Week 2 ~ Media Arts ~ Pre-planning

The 4 P’s: pre-production, production, post-production and presentation

Pre-production

This week’s focus was on the pre-production phase of film development. We had to develop ideas for a one minute film with the motif “fly”. In groups we had to develop an idea each and the vote on the best one. The motif fly allowed us to all develop our own idea however the notion of a travelling balloon stood out as the best idea for the film. Although it may seem difficult at first, the process of developing an idea proved to be fairly easy and the process and the pre-planning sheet assisted us to layout a comprehensive plan.  We also had to develop a storyboard to detail the story-line and shot types planned for the film.

Our film is of a narrative genre and follows the plot form (Layne, Lewis, 2009). The exposition occurs quickly as the balloon is introduced to the audience in the setting of the quad with a lighthearted mood. The rising action or conflict in our film occurs in the form of man (balloon) vs self in a physical journey where the balloon overcomes adversity in the form of obstacles throughout the university. The resolution is comic one as the journey of the balloon is minimised by the easy and instant response to its message in the form of a text message.    

Narrative Format (Dillingham & Ohler, 2003) - The process of developing a narrative for film

References

Dillingham, R.& Ohler J. (2003). Visual portrait of a story [Diagram]. Retrieved from http://courses.coe.uh.edu/brobin/7358-lit/class7/visual-portrait.jpg

Layne, R., Lewis, R. (2009). Plot, theme, the Narrative Arc, and Narrative Patterns. Retrieved from http://www.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/film/narrativearc.html