Criterion B - Development process

Below is the plan I followed until the beginning of production. However, I did not always have such a concrete picture of the steps in my head. Instead, I simply worked on the next logical step, planning only two or three steps ahead at any given point.

Step 1: Getting the idea. As I considered different approaches to the subject and different ways of presenting the information, the idea of a film about stray animals around the world began to take shape. I was already interested in how people treat stray animals, which was part of what inspired me to look into the topic of homeless animals around the world.

Step 2: Choosing the format of the product. This decision was influenced by my project advisor, who showed me an interesting short film that consisted entirely of animated text and objects. Thus, I chose to create a video that combines actual footage and photos with animated words and little pictures.

Step 3: Research. This stage involved researching information about stray animals and religious/cultural differences to include in my film. Also, I knew how to do basic editing with PremierePro, but I had to look up tutorials for text animating and more complicated compositing on AfterEffects.

Step 4: Writing the narration. During winter break, I wrote my findings from the research in the form of a narration. This stage was one of the most difficult because I spent a great amount of time trying to write in a “documentary narration” style and find the perfect wording. It was quite a departure from the usual academic paper, which was a switch that I had trouble making.

Step 5: Writing out an audio/video script. This stage can be likened to the creation of a storyboard on normal productions. I cut the narration into small chunks and assigned a visual component (e.g. photo, video segment, animation) to go with each section. I did my best to intersperse video clips with images and bits of animated text or numbers, so the viewer would be constantly presented with different types of visuals.

Step 6: Creating a shot list. Once the A/V script was complete, I was able to compile a shot list in the form of a table (see appendix C). This proved extremely useful during the production process, when I needed an easy way to mark which pieces of media I had already gotten and which I still needed to get.

Step 7: Editing script. At the end of preproduction, it was necessary to go over the script once more before recording narration. While reviewing my writing, I found many issues and made some important edits.