A guide to help develop Creation skills for N5 and H media students. This includes guides to how to use iMovie in preparation for the Assignment.

 N5 H Creation Skills

On the following page you are going to be given a scenario to film a trailer for. You have the choice of the following genres to present your trailer as. Spy Action Thriller Comedy Choose one of the above genres and do some research on it. Create a research sheet using the headings on the following page to help you with this.

Look at sound, characters, settings, lighting

Find out about the type of production companies that make this genre of film. Who are they? What are the films like? How well do they do?

Main Film Genres

Find some of the typical budgets for this genre of film. What does the budget allow them to do or have? How will your film differ as a result of a different budget?

50% of the course is assignment based. In the assignment you will be assessed on your research skills and ability to create a media product. For this we will be making movie trailers so it is important that you get used to the filming and editing software IMovie and the camera on your IPad. 

Using IMovie select the trailer option and, after looking at some of the example options, pick one and using the framework given create your own trailer. The options for this can be quite limiting but will give you the chance to see what the app can do. You can come up with titles, images etc for yourself.

Now that you have looked into your chosen film genre we now need to look at how to make a trailer in more detail.

Stimulus: Imagine the following scenario: Someone has just arrived at your house. They are snooping about in several places. Spend some time gathering some footage on your IPad of this. You should film from a variety of different angles and in some different rooms/places.

Go onto the attached website to find out some more information about film trailers. Do all the activities in the analysis and narrative image tabs.

Storyboard That: The World's Best Free Online Storyboard Creator

The Film Space | Teaching Trailers 2019

Using the stimulus above as a starting point come up with a plan for your film trailer. You can use the digital storyboard on the link below or hand draw/make on word etc. Add as much detail as you can to your plan including camera angles and any lighting plans that you will use. 

Next spend some time editing your footage together to make a storyline. Don’t use the trailer option for this one as it will be limiting. Instead create a movie. Below are some links to videos and instructions on how to use IMovie and you should be aiming to become used to using the features of the app. Try finding your own music or sound effects instead of their stock ones to see if you can enhance the final outcome of your work.

Try using your footage to create a different storyline or atmosphere. Can you change it into a comedy or horror sequence? What features of the editing process are going to help you do this?

Edit video in iMovie on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac

How about making another film of your choice? Try to use the restrictions of lockdown to your advantage. Could you create a sequence set only in 1 room? Change an everyday household item into a killer or have it go on a lockdown adventure? Get creative within our restrictions. Send any of your work to Mrs Holliday if you would like some feedback.

You could film another person in your house doing this or if nobody is available film from the perspective of the snooper. Nobody else has to see the finished product if you don’t want - so get creative. The point of this is to practise your filming skills and the effects you can make by filming from different angles. The more footage you create at this stage the more you can do in the next step and the more you will be able to do.

If you want to make the situation seem creepy what angles would give this feeling most? What would you include inside the frame of the scene if you didn’t want to give away too much of what was going on? If you didn’t want to show the intruders face what other parts of them could you show the viewer as they were moving about?

https://api.bookcreator.com/users/v2/uoIM59xZIhX8h7qCeYY85YLwVzO-u5jveDC7CmBoY_0/books/Lz0SJ_4AQZamp7jOhPh9hw/assets/CI_C9583470-7CA1-4E62-ACB3-497165944CBB.png?width=502&height=503

https://api.bookcreator.com/users/v2/uoIM59xZIhX8h7qCeYY85YLwVzO-u5jveDC7CmBoY_0/books/Lz0SJ_4AQZamp7jOhPh9hw/assets/CI_4CE9D99E-09B4-4F77-BD29-DD0978278ECB.jpg?width=545&height=296

Final step is to evaluate your work. Have a look closely at your trailer. Pick 3 examples of something that you think worked well in the trailer. This should relate to things like: 1. The overall point of a trailer and how you achieved this. 2. Specific meaning that you wanted the viewer to understand at certain points 3. How the piece is edited together. Now do the same for 3 examples in the trailer that you think could have been better.

It is a lot easier to write about the positives and negatives when you let someone else watch it. Ask either a household member/send to a friend or ask me about the trailer. You could ask questions about whether we understood certain parts or just what we think worked best or needed some more work. 

Name

Safari may block some audio or video from playing automatically and ‘read to me’ will skip these. You can configure this in Safari’s preferences.