Module Information

Making Short Films 1 is designed to provide a grounding in all of the basic skills a student will need in order to progress onto the more advanced practical modules. It will help to develop core technical, creative and logistical skills that are central to making films in a professional manner.
This module will take students through the key stages of film making (development, pre-production, production and post-production) and demonstrate how these stages link together. Students will be taught core technical skills such as how to operate professional cameras, sound kit and editing software. Just as importantly, they will learn key creative and logistical concepts to employ when approaching a film from the role of a Scriptwriter, Director, Camera Operator, Editor or Sound Technician.
This module will help to develop a creative and professional approach to filmmaking for students to carry into more advanced modules in the future.

Course content focuses on the following:

• The stages of a media production. Who does what and when.
• Screenwriting: the stages of writing a script; shaping a structure; and techniques for creating a narrative point-of-view.
• Procedures for filming: shooting methodologies and their artistic implications.
• The creation of different portrayals of 'space' onscreen and their expressive potential.
• Camera angles and shot sizes.
• Focus in the image.
• Lens Language.
• Further aspects of digital cinematography.
• Key camera concepts in directing for continuity filmmaking: principles, rules and when you can break them.
• Introduction to editing; shooting for editing.
• The elements of post-production from digital editing to the digital intermediate.
The above sessions will be covered through lectures and workshops for the first eight weeks of the semester. The remaining two weeks of semester will be used to shoot the video project and apply the theory and practice acquired.