Chapter 4 Storytelling with Light 159Exercise: Using Light to Tell a Story
For Writing 4, you created a script for your fi rst major individual project. Exercise
4 is the point at which you take those plans and transform them to light upon
a screen. Aft er you are satisfi ed with the writing of the script—or at least you
have arrived at the date when you need to begin shooting (hopefully not the
day before the deadline to hand in the fi lm; aft er all, you still need to edit!)—it
is standard practice to prepare for the production phase of the motion picture.
For this exercise, the following steps are recommended for pre-production:
A. Location Scouting – To determine and visit locations before the
shoot is instrumental to the success of a motion picture. If the
cinematographer and director are familiar with the space in which
they will be working, it helps in both completing pre-production
and making decisions during production.
B. Shot List – Using your script, plan sequences of shots to tell your story.
For the numbering of shots in relation to your script, follow the pattern
of Number/Letter for Scene/Shot. So the fi rst planned shot of the fi lm
is 1a. If there is another shot that corresponds to scene 1 from the script,
it will be shot 1b. When the script moves to scene 2, you begin with
shot 2a. Use the shot descriptions from unit 1 along with necessary
information such as movement and characters in the frame.
C. Floor Plans – With fl oor plans, shots, characters, and key spatial
information are indicated in a bird’s-eye view of the scene. Th ese
are quite useful for a cinematographer to map the camera positions
and devise a plan for shooting each sequence. Use the shot list to
identify shots alongside camera angle indications.
D. Storyboards – Th ese visual preparations are the most famous pre-
production tool and can range from very simple line drawings and
stick fi gures to detailed, comic-book-like sequences that map out
the fi lm shot by shot. Th ey are useful for a director to communicate
with the cinematographer and other collaborators, and they can serve
as a reference when various possibilities for shooting are explored
during production.
E. Scheduling – Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is scheduling. You
need to get the crew and actors to the shoot—and all at the same time!- Personnel list
- Locations
- Shooting dates
- Editing schedule
F. Final Product Guidelines - Length – Completed short is between fi ve to twelve minutes.
- Editor – Editing must be completed by the director.
- Titles – Th ere must be credits to the fi lm, whether generated
using an editing program or through direct means during fi lming.
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).