Film Festival Assignment (Video Competition)

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Zack Underwood

Planning

There is a little bit of planning involved with the film festival assignment, however it is mainly setting dates. Students should be divided into groups. I find that pre-determining the groups causes some fuss with students, but in the end students get to know students that they wouldn’t normally speak with. This project may seem product oriented, but it is actually more process oriented with group work and collaboration needed to construct the product.

To Storyboard or Not Storyboard

Each instructor can determine how much pre-production, production, and post-production is required. For example, I require my students to complete a script, a storyboard, show a minute or two of raw footage (unedited footage) and then turn in their final video before the F4 deadline. I also incorporate a group evaluation at the end of the experience. You can choose to use as much or as little as needed. See the attached files for details of each assignment.

Introducing the Assignment

Page 2 of this document is the information that I give to my students regarding the film festival. Feel free to steal anything or ask me any questions along the way. I’ll be happy to introduce the film festival assignment for your course if you believe it would help. All videos should be entered into the F4 (Film Festival for First Year Students) on-campus and the top ten films be shown at “The Premiere” in Lumina Theatre on November 18 at 7pm. The Premiere is a great extracurricular activity and I require my students to attend as one of their five events.

What if I’ve never made a film or know very little about film?

Assigning this topic is all about confidence and admitting that you don’t know everything about film. Don’t worry, the students will not either. Even if you have a professional at making short films, they can always learn something through the process of creating the film with new students. The key is to remind these professional type students to engage with the other students in their group and not do all the work. Below are a couple of examples of ideas to bring up regarding pre-production.

  • Always make references back to writing or practical lessons from freshmen year. For example, outlining is a great exercise for writing a paper similar to writing a script for shooting a film. Practicing is crucial to succeed in sports just like practicing how to set up a particular shot, which is why storyboarding is so important.
  • Storyboarding is taking each scene and narrowing it per shot or frame. A one minute clip of film could potentially take 30 different frames of storyboarding to figure it out. Think about the old style of hand-drawn animation like Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin, each cell had to be drawn to maintain action and continuity.
  • Procrastination is going to happen, so pre-production is a way of planning ahead to make everyone’s lives easier. If everyone knows the exact angle, words to say, and places to stand, then shooting and editing the film will be a lot smoother. This could also accommodate for shooting scenes out of order in case some students are out due to traveling or other reasons.

What if I have any questions or what if a student has a questionable scene that is on the line of being PG-13?

This happened in year’s past and it is the instructor’s call. We try to encourage students to stay away from mock-drinking with red solo cups or showing people seeming to be smoking or drinking if possible. Even though this is a good lesson for students, hopefully this is not their entire first year experience, nor would they want to demonstrate this idea to incoming freshmen. If you have any questions, call me or email me at 910-962-7908 or underwoodz@uncw.edu.

Film Festival Project

This project is worth 20% of your grade for UNI 101. In groups of five, students must create a 3-5 minute video aligned with the theme of Chasing Your Dreams: Your First Year Experience at UNCW.

Grading (adjust this accordingly):

  • Group Script: 3%
  • Group Storyboards (at least 20 storyboards) 3%
  • Half of video (raw footage) 4%
  • Finished video 5%
  • Group Evaluation 5%

Deadlines:

  • Group Script due ________
  • Group Storyboards (at least 20 storyboards) due _________
  • Half of video (raw footage) due _____________
  • Finished video due ___________ (Final videos links will be either emailed to instructor from Vimeo or Youtube or on a DVD with all group member’s names)
  • Turn in project to F4 Competition by 11/11/2015 (email Zack Underwood underwoodz@uncw.edu with link)

Directions for Day of Assignment:

Teams should create team names and assign roles or shared roles for each member in class. Team names and the roles each person will play in the film (including but not limited to Director, Camera Person, Actor, Editor, Special Effects Person, Props Person, Continuity Specialist, etc.) as well as at least one idea for a film are due today before the end of class.

  • Please take the rest of class to brainstorm ideas for your video and then present those ideas to your instructor and/or link.

Rules:

  • Your film is a reflection of all UNCW students and could potentially be shown on the UNCW website. The audience will be larger than just fellow students. Parents, potential high school, or transfer students and even the Chancellor could potentially watch your video.
  • ALL VIDEOS MUST BE RELATED TO THE YEARLY TOPIC OF CHASING YOUR DREAMS: YOUR FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE AT UNCW
  • Students must adhere by the Code of Student Life and Academic Honor Code at UNCW. This means you should make sure everything in your video is legal and adheres to the honor code. This is your chance to make something original! If you use any material from someone else, cite it!
  • No alcohol, drugs, or other illegal activities (either real or simulated) are permitted. No profanity either! You can bleep, but keep it G or PG. Also do not violate local, state and/or federal law.
  • Sexual innuendo or scenes are not permitted. Imagine you are showing this video to your mom or very conservative grandmother. If you wouldn't show it to your mom or grandmother, then don't film it.
  • Maximum length of video is 5 minutes, which includes credits. Movies longer than 5 minutes will be disqualified and not shown. Keep it short and to the point and you can always thank the thousands of people who helped you with your film in an acceptance speech.
  • Movies will be judged by three different categories and multiple awards will be given at The Premiere:
  • Relevance to theme
  • Story/Narrative
  • Creativity and Editing
  • Other factors will be taken into consideration for judging, including but not limited to: Acting, Execution, and Audio
  • The Film Festival reserves the right to reject or return for re-editing any submission that doesn't comply with the above guidelines.
  • Examples from previous years are available at http://www.uncw.edu/uc/f4/f4.html


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