Assignment #7: Production Schedule

For this assignment, we just have to turn in a piece of paper listing our shooting schedule. Some people have simple production schedules listing only the dates they plan to film, whereas others have very complex schedules. One student in my class mentioned she would create a list of each scene she would shoot including the names of characters, props she would need, and locations she would shoot at.

As I'm not completely positive of my first shooting date, I can't do this assignment as thoroughly as I would prefer.

I know I want to shoot this Saturday the 12th from around nine in the morning to about one or two in the afternoon. I don't know how long it will take to do each scene, or if I'm going to shoot in order of the script (for easier editing) or group scenes together based on location (for a quicker work day). At some point I'll make a prop list and go to pick up the uniforms I need from the library.

Assignment #6: Storyboard

Our storyboards are due next week Wednesday and I haven't heard back from my artist friend yet. If I have to resort to stick figure drawings, then so be it. I was kind of hoping I would be able to get some friends together for a few hours and head to the library to do a photoshoot so I could make a photo storyboard. I think that would be a ton of fun, but I'll give my friend until tomorrow to get back to me before I start offering up an afternoon of dressing up, photos, and free food.

Assignment #5: Script, Draft One

This assignment is fairly self-explanatory. I'd already had my finished script before the semester started but I had a friend go through my first draft and edit it just this past Thursday. Nothing major changed. He just got rid of a lot of excess direction and awkward wording so now the script will hopefully read more smoothly.

I think it's quite amusing that it's going to be twelve pages long no matter what I do to it. It was twelve pages long when I first wrote it, then when I added more stuff it was twelve pages long, and now that it's edited it's still twelve pages long. Hopefully it won't be twelve minutes long because that's way too long for this movie and since I have a montage that's two pages long, it should probably only be about nine to ten minutes long. Or so I'm hoping.

And I just found a new song that I'm crazy about, and I can't use it because it's copyrighted. Let's hope I can find something similar I can alter later on, 'cause it's a damn good song.

Assignment #4: Budget Plan

I've been working on this budget plan for a few days now and I'm having tremendous difficulty with it. Sure, it seems easy, just finding out how much things will cost, but I have to look up wages for specific occupations and positions that I won't even be using. I'm not getting an actual budget for this project. If I need items, the money is coming out of my own pocket. I understand the importance of doing a budget plan, but there are so many factors that don't apply to this particular production.

Of course, I've run into some problems. For example, sites that make DVDs and DVD cases aren't any help when it comes to needing a quote on burning copies of DVDs, and though this one site I found says they'll burn the DVDs for me, they don't list an option to send them the DVD information I need burned. So how do they expect to burn the DVDs when they don't have the information to burn on to them? I have no idea.

And we needed to look up the wages for producers, directors, and SAG actors, but naturally I couldn't find specific information, even searching the SAG and WGA websites directly. I had to Google questions about how much producers and directors make, but only found salaries per year and not wages per hour or per movie.

This budget business is very frustrating. I fear that I'm doing this wrong and that I won't have the correct information when I turn the assignment in. Good thing this isn't a real budget plan because some of the numbers I've discovered in the researching process are insanely high, and I can't imagine ever being able to afford the production costs of my video if it were a legit thing (and not some silly zero-budget student project).

Did you know there are programs out there that use money from students' tuitions to create an actual budget for film students that they can access and legitimately fund their movies with? Yeah. Guess where I'm going for graduate school.

Assignment #3: Checklist

For this assignment, we have to create a checklist of things we will need to do or provide for our production. Here is my checklist:

___ Release Forms

___ Crew/Cast List with Phone Numbers and E-mail addresses

___ Shooting Schedule

___ Prop List/Props

___ Food/Drink for Cast/Crew

___ Location Permits

___ Location Stills

___ Wardrobe

___ Equipment

___ Tapes

___ Copies of Script for Cast and Director with Contact Information

___ Storyboard

___ Call/E-mail All Participants to Confirm Times/Places

___ Notify Talent What to Wear

___ Credits List

I still have to create a credits list, prop list, and crew/cast list, among many other things, but all will be posted over the next several weeks, including a estimated budget plan.

Assignment #2: Logline

I've decided that, after some discussions with more friends about the complexity of my story idea and the suggestions from classmates during my pitch this past Monday, I am going to stick with "Puzzle to My Heart" as the script I produce this semester. The logline is as follows (and of course is subject to change):

A series of codes leads a puzzle-obsessed librarian on a hunt to find her one true love.

Assignment #1: Movie Idea and Basic Description

Due today is a short paragraph describing the movie we want to make. After some consideration and discussion with a few friends, I decided to go with "Puzzle to My Heart". Although my dream ideas sound more professional, experimental, and fun, I think for now I'll stick with "Puzzle to My Heart" as it has a smaller cast, one location, and is already written. Should my muse decide to get her rear in gear and inspire me to write one of the other scripts I have in mind, then perhaps I'll switch to one of those. I still have time. Here is the assignment:

“Puzzle to My Heart” is the story of a puzzle-obsessed Stacks librarian who discovers a code in a book and follows it to a series of books, each with a coded clue inside. You see, she never met a puzzle she didn’t love. The code takes her on a journey of more codes in order to learn the identity of the person who created the greatest puzzle she would ever solve. Little does she know that the creator is someone she overlooks on a daily basis. This is an intellectual love story with a surprising twist.