English 299 (“Special Topics”)

CREATIVE MOVIE PRODUCTION

4 credits Fall 2009

Tuesdays and Wednesdays 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Merrifield Hall: Room 116

Recommended prerequisites:

Any introductory class in film, creative writing, theatre arts, popular culture, fiction, drama, media, or video production

REQUIRED TEXTS:
Alexander Mackendrick, On Film-Making ISBN # 0-571-21125-9
Laurent Tirard, Moviemakers' Master Class ISBN # 0-571-21102-X
David Howard and Edward Mabley, The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer’s Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay ISBN # 0-312-22908-9
Denny Martin Flinn, How NOT to Write a Screenplay ISBN # 1-58065-015-5
Dale Newton and John Gaspard, Digital Filmmaking 101 ISBN# 0-941-18833-7

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED TEXTS:
Syd Field, The Screenwriter’s Problem Solver ISBN # 0-440-50491-0
John Gardner, The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers ISBN # 0-679-73403-1

A FEW OTHER GOOD BOOKS:
Rick Schmidt, Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices ISBN# 0-14-029184-9
Bret Stern, How to Shoot a Feature Film for Under $10,000 and not go to jail ISBN# 0-06-008467-7
Michael C. Donaldson, Clearance & Copyright ISBN# 1-879505-72-X

OVERVIEW

“Film as literature” has long been recognized as a valid subject for serious study in an English Department, but has generally centered on analysis of existing works, whereas creative writing classes foster mastering the forms of short stories, poems, essays, and novels.

This is intended as a concise but comprehensive course on using recent digital technology for personal self-expression in the dominant literary form of the past century—moving pictures—starting with the written word (the screenplay).

While learning cinematic storytelling concepts, the class will work together to develop a script and follow it into a finished movie through the various stages of preproduction, production, and postproduction. Class members will take turns performing the various crew functions to gain a broad range of experience. Some time will also be devoted to discussing options for distribution and exhibition for the independent moviemaker.

SYLLABUS

Each week the class will view one or more episodes of “Project Greenlight.” Several feature films (Hollywood and independent) will also be viewed and discussed as examples of motion picture production realities and/or what can be done with limited means. Each student will write one script (from which the class project(s) will be chosen) and occasional short critical papers may be assigned. The first several weeks of class will involve some heavy reading assignments, and the last half or more of the semester will be primarily devoted to shooting and editing the class movie(s). NOTE: The final grade will depend heavily upon class participation, as the main project(s) for the class will be a group effort. There will be no exams.

WEEK	*TENTATIVE CLASS VIEWING/DISCUSSION/PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES*
Aug. 25-26	*Project Greenlight 1-2-3-4* *Soldier Boy,* L.A.M. tutorials & shorts, previous film class & moviecamp movies
Sep 1-2*	*Project Greenlight 5-6, Bowfinger ? Script ideas –* start writing scripts
Sep 8-9	*State and Main ?* *Project Greenlight 7-8; script pitches?* Work on scripts, preliminary preproduction.
Sep 15-16	*Project Greenlight 9-10;* L.A.M. tutorials 7 shorts; workshop scripts in class
Sep 22-23	*Project Greenlight 11-12;* clips from Ole & Lena, Dick’s Beer, Awry, Pros & Cons, Newton’s Disease, Dark Highways, Miss Mystic, Music to My Ears; L.A.M. camera tutorials, in-class demos (“Classy Kids”)?
Sep 29-30	Documentaries on cinematography & editing: Visions of Light; The Cutting Edge
Oct 6-7	- PRODUCTION -
Oct 13-14	- PRODUCTION -
Oct 20-21	- PRODUCTION -
Oct 27-28	- PRODUCTION -
Nov 3-4	- PRODUCTION – (Forx Film Fest on weekend!)
Nov 10-11 (no class Wednesday!)	- EDITING – intro/logging & capturing, foley, ADR, scoring, color grading, “fixing it in post,” etc.
Nov 17-18	- EDITING -
Nov 24-25	- EDITING – (Thanksgiving weekend!)
Dec 1-2	- EDITING -
Dec. 8-9	- EDITING FINECUT– distribution options
FINALS WEEK	View final movie projects

Possible movies to be viewed in class (in whole or in part):

State and Main

Nickelodeon

Hollywood Shuffle

The Big Picture
Road To Park City (R2PC)

The Last Shot

Bowfinger

Visions of Light

American Movie

Day for Night

28 Days Later

Dick's Beer

Ole and Lena

Awry

Pros and Cons

Hometown Assassins

Attrition

Prodigal Daughters

Miss Mystic

Dark Highways

Music to My Ears

Newton’s Disease

The bulk of the semester, however, will be devoted to making a movie, using digital video equipment.

It will be divided into eight segments approximately one or two weeks each, that focus on

basic elements of screenwriting for a low budget (Aug. 25 – Sept 10),
the producer’s responsibilities for organizing the project so it can be completed (Sept. 15-16),
effective and efficient methods of shooting scenes and working with actors (Sept. 18-19),
basic principles of camera composition and lighting for a “film look” (Sept. 25-26)
actual production of the class script (Oct. 6-Nov. 4)
evaluating raw footage and possible post-production “fixes” for faults (Nov. 10-18)
editing the footage for maximum impact (Nov. 18-25)
adding sound effects, ADR, and music scoring (Dec. 1-9)

Depending upon student interest, previous experience, and equipment availability, the class may make either several short small-group productions or one longer full-class production. The final, completed project(s) will be viewed and evaluated by the class during the period scheduled for the final exam.

CONSIDERATIONS TO THINK ABOUT

Develop story ideas from recent news stories, personal experiences, favorite movie genres
Be sure to take into account how you might actually produce the concepts you have in mind
Make an outline of your basic plot development (setup, confrontation, payoff),

then fill it in with descriptions of the action, and finally the dialogue

Ask yourself seriously whether you or people you know would want to watch a movie like this
—have friends or even strangers read your script, and then listen to their reactions for possible changes
—you don’t necessarily need to follow the advice of others, but you need to consider your target audience
Contact friends and acquaintances about using locations and/or props
Set aside a realistic amount of time for shooting and editing (typically an hour or two per minute on screen for each phase) – the producing part is often the hardest!
What sort of transitions between scenes will make things easier for the audience to follow?
How might music and/or extra sound effects help intensify your scenes?

UNDERSTANDING VIDEO IMAGES (vs. FILM)

Video is not film: the technology for each medium is completely different, although many areas are starting to overlap and most films today are edited digitally on computers, as is most video – each medium has its limitations and its advantages
The basic movie story-telling concepts and many production techniques are identical, whether using film or video as a medium
Film production equipment and film itself remain very expensive. “Film quality” video is gradually becoming a reality, but the high costs of acquiring one’s own production and post-production equipment are still well outside the range of amateur and most independent moviemakers.
Broadcast quality “standard-definition” video, once only possible to achieve through commercial video production facilities, is now affordable by nearly anyone, using widely available consumer equipment and videotape. Higher definition video (still a fraction the quality of film) has dropped to a moderate price range suitable for the serious moviemaker.
As of 2009, a very basic movie production setup including both a camcorder and computer editing system may range from as low as $1000 to $20,000 for standard definition video, roughly $10,000-$50,000 for HDTV-quality “hi-def,” and most likely $100,000-$500,000 and up for “film quality” HD video suitable for mixing with footage actually shot on 35mm movie film. (Note that the price of recording media also jumps substantially with each higher level of quality.)
CLICK HERE for more information and a chart explaining the image quality of various video formats

ADDITIONAL READINGS

Screenplay Basics

Moviemaking Hints

FREE SCREENPLAY FORMATTING

TEMPLATE for MICROSOFT WORD

(To download, right-click and select “save as”

-- then choose the folder on your hard drive where you want it)

Screenplay Template

SAMPLE SCREENPLAY and SHOTLIST

You can use this short screenplay as the opening section of a longer short or full-length feature of your own.

You can also shoot this simple screenplay and edit the footage as a practice exercise before producing your own movie

“CLASSY KIDS” screenplay

“CLASSY KIDS” shot list

REFERENCE MATERIALS

Notes for the “Intro to Film” class

Low-budget and no-budget independent movies made in this region

Searchable movie title and moviemaker database for the Fargo-Grand Forks area

(Including movies made for UND film classes!)