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Your Major Product will take most of the next term and will be due at the end of Week 7 in Term 4 (November 19th, 2021). This gives you exactly 4 weeks from today to complete it.
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The Introductory PowerPoint below includes sample films, photos and animations that might help you develop your ideas.
Download PowerPoint Here Top 15 Genres of Photography Assessment Criteria |
Introduction
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Your major product is where you focus on just one form to plan and create, be it film, photography, animation, game making, print (such as magazines, newspapers, posters, brochures, etc.) and you research plan, create and produce a polished finished product that is representative of the time you've had to create it and shows off your skills and development.
This is your big chance to really hone your skills and try new things, so it's the perfect opportunity to do something you haven't done before. If you've done film before, maybe don't do film this time around, or if you DO want to do film, make it a specific focus that will challenge you to develop your skills further using special effects programs such as After Effects, or developing your use of sound, lighting and camera skills to produce a more polished and sophisticated piece of work. There's no value in just doing the same sort of thing you've always done, because you're not challenging yourself to get better. You're much better off for this project to challenge yourself to try something you have no idea how to do, research and develop your skills, watch tutorials and try and do something that is hard and maybe a bit overwhelming. It's a much better option to try and do something that's really challenging, rather than just coasting through something you already know how to do. If you try something hard that you don't know how to do, but you don't quite pull it off in the end, at least you've pushed yourself and you'll learn from it going into next year If you just do something you already know how to do, you might complete it OK, but you won't have learnt much when you come out the other end, so you won't have gotten much out of it. TL;DR - Push yourself with this unit. Try something new. Focus on developing your skills and creating a finished product that looks polished and professional. Don't take the easy option and think of a wider audience, rather than just doing something that might get a giggle out of your friends. |
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The Breakdown
There are very few limitations to this product. Most of the choices you make are entirely up to your creativity. The only real limitations you have is how much of a product you can, or must, produce, depending on which form you choose. These are below:
Film: must be between 2 and 10 minutes
Photography: must be a minimum of 10 photos
Print (newspaper, magazine, brochure, zine, graphic novel, etc.): must be a minimum of 8 pages
Animation: must be between 30 seconds and 10 minutes
Game: use the above times and requirements as a guide
Of course, the other main limitation for this product, which isn't really a limitation at all, is that, of course, all of the content in your product must be your own. If you choose to do a magazine, all of the articles must be written by you and all of the photos must be taken by you. If you choose to do photography, you can't just tweak photos off the internet. All of the photos have to be taken by you. With film, you have to be the writer, director and editor, but if you want to be in your own film, it's OK to get somebody else to be the cameraperson.
Film: must be between 2 and 10 minutes
Photography: must be a minimum of 10 photos
Print (newspaper, magazine, brochure, zine, graphic novel, etc.): must be a minimum of 8 pages
Animation: must be between 30 seconds and 10 minutes
Game: use the above times and requirements as a guide
Of course, the other main limitation for this product, which isn't really a limitation at all, is that, of course, all of the content in your product must be your own. If you choose to do a magazine, all of the articles must be written by you and all of the photos must be taken by you. If you choose to do photography, you can't just tweak photos off the internet. All of the photos have to be taken by you. With film, you have to be the writer, director and editor, but if you want to be in your own film, it's OK to get somebody else to be the cameraperson.
Inspiration - Week 3, Term 4
LEARNING INTENTION FOR THIS WEEK: experience a wide variety of professional products and start to develop your ideas from them. Focus on technique and skill being used and think about how to apply those skills and techniques to your own product.
WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE COMPLETED BY THE END OF THIS WEEK: Two annotated Inspiration pages in your Media folio.
Your first task to complete is finding Inspiration.
At this stage, seeing as you're only just starting, you're not expected to have decided on what you're doing yet. You may not even know if you want to do film, photography or something else, let alone what it will be about. And that's OK. The purpose of the Inspiration section is just that: finding Inspiration.
Even if you're fairly certain you're going to do photography, for example, don't just limit yourself to looking at photography. Look at a number of films and short films, tv shows, etc. as these use clever lighting, angles and framing of shots too, which may give you ideas for how you want to frame your shots when you do photography.
And the same applies for the other forms. If you're pretty certain you're going to make a film, look at photography too as the look and framing of the shots and the lighting, will help you in getting ideas to add levels of polish and sophistication to your end product.
Simply going to Google Images and typing in a search like "award winning photography" will introduce you to wide array of beautiful looking shots.
So what should your Inspiration look like when it's finished?
It should consist of only two pages in your Media folio.
When you see something you like, or something that inspires you or gives you ideas, save it, or take a screen shot of it, print it out and put it in your folio under the Inspiration section. Then briefly annotate it to describe what it was about it that appealed to you. (to take a screenshot on a Mac, hold down Command+Shift+4. This will turn your mouse into a cross. You can then click and hold and drag around what you want to take a screenshot of. It will then be saved as an image to your Desktop).
If you watch a short film, or tv show or film, just take a screen shot of a scene from it and put that in your folio. Your annotation doesn't have to necessarily be about the still you've taken a shot of, it may just be about the film in general.
At this stage, seeing as you're only just starting, you're not expected to have decided on what you're doing yet. You may not even know if you want to do film, photography or something else, let alone what it will be about. And that's OK. The purpose of the Inspiration section is just that: finding Inspiration.
Even if you're fairly certain you're going to do photography, for example, don't just limit yourself to looking at photography. Look at a number of films and short films, tv shows, etc. as these use clever lighting, angles and framing of shots too, which may give you ideas for how you want to frame your shots when you do photography.
And the same applies for the other forms. If you're pretty certain you're going to make a film, look at photography too as the look and framing of the shots and the lighting, will help you in getting ideas to add levels of polish and sophistication to your end product.
Simply going to Google Images and typing in a search like "award winning photography" will introduce you to wide array of beautiful looking shots.
So what should your Inspiration look like when it's finished?
It should consist of only two pages in your Media folio.
When you see something you like, or something that inspires you or gives you ideas, save it, or take a screen shot of it, print it out and put it in your folio under the Inspiration section. Then briefly annotate it to describe what it was about it that appealed to you. (to take a screenshot on a Mac, hold down Command+Shift+4. This will turn your mouse into a cross. You can then click and hold and drag around what you want to take a screenshot of. It will then be saved as an image to your Desktop).
If you watch a short film, or tv show or film, just take a screen shot of a scene from it and put that in your folio. Your annotation doesn't have to necessarily be about the still you've taken a shot of, it may just be about the film in general.
Inspiration Page Samples
Due Date #1: Two Inspiration Pages - Monday, 25th October 2021
Research - Week 1, Term 4
LEARNING INTENTIONS FOR THIS WEEK: Develop your practical skills. Complete, rather than just watch, tutorials that will teach you a new practical skill. Complete mini-practical tasks for techniques and skills for things you’ve never done before.
WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE COMPLETED BY THE END OF THIS WEEK: Three pages of Research with screen shots as evidence that you've completed online tutorials.
Your goal this week isn't just to complete tutorials, but to develop your skills: put yourself in a better position to complete a high quality product when you get around to making it.
The tutorials you choose and the skills you develop should be chosen wisely to assist you in the development of your own expertise. If you plan on making a film, or taking photos, but you don't have much experience using a DSLR camera, watch a demonstration video that explains all the settings and what all the things, such as ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc., actually mean. Then put those skills into practice by filming/photographing a short sequence to practice what you've learnt. Write a little summary for your research page of what you learned.
You may want to make a print product when you create your major, such as a magazine, newspaper, calendar, etc. Part of your research might be to investigate the best program to use for setting out print layouts and designing pages. You might then work through some tutorials to learn that program (HINT: it shouldn't be Word. Programs like Adobe Indesign are closer to what's acceptable in the industry and the program is already installed on the Macs in the Media Room).
You get the idea anyway. This week is about researching what it is you need to make the best product and then figuring out how to use what you need to come away with a better set of skills at the end of the week.
The school also has a license for Lynda.com now too, which is an excellent video tutorial site. You can complete whole courses that will teach you how to use pretty much any software program you can think of, as well as how to use cameras, take better photography and much more. If you'd like a log-in for the site, let me know.
The tutorials you choose and the skills you develop should be chosen wisely to assist you in the development of your own expertise. If you plan on making a film, or taking photos, but you don't have much experience using a DSLR camera, watch a demonstration video that explains all the settings and what all the things, such as ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc., actually mean. Then put those skills into practice by filming/photographing a short sequence to practice what you've learnt. Write a little summary for your research page of what you learned.
You may want to make a print product when you create your major, such as a magazine, newspaper, calendar, etc. Part of your research might be to investigate the best program to use for setting out print layouts and designing pages. You might then work through some tutorials to learn that program (HINT: it shouldn't be Word. Programs like Adobe Indesign are closer to what's acceptable in the industry and the program is already installed on the Macs in the Media Room).
You get the idea anyway. This week is about researching what it is you need to make the best product and then figuring out how to use what you need to come away with a better set of skills at the end of the week.
The school also has a license for Lynda.com now too, which is an excellent video tutorial site. You can complete whole courses that will teach you how to use pretty much any software program you can think of, as well as how to use cameras, take better photography and much more. If you'd like a log-in for the site, let me know.
Due Date #2: Three Research Pages - Monday, 25th October, 2021
Planning - Week 4, Term 4
LEARNING INTENTIONS FOR THIS WEEK: Understand product planning. Understand the reason for planning and what goes into it. Understand how to plan effectively.
WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE COMPLETED BY THE END OF THIS WEEK: Your script and storyboards if you're doing film. Your mock-ups and outline of content if you're doing photography. Your articles, mock-ups of photos and page layout design if you're doing print.
Film
If you’re making a film for your major, the two major parts you need to plan this week are the script and the storyboard.
Your script is everything that happens in your film. It’s not just dialogue. Students often say, “We’ll there’s not going to be much talking in my film, so I don’t need a script,” but this isn’t the case. The way I describe it is: imagine that your film is finished and being projected up on a wall in front of you. Your script should describe everything that we’re seeing and hearing. If a character walks across a room, stops, smiles to himself and then picks up a phone then that’s exactly what your script should say. If two characters have an argument, your script shouldn’t say, “They have an argument”, but should say the actual words that they say in the argument. Your script should be detailed, precise and comprehensive enough that somebody else should be able to take your finished script and make your film and it should still turn out pretty similar to how you imagined.
Your storyboards are essentially a visual representation of your script and therefore your film. You don’t have to draw your storyboards you can take photos with a stand in if you don’t have your actual actor yet. Taking photos is much quicker than drawing, but if you’re good at drawing this can add a really impressive element to your planning.
The main point of storyboards is for you to think about the shots you’re going to be taking. You need to be thinking about the angles you’re going to film from, the levels (the camera is up high or down low), how close to your subject the camera will be (close up, midshot, etc.). By thinking about these shots and how best to shoot your film and then putting these ideas down in the form of your storyboards your actual filming should go smoother and you should have a more visually appealing film.
Your script needs to be formatted in the accepted format as set out by Screen Australia, including the correct font and font size. A sample script from Screen Australia showing this is here: Suggested Script Format
Sample scripts, to give you an idea of content, from actual films can be seen below:
Your script is everything that happens in your film. It’s not just dialogue. Students often say, “We’ll there’s not going to be much talking in my film, so I don’t need a script,” but this isn’t the case. The way I describe it is: imagine that your film is finished and being projected up on a wall in front of you. Your script should describe everything that we’re seeing and hearing. If a character walks across a room, stops, smiles to himself and then picks up a phone then that’s exactly what your script should say. If two characters have an argument, your script shouldn’t say, “They have an argument”, but should say the actual words that they say in the argument. Your script should be detailed, precise and comprehensive enough that somebody else should be able to take your finished script and make your film and it should still turn out pretty similar to how you imagined.
Your storyboards are essentially a visual representation of your script and therefore your film. You don’t have to draw your storyboards you can take photos with a stand in if you don’t have your actual actor yet. Taking photos is much quicker than drawing, but if you’re good at drawing this can add a really impressive element to your planning.
The main point of storyboards is for you to think about the shots you’re going to be taking. You need to be thinking about the angles you’re going to film from, the levels (the camera is up high or down low), how close to your subject the camera will be (close up, midshot, etc.). By thinking about these shots and how best to shoot your film and then putting these ideas down in the form of your storyboards your actual filming should go smoother and you should have a more visually appealing film.
Your script needs to be formatted in the accepted format as set out by Screen Australia, including the correct font and font size. A sample script from Screen Australia showing this is here: Suggested Script Format
Sample scripts, to give you an idea of content, from actual films can be seen below:
Storyboards
Photography
The two main things you need to do for your planning for photography are mock-ups and your outline of content. Your mock-ups are sketches of how your finished photos will be with annotations as to what each aspect of each photo will be and why it’s there. Your mock-ups MUST be drawn and can’t be photographed, so take care with them. They should be as detailed as possible and must be completed, like all planning, before you start creating your product.
Photography isn’t about just wandering around with a camera and hoping for the best. You need to have a careful and detailed plan before you start taking your photos so that they turn out how you imagined and turn out as well as they can and this starts with carefully sketched mock-ups. Here are some examples of mock-ups, sketches and annotations and how the finished product turned out:
Photography isn’t about just wandering around with a camera and hoping for the best. You need to have a careful and detailed plan before you start taking your photos so that they turn out how you imagined and turn out as well as they can and this starts with carefully sketched mock-ups. Here are some examples of mock-ups, sketches and annotations and how the finished product turned out:
Photography: Mock-ups
The first stage of your photography planning is creating mock-ups. A mock-up is a neatly drawn sketch that represents visually how you are planning for your finished photograph to look. Whilst you don't need to be an incredible artist, it IS important that you take your time with these and be as neat and detailed as possible. There should be annotation about what colours, etc. will be used in the photo and where you're going to position your lights when taking the photo.
This is obviously the planning stage of your task, so it is important that this section is completed neatly and in detail. You should have thought about every aspect of each photo by the time you complete your mock-ups. You may even wish to do a few practice, or draft mock-ups, before completing the final ones.
You will need to complete a mock-up sketch for each of the 6 photos that you are required to take. These mock-ups should be of a decent size, at least A4 for each of them.
The gallery below has sample mock-ups and the final, finished photographs to give you an idea of the process from planning to completion. You can click on the images in the gallery to see a bigger version of them.
This is obviously the planning stage of your task, so it is important that this section is completed neatly and in detail. You should have thought about every aspect of each photo by the time you complete your mock-ups. You may even wish to do a few practice, or draft mock-ups, before completing the final ones.
You will need to complete a mock-up sketch for each of the 6 photos that you are required to take. These mock-ups should be of a decent size, at least A4 for each of them.
The gallery below has sample mock-ups and the final, finished photographs to give you an idea of the process from planning to completion. You can click on the images in the gallery to see a bigger version of them.
Photography planning: Outline of Content
An outline of content is, like a script for a film, a description of everything we’re going to see in each photo as well as a justification for why each photo will be like it is.
An example:
According to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Utah Valley University and Humboldt University Berlin, a mindless scroll through Instagram, can be so damaging to one’s sense of self. Studies conducted on the negative effects of Facebook showed that users were likely to develop feelings of depression, loneliness, resentment and a lowered self-esteem.
My Photo Series aims to raise awareness of the obsession individuals have in portraying a false, glamorous life. Facebook and Instagram are linked to the pleasure-loathing phenomenon that accompanies stalking photos of others' seemingly superior lives, and sharing your own photos as a way to project an envy-inspiring social media persona. When individuals come across each other’s live’s that fit within perfectly filtered squares, we all inevitably indulge in harmful self assessment that keeps one thinking that “the grass is really greener on the other side.” In summary, everyone else’s lives are more fulfilling and pleasurable than our own.
The first image in my series of photos, captures a bird’s eye view of a beautiful table setting. Two plates will be on either side of the table, positioned in line of each other. The model’s face will not be revealed, and the audience will only be able to see her hands, covered in diamond encrusted gloves. The table will be set attractively, with silver cutlery, a crème table cloth, two gold plates and two red candles. There will also be two small vases containing peach and pearl roses, also positioned in line of each other. Each plate will contain a hamburger from McDonald’s. This scene ostensibly captures a romantic atmosphere involving a ‘couple’ who supposedly are deeply in love. However, my chosen model will be reaching over to the burger, opposite to where she sits, and here no one will be seated. This image will capture the need for love. By the model not having this reality, the image underlines a false depiction of love. So many people on Instagram manipulate their images to capture a perfect and ideal relationship. This persona people portray, inflicts pressure on the viewers and ignites how important it is to have a partner. As a result the model is fooling herself about being in love.
The above is an outline of content with an introductory paragraph about what their photos will represent and then a detailed description of what the first photo will be. This student then repeated this level of detail for each photo. This student’s outline of content was 1500 words in total. A photography task and its planning should be just as meticulously planned and take just as much time as film task if it’s done well.
An example:
According to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Utah Valley University and Humboldt University Berlin, a mindless scroll through Instagram, can be so damaging to one’s sense of self. Studies conducted on the negative effects of Facebook showed that users were likely to develop feelings of depression, loneliness, resentment and a lowered self-esteem.
My Photo Series aims to raise awareness of the obsession individuals have in portraying a false, glamorous life. Facebook and Instagram are linked to the pleasure-loathing phenomenon that accompanies stalking photos of others' seemingly superior lives, and sharing your own photos as a way to project an envy-inspiring social media persona. When individuals come across each other’s live’s that fit within perfectly filtered squares, we all inevitably indulge in harmful self assessment that keeps one thinking that “the grass is really greener on the other side.” In summary, everyone else’s lives are more fulfilling and pleasurable than our own.
The first image in my series of photos, captures a bird’s eye view of a beautiful table setting. Two plates will be on either side of the table, positioned in line of each other. The model’s face will not be revealed, and the audience will only be able to see her hands, covered in diamond encrusted gloves. The table will be set attractively, with silver cutlery, a crème table cloth, two gold plates and two red candles. There will also be two small vases containing peach and pearl roses, also positioned in line of each other. Each plate will contain a hamburger from McDonald’s. This scene ostensibly captures a romantic atmosphere involving a ‘couple’ who supposedly are deeply in love. However, my chosen model will be reaching over to the burger, opposite to where she sits, and here no one will be seated. This image will capture the need for love. By the model not having this reality, the image underlines a false depiction of love. So many people on Instagram manipulate their images to capture a perfect and ideal relationship. This persona people portray, inflicts pressure on the viewers and ignites how important it is to have a partner. As a result the model is fooling herself about being in love.
The above is an outline of content with an introductory paragraph about what their photos will represent and then a detailed description of what the first photo will be. This student then repeated this level of detail for each photo. This student’s outline of content was 1500 words in total. A photography task and its planning should be just as meticulously planned and take just as much time as film task if it’s done well.
You can see it turned out a little different from what was planned, which is fine, but predominantly the planning is pretty close to the finished product.
Due Date #3: All planning for your major product - Monday, 25th October, 2021
IMPORTANT NOTE: Once you've read carefully through all of this information and requirements, you should make yourself a planner (a calendar with due dates and deadlines on it) and stick it in your folio so that you've got it very clearly laid out when all of your work needs to be done by. This shouldn't just be the due dates I've listed, but every aspect of your production.
Things you might write could include:
filming on this particular day,
editing in Media Room at lunch time on this day,
taking photos this day,
going to Op Shop to look for costumes and props,
organising locations on this day, etc.
Every aspect of your production should be on your planner. It is less helpful to just write something like, "Filming" for two whole weeks on your planner without specifying what exactly you'll be doing and on what specific days.
Production & Post-Production- Weeks 4, 5, 6 and 7 Term 4
Due Date #4: Progress Check- (Friday, 12th November)
Week 6 Term 4
Your progress check should be, at this stage, AT LEAST half of your finished product. This may look like many different things. If you're making a film, for example, it may be footage that you've filmed but haven't edited yet, or it may be a few scenes that you've filmed and edited together, but you haven't filmed all of your scenes yet. Or it may be a combination of those. You may have edited only one scene, but filmed a lot of footage for a number of other scenes that you haven't edited yet.
If you're doing photography, you may have taken most of your photos, but you haven't edited them in Photoshop yet, or you may have done some of the editing, but not for all of them. You get the idea.
If you're doing animation, you may have only animated some of your scenes, but done the artwork for the other scenes that you haven't edited yet.
The point is, that by this stage, you should have been working on the actual creation of your major product for at least two weeks, because your planning, etc. was due two weeks prior to this deadline, so if you've been using your time well, you should be almost done, bearing in mind that the completely finished product is due one week after this deadline. So, you should have plenty of your product to submit as a progress check by this stage. If you don't have anything, you're going to struggle to a) finish your product and/or b) pass in a finished product that is polished and completed to a high standard and you won't get any marks for this section of the task.
If you're doing photography, you may have taken most of your photos, but you haven't edited them in Photoshop yet, or you may have done some of the editing, but not for all of them. You get the idea.
If you're doing animation, you may have only animated some of your scenes, but done the artwork for the other scenes that you haven't edited yet.
The point is, that by this stage, you should have been working on the actual creation of your major product for at least two weeks, because your planning, etc. was due two weeks prior to this deadline, so if you've been using your time well, you should be almost done, bearing in mind that the completely finished product is due one week after this deadline. So, you should have plenty of your product to submit as a progress check by this stage. If you don't have anything, you're going to struggle to a) finish your product and/or b) pass in a finished product that is polished and completed to a high standard and you won't get any marks for this section of the task.