SUMMARY

Role

Director

Intention (SMART Goal)

My May 10th, as a part of my film team, by using NoFilm School’s Why Blocking is Essential and StudioBinder’s Blocking and Staging a Scene I will have evidence of strong and weak actor movements to reveal actor mental state and have evidence of blocking.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

Alfred Hitchcock

• Many of his films have one word titles
• Often has a quick cameo in his films
• Often uses the mistaken identity theme in his movies
• Alternate between shots to extend cinematic time
  • Ex: in a car he would alternate from a shot of the characters point of view and then a shot from the opposite direction to keep the viewer “inside” the car
• Uses popular actors as the villain to make the audience empathize with the villain
• Unusual subjective point of view shots

Training Source(s)

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/blocking-and-staging-scenes/

• Blocking to express a characters personal opinions, split the screen into the different sides
• It can also include body language such as fiddling with a hat, smirking, etc.
• Sitting perfectly calm, confident in his opinion
• Using objects, Spielberg uses a character holding a ball which is a symbol of power
• Character stepping into another’s space to create the feeling of loss of power
• One characters power is now compromised
• Multiple eyes turning in one direction helps guide the audiences eyes as well
• Shadows can also guide our eyes
• Using mirrors to extend our view of the scene that we might not be able to get with just the camera
• Actors placed at various depths within the shot

https://nofilmschool.com/2016/03/why-blocking-is-essential-visual-stories-alfred-hitchcock

Project Timeline

Project Timeline

1. Start Pre-Production
2. Choose Role
3. Create a SMART goal
4. Research a leader in the field and their work (take notes)
5. Research editing prior to the actors blinking and take notes
6. Create a timeline for the project
7. Collaborate with the team, discuss film ideas
8. Write log-line
9. Create a storyboard
10. Present storyboard to class
11. Create Trello board with scrum
12. Create shot-list
13. Block out scenes
14. Start Production
15. Gather equipment and props
16. Inform actors on their positions in the scene and what movements they will be doing
17. Record all shots from shot list
18. Decide which shots to use and which shots to discard
19. Start Post-Production
20. Work on presentation
21. Work on blog post
22. Finish presentation and blog post
23. Present to class
24. Finish post-production

Proposed Budget

N/A

PRODUCTION – ACTION

The FILM

Skills Commentary

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16AnEQnp49KZry2PcGbHcXUg19gATDApC3Pfta0CVh9Y/edit

I acted as director for this film production session, and my evidence is in the slideshow.

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

Throughout this production cycle, we encountered many challenges. Multiple people got sick including myself and our main character, Mr. Mcnabb. Both of us were out for at least a week dealing with illness. During this time, we had to communicate virtually to arrange how we were going to finish the film, and when we would be able to do so. Additionally, when we returned, many of our scenes had to be either cut out of the film completely, or made shorter due to the loss in time.

Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)

Because of the challenges mentioned above, we had to communicate very well with each other in order to figure out how and when we were going to complete the film. Additionally, we had to communicate with Mr. Leduc and explain what our challenges were and negotiate a new deadline for the completion of the film.

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

Throughout the production cycle, we used the Scrum for Trello tool to stay up to date on what tasks needed to be completed and what tasks we have already done. This allowed us to stay more organized and timely. Additionally, we all collaborated and worked with making music using GarageBand.

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

This production cycle helped us learn how to problem solve and workout around things we are unable to control such as illnesses. This can be helpful for our futures and just working around uncontrollable things that occur in life. It also taught us to problem solve and seek help to collaborate and work towards solutions.

Reactions to the Final Version

“The characters personalities were developed very well. From the beginning you can get an idea of who everyone is and their individual personas” – Jack

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

Simple: Our film was intended to be simple and easy to understand. However, according to feedback it ended up being a little confusing as we were unable to film all of our shots to make it more cohesive. Given more time, I think it would have came out better.

Unexpected: Our film was unexpected as we made Mr. Mcnabb a DJ at the end. Nobody was able to see it coming as all they knew was he had gone missing.

Emotional: Our film was emotional because we build up the characters personalities and some people may start to understand the characters or relate to their conversations and reactions.

Grammar and Spelling

Grammarly

Editor

Samantha

This is a scene from Wonder. I chose this scene because it shows a teacher talking in front of the class and different behaviors of the students both introverted and extroverted. This would help with our film because in the beginning, we have a teacher talking in front of the class with multiple students- some anxious while some don’t care about anything, and others are paying attention attentively.

Cue

Notes

What super close insert shots can show the character traits?

– Close to teachers face with some writing on the board visible -Cut to entire class to show students- some are paying attention attentively, some slouching -Cut to a wider shot of teacher and then close shots of different students faces watching teacher -Camera pans up with the movements of the character- steps, raising hand, standing up -Shy student: hands in lap, head tilted more downward, very tense/sat upright in the seat, sat in the corner of the classroom -Extroverted student: relaxed with movements/smooth, relaxed back in the seat, sat in the middle of the classroom

Summary: Cut from close ups of the teacher to wide shots of the entire class and close ups of individual students to show both the teacher talking and the students reaction to the teacher. This also allows the characters traits to be shown by their body language. A shy student will sit more tense with their hands in the lap and in the corner of the room while a more extroverted student will sit more relaxed with smooth movements and in the middle of the classroom.