March 21, 2011

How to Dump the Footage from a Camera to an iMac
1. Camera is OFF
2. iMac is ON
3. Open iMovie
4. Plug camera into iMac. That might be a specific plug for each camera.
5. Turn camera ON AFTER PLUGGING IT IN.
iMovie should recognize it and give the option to CAPTURE. You can capture everything and it will break your capture into separate shots.
Key problem – is the camera set to EDIT or VIDEO mode or is it still in camera mode?
Footage dumps in real time, which means that 1 minute = 1 minute. This can be a problem – best to dump footage at lunch or after school.

Rehash –
Shoot a variety of shots in the styles we discussed
ELS, LS, MS, CU, ECU
Pan, Tilt, Zoom, Tracking Shot (on a wheeled object of some sort), POV (moving shot from someone’s running perspective), handheld - risky
Once you have done this, you should then go back “into the field” and you should try making a CHASE SCENE
What elements make a chase scene good?
Using your screen direction carefully – (left to right or right to left – these must be consistent)
Shot variation – lots of different kinds of shots
Fast pace is important – this means shot shots, cut together in a pattern
Lots of close ups to show character reaction (or important objects)
Long shots are crucial for context – where is this taking place?
A good location or several locations that have visual interest – KEY (use of FOREGROUNDING can be important)
- lots of stuff to get in the way
- something we don’t normally see
- think of colours
- think of problems for the subjects
- eg Ronin – tight roads
- eg Bourne – he’s injured
Complications are crucial – don’t make anything easy (unless it’s a joke)
Variations in the kind of chase – this can help a lot (multiple action layers)
Soundtrack makes a big difference -
Pre-Production – our new skill!
1. Brainstorming
2. Outlining
3. Scripting
4. Storyboarding/Script Breakdown
Brainstorming – coming up with ideas and little “moments” that you like
- finding characters, concepts, locations, whatever
- no pattern needed, no set plans, etc – just get down whatever might work, what is good, what is funny, scary, whatever
- collect this info and save it for submission
- like a master list of great stuff
- keep it all, you never know
2. Outlining – coming up with a timeline for the final project – how many scenes, what order, who’s there, where it’s taking place, what is needed
- with as much specifics as possible to know what to get, where to go, who to choose, etc
- outlining is done in point form
- you can download a free program called CeltX for these times

Script – this is the most complex part, in many ways, this is also something that can be marked like crazy
- there is a whole structure to this
- Celtx has the structure built-in
- If you use MS Word at home, you will have format it yourself with Tabs
A script has a few different elements
- Scene heading
EXT. BOB’S HOUSE – DAY
Or
INT. LOBB’S CLASS – NIGHT
INT. TECH HALL – DAY

Action lines
- everything that the camera would see is described briefly in these lines
A young man (PHIL) with a farmer’s hat on backwards runs down the hall in this clean, white walled school. He weeps as he runs and looks back constantly.
Behind him, an older man (MR. MATTHEWS) with glasses runs, pointing at the hat and shouting.
ONLY write down what the camera could see – NO THOUGHTS, NO EMOTIONS, NO IDEAS
Also write down what the audience hears on the soundtrack – most don’t include music