Understanding+the+Pieces

Understanding the Pieces Movie Summary Before you create your movie you need to know what you want people to think, feel or understand by the end of the film. This will be the guiding statement of your project and help you to decide what you need to move people to this point. A movie summary or guiding statement should be short but thorough. An example of this might be: “My movie is about my mother in law moving to the United States from Poland. I want people to understand how strong she is.” The first sentence is a simple summary of the events of the movie. The second sentence explains how you are going to present these events to convey a message. Our movies will be short and are all about crossing boundaries, however, everyone’s story will be different and their messages will be different. As you work through your project you will use this statement as a way of checking yourself. Every picture, video, sound, word and transition you use will be to support the communicating of your idea.

Narrative for Outline Most of you will be narrating your project either through voice or text. If you choose not to narrate you will only use pictures, videos and music to convey your message. Even if you choose not to speak, you must write out your story. Your narrative needs to be cohesive and logical. It does not have to be long, but it should be comprehensive. As we work through the project you may need add or eliminate pieces of your narrative. Without the story articulated, however, you will be moving forward without any direction and this will be reflected in your work. Here is an example of a short narrative. My mother in law, Nina, was 29 years old when she married my father in law and moved to the United States from Poland. It was New Year’s Day. The night before her friends had a huge going away party for her. She wore an elegant ball gown and danced until early in the morning. One gentleman begged her not to leave. Within twenty- four hours of the party, she was in a row home in Manayunk, in the basement doing laundry, by hand. She spoke no English, and although her new in laws spoke Polish she was still alone among strangers. When she was in Poland she lived with only her mother. In America she lived with her new husband, his four brothers, two sisters and his mother. My mother in law lived in an occupied Poland through world war two. She ran from bombs, hid from soldiers, lost most of her family home and once protected her own mother from an attacking soldier.

This narrative could be made longer or shorter. It still needs an ending. It also lacks a lot of descriptive language, which you have to have when your words stand alone. However, it will be the images you chose to show, as well as the music or sounds you use in the background that will move your story more than the words. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use descriptive language you just shouldn’t depend on it. You can do either your summary or your narrative, first however you are comfortable. If your summary doesn’t match your narrative you can re tool your summary. By the end of the first week you should have a solid story line.

List of Necessary Materials This will be an evolving list as your move progresses. You should start with everything you think you will need. This will include pictures, videos, interviews, music, digital storage, etc. You need to keep this list updated. By the second week your materials need to be gathered in one place. If they are digital you need to have a place to store them that will hold everything this can be your personal computer, server space or a thumb drive. Set up a logical file system. The root file should be Move with sub-files for photos, video, audio. The more organized you are now, the easier your movie will be. If you have non-digital photos, we need to make a plan for you to digitize the photos. I will be reviewing your list of necessary materials weekly.

Goal List for the Week Another living list, this will be done at the end of every class. You must decide what needs to be accomplished before the next class and (if necessary) how and when you plan to do it. For instance if you need to speak to your aunt who lives in Ohio about getting pictures for your movie, make a point to plan it into your homework time. And then do it. The goal list will be reviewed weekly both before you leave so you know what to do and when you come back so we can adjust if you couldn’t get something.

Story Board This is the real planning of the movie. Here you will write out what will happen frame by frame. A sketch or notation of what the viewer will see goes in the box. Next to it is where you describe other necessary information, including what is said, background music or sounds, transitions, etc. The descriptions should be as detailed as possible. If you want a song to fade in on a certain frame, this is where that information will live. The more detailed the storyboard, the easier your movie to put together. However, I know that some people simply don’t work this way. So I am requiring that you have what you plan to go with each picture/ video in the movie and to be sequenced. I am recommending you notate for yourself as much information as you can in the lines next to the box. But if you are comfortable simply sequencing your images/video and short notes about what will be said that is okay too. Some people work better this way and need to be in the program to really make creative decisions.