1. making film openings

2. www.petesmediablog.blogspot.com
@petesmediablog

3. “ I t ’s i m p o r t a n t t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e
‘aggregation of marginal gains’.
Put
simply….how small improvements in a
number of different aspects of what we do
can have a huge impact to the overall
performance.”
Dave Brailsford, UK Cycling coach

4. lots of small things add up
to get you better marks

5. 9 Steps to best results!

6. Strengths and Weaknesses?

7. Strengths and Weaknesses?

8. Step 1: take stock
• what’s the task?
• what’s the assessment?
• what’s the timeframe?
• what’s the equipment?

9. task and assessment
• Titles and opening of a new fiction film
• up to 2 minutes
• 20 marks Research and Planning
• 60 marks Construction
• 20 marks Evaluation

10. timeframe and equipment
• build your skills
• build up your research
• build up your planning
• give yourselves time to shoot and edit
• keep evidence throughout the whole
process

11. Step 2: set up a blog
• and keep evidence of everything you do!

12. Step 3: build up skills
• sound
• camerawork
• editing

13. foley

14. preliminary task

15. re-make

16. ident

17. Step 4: investigate
• what do film openings actually look like?
• what does other student work look like?
• what do you need to know about titles?
• how are you going to do something that
stands out?

18. search for student film
openings on youtube
and vimeo (G321)

20. Step 5: brainstorm ideas
• possible scenarios for pitches/treatments
• 25 word pitch
• moodboard treatment
• peer and teacher feedback
• realistic expectations- keep it simple

21. Step 6: planning
• experimenting with camera and editing
• recce shots of locations
• examples of shots, costumes, props, etc onto
blog
• post-it storyboard, animatic, moodboard
• logistics planning- including risk assessment

22. Step 7: the shoot
• people, places, props, costumes
• rehearsing, directing
• equipment, jobs on the day
• keeping a record of the process

23. Step 8: edit
• all having a voice/hand in it
• screengrabs of process
• importance of audio and titles
• foley - not just music
• rough cut deadline and peer feedback

24. big picture before fine detail

25. Step 9: evaluation
• seven guiding questions
• 20 of the 100 marks
• need to be creative in execution
• digital depth
• act on teacher advice!

26. six most common student film openings
• Saw: victim tied up in shed
• Scream: hooded stalker follows female victim
• Se7en: killer sticks knife in polaroid photos
• Lock, Stock: gangsters play cards and kill each other
• Waking up: clean teeth, brush hair, leave house
• Flashback or Flash forward: “2 weeks later...”

27. six most common problems
• looks more like a trailer or a short film
• insufficient titles
• poor sound, poor lighting
• poorly directed actors, not costumed
• confusing for the viewer
• uses one of the six common openings(badly)

28. you are the ref- what score and why?

29. Level 1: minimal ability 0-23
Level 3: proficient 36-47
Level 2: basic ability 24-35
Level 4: excellent 48-60

30. key advice
• plan for everything
• keep all the evidence
• avoid the obvious
• pay attention to detail
• make your blog varied
• learn from other work

31. www.petesmediablog.blogspot.com
@petesmediablog