Project 1 - Storyboard and Project Proposal

31/8/2018 - 5/9/2018 (Week 1 - Week 6)
Ng Jia Jin (0331589)
Video and Sound Production
Project 1 - Storyboard and Project Proposal

Instruction

Lecture Notes

31/8/2018 (Week 1)

There's no class because it's a public holiday.

7/9/2018 (Week 2)

To start of our first lecture lesson for Video & Sound Production, Mr Martin started by giving us a brief about the various type of shots taken while filming, 

8 Types of Film Shots

• Extreme Wide Shot
• Wide Shot
• Medium Wide Shot
• Medium Shot
• Medium Close Up
• Over the Shoulder Shot
• Close Up Shot
• Extreme Close Up Shot

After learning about various film shots, we then move on something call screen direction which the subject should move in a same direction only. There's also a rule that a camera should stay on a horizontal axis and not cross the border or it will be confusing and disoriented. Here are the slides for this week's lecture notes.

14/9/2018 (Week 3)

To start of this week's class, Mr Martin gave us a lecture about storytelling in film and various videos. From this week's lecture, we get to learn and better understand about the 3 act structures. It consists of  the beginning, the middle and the end of the movie.

3 Act Structure

ACT 1: Beginning - introduction of a story/movie, the overall setup for the movie/story

ACT 2: Middle - Rising action, complications

ACT 3: End - Resolutions of the problems

The 3 ACTS go by rising action, climax and falling action

Here are the complete slides for this week:

Exercise 

31/8/2018 (Week 1)

No class for this week because it's a public holiday 

7/9/2018 (Week 2)

After getting a brief about what is project 1 about, we then need to do our own research and gain our own ideas for our next project which is to create a PSA - Public Service Announcement Video. We are required to come out with a video proposal. 

14/9/2018 (Week 3)

At first, I have no idea or whatsoever but after doing some research about the topics, I came out with 2 ideas. My ideas are about suicide prevention from depression and another one is about LGBT. These are 2 very recent topics that have been talking about around the world by everyone. The reason I chose these topics because I think that people around the world should raise more awareness for these topics since so many lives have been taken away from suicide. I get to share some of my ideas with Mr Martin which is about depression and LGBT around the world. He said it's a good start but I need to do more research about it. I also need to come out with the overall video flow and storyboard, He encouraged me to come out with a story to make the video more engaging. 

21/9/2018 (Week 4)

After getting the feedbacks from Mr Martin, I decided to focus on 1 topic between my 2 topics. I chose depression to focus on because I have friends going through this dark path and I also figured out that there are also many people out there suffering the same fate. After choosing the topic, I came out with a rough story line of how my depression related PSA video is going to be.

Plots

My main message: Don't fight depression alone, dial up

Act I (Backstory)

• Family tragedy took his happiness from his life away
• He didn't join to trip because of studies

Act II

• From that day onwards, he only wanders around and depression has taken his whole emotions
• He seek advise from people but they only asked him to move on
• No one was there for him when he needed the most
• He has nothing to live for at this point of life 

Climax

• Depression has taken the best out of him
• He decided to take his own life 
• He jumped off the roof of his house

Act III

• Everyone mourned for him after his death

28/10/2018 (Week 5)

We had a shooting practice for this week so we didn't really have class so I decided to continue to develop ideas regarding to the topic I chose and the PSA video flow. 

After looking back at my 3 ACTS, I felt that it was too normal and it was like a very typical depression short video. I decided to add more contents to my ACTS and changed some of the flow of it. 

Here are my final ideas and flow of the story:

Description of Depression

Have you gotten into the state of depression in any point of your life? When you're so depressed that everything around you seem so hopeless. You wake up every day, only to think of how to "survive" the day. You may have gone through something that made you gone into this state of life but know that you're not alone. 

The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality and it was vitality that seemed to seep away from the "character" in the moment. "The character" is helpless, wandering around didn't know what to do in life. Everyone asks him to just move on, no one was there for him when he needed to most. 

Story of The Video

The story goes by when one day a family tragedy took a guy's happiness away from his life. From that day onwards, it was only sadness for him and his only support is his girlfriend. One day, when he was taking a nap, he received a phone call from his girlfriend saying that she wants to hang out with him. Both of them went to a park for a night stroll and it was this moment his girlfriend told him that she can't be with him anymore because he found someone else and at this moment her new boyfriend came into the picture. 

After that day, depression has started to enter his life. He tried to study but his mind is interrupted because the only person he had besides his family left him unexpectedly. He failed his studies eventually and he decided to give up. One day, he wrote a note: "In these moments before my departure, I feel more clarity that I have ever felt in my dull life. In one minute, I will be free from the voices, from the pain and from you."

3 days later, his ex-girlfriend came to his house to check on if he's doing alright. She went into his room and discovered a suicide note. No one knew he has suicided until his ex-girlfriend went and check on him. 

Flow of The Story

ACT I 

• Family tragedy took his happiness away from him ( 3 fire sticks at the altar)
• *zoom to his phone when his girlfriend calls*
• Girlfriend calling when he's sleeping

ACT II

• He hangs out with his girlfriend and suddenly his girlfriend told him that she can't be with him anymore because she found someone else
• *Her new boyfriend comes into picture*
• *blackscreen*
• He tried to study, but his mind is interrupted because the only person he had besides his family life him
• *throw tantrum*
• *blackscreen*
• Shows his failed results

Climax

• *blackscreen*
• He writes a suicide note: "In these moments before my departure, I feel more clarity that I have ever felt in my dull life. In one minute, I will be free from the voices, from the pain and from you"
• *blackscreen*

ACT III

• 3 days later, ex-girlfriend came to his house to check on him
• She went into his room and discovered a suicide note
• *while reading, the camera pan from the right to the left, revealing his body*

My ideas in PDF format:

The Whole Idea of The Video

• If you're suffering from depression, speak up, don't suffer alone
• Share your emotions, don't let it take over you
• Depression hotline 

After planning the flow and story of the overall PSA video, I then drew a storyboard to indicate which part of the story falls in which part. It's better to draw it out because I can tell the overall flow of the PSA video. 

Fig 1.0: Storyboard #1

Fig 1.1: Storyboard #2

After that, I went to the internet and search for some pictures that is related to the PSA video scenes.

Fig 1.2: Reference Picture #1

Fig 1.3: Reference Picture #2

Fig 1.4: The Suicide Note Left By Him #3

16/10/2018 (Week 6 - Week 8)

This week, Mr Martin introduced us to our client for our final project which we is based on the PSA ideas from our 1st project. Our client for our final project is FastJobs. On Week 8, we get to meet our client for the first time. 

Fig 1.5: FastJob

Fig 1.6: FastJob

23/10/18 (Week 9)

For this week, Mr Martin divided us to several groups for our final group. 

Fig 1.7:  Group Shortlist

Each group will have different ideas for our final project and I have teamed up with Isaac, Kitty and Nadia because 4 of us have the similar idea for our final project. We get to discuss our final project idea with Mr Martin and also set a schedule do that we can meet him soon for further discussion. 

He asked us to prepare the slides and the rough idea for our final project and compile all together because we are going to have a presentation the very next day.