Animation - Making Your Own Film

Anyone aspiring to be taken seriously as an animator would be well advised to first learn how to draw and then to learn the animation basics.

No matter if you are interested in doing 3d computer animation or stylised 2d drawings if you can’t draw you are at a disadvantage. Drawing is best learned from doing life drawing lessons, from studying other people’s work who can draw and from just practising.

Leaning to draw will teach you things like anatomy, character, design and composition, all very important...

Digital camcorders are now very good value and you can buy one for about £200. Important considerations:

1. Memory Card | The Most User Friendly Format

Virtually all camcorders now use memory cards to store audio and video.

This works well in an educational situation as each video group, or individual, can have its own card, making it less likely to lose shot material. 

2. Choose A Camcorder with an Exterior Mic Input

An exterior mic offers superior sound quality. The on camera mic is only adequate quality and records sound across a...

This brand new, colourful, jargon free guide will take you on a step-by-step journey, enabling groups or individuals to create films of their own. This guide is specifically designed for new film makers and is written by Lizzie Sykes, Senior Lecturer in TV Production at Bournemouth University and a community film maker with over 15 years’ experience. 

The aim of the guide is to provide its readers with the information they need to make key decisions about the films they want to make, and avoid common pitfalls that many groups experience....

Here are some apps that are used in and out of the Film Studies classroom. We’ve attempted to find links to the different operating systems to help identify if the version you need exists.

Language

Close Up Film Language Glossary iOS

The Close-Up Film Language Glossary of the well-known German Educational Publishers Schöningh provides clear and concise definitions of essential film language terms used in basic and advanced film courses. Though geared for use in high school (particular sixth forms) and higher education the glossary is...

Download Link: Evaluative Analysis.doc

The Evaluative Analysis for GCSE is about their FINAL production. It should be approximately 300-500 words dependent on their presentation form. It need to explain how they:

• Used Technical and Creative Skills
• Used an appropriate format with the appropriate codes and conventions

• Demonstrated an understanding of:
  • Film Language - how do the mise en scene and technical codes construct meaning?
  • Organisations - what production companies and distributors would typically be involved in the project?
  • Audiences...

We know that editing can be very tricky to teach, time consuming for the students and make the real difference with a final production (and grades!).

That is why we have created the Edusites Editing Workshop.

Depending on how well equipped your centre is, we can model production work and provide opportunities for students to be creative too. We will work with you and your resources to provide a session that improves the learners’ needs.

Or if you would like a session for you and your colleagues, the Editing Day Workshop can be based...

Editsense & Filmsense

What is Editsense?

‘Editsense is a new approach to learning about film language and film-making’.

This is an interactive DVD with excellent, practical examples of film - perfect for teachers of moving image, be it English, Creative and Digital Media or Film Studies.

It has over fifty video examples and includes materials for the introduction and revision of film. 

What does it include?

It includes video examples of film language including camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing techniques, sound and even advanced...

When you are teaching students how to edit, there are a few things that you need to consider. Firstly what you will want them to edit - usually, moving image and audio. You will therefore need the things which go with this. In this guide, you will be able to find out about the best editing software for your budget, top tips and more.

Hardware

You will obviously need access to computers. When students are editing, it can take more than a few lessons - especially when they get really into it. You may want to consider having access to a...

What is it?

This is the post-production process of making a moving image text, by the selection and ordering of a range of shots (the footage) into a continuous sequence. Editing can bring in audio (dialogue, score and sound effects), titles (credits) and still images.

Editing can help to enforce a theme, narrative or atmosphere, due to the pace and combination of elements selected. This could be through the use of a montage, the use of continuity editing, or the timing of music combined with the footage to create a mixture of emotive...

Associated Resources

• Audacity Cross-Platform Sound Editor

Step 1 | Importing Sound or Music

Click on the Project tab and select Import Audio. Choose your selected sound effect or music track from the hard drive.

Note: Music or sounds from CDs should be uploaded onto the computer hard drive first, rather than importing from CD.

Audacity will then load the audio file into the project window.

Step 2 | Functions

The Selection Tool

This is the most useful icon and will allow you to select a place on a track. With this cursor you can play...

The WJEC course allows you to go beyond teaching only moving image and will allow you to bring in some print for the internal assessment. This is helpful if you are a non-specialist teacher and feel that print is a ‘safer’ medium for you to begin with. There are a few resources on the FilmEdu site to get you started.

• Producing Printed Image Texts
• Digital Cameras and Photography This an excellent guide for using cameras and the appropriate language / techniques.
• Deconstructing Film Posters
• Film Poster Analysis
• How to Teach Photography

At Edusites, we believe that we can help to teach the different elements you need for teaching your subject. This is the first in a range of iTraining Guides for teaching the practical side of the subject. As the WJEC Film Studies course requires you to also be able to teach Print and Photography, we will be following these mediums too.

FilmEdu already has teaching material on the following, which you will find helpful to go alongside this guide. Here are some links to get you started:

• Micro Analysis
• Film Opening Analysis
• Film Analysis ~...

1. Understanding Sound

Sound is a feature often dismissed by students as the least important element, when in fact it can provide as much meaning for the audience as every visual and technical facet.

In this scene from Reservoir Dogs the song playing on the radio “Stuck In The Middle With You” is contrapuntal to the action, revealing the psychopathic nature of Mr Blonde. Parallel sound would have created a completely different sense, such as in the second clip: Casino Royale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSuZ2_yk-lc [check rating...

2D Animation Software

Adobe AfterEffects [PC & Mac]
Publisher: Adobe
License: Free Trial
Comments: Motion graphics and visual effects for film and media.

Animator-9 3.6 [PC]
Publisher: Key Technology
License: Free
Comments: Make animated GIFs from your digital camera.

AniS 1.0 [PC]
Publisher: Tom Whittaker
License: Free
Comments: Simple image manipulation for the web.

Bauhaus Mirage [PC]

Jumpwel [PC]
Publisher: Phildes
License: Free
Comments: Basic object manipulator for use in HTML; uses Java applets.

Macromedia Flash [PC & Mac]...[ read full article ] »

Genre

The print material usually relates to the study in an earlier module of genres such as Advertising, Magazines or British newspapers. The print course work should be in the same genres such as journalism/newspapers/magazines or advertising copy and images. Three pages are the minimum required. There is no harm in doing an extra page, and a cover page for a magazine. A very small percentage of your final product can be ‘found’ material.

Exam Alert. It is best to only use original material as examiners are very hot on plagiarism,...

Early history

Digital cameras have been around since about 1985. Then, they were bulky, with tiny resolutions and big prices, and were mainly for specialist applications only.

By 1997 we began to see the kind of camera we’re used to today: compact, pocket-sized, but with a resolution of only around a third of a Megapixel, not enough to print from successfully, although fine for Web use.

Things really started to take off around 1999, with many 1-3 Megapixel compacts on the market. DSLRs (Digital Single-lens reflex) began to appear then...

A Level Storyboarding

Pre-production Item | Storyboard

Example Brief: Create a storyboard (and video trailer) for a TV Crime Drama

The pre-production brief is to create a storyboard. Students should create a storyboard that shows as much detail as possible including camera instructions with details of camera movement, shot duration, content, details of audio tracks and details of transitions between frames.

This guide opens with a screenshot of the first three frames of a storyboard below that accurately follows the codes and conventions...

Storyboarding

See Understanding Storyboarding.

Interviewing

Interviewing is fun. Being part of a video crew allows you to interview all sorts of people in all sorts of places.

Sometimes, of course, people will refuse to be interviewed and don’t expect to be allowed onto the red carpet at a film première in Leicester Square without a lot of ‘talking to the right people’. Basically if you don’t ask then you have no chance of getting that star interview.

I have had the pleasure of seeing some famous and many not so famous people...

Video Camera Skills

Video Camera – Getting Started

Making an interesting video with a modern digital camera is pretty easy – making a really good one, like most things, takes practice, and knowledge of a few techniques. You could be forgiven for thinking that it is just a case of pointing the camera, and pressing the red button.

Yes, you will shoot some pictures. They might be quite entertaining especially if it is a nice sunny day and you have some interesting action to shoot such as a street carnival, but this is a home movie, and not a...

Tell the world

What do you want to tell the world? It’s a good idea to have something you want to talk about or discuss with the world. This is not the frustration you get on the bus when you have to stand all the way again, and you really do want to tell someone something. That could make a reasonable item for a short comedy sketch, but it will not make a film or television programme. You may just want to tell the world that you can write really good entertainment. 

You are going to spend a lot of time and an enormous amount of effort...

Find out more about the grid-based approach to design by clicking on the link below:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/04/14/designing-with-grid-based-approach/

Shared with FilmEdu by Elayne Senn.

Source: http://marvel.com/images/gallery/movie/127/untitled_gallery/image/740638

This guide explains what you have to do for the pre-production phase of WJEC GCSE Film Studies.

It shows you:

• how to write a script
• how to create a storyboard
• how to produce a front page and contents page for a new film magazine
• how to produce a marketing campaign for your film

It then explains how you will do / what grade you will get.

GCSE Film Studies Pre-Production Guide.pdf

Simple

Audacity Tutorials

Advanced

Apple Logic Express

Adobe Audition

Sony Acid Pro