Communication

Movie

Here are some guidelines for your movie:

  • Your movie should have ONE main character and a MAXIMUM of THREE other characters.
  • Your movie must have a clear plot.
  • Your movie could include dialogue, music, sound effects.
  • Your movie should include some type of conflict or issue or problem to overcome.
  • Length? It's a short film...MAXIMUM 3 minutes.

Organize

Your movie needs to have all the major aspects of a narrative! Not sure what these are...

  • Plot Structure
  • Setting
  • Character Development
  • Conflict
  • etc...

Create an outline of your movie. You don't necessarily have to write out the whole story of the movie, only the main points. However, it is at this point that it is essential that you remember the main structure of the short story! Make sure you develop your characters and your plot!!! A movie is not just moving pictures! It uses images and sound to tell a story; you must do the same.

The video to the right explains how to make an animated film BUT the planning aspects of it relate to all movies.

Storyboard

Now that you have your outline, you need to story board. Story boarding is used by film makers to get an idea of the shots they need, to tell their story.

All About Storyboards

A storyboard is a powerful document that contains all the visual, audio and time components of your video. You can use pictures to describe the visual element, like this:

storyboard_1

Storyboards capture these three elements for every scene of your video:

Visual/Description—A quick, rough sketch—no need to be an artist!

Time—The length of this particular image, in seconds.

Audio—Narration/Music/SFX - What you will be hearing when the image is shown. The three major components of audio are: Narration (people speaking), Music (background sound) or Sound Effect (SFX)—doors opening, car horns, birds calling, etc.

Storyboards can also skip the pictures and just describe the visual elements:

Three panels of a video storyboard. The first is labeled “Visual description” and below it are the words “People working on a car. Titles that say “Fix that website!” The second panel is labeled “Time” and shows the words “Five” below it. The third panel is labeled “Audio, narration, Music, Sound Effects” and below it are the words “Narrator: We need you to make a video explaining why your website needs a usability tuneup.

Do not use a script, since it lacks the visual descriptors and only captures the dialogue.

Storyboard Templates

The most important part of this part of your assignment is your planning. You can download a storyboarding sheet and use it to get a plan for your story. You don't need to spend lots of time drawing your plan out, simple stick men will do. Just make sure you have a clear vision for what that block will look like to accomplish its purpose.

Create

Now you are ready to create your film.  There are many different ways to create your film:

  • using real-life actors
  • using Lego or other "toy" figures (using the "Stopmotion" technique)
  • using online cartoon character,
  • and so on.

Software

  1. Windows Moviemaker
  2. iMovie (Mac)
  3. Go Animate - an online program that creates moving cartoons
  4. Movie Storm - an online program that you can use to create moving cartoons
  5. Xtranormal - an online program that you can use to create moving cartoons

Final Review

Once your Movie is done, you need to look it over. It should be engaging, but it should still have a good story line.

Some questions to ask yourself:

  • Can the reader clearly identify my characters?
  • Does my plot develop?
  • Clearly defined setting?
  • Audio makes sense and adds to the story?
  • Scenes look professional, and clear?

Once you're happy with your product, you're ready to submit it.

Assessment

  • 2 - 3 minutes long
  • Use of Dialogue/Audio - does your dialogue/music enhance your story?
  • Plot development - contains solid plot structure, identifiable conflict and resolution
  • Character development - consistent, and developed
  • Setting
  • Evidence of planning
  • Overall Presentation