Process

This section gives you some guidelines on how to complete your challenge and looks at the kind of things you need to do in as a film producer when "selling" your film idea.

What we need to make  for our shareholders:

  • A Storyboard for a trailer - How you would sell the film to an audience

  • A Storyboard comparing the play and the film showing differences between the two.

  • A Pitch - The opening bit of your presentation that is going to sell the film in one sentence

  • The actual presentation

So, how do we do it?

First of all have a look through the pages for this quest and explore some of the linked sites on the links page.  This will give you an idea of what you have to do.

After this you individually need to think of a setting and time for MacBeth to take place.  (Look at some of the l;inks for examples of how this has been done before).  TRY TO BE ORIGINAL.

Once you have spent some time looking at the different sites you need to have your first group discussion (NOTE the word discussion not shouting match ;-) ). 

For the first discussion you should follow the agenda (an agenda is a list of items that should be discussed at a meeting) below:  

Production Meeting 1 - Agenda

  1. Setting and time of film.

  2. What tasks to we need to do?

  3. Who is going to do what?

  4. Do we need to get anymore information?

  5. Any Other Business.

  6. Setting the time of next meeting and what should be on the agenda.

NOTE: Make sure you have someone who can make some notes of all the decisions you make. (It might be a good idea to take this job in turns for different meetings)

Unfortunately your teacher is the overall production manager so if you can't decide as a group they will decide for you!!

Production Manager: The production manager will act as the chairperson of your film making company.  They will take into account all your views and referee discussions within your team.  They will also monitor progress of the project and set up and chair meetings and produce agendas and actions (actions are tasks that need completing that have been discussed at the meeting)  for these.

The main tasks and how to complete them

The Storyboards

Think of story boards as being a bit like a cartoon strip or graphic novel of the scene or trailer.

In order to create our storyboard we need to think of what our trailer will be like and how long it will last.  Rather than doing the drawing what we can do is search the internet for images that can represent what is going on in different sections of the trailer.

Copy and paste images found on the internet into the storyboard design template to show the key moments of the trailer.

Do the same but in slightly more detail with the scene you are going to tell the shareholders about.

Once these are finished they can be displayed to the shareholders.

Designing The Presentation

PowerPoint is a very easy way of producing attractive presentations which can help you get your point across.

Here are couple of online guides you can look at to find out more about how PowerPoint works.

http://slim.emporia.edu/RESOURCE/ppoint/ppguide.htm

http://homepage.cs.uri.edu/tutorials/csc101/powerpoint/ppt.html

http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2000/ppt/begin.html

These might help you if you get stuck.  You could also check the help available within PowerPoint.

Your design should reflect the feeling of the film.  You should take that into consideration before you start using PowerPoint.

Slides

Below an idea of how the presentation could be set up with a recommendation for how many slides could be used.  Each of the sections has a small description advising you about what should go in each section.

Introduction

Number of slides: 1

This should be an opening slide that sets the scene of the presentation. It might have a picture  and title on it which should grab the audiences attention.

The Pitch

Number of slides: 1

The pitch is a really important part of the presentation.  This is where you have 1 slide to try to sell your film.  Any talking done to this slide should be about 10 seconds long and be very persuasive and exciting.

The play in general and how the  plot might change in the film.

Number of slides:  2 - 3

In this next set of slides you need to:

  • Say what the play is about

  • Say how it might change

  • Why it might change

How you will modernise the setting and why you chose that setting.

Number of slides: 2 - 4

This section requires you to:

  • Introduce the time period in which you are setting Macbeth.

  • Say why you chose that setting

  • Make comments comparing old to new Macbeth

How you might modernise the characters and which actors you see playing them and why.

Number of slides:  2 - 3

With a modern setting you will need to think about the characters and how they might need to change, in terms of who they are and what they do.  You might:

  • List the major characters and what they do in the original as opposed to what they do in your version.

  • Choose a major character and give him / her a biography as an example.

  • List the characters and say what actors will play them.

Compare one scene from the play with your modern version.

Number of slides: 4-6

In this area you can show how your film will be different from Shakespeare's version.  How you can do this is:

  • Talk about 1 scene from Shakespeare's play, what happens in it and why it happens.

  • Show how yours is different and why.

  • Give some examples of how language might have changed between the two scenes and show the differences in the way it might be performed

Conclusion

Number of slides: 1

This is where you round up your presentation, go over the main points and thank your audience for their time.  Ask them if they have any questions.

Total Number of slides: 13 - 19

Performing The Presentation

Once you have written the presentation you must decide how to present it.  Here are some top tips:

  1. Never read off the screen. You can have some notes in front of you to remind you what to say.

  2. Talk slowly and take your time.  People always speed up when presenting.

  3. Practice beforehand. Its even better if you can practice in front of a couple of friends

  4. If a number of you are presenting different sections rehearse your change over.  Don't just rush straight ahead, introduce the next speaker.

  5. Find some friendly faces in the crowd and look and smile at them often.  It will make the audience warm to you and you will increase your own confidence.

  6. If your audience want to ask questions be sure to have some answers already made up.  If you aren't sure about an answer simply tell that person that you don't have that information right now but you will get back to them about it.