producer
ii. Director (has the overall vision for the film)
iii. Art Director (has a more visual role – thinks about lighting,
camera angles, set, etc..)
iv. Camera
b. decide on an idea and genre for a film – i.e. an action film, fly on
the wall documentary, comedy sketches, etc..
c. pitch their idea to their supervisor who will provide feedback about
the feasibility of the idea. The pitch should be a short presentation
to sell their idea, this should be videoed and submitted to ARU.
d. write a film proposal. This is a written version of the pitch and
should consist of a two-line idea proposal.
e. produce an outline of the film. This is a short paragraph detailing
what happens in the film.
Deadline: 16th October 2009.
Percentage of overall score: 5%
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Stage 1: Development
School
Co-ordinator
Team Name
Participants’ Roles
Name
Email
Surname
Forename(s)
Additional Team
Members
Video of Pitch enclosed
Film Proposal
Y/N
Outline plot (max. 50
words)
*For office use only
Comments
Stage % mark
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
/5
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Stage 2: Pre-production: Scripting
Teams should:
a. produce a script for the film in the Target Language (TL).
b. submit the script using the film industry script format (example
enclosed)
Deadline – 13th November 2009
Percentage of overall mark – 25%
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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EXAMPLE INDUSTRY SCRIPT FORMAT
“STYLING WITH MICROSOFT WORD XP”
by
Cynthia Randall
(Title with author(s) – centrally justified)
1234 Your Street
City, State ZIP Code
Telephone Number
(address and contact details centrally justified)
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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FADE IN:
IN A PICKLE IS CATHY
Cathy is sitting at her computer. She is
frustrated and mumbling to herself.
(camera
instructions are in capitals and left
justified. Instructions for the set are not
in capitals but are also left-justified)
JOHN
How’s it going, Cath? You
don’t sound so good.
CATHY
No, I’m not. I’ve been
messing with styles and
formatting in Word, and I
can’t figure out how to
show just the ones I
want.
JOHN
Yeah, they changed the
styles and formatting
feature in XP - you are
using Word XP, right?
CATHY
Yes.
JOHN
It’s a bit weird at first
but is an improvement
over the last version.
Here, let me show you.
(the script is centrally
justified and not
capitalized - apart from
the character’s name.
John takes hold of the mouse and pokes around
in Word for a few minutes to see what styles
Cathy has been working with.
JOHN
So you’re building a
screenwriting template,
eh?
CATHY
Trying to.
JOHN
It’s these 11 styles you
want, right? – character,
dialog,
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Cathy, interjecting, points to each style in
the task pane…
CATHY
Scene heading, the end,
title, trans in, trans
out, your address, your
name, and action.
JOHN
A girl who can finish my
sentences - powerful
stuff, Cath. And speaking
of action: You’ve been a
bit low on the gas
lately, if you know what
I mean…
(John has been
trying to date Cathy
since the second
grade; they’re now
in first year
university and Cathy
still has no
interest.)(extra
background
information is
centrally justified
in small letters in
brackets)
CATHY
John, stop it! I need to
get this done!
JOHN
Okay, okay, now where was
I? So when you’ve got all
the styles you want, the
way to show just them and
not all the others which, by the way, belong
to Normal.dot - is to
first enter each style in
the document, and then
here at the bottom of the
task pane in the Show
box, choose Formatting in
use. See, now when you go
to choose a style from
the Formatting toolbar or
from the task pane, just
your 11 styles appear.
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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CATHY
And these styles will
always be here? I mean,
when I close the template
and open it again,
everything will be the
same?
JOHN
Word saves the last state
you were working in –
this is called “sticky”.
Just your 11 styles will
be in the styles list on
the Formatting toolbar
and shown in the task
pane. But when you reopen
Word, the task pane won’t
be open. You’ll need to
click the Formatting and
styles button on the
Formatting toolbar to
open it back up again.
CATHY
Okay. And it looks like I
can still add, modify,
and delete styles in
Formatting in use view,
yes?
JOHN
Yep.
CATHY
Thanks, John! You’ve been
a big help.
JOHN
Yeah, you probably owe me
one come to think of it.
CATHY
Owe you one! Owe you one
what?
JOHN
Relax Cathy. I’ve had
enough action for one
day. See you in Biology.
Smiling, John closes the door behind him.
FADE OUT
THE END
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Stage 2: Pre-production: Scripting
School
Co-ordinator
Team Name
Participants’ Roles
Name
Email
Surname
Forename(s)
Additional Team
Members
Script in industry format
enclosed
*For office use only
Comments
Stage % mark
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
Y/N
/25
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Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Stage 3 – Preproduction: Storyboarding and Shot-list
Teams should:
a. Produce a story board of each shot in their film. The storyboard is
a series of sketches, each sketch depicts a shot in the film and
helps the directors and the camera to set up and frame the shot
adequately. An example story board and a storyboard template is
enclosed. The story board can be in the form of stickman figures,
no extra points are allocated for the quality of the artwork.
b. Produce a shot-list. Each of the shots on the storyboard should
be given a number. During the shoot, it may not be feasible to
shoot each shot in the order depicted in the storyboard, rather it
may be better to shoot all shots in each location together. The shot
list is a list of numbers showing the order that all the shots will be
filmed.
Deadline: 30th Nov 2009
Percentage of overall mark: 10%
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Example Storyboards
1.
2.
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Storyboard Template
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Example Shot-list
Stikkup shot list - Shots 1 to 6
Shot 1:
Long Shot establishing the view of a bank that is not too well known.
Shot 2:
Medium Shot of Dick and Tom walk across the view of the camera. You
get a view of their head and the side of their body. This shot is to only to
show they have arrived at the bank.
Shot 3:
Big Close Up Shot of Dick and Tom. They look at each other and then
they separate.
Shot 4:
Medium Long Shot of Dick walking to the writing desk.
Shot 5:
Medium Shot of Dick at the writing desk.
Shot 6:
Extreme close-up shot of Dick’s hand picking up a deposit slip and
writing on the deposit slip “This is a stiikup. Put all your muny in this
bag”.
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Shot-list Template
Shot
Description of the Shot
Shot 1
Shot 2
Shot 3
Shot 4
Shot 5
Shot 6
Shot 7
Shot 8
Shot 9
Shot 10
Shot 11
Shot 12
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Stage 3 – Pre-production: Storyboarding and Shot-list
School
Co-ordinator
Team Name
Participants’ Roles
Name
Email
Surname
Forename(s)
Additional Team
Members
Storyboard enclosed
Shot-list enclosed
*For office use only
Comments
Stage % mark
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
Y/N
Y/N
/10
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Stage 4: Production
Teams should:
a. film the movie. Students should film the shots using their shot-list
and storyboard to help them.
b. save the shots they are going to use in Microsoft Moviemaker.
They should now put the shots in the correct order so that they are
ready for editing and they should delete any outtakes.
Deadline: February half-term
Percentage of overall mark: 10%
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Stage 4: Production
School
Co-ordinator
Team Name
Participants’ Roles
Name
Email
Surname
Forename(s)
Additional Team
Members
Movie maker file with all
unedited shots enclosed
*For office use only
Comments
Stage % mark
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
Y/N
/10
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Stage 5: Post-Production
Teams should:
a. edit the movie. Teams should use Microsoft Moviemaker to edit
the shots, ensuring that the film runs in sequence and that the
transitions between shots are smooth.
b. add subtitles. Teams should use Microsoft Moviemaker to add
English subtitles to their films – this is so that parents, judges and
other viewers can understand the film.
c. add music. If required, teams can add music to their films to add
ambience. Please note that this music must be open-source and
not subject to copyright rules.
Deadline : 7th May 2010
Percentage of overall score: 50%
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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Stage 5: Post-Production
School
Co-ordinator
Team Name
Participants’ Roles
Name
Email
Surname
Forename(s)
Additional Team
Members
Completed film
enclosed
*For office use only
Comments
Stage % mark
Y/N
/50
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Pre-production training
Thursday 10th September, 2009
Production training
Wednesday 2nd December, 2009
Post-production
Feb 2010 (date tbc)
All at Anglia Ruskin University, East Road Cambridge, CB1 1PT
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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LINKS & CONTACTS
Routes into Languages East
Tony Morgan (Director), Sarah Schechter (Project Manager)
Anglia Ruskin University
East Road CB1 1PT 0845 196 5007 routes@anglia.ac.uk
The Cambridgeshire Film Consortium
The Arts Picturehouse
38-39 St Andrews Street
Cambridge CB2 3AR TEL 01223 579127
Email: trish.s@picturehouses.co.uk
www.cambridgeshirefilmconsortium.org
Comberton Village College
Rachel Hawkes, Jane Driver, Leigh McClelland RHawkes@comberton.cambs.sch.uk,
JDriver@comberton.cambs.sch.uk, LMcclelland@comberton.cambs.sch.uk
Film Education
www.filmeducation.org
Provides free screenings in October for National Schools Film Week across the country and downloadable
teachers resources
91 Berwick Street
London W1F 0BP tel 020 7292 7330 fax 020 7287 6970
www.filmstreet.co.uk
Learn about filmmaking on line in a closed and excellent website aimed at schools
www.firstlightmovies.com
First Light Movies funds and inspires young people, throughout the UK, to make films reflecting the
diversity of their lives.
www.media-box.co.uk
Mediabox and First Light Movies-Funding Opportunities
Screen East would like to make you aware of funding opportunities that are available for schools within the
E2BN region. Mediabox is a fund that offers disadvantaged 13-19 year olds the opportunity to create their
own media projects, from film and radio to interactive games and a range of digital media platforms. It
enables young people to gain new skills, express their opinions and get their voices heard. Mediabox
particularly wants to improve the portrayal of young people in the media. The Department of Children,
Schools and Families have invested £8million in Mediabox over 2009 -11. It is managed by a consortium
consisting of First Light Movies, Media Trust, Skillset the UK Film Council and the Regional Screen Agencies.
The new funding is split into five different schemes with a range of offers from £500 to £40,000. For full
information on the schemes and rolling deadlines for application please visit follow the link www.mediabox.co.uk.
British Board of Film Classification
www.sbbfc.co.uk is designed for students and teachers involved in the study of media regulation and
film and anyone interested in film classification. Parents and teachers of children aged 5-12 years
and younger may like to visit the BBFC’s children’s website - www.cbbfc.co.uk
www.bbfc.co.uk – the official website of the British Board of Film Classification, the independent regulator of
the film and video industry in the UK. Designed to keep the public and the industry informed about the work
of the BBFC, this website includes up to the minute information about classification decisions; the policies
and Guidelines used by the BBFC when classifying a work; how to submit a film, DVD or video game for
classification as well as information about the BBFC. The BBFC has three other websites. A website
specially for parents, www.parentsbbfc.co.uk, provides in depth information about the content of films,
DVDs and games.
British Film Institute
BFI Southbank
Belvedere Road
South Bank
Waterloo
London SE1 8XT
Box Office: +44 (0)20 7928 3232 Switchboard: +44 (0)20 7928 3535
Stephen Street Office / BFI National Library
BFI
21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 1444
Produced by Jane Driver, 2009
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