· Describe any problems or difficulties you encountered in this unit or during the planning process;
· Discuss how your plot development, character planning and research helped you to write your treatment;
· Discuss whether the activities and examples provide on BlackBoard helped you to develop an effective treatment;
· Discuss whether you have made clear use of the appropriate genre conventions and film language throughout your storyboards;
· Describe any problems or difficulties you encountered when drawing/creating your storyboards;
· Describe any skills or techniques you have discovered during the project;
Discuss your feelings about the pre-production task:
· Does your project clearly depict a genre film?
· Are you satisfied with the final result?
· Are there things you would like to change?
· Did you manage your time effectively? If not, how can you work to improve this?
· If you could start again what would you do differently?
During the pre-production process, I experienced a few difficulties including a lack of organistation [I realised this early and tried to be more organised], inability to draw well [practice really helped, and the storyboards we did in class made me realise that I really needed this] and adding a good twist to the plot [I brainstormed and tried my best to think creatively], all of which I resolved successfully.
Developing the plot, characters and setting were essential when writing the treatment. Once I settled on an idea, I found that I knew where I was going with the treatment. If I hadn't have done this, I would probably find myself wandering off into a brand new idea.
The activities and examples on blackboard were beneficial when I was writing my treatment. I found that the example treatment was good and that there were several helpful documents about writing the treatment and how to adjust the format.
I made use of appropriate film language and genre conventions in my storyboards by carefully researching the genre and going over the documents on blackboard. I found that last term's unit helped me understand all the different cinematographic techniques as well as mise-en-scene. Watching the sample sequences also helped me get a good idea of what techniques and shot types look effective in movies.
When creating storyboards, I found that I used up much more paper than expected, and therefore had to print off new ones. The only problem was that my printer was low on ink so as a result I had to conserve paper. Also, I had trouble drawing with great detail so my shots looked very basic. However, I made good use of the box to the right and added in details in the 'notes' section, outlining the types of angles (since high and low angles were too difficult to draw) and I added camera movements too such as panning, pulling back and spiralling.
I have discovered that I can visualise my film and successfully put my vision onto paper. Also, I found that as I drew my storyboards I came up with creative parts to my story so as a result I altered my treatment slightly when new ideas came up.
I feel my film quite clearly shows the drama genre because of the music I am planning to use (Moonlight Sonata) which sets a mellow mood and drama films usually have mellow moods. Also, my film is quite slow which is another genre convention. Drama films have distinct and often dramatic conflicts, and I believe that if filmed skillfully with the correct lighting, setting, props and cinematography my film will successfully portray the drama genre.
I am quite satisfied with the final result, as I put a lot of effort into the assignment.
The only part I would like to change are the drawings because I feel that given more time, I could add colour and shading to make the storyboards really come to life.
I didn't manage my time effectively. I made a late start to the assignment, due to uncertainty about the plot. In future years I will think of a creative plot when I get given the assignment, and verify with a teacher. As a result of the plot change, I had to redraw some storyboards and modify my treatment accordingly.
If I could start again I would definitely start this assignment early as it is long and took up more time than expected. I would also maybe try storyboarding using photoshop and create digital images to replace my drawings.
