Pre-production
Ideas Onto Paper
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discussing the storyboard
Once you have your ideas together you need to get them down on paper. These are the main stages you might go through:
outlines & treatments
Outlines and treatments are descriptions of the film you want to make - they are both summaries of the project (usually in the industry for securing money) that help you convey what your film is about, before you produce a script or storyboard.
For a feature an outline is usually less than a page, and a treatment is usually a few sides.
script & screenwriting
Check out Scottish Screen's excellent first writes pages
Writing is easy, its just a matter of staring at a blank page until your forehead bleeds - Gene Fowler
shooting script
A shooting script is like a storyboard without the drawings. It should contain everything needed to set up and get a shot right.
A good film script should be able to do completely without dialogue - David Mamet
storyboards
A storyboard shows each shot in sequence, like a comic strip. It helps you think about how things are going to look and it saves time as everyone can foresee what is going to happen on the day.
Good storyboarding has nothing to do with beautiful artwork
As well as the picture a storyboard should have:
- Shot/Scene number
- Shot size (mcu, ms, ecu)
- Note on what the action is
- Shot duration
- Information about the audio
A good grasp of film language helps you tell your story with pictures and sounds