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MAKING MOVIES 1
WRITTEN ASSESSMENT TASK – DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
AIM:
The aim of the task is to present students the opportunity to express their artistic
vision for a short or feature length film – from a director’s point of view – whilst
consolidating information and techniques learned throughout the Making Movies
1 elective.
TASK:
In approximately 1000 words, write a Director’s statement outlining how you
would make a film from either the visual sequence (10 images that tell a story)
that you submitted for assessment during the middle of the making Movies 1
course or from another original idea you may have.
A Director’s statement outlines the director’s intentions and approach – visual,
thematic, audio etc. – when taking a story from script to screen. You can read a
few successful examples on the LMS to get an idea of what’s expected.
So, let’s imagine that you are going to make a short film from your 10-image
visual sequence or a feature or a documentary from another original idea. Write a
statement that outlines your vision and intentions. (Let’s pretend that you have an
infinite budget available to you to produce this film. For example, Meryl Streep
can be in your film and you can shoot it on the beaches of Barbados or in a
Hollywood Studio.)
You MUST include:
TITLE: What’s the film called?
LOG-LINE: What’s the Log-Line that you’d like to put on the poster or on
the back of the DVD cover?
You MAY like to think about some of these things (or not):
AUDIENCE: Who is the audience for the film; what films are there like it;
why would anyone like this story; what’s unique and may attract an
audience?
THEMES: what themes do you consider are present in the story; what’s
important for the audience to take away with them after they’ve seen it?
CAST: Who is the story about; who might you cast in it if you could pick
anyone in the world and why;
GENERIC STYLE: what genre is it; is it fast or slow-paced; colour or black
& white; live action or animation;
VISUAL STYLE: what screen ratio is it filmed in; is it a small and intimate
film or big and brash; what colour schemes might you employ and why;
what textures might the film have; what are the locations that you would
use and why would you use them? etc.
SOUND & MUSIC: what would the film sound like; what kind of music
would suit the film; are there any unique and special sound effects?
INSPIRATION: What has drawn you to this film?
Think back over the 12 lectures for ideas to include in your Director’s statements.
SUBMISSION:
The submission of the final sequence is via the LMS only. There is a Turnit-
in link inside the “Director’s Statement” folder under the “Assessment
Tasks” menu link. (LMS > Making Movies 1>Assessment Tasks>Director’s
Statement)
The submitted file must be in either a .pdf or a .doc format.
The Director’s statement may include images but the images do not count
towards the number of words used.
The director’s statement must be between 900 – 1100 words. (total of
1000 words – plus or minus 10% in accordance with the University of
Melbourne guidelines)
ASSESSMENT:
The Director’s Statement is worth 30% of your overall mark for the Making
Movies 1 elective (breadth).
You will be assessed on the basis of:
Quality and coherency of the director’s vision;
Engagement with the task;
Presentation inc. spelling and grammar;
Ability to follow the above guidelines.
Director’s statements