1. Using ICT to enhance your teaching and pupil learning
Making a short
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2. Planning for planning
The secret of making a video or film is good planning. This series of slides covers areas that you need to understand if you are to plan effectively.
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3. Session content Some terms you should know Storyboards
Choosing your locations
Planning your filming
Additional support for filming
The outcome for the session will be that you can construct a production schedule and the notes to accompany it successfully.
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4. Terms that you should know
Short: ‘Short’ is the term used for making a short film. A ‘digital short’, for example, is a short film made using digital technology.
Script: A script is the written instruction and process for an audiovisual project. Scriptwriting is the construction of the ‘story’: where it happens, who is involved, who says what, what events occur and when.
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5. The storyboard
‘Storyboarding’ allows you to plan every shot that you intend to film. It enables you to film various scenes that are set at one location, but do not necessarily appear in sequence in the film.
The storyboard – a pictorial representation of the shot, with brief description of the action.
Shot list – a concise form of the script, giving camera and actor directions.
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6. Tips for storyboarding
● Photocopy a set of storyboard sheets
so that you do not have to worry about continually redrawing frame outlines.
● Draw in pencil
so you can make changes easily. If you are going to photocopy the sheets, remember to ink them first as pencil does not photocopy well.
● Make short notes
and add brief directions under each frame (e.g. ZOË enters from left or Camera to track BEN as he walks through the door).
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7. Tips for storyboarding (cont.)
● Number the shots
so it is easier to find them when you are editing, and so you can skip past unwanted shots.
● Use small frames
so that drawing the storyboard is quicker. Remember, it is not your drawing skills being assessed, just the clarity of your ideas. Drawing stick people is sufficient.
● Note the camera position
so setting up the shot is quicker and easier.
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8. Types of shot you might use
The long shot (LS): subject is distant from the camera, surroundings dominate.
An establishing shot (ES): often a long shot or wide shot, it sets the scene by establishing where the action is happening; generally used as the first shot of a sequence.
A medium shot (MS): shot where the subject and the setting are roughly in balance, so that both the person (what he/she is wearing and the expression on his/her face) and where he/she is situated is clear.
A close-up (CU): the subject dominates the frame; anything from a head and shoulders shot to a giant image of part of the body, or part of an object like an eye or a number on a clock face (extreme close-up or ECU can be used to describe the latter).
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9. ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2016
Shot explanation and illustrations:
R Crossland – University of Bedfordshire

10. Storyboards
Sources of storyboard templates and guidance for completing them:
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11. Choosing the location Is it safe to film there?
Do you need permission?
Can you, your actors, props and camera get there?
Is there room for everyone?
What things affect filming at the location?
Remember: if you are filming something from history, then the sound of cars, people in modern clothes or aircraft trails in the sky could ruin your filming – check them out and make notes!
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12. Recording the location
Draw a sketch of the location – this might be a view (you could take a photo) or a plan if you want movement while you film.
Note how to get there, the access and the parking.
Which direction does it face? North, south, east or west? Where will the light be, and where do you want it when you actually film?
What things affect what, when and how you will film there?
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13. The shoot
The ‘shoot’ is the location where you intend to film, and ‘shooting’ is the process of filming that element from the storyboard. When you are shooting a scene, you start filming before the ‘start of the scene’ and finishing filming after the ‘end of the scene’. This is important when you come to edit your film, so that you have some spare footage.
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14. Planning your filming
Before you can start to film, you will need to know which scenes you will shoot at each location. If you start and finish your film at the same location, you may need to film the opening and closing scenes while you are at the location. The reason for this is to ensure consistency in the light. Come back the following afternoon and it might be raining.
A production schedule is used to show which scenes are to be shot at each location and what props are needed for that shoot.
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15. Shoot templates
This type of framework will help you plan your filming.
Two sources for templates are:
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16. The clapperboard
You will need a board of some sort on which you can write the number of the shot you are taking (e.g. blackboard and chalk).
You will need to know which shot you are filming AND how many times it has been recorded (the take number).
Shoot each scene at least twice and, if possible, three times. This lets you use the best bits of each when you come to edit the film.
Remember, you are not filming in the finished sequence.
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17. Additional support
A scripting tutorial is available at: /
A storyboarding tutorial is available at:
Film making guidance is available at:
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