CPR Week 1: Session Notes and Blog

In today's session - the first of the module - we were introduced to the module and went through the assessment task briefs and a schedule for the module.

In our introduction to the module Susannah told us how a lot of the workload was arranged to be front heavy in this module, which is good as it staggers the workload in conjunction with other modules.

The topics that we will be looking at in this module are:

- Art Direction / Production Design
- Production
- SFX (in front of camera) and VFX (in post production)
- Proposal Writing (to industry standard)
- Research
- 'Creative Realisation'

I am really looking forward to this module.  It sounds so exciting.  My main area of interest is in Production.  I like planning and organising creative projects, and building sets and making /adapting things to use as props, as well as doing the actual creative filming and post production work.


Module Content

Art Direction

- Inductions to hand tool use, Sheaf Basement (required)
- Set building and studio use / induction
- Moodboards to communicate visual ideas (aka 'look book' in industry: shows visual design of film)
- Set design and decoration
- Working on set as an art director

Production

- Planning a shoot
- Scheduling fast turn around shoot
- Understanding the creative side of production
- Making informed decisions


SFX and VFX

- What they are
- Practical studio work with props and SFX
- VFX in post production (one session After Effects, one session Maya)
- Related research


Proposal Writing

Write two proposals

- Supported proposal writing
- Skills to assist at level 6
- Proposal (based on current industry standard)
- Free writing exercise


Research

- 'The Uncanny' research tasks  (proposal for week 2)

- Fine art based research, to encourage thinking outside the box
- Encouragement of academic practice, referring to other works


Creative Realisation

- An overview of film making practice
- Practical skills and new software
- Professional proposal writing

Fun and empowering.
 

Research Blog

Part of the assessment for this module is to keep an individual research blog. 

This blog will be updated regularly and include a weekly review of each session and the skills that I have learned.

I will also be posting up research that I have undertaken, idea developments, planning and production documents and any other thoughts, ideas and materials that I use within this module.

I will also be using this blog as a referral base and as a short cut for information that I will be requiring throughout the module.  Therefore I will also be posting up any technical information, templates, links to useful sites and resources so that it is all at hand.

In addition to this blog I will also be keeping a project journal, as I have always found that to be a good way to work, and it's a method that's always worked for me.

I hope that you find this blog interesting.

If you would like to discuss any of the posts made in this blog, my student email address is:  b0042348@my.shu.ac.uk     

Thanks for reading

Paul Manning
31 January 2013