Tuesday, 19 October 2021

Coursework: Pre-production

Pre-production tasks are vital - this is where you plan all the key details that make your video coursework successful.

Over the next two weeks we will be finalising our pre-production and starting our filming. Here's a great video on low-budget filmmaking from our friend D4Darius on YouTube:



The four aspects of pre-production are as follows:

Script
As we began last week, you need a good script for your TV drama extract. You'll find guidance for writing your script in this blogpost.

Shot list
Write a shot list containing EVERY shot you plan to film for your TV drama AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar. I advise using a simple table on Microsoft Word to set out your shot list - you can find an example here for a student film shot list. It makes sense to write your shot list by scene or location rather than a huge list of every shot in the extract in chronological order. 

Mise-en-scene
What iconography or mise-en-scene are you including to ensure your audience understands your drama as science fiction / fantasy? Plan your cast, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting. This can be simply completed using your blog or Microsoft Word - the key aspect is to have planned all the critical details. Remember the mise-en-scene mnemonic: CLAMPS.

Shooting schedule 
Plan a shooting schedule for your filming over the next two weeks. Include when, where, who is required and what shots you will complete at each time/location. Again, this can be on Word or Excel or you could simply use your blog. The most important thing is that you've planned it!

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