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Part 2
Montage:
Pre-Production

Sharing Your Montage Ideas

Welcome back everyone! So today we're going to begin with sharing your montage ideas. I want to make this experience as empowering as possible so I have set up some key rules to help make this a positive experience:

Feedback rules

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  1. The filmmaker sets up their goals for the project.

It's important for the audience to know what the filmmaker is trying to achieve so that they can give good feedback that will help the filmmaker in that goal. Sometimes, audiences project their own goals and then the feedback process can go wrong.

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   2. Start with the positive.

You need to help encourage the filmmaker. You want to see the good in their work. It could be the potential for good or a good idea. It’s always about supporting the filmmaking.

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   3. Be specific.

Try to not just say, that’s good. But what about it is good. They need to know if they are going to replicate that.

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   4. Limit the improvements to the most important elements.

What step(s) can they take to make their work better? It’s not as helpful to give them a long list of areas they can improve, but try to cut to the most important area they can grow in.

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   5. Filmmakers choose the feedback that helps them.

It's up to you what you want to go with. It's your film!

Storyboards

 

A storyboard is a way you plan for your film shoot. It’s like a rough draft of your film. Many hand draw the images but today we’re going to use your phone camera to make a photo storyboard like this:

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Here is a short video on how two Pixar screenwriters use the storyboarding process to plan out their films:

Visual Language Introduction

 

Before we make a photo storyboard, we need to talk about visual language. How do we communicate feelings and ideas through visuals? Here’s a Pixar video to explain it:

Introduction to Basic Shots

Now that we know that visual language impacts an audience in many different ways, we need to talk about the fundamental blocks of visual language. Shots.

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Shots are an essential building block of any film or any scene. There are many types of shots but let's talk about the basics:

Now let's see if we can find these basic shots and framing techniques in this video we've already seen. Let's look for:

 

Wide/establishing shot (from Skyfall)

Medium shot (from Hunger Games)

Close up (from Shaun of the Dead)

Center framing (from Moonrise Kingdom)

Rule of thirds (from Joker)

Shot Types in the Rocky Montage

 

Let's look for the different shots and framing in these stills from the Rocky montage.

Another Example of the Different Basic Shots

In the film, "the poetry of details" the filmmakers used all of the basic shots and used the rule of thirds and center framing. Let's look at a few examples to see how this impacts the viewer.

Activity: Making Your Own Shots

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  1. Decide what kind of emotion you want to create with your shot.

  2. Then, using your phone camera, take 5 photos of something in your area now with:

  • Wide shots or establishing shots: How can you create a wide shot that creates that emotion?

  • Medium shots: How can you create a medium shot that creates that emotion?

  • Close up: How can you create a close-up that creates that emotion?

  • Center framing: Can you take a picture with center framing that creates that emotion?

  • Rule of Thirds: Can you use the rule of thirds and create that emotion?

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Email me the pictures so I know you know how to use these shots.

Homework: Make a Storyboard of Your Film

 

(Using your phone camera, take photos to represent all of the shots that you are interested in for your film. Work with the following guidelines:

  • See if you can use wide, medium, and close-up shots.

  • See if you can use center framing and rule of thirds.

  • Arrange the photos in a word document or in your email to show me the sequence of the shots.

  • Remember a lot of films use about a shot every three seconds and if your film is going to be 1 minute long, then that's 20 shots or more.

  • Email me the storyboard by 1 pm tomorrow so we can all look at it on Wednesday.

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*Reminder: the storyboard should be similar to this picture below (but you don't have to lay it out exactly like that).

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