Advanced Digital Media Project
Developing Movie Ideas
Coming up with ideas and mapping them are the most important components of moviemaking. Brainstorm movie ideas. Each student comes up with three movie ideas. Students then work in groups to choose three of those movies. Develop a detailed plan for each that includes timelines, roles and responsibilities, and production needs.
Coming up with ideas and mapping them are the most important components of moviemaking. Brainstorm movie ideas. Each student comes up with three movie ideas. Students then work in groups to choose three of those movies. Develop a detailed plan for each that includes timelines, roles and responsibilities, and production needs.
Activity 1: Growing Movie Ideas
1. Brainstorm Movie ideas in groups of 3-4 for 30 Minutes. While your group is coming up with ideas, be thinking of your own film ideas.
2. When coming up with ideas, you need to consider some essential questions:
- What are some cool ideas people will want to know more about?
- Who is the target audience?
- How long does the project need to be? (Note: By doing small projects of less than 10 minutes long, students can produce more in a short period of time. Also, it’s better to create movies that make people think and have more questions than answers about the subject being discussed.)
- What are your initial goals?
- Is it clichéd? Have others done it? Is it anything new?
- How do you plan to shoot it?
- Who would be great to interview?
- Where would it be ideal to shoot?
- Do you need to get any permissions before or during the shoot?
- What equipment do you think you will need?
- What are your other needs: music, other media assets (pictures, additional • footage, graphics)?
4. Practice making maps for movies with the class. Pick a subject, any subject, and grow it with Inspiration. Pick an easy movie idea and use the list of questions in Step 2.
5. After practicing as a group, ask each student to come up with three movie ideas and discuss them in a small group of five to six students. Each group should then decide on the three best ideas to develop further. The brainstorming part of the process is where we, as teachers, act as coaches. Students often get stuck and think they can’t come up with anything. Too often they over-think their ideas. Remind students that the first rule in brainstorming is that there are no bad ideas at the beginning. They should get a bunch of ideas on paper even if they are just keywords. Hopefully, this will get the ideas going.
6. After the groups have agreed on three ideas, they should map out each idea, addressing each one’s “what,” “why,” and “how to.” When students are finished, they should have a list of schedules, production needs, and team responsibilities for each movie.
7. Have students peer review each other’s ideas before submitting them to you for approval. Let students know that they will turn the ideas they developed into a production in a later lesson.
2. When coming up with ideas, you need to consider some essential questions:
- What are some cool ideas people will want to know more about?
- Who is the target audience?
- How long does the project need to be? (Note: By doing small projects of less than 10 minutes long, students can produce more in a short period of time. Also, it’s better to create movies that make people think and have more questions than answers about the subject being discussed.)
- What are your initial goals?
- Is it clichéd? Have others done it? Is it anything new?
- How do you plan to shoot it?
- Who would be great to interview?
- Where would it be ideal to shoot?
- Do you need to get any permissions before or during the shoot?
- What equipment do you think you will need?
- What are your other needs: music, other media assets (pictures, additional • footage, graphics)?
4. Practice making maps for movies with the class. Pick a subject, any subject, and grow it with Inspiration. Pick an easy movie idea and use the list of questions in Step 2.
5. After practicing as a group, ask each student to come up with three movie ideas and discuss them in a small group of five to six students. Each group should then decide on the three best ideas to develop further. The brainstorming part of the process is where we, as teachers, act as coaches. Students often get stuck and think they can’t come up with anything. Too often they over-think their ideas. Remind students that the first rule in brainstorming is that there are no bad ideas at the beginning. They should get a bunch of ideas on paper even if they are just keywords. Hopefully, this will get the ideas going.
6. After the groups have agreed on three ideas, they should map out each idea, addressing each one’s “what,” “why,” and “how to.” When students are finished, they should have a list of schedules, production needs, and team responsibilities for each movie.
7. Have students peer review each other’s ideas before submitting them to you for approval. Let students know that they will turn the ideas they developed into a production in a later lesson.