Planning before generating#
Week 6 — SLOP4555
Spend the hour, don’t skip it#
Every hour spent planning here is an hour not spent waiting on a queue for a shot that was never going to be in the film.
This is the last week before generation starts. The discipline is to spend it.
A schedule, not a wish list#
A wish list orders shots by how exciting they are to imagine.
A schedule orders them by dependency: the locked screenplay, the locked bible, and the exact reference version each shot needs.
A shot ahead of an unresolved dependency isn’t ready to generate.
Bible, keyframe, generated shot#
Three different jobs, not one:
- Bible — fixed identity: appearance, costume, props, spatial relationships, lighting, visual style.
- Keyframe — this shot’s specific still: framing, pose, expression, prop position. Label opening input and ending evaluation target; a held shot can keep the same state.
- Generated shot — the keyframe(s) plus performance, action, timing, and camera movement.
The whole short as a schedule#
| # | Shot | Depends on |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Clearing the kitchen, settling at the table | Kitchen + Nadia references |
| 3–5 | Wide, phone lights up, close-up still | Kitchen, Nadia, phone references |
| 6–7 | Reach and stop, then accept and “Hey” | Nadia + phone references |
The Nadia, kitchen, and phone references now exist. One dependency is still open: the kitchen’s full production approval.
Worked example: shot 7’s two keyframes#
Label what starts the take and what you judge at its end:
- Start/input — low framing on her hand and the phone, still on the table.
- End/target — the phone at her ear as she says “Hey.”
Start before the action: unsealed box → sealed box; standing → seated; dark phone → lit phone. For shot 7, direct the lift and upward tilt. A separate end image is optional unless the chosen workflow needs it.
Matching keyframes isn’t the finished shot#
A take can land exactly on both keyframes and still fail as a shot.
The movement between them — performance timing, camera movement — is a separate directorial decision. It has to be directed and evaluated on its own terms. Week 7 develops this in depth.
Tool-dependent input#
Some tools accept both a starting and an ending reference image — supply both.
Some accept only a single starting image. There, the start keyframe is the generation’s input, and the end keyframe becomes what you evaluate the resulting take against.
Check what your tool actually supports.
Narrative order vs. preparation order#
Shots 1–2 need expanded room geometry and the crossing route, still awaiting production approval. Both need Nadia; shot 2 also needs the phone reference.
Shot 6’s keyframe needs only Nadia and the phone, both already resolved — so it can be prepared first, even though it happens later in the story.
Defending a cut: AFI’s Comprehensive Review#
An earlier draft included a photo of young Nadia and Theo, to explain the estrangement.
Cut — the reach-and-stop insert already argues that. Two shots making the same argument is one too many.
Present it aloud, not just on paper#
AFI’s Comprehensive Review has fellows present their own workbook and answer for it, not submit a document that’s only ever read silently.
This week’s workshop borrows that format directly.
This week’s task#
Present your complete schedule aloud, shot by shot, without stopping to explain what the board doesn’t already show. Your partner asks two questions; you answer for the decision on the spot — including the shot you cut.
What you leave with#
A shot list and storyboard that only needs fixing, not finishing, before Assignment 1 is due.
One shot you cut, and can say why, on the record.