Weekly outline

  • General

    La La Land

    Welcome to Film Production! I'm excited about this semester. This class is made up of both Film I and Film II students; Film I students, in the first few weeks especially, lean on your Film II classmate when you're stuck or have a question; I think you will find them more than ready to help or offer advice. Film II students, I'm excited to see how you grow even more this semester.

    Pierre-Auguste Renoir said: "If you paint the leaves on a tree without a model, your imagination will only supply you with a few leaves; but Nature offers you millions, all on the same tree. No two leaves are exactly the same. The artist who paints only what is in his mind must very soon repeat himself." You have countless "films" that surround you; you only need to have eyes to see them and skill enough to capture them.

    This semester you'll be challenged; the most important thing is to drop your guard, and make a film; it's not going to be perfect; you just need to make it the best you can in the time that you have. And if you have questions along the way, ask. In this class, we care more about the process than the product...but I think you'll be inspired by your classmates' products too.

  • August 23 - August 29

    Tuesday
    • Welcome & Intro to Film Production!
    • Log in to Moodle and Google Classroom
      • What we cover in Film Production
    • Self-introductions
    • What is a film? What's in a scene? Quote of the day: “I was just making pictures.” ––from The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    • What a shot means. 
      • What feeling do the shots in this film trailer give you? (A Hidden Life trailer
      • What about in the opening of Black-ish, "Advance to Go (do not collect $200)"? How are shots used for emotional effect and storytelling?
    • Assignment: Tell a "story" through 'just making pictures.' Take 5-10 short videos to tell your story, and for each shot consider (1) what to include in each shot, (2) how close to get, and (3) from what angle to film. Oh, and your film needs to run for 20-30 seconds...and you can't spend more than 10 minutes on this assignment. Tomorrow we'll come back and edit the film, so tonight only capture your "story." Be creative––if you think an idea might work, go for it. Oh, and please hold the phone horizontally.

    Thursday
    • Discuss your short film shots––what did you capture last night?
    • Review the shots, angles, Rule of 3rds, and the 180-Degree Rule...and the semantics of each––why use them?!
    • Try to login into WeVideo...without success : ). We'll do this tomorrow. 
    • Watch "How does an editor think and feel?" by Tony Zhou.
    • Assignment: None

    Friday
    • Edit your shots using WeVideo. We'll upload our films next week, after we've upgraded to the pro version.
    • Assignment: None, unless you haven't checked out WeVideo yet. If not, upload your files to WeVideo and play around with the program for around 10 minutes to get the feel of it.


  • August 30 - September 5

    Tuesday
    • Upgrade to WeVideo Pro and finish our films using the Pro features.
      • Upload your film to Google Classroom and watch our videos.
    • Introduction to storyboarding. 3 things you need:
      • Picture (for perspective)
      • Shot type
      • Seconds per shot
    • Bourne scene to practice storyboarding.
      • Read through the script together; afterward, choose a scene to storyboard. Use at least 7 shots to capture the scene.
      • Watch the same Bourne scene to see the choices the director and cinematographer made.
    • Homework: If you haven't already done so, complete and hand in your storyboard of a Bourne Identity scene. 
    Thursday
    • Introduction to the "Story of Me" film.
      • Discuss how to approach this film. Where might the camera be placed?
      • Begin storyboarding your "Story of Me" film.
      • Homework: None
    Friday
    • No School - Labor Day Weekend!

  • September 6 - September 12

    Monday
    • Labor Day - No School! 
    Tuesday
    • Filmmaking workshop on framing and angles: "The Ticket" film and excerpt from Tree of Life. 
    • Work on the "Story of Me" film - finish storyboarding and begin filming.
    • Assignment: Come to class on Thursday with a draft of your film. 
    Thursday
    • Workshop our drafts.
    • Goal: submit your film before leaving for the weekend.
    • Assignment: If you haven't already finished, finish your film, and upload your film to Google Classroom.

  • September 13 - September 19

    Tuesday
    • Upload & Watch our "Story of Me" Films
    • Don't forget: Turn in your storyboards - worth 20 points!
    • Introduction to the "Transitions Film" and begin planning.
    • Let's check out some examples of transitions:
      • "Cuts and Transitions 101" by Joey Scoma 
      • "Satoshi Kon: Editing Space & Time" by Tony Zhou 
      • "Watchtower of Turkey" by Leonardo Dalessandri 
    • *BWT, if you were absent today, check out this Loom Video Recording that summarizes what we covered in class today.


    Thursday
    • Finish storyboarding
    • Work on "Transition" film.
    Friday
    • Continue working on your "Transitions" film

    • September 20 - September 26

      Tuesday
      • Talk about Emmy Winners
      • Check out Buster Keaton in "The Art of the Gag." Buster didn't have any special effects software to pull off any of these gags...he had to do it for real...and be really creative. 
      • Work on "Transition Film."
      • Assignment: Come ready to show your "Transition Film" on Thursday.
      Thursday
      Friday
      • Take a look at the "Foley Film" description.
      • Work on collecting sounds to add to our collection; begin storyboarding and working on your "Foley Film."
      • Assignment: None

    • September 27 - October 3

      Tuesday
      Thursday
      • Wrap up our films and be ready to show them tomorrow.
      Friday
      • Finish our Foley Films!

    • October 4 - October 10

      Tuesday
      • Watch our Foley Films.
      • Intro to Lighting Project!
      Thursday Block
      • Begin watching a film in class.
      Friday
      • Finish watching our film.

    • October 11 - October 17

      Tuesday
      • Finish watching and discussing La La Land.
      • Watch our finished films and take a look at our lighting shots.
      • Intro to story and character
        • Head to Google Classroom and open the document entitled "Building a Hero." Begin constructing a character that you will be using in future classes.
      Thursday
      • Discuss your hero, sharing the details of your character from your "Building a Hero" document with a handful of your classmates.
      • Intro to the "Characters in Action" exercise; next week when we come back, with our characters completely fleshed out, we'll jump into this exercise.
      • Watch a short film from the Modern Love series called "Take Me as I Am, Whoever I Am."
      • Assignment: If you haven't yet completed your "Building a Hero" document, be sure that it's finished when you return next week.

      • October 18 - October 24

        Monday
        • Using our character info from our "Building a Hero" doc and after picking a character of one of your classmates, work on our "Characters in Action" assignment.
        • If time, share our dialogues.
        • Assignment: If you didn't finish it in class, be sure to complete your "Characters in Action" assignment.
        Wednesday
        • Introduction to Plot Structure in film: take a look at the plot structure of Frozen, La La Land, "Take Me as I Am: Whoever I Am," and the short film that we watch together.
          • Watch a short film
        • Take our character through a plot, being sure to hit each plot point (see Google Classroom for this document)
        • Assignment: If you didn't complete it in class, be sure your plot is finished for next week.

        Thursday


        • No School!

        Friday
        • No School!

          • October 25 - October 31

            Tuesday

            • Work on your "Characters in Action" plot for a bit
            • Then begin watching Star Wars: A New Hope. As we watch we'll be searching for the class plots points along the Hero's Journey and also try to spot all the Archetypes that George Lucas uses to tell his story.
            Thursday
            • Continue to build our "Characters in Action" plot
            • Watch some more of Star Wars: A New Hope
            Friday
            • Finish our "Character in Action" plot and finish watching Star Wars: A New Hope.

            • November 1 - November 7

              Tuesday, November 3
              • Complete and share your plot structure (with all the plot points) and named archetypes.
              • Watch some 60-second trailers
              • Intro to the Trailer Film
              • Work time: developing our storyboards
              Thursday, November 5
              • Complete storyboard and share with the group
              • Discuss film genres – and how to film your trailer to "fit" a genre
              • Come up with a game-plan for filming
              Friday
              • Begin filming our Trailer Films



            • 8 November - 14 November

              Tuesday
              • Pitch our film trailers to each other
              • Check out this video for some more tips on editing to music: 
              • Time to work on film: Film and edit if you already have footage
              Thursday
              • Complete filming and work on/polish editing
              • Discuss theme and coloration
              Friday
              • Work on Trailer Film

              • November 15 - November 21

                Tuesday
                • Welcome back!
                • Final day to work on Trailer Film - if you're already finished, spend some time on color grading and polish your cutting to the beat.
                Wednesday
                • Day off - finish your film if you haven't already done so. Be ready to show it the day you're at school, Thursday or Friday.
                Friday

              • November 22 - November 28

                Tuesday, November 24
                • Discuss our Choice Film #1 projects - how have our ideas changed over the weekend?
                • Watch Mr. Schemper's hype promo on a Shark vacuum - followed by harsh critique.
                • Work time on our stories and storyboards; before filming, check back with Mr. Schemper to get approval.
                • Check back at the end of class to discuss our next steps.
                • Have a great Thanksgiving Break!

              • November 29 - December 5

                Tuesday
                • Watch our Trailer films; to get into our Trailer Films folder, click here.
                • Check out Vacuum hype promo - Take #2. 
                • Taking our films further - watch "Drive (2011) - The Quadrant System." 
                • Work time on your own films. When you're storyboard is finished, check in with Mr. Schemper and get approval before beginning to film. 
                Thursday
                • Watch "If Educational Videos Were Filmed Like Music Videos."
                • Work day on our films. We should be filming today. After we begin, Mr. Schemper will be available to answer questions.
                Friday
                • Show our drafts, or progress, so far.
                • Continue filming/editing.

              • December 6 - December 12

                Tuesday
                • Welcome back, and watch videos that have just rolled in.
                • Take a look at Screenplayed's Interstellar excerpt. 
                • Time to edit and confer with Mr. Schemper about your Choice #1 film
                Thursday
                • Wrap up our Choice #1 films.
                • Upload your Choice #1 films to the assignment spot on Google Classroom. Looking forward to watching these!
                Friday
                • Watch our Choice #1 films. To view these films, follow this link to our Choice #1 folder.
                • Begin planning our next film, which we'll film, edit, and show by next Friday.

                • December 13 - December 19

                  Tuesday
                  • Watch our films!
                  • Intro to Choice Film #2 - consider a day-in-the-life film.
                  Thursday
                  • Work day - film, edit, upload for Friday.

                  Friday


                  • Watch our films!

                  • December 27 - January 2

                    Christmas Break!

                    • January 3 - January 9

                      Tuesday, January 5
                      • Watch videos and talk about our next steps
                      Thursday, January 7
                      • Work on films that need to be wrapped up
                      Friday, January 8
                      • Complete this form in preparation for Monday's celebration...if you didn't already complete it (it was sent to your email).
                      • Work time
                      Monday, January 11
                      • Celebration of Semester!!!