BUILDING SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT

New Capacities for Sustainable Waste Management

MAKING A SHORT FILM Workshop 7/12 October 2012

BWS Project - WP6

SHORT FILM STRUCTURE

Orson Welles wrote:

“I have never set foot in a film school, and I had never set foot in a set before directing “Fourth Power”.

1. STORY2. SCREENPLAY3. SHOOTING4. EDITING

SHORT FILM STRUCTURE

1. STORYThe story is the idea from which a video comes to life. The idea should be original, but above all it should be a personal one. It doesn’t matter if you think that the theme is too personal and, as such, cannot be understood by everybody, because these kinds of stories are often perceived to be the most universal ones.

SHORT FILM STRUCTURE

2. SCREENPLAY

It is important that you write a screenplay of the film, even if it is only a few minutes video. That will help you when shooting and also act as a guide in the editing phase. A scene is the smallest autonomous narrative unit in a screenplay.

The tense to be used in writing the screenplay is the present tense.

SHORT FILM STRUCTURE

3. SHOOTING

We recommend that you divide the tasks among the students who will make the video. Assign each student a different task: directing, shooting, building the scenes, finding the costumes or the objects needed on the set. That will be more amusing for them and more effective for the purposes of the video to be shot.

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

LIGHTING:

When shooting, the right lighting will strongly influence the quality of the final result.

As a general rule, you should use the strongest source of light available and then adjust the white balance in the video camera according to that light source.

The best time of day for shooting is early in the morning (or anyway before noon) or, alternatively, late in the afternoon. In addition, when the sun is closer to the horizon colours are more intense and more attractive.

Subject in the shade: the subject should preferably be positioned in the shade, unless you prefer a different kind of lighting to obtain special effects.

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

TRIPOD: use a tripod if possible, unless you think a slightly blurred image would be more effective.

Remember that this rule, like all the other rules, can be broken if there is an expressive reason for breaking it. In that case blurred shooting will give entirely different meaning to the shot by emphasizing dramatic sense, or a feeling of danger, or quick action. If that corresponds to what you want to express the shot will be effective, while if it is only due to unstable shooting it will become an evident defect of the video.

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

Angle of shot

don’t forget to position the video camera according to what you want to convey… we have a normal angle of shot when the camera is at the same height as the object shot;

in a high angle of shot the camera looks down at an object;

a low angle of shot places the camera below the object.

If we consider a shot as the viewpoint of the person who is watching, the kind of shot will influence the idea you want to convey: shooting a character from below will make it more prominent, while shooting it from above will diminish it.

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

CAMERA MOVEMENTS

It is not important to know the technical terms and the names of the different types of shoooting, what matters is to be aware of how the way of shooting a scene will influence what will be seen by the audience.

Always consider what you want to express and decide each time what is the best way to express it.

Backward tracking creates emotional distance

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

Tracking shot: the camera is mounted on a cart which travels along tracks to create smooth camera movements (ZOOM).

Pan shots may be confused with tracking shots, but they are two very different camera movement techniques. In the first case the operator doesn’t shift, but he/she swivels the camera around its vertical or horizontal axis.

Do not overdo pan shots, because they aren’t very natural for the human eye: no one looks at a landscape turning his/her head slowly from right to left and vice versa. Pan shots can be made from right to left and vice versa. They can be combined with zoom shots, for example by “tightening” on a detail in the final phase of a pan shot. The opposite is also possible by starting with a “tight” detail and then widening to finally get to the pan shot.

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

MOVEMENTS IN RELATION TO THE FIGURE:

extreme long shot: when – in case of outdoor shooting – the shot takes in a very large area and allows an overall view of the spot, so that human figures either are not present or, being at considerable distance, can hardly be seen;long shot: when – in case of outdoor shooting – a human figure is still small size and fits easily within the frame;medium shot: when the figure is more prominent and his/her head and feet don’t touch the top and bottom edges of the frame respectively;full shot: when it takes in the whole of an interior with all the characters that are acting there (i.e. a whole square or a whole room);

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

detail shot: focus is on a detail of a face or of an object. This type of shooting is used to give a scene emotional charge;off-screen: includes everything that is out of camera range but you realize it exists in close proximity to the scene;sequence shot: a long take that extends for an entire scene or sequence. It is consisting of only one shot with no breaks and is related to the depth of field, which allows you to see the background of the image as well.

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

shot reverse shot

is a shooting and editing technique: a shot is taken from one character's point of view, the next shot is taken from the other character's point of view. It is often used for shooting a dialogue, a duel, etc., in order to show two characters alternatively;

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

Perspective techniques: subjective camera

Subjective camera provides the audience with the specific vision or perspective of a character. It can be used to facilitate the audience’s identification with the characters.

SHOOTING: BASIC RULES

Finally, mention should be made of SOUND. This aspect shouldn’t be underestimated: if the sound is very bad it will be the most difficult element to correct in the post-production and editing phase. Also pay particular attention to soundtrack: a well-chosen song can convey feelings better than one thousand words.

EDITING

EDITINGThis part of the work will be carried out in Italy. However, if a class wanted to make it themselves, please bear in mind that this last phase is very important. If we compared shots to the words of a language, we could say that editing corresponds to syntax.

Editing can give rhythm to a short film, correct any mistakes made when shooting, and also alter the meaning of the video, so take the utmost care of this part of the work. To facilitate editing, we recommend that shooting is preceded by a clapperboard with the title of the scene and the number of the versions shot. That is essential in order to provide the right directions about which scene should be included in the video and in which position.

BUILDING SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT

New Capacities for Sustainable Waste Management