Week 6 Workshop: Pre-production crit

A full run-through of your shot list and storyboard before Assignment 1 is due

29 March 2027

Production walkthrough: See how The Last One carried out this stage in a real production.

Before the workshop#

Bring your complete shot list and storyboard — the whole short, not a scene of it — plus your locked bible from week 5. For “Before It Stops,” that bible now includes the Nadia, kitchen, and phone references alongside the text entries.

In the workshop#

Activity 1 — Recap and inventory (10 min)#

Instructions: State the lecture’s chain: bible fixes identity, a keyframe fixes a shot’s specific state, with opening inputs distinguished from ending evaluation targets, and the generated shot adds performance, action, timing, and camera movement on top. Lay out your current shot list and storyboard and mark which shots are new since week 4, each shot’s keyframe(s), which bible reference each keyframe needs, and whether that reference is resolved or still pending.

Expected output: An inventory of shots, each marked with its keyframe(s), the bible reference(s) those keyframes need, and its dependency status.

Activity 2 — Expand the sequence (50 min)#

Instructions: Work individually. Extend your storyboard so it covers the whole short, first frame to last, not only its most dramatic scene. For each shot, name its opening state and ending target, and the bible reference(s) each draws on. Label the opening image as the generation input; label any end image as an evaluation target or a supported tool input. For an action shot, start before the action happens. For a held shot, the states may match. A separate end image is not required for every shot. Then build a preparation list separate from the shot list’s own narrative order: sequence keyframes by which ones’ bible references are actually resolved, not by where the shot falls in the story. Where a reference is still pending, mark the keyframe as blocked rather than guessing at it.

Expected output: A complete, sequenced shot list and storyboard for the whole short, each shot marked with its keyframe(s) and their bible reference(s), plus a preparation list ordered by what’s actually ready.

Activity 3 — Cut and defend (20 min)#

Instructions: Find at least one shot from an earlier draft that doesn’t earn its place — because it repeats an argument another shot already makes, or because it doesn’t serve the schedule. Cut it, and write one sentence saying why it was cut, in the vocabulary of what it repeated or failed to add.

Expected output: A shortened schedule and a one-sentence justification for the cut.

Activity 4 — Comprehensive Review dailies (30 min)#

Instructions: In pairs, present your complete schedule aloud, shot by shot, without stopping to explain anything the board doesn’t already show. Your partner asks two questions about the schedule — an ordering choice, a dependency, a keyframe choice, or the cut you made — and you answer for the decision on the spot, the way AFI’s Comprehensive Review has fellows defend their own workbook. Swap roles and repeat for your partner’s schedule.

Expected output: Two questions asked and answered per schedule, with any resulting fix noted rather than made silently after the fact.

Activity 5 — Completion check (10 min)#

Instructions: Walk the two spec bullets together. Does the storyboard cover every shot in the list, in sequence, start to finish? Can you point to one cut shot and say why it didn’t earn its place? Then, as an additional check, name each shot’s keyframe(s) and confirm each one’s bible reference is either resolved or explicitly marked pending.

Expected output: Both spec bullets verified, or a named gap with the decision still needed to close it; each shot’s keyframe(s) named with their bible-reference status.

Afterwards#

This is the package Assignment 1 submits. It’s due when teaching resumes after the mid-semester break, not this week — but nothing new needs to be added between now and then, only fixed.