Major Production Pitch Presentation

Based on research and inspired by strong ideas, you will develop a pitch for a film of under 5 minutes in length. You may choose to pitch:

-    a documentary; -    an experimental film; -    or a narrative, fiction film.

The film could be in any genre. For example, your could make a narrative romantic comedy or thriller, an observational documentary or film essay or an experimental film based on found footage. 

The film must have minimal dialogue (no more than 5 lines of dialogue) with the exception of film essays and documentaries (which can include longer interviews and voice-over).

The film MUST be made in black and white. 

For this assignment you need to submit:

1.    a digital presentation of the pitch. A digital presentation is a video comprising of still and/or moving images (preferably original).  You may include voice-over narration, music and sound effects. The digital presentation should be between 1 and 3 minutes in length and express your pitch in a creative way. You need not explain everything in the digital presentation. Your aim is to excite an audience to watch, a backer to fund and a supporter to support the film that you will make.

2.    a written document of around 500 words addressing the following:

-    A working title. -    A short 1-sentence description of the film. -    Demonstrate familiarity with the form and genre (e.g. experimental film or a mesh between horror and romantic comedy). You must give examples of other films that are similar to yours. -    A short synopsis of the film. You may wish to include dramatic scenarios, characters, locations, etc. -    What are the main ideas in your film? Ideas in films are usually a combination of visual/cinematic ideas with social ones.  -    Why does your have to be made? Who is it addressing? Who are the audience and why would they be interested in your film? -    Additionally you can describe the shooting style you intend to use, your ideas for production design, the colour-palette, the sound design and music and any specific visual and sound idea you have.

Like all academic work, this work has to be researched. As this is a screen unit, your research sources should include films and other screen media as well as books, journal articles or newspaper articles. You may use any referencing style you prefer (students tell me that Harvard is simplest). All non-original music, photos and videos also have to be acknowledged and appropriately referenced.

You may attach a script, storyboards, shot lists, design plans, voice-over scripts or any other material that demonstrate your creative development. These are not compulsory elements of the assignment but you are encouraged to include them as they are important aspects of planning a media production.

You have to use your own equipment to complete this exercise. You may need access to basic photo or video acquisition hardware (e.g smartphone) and a computer with basic video editing software (e.g Moviemaker or IMovie). No technical support will be provided for this assignment.

Please ensure that you compress your Digital Presentation to under 50mb for submission to ilearn (Ilearn does not accept files larger than 50mb).  You only need to submit your digital presentation and written document but if you have additional support material (e.g a script) you may include it in your submission. You may attach up to 10 documents as part of your submission. All documents need to be in MSWord, PDF, TXT, or RTF formats. No handwritten or hardcopy submissions accepted.

Assessment Criteria 1. Clear and succinct identification and articulation ideas. 2.  Effective use of research in generation and communication of ideas, themes or issues and how you intend to convey them in screen media. 3.  Creative and feasible response to task guidelines. 4.  Application of practical, technical, creative and theoretical skills in digital presentation.

All submissions are to be made online on ILearn. Successful pitches will be selected for production.  

Equal number of experimental films, documentary and fiction films will be selected for production. From experience, there are fewer pitches for documentary and experimental films. Choosing to pitch a documentary or an experimental may lead to your pitch being shortlisted for production.

Journal

Due 1st Day of Intensive

Weight: 30%

Journal

You are to maintain a journal that documents your learning experience throughout this unit.

The purpose of the journal is to engage in reflective learning and to assist in developing and documenting critical skills.

You will need to submit entries that demonstrate your engagement with student-led learning activities, weekly learning tasks, production activities and readings.

The journal must also demonstrate initiative in your engagement with researching screen culture and with your development as a filmmaker.

All submissions are to be made online on ILearn as a JPG, PDF, RTF. TXT or MSWord File.  All weekly entires must be collated into one document. Hard copies will not be accepted, however if you prefer keeping a written journal, please scan the written journal and submit as a PDF or JPG. 

Assessment Criteria

1. Demonstrated engagement with student-led learning activities, weekly learning tasks, production activities and readings.
2. Demonstrated an ability to critically analyse and reflect on issues presented in the above tasks and activities.
3. Demonstrated research in screen culture.

Write, Shoot & Edit a Short in 1 day

Due End of Intensive

Weight: 10%

In small groups, students will write, plan, shoot and edit a short film of any genre, fiction or documentary of any subject matter and of up to 3 minutes in length.

Students will start their production at 5 pm, Wed 13^th April and submit their completed films on Thurs 14^th April at 5 pm.

All submissions are to be made online on ILearn.

Assessment Criteria:

1. Effective exploration and realization of concept.
2. Overall shape and structure.
3. Effective use of the different elements of preproduction, production and post-production.
4. Demonstrated technical competence.

Screen Production

This assignment has 2 components:

Final Film (20%)

Critical Evaluation of Role (20%)

1.  Final Film

From the 'pitch' presentations, a number of these will be selected to go into production. These will be announced at the Practical on 31st March. Those students whose  pitch is selected will be designated as ‘director’.

Students will then choose from the following crew roles: Producer, Director of Photography, Sound Recordist/Designer, Editor, and Production Designer.

Once teams have been selected, students will collaborate on the development of their screen works during the pre-production phase in readiness for going in to production. Each member of the creative production team is expected to undertake adequate preparation to carry out their role.

Teams will be expected to pre-plan the visual and sound elements of their screen production through story-boarding and other planning exercises.

Teams will also be expected to familiarize themselves with their production equipment, hold regular production meetings, and perform camera and sound tests.

It is important to note that all stages of the work will be considered in the assessment. Groups are to present their edit assemblies (rough cut) in the Practical on Week 10 on 19th May and their fine cuts  in the Practical on Week 11 on 26th May. The final projects will be between 3 to 5 mins in duration will be delivered on Week 13. 

2. Critical Evaluation of Role

You are assessed on your crew role performance as evidenced in the final film supported by a range of documentation. 

Documentation to be provided includes:

a. A report of around 700 words analysing and evaluating the ways technical and aesthetic considerations have combined to realise (or not) the original concept. This report is to be approached critically - this means that if the project has in some way not achieved its original goals, this should be addressed. Statements such as 'the production is really good' are not convincing. Think deeply about the work. Could it be improved? Discuss it in relation to other films (e.g. of a similar genre or style). How has your role contributed to the technical and aesthetic realization of the production? What more could you have done to improve the production? Outline the major learning challenges you faced in your crew role during the process and how you resolved it. Also critically assess the contributions of each member of your team (peer assessment); one or two sentences for each member should be sufficient.

b. Production portfolio of documents demonstrating your technical and creative research, preparation and process undertaken in your crew role and any other involvement you have in the production.

c. Dated weekly log during pre-production, production and post-production of one paragraph outlining in dot points relevant actions you took in relation to the project during that time frame.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Final films will be assessed by a panel of screen production staff according to the following criteria: 

1. Originality and structure of completed project 

2. Effectiveness of creative choices in mise en scene, composition, shot construction, sound, design, editing, direction of performance, production and logistics management etc. 

3. Degree that completed project has achieved creative goals 

The critical analysis will be assessed according to the following criteria:

1. Coherence, structure and argument of critical analysis.

2. Clarity of writing style, grammar and appropriate referencing.

3. Demonstrated effectiveness of contribution in crew role as evidenced in final film.

4. Demonstrated commitment in crew role as evidenced by attendance at workshops, production meetings, technical workshops, tests, shoot and post-production and other activities as necessary.

5. Demonstrated creative and technical preparation for crew role as evidenced in documentation provided.

6. Capacity to critically reflect on learning experience.