Feature Film Assignment

I have discussed this assignment for several months; I also posted this assignment on March 23 as part of "The Big Project." Today, I will comment further.

Working in groups, students create a four minute feature film. The movie/ video is the largest project of the year; the film is also connected to the other nine Big Project assignments. Everyone in the group will participate. each group member will help write the treatment, script and story boards. All group members will help film and edit.

The Four Minute Feature Film may be shorter than 4 minutes. If the film is longer than four minutes, the project is not complete. I want students to learn how to edit. Hopefully, students will have recorded more than four minutes of video. Choosing which clips to keep becomes difficult when both are good. This skill is important to learn.

Students will save their video on their school drive and/ or movie website. Some groups have already created their movie website. I showed students a weebly.com webiste. To upload video, users were required to pay, otherwise the site was free. I would accept another alternative. Students can search for other free sites or use Vimeo or Youtube and link to the free site. 

Another reminder, if a group uses students from outside this class, the group must receive permission from the person being filmed.

The New Finals

The Final Exam Schedule has changed.

 

REVISED SPRING FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE 2011

 

Friday June 10, 2011	Monday June 13, 2011	Tuesday June 14, 2011	Wednesday June 15, 2011
P4    8:20 –   10:15 Brk  10:15 – 10:30 P8/9   10:30 – 12:30	P3    8:20 –   10:15 Brk  10:15 – 10:30 P7   10:30 – 12:30	P2    8:20 –   10:15 Brk  10:15 – 10:30 P6   10:30 – 12:30	P1    8:20 –   10:15 Brk  10:15 – 10:30 P5   10:30 – 12:30

Feature Film Trailer (30 Seconds)

For the students final film project, each group will create a 30 second movie trailer.


Have you ever watched your favorite television show, and at the end of each episode, the producers tease you with "scenes of the next episode?"

Source for trailer defition

Tracking Time with Toggle

We will be taking finals soon. My 5th period class completes MMVP on Friday, June 10th. My 4th period class finishes on Wednesday.

Therefore, students must complete their final projects the week of Monday June 6th.

To help students track how they spend their time, I have assigned daily time trackers using Microsoft Excel. If students wish, they can also use a new computer application called Toggl. (www.toggl.com) no "e" at the end.

Students are not required to use Toggl, but they are required to track their time while in class. Also, students are required to be accurate. If students decide to use their time to be "off task," students must document accurately. If a student only spends ten minutes playing video solitaire, I do not want them to document that they spent 15.

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Group Presentations - Treatments

(This message was posted after our group presentations, so that parents would know what happened in class today.)

Today, student groups presented in class.

Each group will "pitch" their movie ideas. Within two sentences, the group should present a clear concept of movie, either the title or the catch phrase will entice the audience to listen more carefully.

In class, students will be graded for presenting and participating.

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Welcome Back for the Stretch Run

Beginning today, students are going to track how much time they spend working on projects.

Students will also track how much time they spend on activities unrelated to this class.

Tracking time is a standard practice in many professions. For example, lawyers bill clients in six minutes increments. Accounting firms also bill clients in small increments. While a customer might hire someone at an hourly rate, many tasks rarely take an entire hour. A one minute phone call costs six minutes. 

Computer consultants bill clients too. Many visual artists track their time, even when the artist is not billing a client, so that the artist knows whether a project is potentially profitable.


You will begin using a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet to track your time each day. I have created a draft MS Excel Spreadsheet and placed it in my R drive. At the end of each class, you will send the me the attachment to my school email. Use the same spreadsheet for the rest of the year.

Your group may create the same template, but each student is responsible for maintaining their own spreadsheet. Each student is responsible for tracking their own time.  Each student is responsible for submitting their own email every day. Today, create a spreadsheet for the remainder of the year.


Consider the following questions so that you can include all activities that you perform in class, even those that are not assigned. What categories should be included? How do you spend your time when you are not following directions? How do you spend your time when you are relaxing? How long are classes? On what days will there be holidays? How should the form look? How can you calculate the amount of time? What are the obstacles about being honest?


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What is a Treatment?

Remember way back on yesterday when I said that I might add something to your list of final projects? Well, somehow I forgot an important part of screen writing. I forgot the treatment.


Read more at the following links.


1. How to Write a Movie Treatment


2. Treatment Examples from Simply Scripts


3. Movie Treatments dot com

Write your treatment before you begin your script and storyboards.