10-Shot Sequence Screenings
Today we’ll be screening and discussing your 10-shot sequences.
Assignment: Pitches
Write a pitch for your first assignment of the semester. For most of you, it will be the visual poem. For a few of you, that means pitching your 10-15 minute short doc.
Pitches will be due next class, on Thursday, when we will workshop your ideas. For those of you pitching short docs, the pitch workshop will be followed by an additional assignment called a “treatment,” which is a more in-depth writeup of your vision for your films. (I will provide examples when we get to it.)
For now, here is what I’m looking for out of your pitches:
Visual Poems
- Access! If this film involves a specific person or place, make sure you have permission from whoever is in a place to give it.
- A strong sense of what story or feeling you want to convey without words.
- Ideas for music/use of sound.
- A clear plan for what you intend to shoot, and the kinds of scenes/imagery you want to come back with.
- A vision for the editing, both in terms of pace and style.
Short Docs
- Access! Please have spoken to at least one potential strong central character who has signaled willingness, or at least openness, to participating in your film.
- A clear plan for what you intend to shoot, and the kinds of scenes/imagery you want to come back with.
- Ideas for a narrative arc that the story might take. What scenes/moments in this journey will be important for you to be there to document?
- Realistic timeframe. You have about three months to gather footage for a satisfying story. What is likely to happen within that window? Is there enough story there to fill a 10-15 minute doc? Or will key events take place too far in the future for it to work?