English 235 (“The Art of Movie Making”)

Film-style Video Production

(Page last updated August 9, 2011 - Check back for updates)


3 credits                                          Fall 2011

Tuesdays                                       Merrifield Hall: Room 114

3:30 pm - 6:00 pm                           Instructor: Christopher P. Jacobs

 

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 Writers 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
Lorene M. Wales, The Complete Guide to Film and Digital Production: The People and the Process - ISBN# 978-0-205-07862-2


 

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. 23

Project Greenlight 1-2-3; Soldier Boy, previous film class & moviecamp movies;

clips from regional indiefilms like Ole & Lena, Dick’s Beer, Awry, Pros & Cons, Newton’s Disease, Dark Highways, Miss Mystic, Music to My Ears, Dangers from Within

Aug. 30

Project Greenlight 4-5-6, Script ideas, start writing scripts; L.A.M tutorials

Sep 6*

Project Greenlight 7-8-9-10; Work on scripts, preliminary preproduction.

Sep 13

Project Greenlight 11; workshop scripts in class; cinematography doc: Visions of Light

Sep 20

Project Greenlight 12; documentary on casting: Casting About;

L.A.M. camera/lighting tutorials, in-class demos (“Classy Kids”)?

Sep 27

Intro to Editing (computer lab); editing doc: The Cutting Edge

Oct 4

- PRODUCTION -

Oct 11

- PRODUCTION -

Oct 18

- PRODUCTION -

Oct 25

- PRODUCTION -

Nov 1

- PRODUCTION

Nov 8

 

- EDITING -  intro/logging & capturing, foley, ADR, scoring, color grading,

“fixing it in post,” etc.

Nov 15

- EDITING -

Nov 22

- EDITING - (Thanksgiving weekend!)

Nov 29

- EDITING -

Dec. 6

- EDITING FINECUT - distribution options

FINALS WEEK

View final movie projects

 

Possible movies to be viewed either in class or outside of 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

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 with different teams producing different segments. 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

 

UNDERSTANDING VIDEO IMAGES (vs. FILM)

 

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!)