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Directing · Advanced · Brief

Visual Storytelling & Directorial Voice

Point of view, motif and restraint — the choices that make a short feel authored. Preparing to defend your creative decisions in the summative reflection.

The brief

Assessment 1 — Short Film + Production Portfolio

Independently or in a small team, produce a 3–4 minute short film with a full production portfolio. The reflective report focuses on the role(s) you undertook, the collaborative and creative decisions, and how health and safety was integrated throughout.

Weeks 11–14

Deliverables
  • Risk assessment
  • Script
  • Storyboard
  • Shot list
  • Final film (3–4 minutes)
  • 750-word reflective report
Constraints
  • Adhere to H&S protocols throughout
  • Harvard referencing in the reflective report
  • File upload by Week 14, Sun 23:59
Learning outcomes
  • LO1 — Translate a scene into a visual plan the whole crew can read.
  • LO2 — Direct camera, blocking and performance as one design.
  • LO3 — Lead a department heads meeting.
What you'll practise
  • Blocking as story
  • Camera position as authorship
  • The director/DoP conversation as a shared vocabulary
  • Handling the department heads pre-shoot
  • Making a decision under time pressure
Before you start
Prerequisites
  • Directing actors completed.
  • Cinematography advanced completed.
  • Draft shot list for your Assessment 1 scene.
Kit
  • Printed script
  • Storyboards
  • Shot list
  • Location or set diagram
Step-by-step
  1. 01

    Overhead plan

    Draw the location from above. Mark actor paths, camera positions, sun/window/practicals.

  2. 02

    Walk the plan with your DoP

    In pairs, one director + one DoP. Walk the space, agree camera height and lens per shot.

  3. 03

    Heads-of-department meeting

    20-minute meeting: director, DoP, sound, art, 1st AD. You lead. Agenda: story, look, sound, hazards, schedule.

  4. 04

    Shoot the scene

    Execute the plan. When something changes, name the change out loud so the whole crew hears.

  5. 05

    Debrief

    What survived the day, what didn't, what will you do differently on Assessment 1?

Watch this

  • Children of Men (Cuarón, 2006)

    Bexhill sequence — every department serving one directorial idea.

Read this

  • On Directing Film — David Mamet

    The whole book. It's short.

Common pitfalls
  • Changing the plan on the day without telling the crew.
  • Directing camera and performance in isolation — they are the same choice.
  • Silence in the HODs meeting because the director isn't leading it.
How you'll be assessed

This is the closest workshop to your Assessment 1 shoot day. Treat the debrief as production notes for the summative.

Tutor notes — TODO

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  • TodoRecruit a 1st AD from an upper year for the HODs meeting.
  • TodoProvide a schedule / callsheet template for the shoot exercise.