*First stage of the project

Write a story/description that is suitable for a short movie or a documentary. The duration of the final production should be seven to fifteen minutes.

Explore various ideas. If you do not have an original idea, think of stories you already know, fairy tales, political drama, gossip, or maybe just an interesting news item you heard on the bus. If they are not perfect, select any one of them and start crafting it by changing the outcome or adding or subtracting a character. Also consider various genres such as political satire, documentary, current events, action, comedy, or other areas that you may want to explore.

Points to consider: How would you bring the story to the screen? Is this a good story for a live action short? How many actors would you need? Take stock of people who maybe able to act in your movie. Also consider audio requierments such as commentary, voice over, music, and sound effects etc. Give some thought to resources you have while considering the story. This thought process might help you select the right story.

Discuss your story idea in class. (Write the story idea - a brief paragraph about 5-6 sentences should be sufficient for most). Include the basic storyline of "what is it about?" Be brief in telling the story. There is no need to mention dialog, special effects, and detailed scene descriptions. However you must mention the beginning, the middle and the end. What will be the hook. In other words why would anyone be interested in the movie.

Once you have discussed your idea in class, develop the story and submit an outline of the story to the entire class for review. Remember this is only an outline and you do not need to develop the dialog. For most stories this could be accomplished in a page to a page and a half in length.

*Second stage of the project - Adapt the story to a screenplay.

Develop the Screenplay, which should include dialog, action, audio, and all elements needed for the story. This is the document that outlines the entire movie. Note, The screenplay that you write is not the final document. You can adjust the screenplay to add, subtract, and refine its substance/content. As you keep working on the movie, you may decide to change various aspects of the screenplay to improve the quality. A well-written screenplay could save much time and effort in making the movie. Refer to readings on script writing.

Documentries can be made by students who have demonstrated prior movie making skills. If you have chosen to do a documentary you must get permission from the instructor make sure to have the goals outlined clearly. If there are interviews planned, identify the individuals and prepare the questions and follow up questions. Outline the locations, time of day to be filmed and mention if it’s to take place in a special occasion etc.

*Third stage of the project

Create the storyboard, which helps visualize the Screenplay. It is a visual description of the written script. Draw the movie in sketch form—think of the movie turned into a cartoon. These illustrations do not need to be very detailed, but should capture the essence of the scene, such as the camera angle, distance to the subject – whether it is a close up, a long shot, etc. and whether the camera would pan. Also it should indicate the lighting conditions such as will it be shot in the dark and or with light streaming through a cracked open door, etc. Drawing skills need not be at a high level but you must draw objects, people, envioronment and any props etc to scale and they should be compsed well with the camera/shooting in mind.

*Fourth stage of the project

Start on the production of the movie. Shooting video, and recording audio should be done at this stage. Usually there is no advantage in shooting video in the same order it will appear in the movie. You should start shooting scenes as soon as the appropriate time comes. Your storyboard and the script should be followed very closely, so as not to skip any scenes accidentally.

During the shooting, be sure to keep good records of scenes you have shot. It is always helpful to know how much has been accomplished and how much more there is still to do. Time management is crucial at this stage because you may have to get others involved in the production. If you are scheduling several actors to be in the scene, make sure they are all available at the time you want them to be. Actors not turning up as scheduled is not an excuse. Have a backup plan.

Also keep a track of audio recordings and their quality. If audio dubbing is to take place during the post-production stage, make sure to have the recordings ready and check the timing to prevent snags during the post-production.

*Fifth stage of the project

At this point you will have video footage, and audio ready to be edited. To make the workflow go smoothly, organize and save your data in a dedicated area of your computer or on an external hard drive. Make sure to duplicate your original footage so that you won't lose all of your valuable effort in the event of computer failure. It's also a good idea to keep notes of edit points just in case the project gets corrupted.

Everyone will have a preferred method of organizing and working through the editing process. There are many possible paths you can take to arrive at the same solution or to execute the same task. Find the way you think works best for you.

The completed movie should have titles and credits.

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