Film Studies & Cinematography: Lectures

24/4/2024 - 24/7/2024 (Week 1 - Week 14)

Seh Zi Qi/ 0355872/ Bachelor of Design(Honours) in Creative Media

Module Name: PVT 60104 Film Studies & Cinematography

Lectures

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LIST

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Public Holiday

Week 3: Introduction to Storytelling

Week 4: Character Development

Week 5: Public Holiday

Week 6: Story Structure

Week 7: Script Writing

Week 8: Independent Learning Week

Week 9: Film Grammar

Week 10: Consultation

Week 11: Consultation

Week 12: Consultation

Week 13: Consultation

Week 14: Consultation

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WEEK 1

[MIB - Film Studies & Cinematography]

[Submission Schedule]

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Lecture Recap

This is the first lesson so there wasn't much discussed besides what we will be doing in the module and introduced us to the projects that we will need to be completing within the module.

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WEEK 3

[Slide Notes -Introduction to Storytelling]

[Miro Notes - W3]

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Lecture Recap

Developing Story Ideas:

5 Elements of a Story:

1. Character
2. Conflict
• Progressing => Decision => Learnt
3. Setting
4. Plot
• Beginning (Planned) - Mid (Work On) - End (Planned)
• Climax
• Goal 
• Problem
• Timeline
5. Theme
• Lessons that Delivers Equality

Fig 1.1, Miro Notes 1

Storytelling Process:

• Re-Telling
• Re-Writing
• ^^ Push them until the ideas are perfect!

Pixar's Way of Telling Stories:

1. What happened?
• Your or others past experiences
2. Write what you know!
1. Interesting: Car chase, Explosions, Fighting
2. Emotional: Connected, Emotions (Joy, Sad, Scared)
3. Relatable: Personal Experiences => Themes => Audiences

Fig 1.2, Miro Notes 2

What If?:

• Helps sparks ideas

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WEEK 4

[Slide Note - Character]

[Miro Note - W4]

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Lecture Recap

Introduction to Character:

• Protagonists vs Antagonists (Antag can be anything)
• Identify the characters wants(External) and needs(Internal)
• Helps to create character & story arc
• Include inciting incident to add stakes
• Make story about personal experiences so it's interesting and relatable.
• Hiearchry:

1. External vs Internal Features
2. Wants vs Needs
3. Obstacles
4. Character Arc
5. Stakes

Fig 2.1, Miro Notes W4

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WEEK 6

[Slide Note - Story Structure]

[Miro Note - W6]

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Lecture Recap

Introduction to Structure:

Structure:

• The organization of a story.
• Presenting the information that impacts the audience engagement and emotions.
• Storytellers constantly explore different approaches for story structures.
• Basic Structure: Opening, Middle and End

3 Act Structure:

Act 1 - Beginning (25% - 1 Min):

1. Establish Characters
• Protagonist
• Antagonist
2. Setting
3. Conflict 
• Inciting Incident => Goal => Goal, Theme

Act 2 - Middle (50% - 2 Min):

1. (More) Conflicts
• The Ups and Downs of the characters
2. Climax

Act 3 - End (25% - 1 Min):

1. Resolution
2. Endings (Depends on writers)
• Happy
• Sad

Overall (100% - 4 Mins):

• 5 Sequence
• 7 Sequence
• 8 Sequence
• Hero's Journey - Very Popular!
• Save the Cat

Fig 3.1, 3 Act Structure

Story Beats:

• A simple way to summarise the important moments of the story.
• The plot point within the story spine.

Story Spine:

• A simple pattern to organise a story, helps with understanding the story's flow to create our own stories.

ACT 1
1. Once upon a time…

2. Every day…

3. Until one day…

ACT 2

4. Because of that…

5. Because of that…

6. Because of that…

ACT 3

7. Until finally…

8. And ever since then…

The moral of the story is…

Fig 3.2, Story Spine

Theme:

• The moral or deeper message of the story.
• Helps in creating memorable story but it can evolve throughout story development.

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WEEK 7

[Page Formatting - Title Page]

[Script Anatomy]

[Writing using Google Doc]

[Writing using Celtx]

[Writing using Studio Binder]

[Miro Notes - W7]

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Lecture Recap

How to write scripts:

Font: Courier New

Font Size: 12

Fig 4.1, Screenplay Formatting

Fig 4.2, Title Page Formatting

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WEEK 9

[Slide Note - SL06_Film Grammar]

[Miro Note - W9 - Film Grammar]

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Lecture Recap

Film Grammar:

• Different elements that are put together to help communicate visually.
• String different shots to create a sequence that tells a story.

Elements of Film Grammar:

1. Framing
2. Staging
3. Motion
4. Editing

Framing:

• The part where the camera sees or the character's point of view.
• Better if you know the background layout first, easier to figure out where to put the camera.
• Tell the story through shot by shot.

Fig 5.1, Framing

Major Beats:

Uses the Story Spine

The major part of the scene

Naming Convention:

• Depends on the studio you work for
• Everyone uses what is most conventional

Fig 5.2, Major Beats & Naming Convention

Staging:

• The position of the character and the action of where it occurs.
• Staging can increase the drama between characters
• Composition like Rule of Thirds helps to get shots that are pleasing to the eye.

Fig 5.3, Staging

Basic Shot Types:

• What do you want the audience to know and feel/ set up
• Different shots help create different visual weight within scenes
• Establishing Shot (ES) - Communicate where the character is or where the scene is
• Full Shot (FS) - Helps with direction of the character and their actions
• Medium Shot (MS) - Best used for dialogue
• Close-Up Shot (CUS) & Extreme Close-Up Shot (ECUS) - Best used for expression
• If the audience doesn't know what you're trying to communicate, you've already lost.

Motion:

• How to camera moves in relation to the character and action

Extreme and Angles

• Camera angle follows the movement or what they want to portray
• Short characters look from bottom to top while taller characters do the vice versa.
• Sells the story towards the audience, different levels of shots are:
• Eye Level - Neutral
• Down Shot - Weak and Small
• Up Shot - Strong and Empowered
• Avoid shots that break the immersion of the audience, extreme angles are hard to adjust so use wisely.
• Rules can be broken but you need to know the film grammar thoroughly to break those rules.

Fig 5.4, Camera Angles

Dynamic Shot:

• Reveal information to the audience when you want to reveal it
• Can have different motions using different camera shots:
• Static Shot - Uses a fixed position & offers simple and direct framing.
• Dynamic Shot - Uses for variety of effects, change in pace or something else.
• Pan - Camera rotates, horizontally or vertically, to reveal additional information.
• Dolly Shot - Camera moves parallel to the ground as if it's on a moving track.
• Zoom - Where you push in or pull back from an action within the frame.
• Tracking Shot - Camera follows a particular subject as it moves within an environment. 
• Keep the audience in mind, don't use unnecessary movement that confuses the audience.

Fig 5.5, Shot Placement

Storyboarding:

• Thumbnail drawings

Editing:

• Stringing together shots by adjusting the order and timing
• Can add music and sound effects

Fig 5.6, Thumbnailing