English 414B:Video “Remake” Assignment

Spring 2018

Dr. Lincoln Z. Shlensky

Department of English, University of Victoria

Assignment

In small groups, your assignment is to collectively “remake”—in other words, reinterpret—a short scene (or part of a scene) from one of the films we are watching for the course. Your remake video, which you may shoot using a phone or camera, or edit from available materials,should be not much more than fiveminutes in length. All the remake videos will be shownto the class in the final week of the term.

The aim of the remake is to implicitly comment upon, while altering, the meaning and/or impact of the original source scene from one of the films we are watching this term. To do this, you may wish to:

  • emphasize something the original scene only hints at or does not express at all, such as the perspective of a secondary character or a subtle emotional undertone;
  • introduce a political or social perspective the original did not express directly;
  • offer a contrary perspective or interpretation the original did not apparently consider;
  • alter the style, look or genre of the original film to change its tone and message;
  • locate the scene in your own social environment, as you perceive it, and in the political context of the present;
  • consider the cinematographic or editing choices made by the filmmakers originally, and experiment with other choices.

What major compositional aspects of the original scene can you alter to change its meaning? Here are a few possibilities.

  • Tone (e.g., serious > humorous, or optimistic > pessimistic)
  • Style (e.g., color > black & white, or pristine > gritty)
  • Genre (e.g., Western > horror, or drama > satire)
  • Message (e.g., war protects > war corrupts, or us vs. them > we’re all in this together)
  • Narrative (the order and content of the story told, e.g., she did it > she didn’t do it)

What formal or technical elements of the original scene can you alter to change its meaning? Here are a few things you can change.

  • Acting style (e.g., how the actors’ lines are delivered)
  • Script or dialogue (e.g., what the actors say, or when they say it)
  • Editing (how shots are ordered and linked to create certain effects)
  • Sets or locations (a different physical context)
  • Pacing (quickening or slowing of time)
  • Camera placement or shooting technique (cinematography)
  • Lighting (intensity or impact; diegetic or extra-diegetic)
  • Sound (intensity or impact; diegetic or extra-diegetic)
  • Situation of the action (change of motivations or context)
  • References, implicit or explicit, made to other films or events

To help you develop the concept of your remake, your group members should do some preliminary research on the source film you’ve chosen. This, in turn, will help you think about what could be reworked in the original film. This research will also enrich yourgroup presentation to the class.Some questions this research might answer:

  • What historical, social or personal contexts was the director responding to when the film was conceived?
  • Which ideas impacted the director or writer?
  • What visual style, genre, or narrative mode was the filmmaker seeking to activate in the film, and why?
  • How do these contexts, modes, and ideas inform our understanding of the film today?

Any of these possibilities should be driven by your group’s “concept.” To put this another way:What is the key question your group is asking of the original film (and, therefore, of yourselves as students and artists, and of your expected audience)? How do you aim to reinterpret or reflect on the original film through such a question?

But don’t necessarily ask the question as part of the literal action of your video remake. Doing so might confuse the key difference between what you, as writers or directors, are doing, and the expectations, wishes, or interests of your audience. Try to remain as alive and sensitive to understandable audience expectations as you are to the powerful and necessary question you are asking as filmmakers or videographers.

Group process

Working with your group cooperatively involves:

  • choosing a film and scene to “remake”;
  • researching the background and critical analyses of the film;
  • developing a concept and/or a question to ask that links your film to its source;
  • collaboratively writing preliminary drafts of a screenplay in face-to-face meetings with your group and/or using a collaboration platform such as Google Docs;
  • revising/rewriting your draft for style, clarity and impact;
  • storyboarding your production process so that you will get what you need in production;
  • working together on the production day(s) to capture the images sound you need;
  • editing your raw footage into a short scene;
  • reviewing the “rough cut” to tighten it where needed and creating a final cut;
  • adding effects, titles and other post-production elements;
  • presenting the film, along with your research, to the class.

Production

After choosing a film, consider whether group members will take specific roles (i.e., director, screenwriter, lighting, actors, etc.). All group members should view the original film at least once (more is preferable). Select a scene you think would be worth remaking, and analyze it carefully, shot by shot, in terms of camera movement and positioning, narrative and pacing, lighting, sound, set/location, acting, dialogue, mood or tone, and overall impact.

Write a script that fundamentally alters the source scene. Storyboard it out, if possible, so you know clearly each shot you need to capture. Plan a production that gives you sufficient time to get each shot you need.

On the day(s) of the production, everyone in the group may be needed to help out with photography, lighting, sound, sets, locations, props, and actors. Plan time to make the image you are shooting look as good as you can make it. Pay particularly close attention to sound, if you are using sound, since sound is hardest to capture well. Shoot multiple takes, so that you have material to work with in the editing stage.

Soon after the production, members of the group should get together to begin editing the film. Most computers, smart phones and tablets come preloaded with basic video editing suites. You can also find lots of free video editing software online and in app stores, including web-based editors such as YouTube, Pixorial, etc. or smartphone apps such as Capture and Splice. There is also, of course, more sophisticated editing software, which you can gain access to in the Fine Arts Computer Labs (and, less easily, at the Clearihue Computing Centre).

During editing, it may be useful to keep in mind that music dramatically increases the perceived quality of cinema, even when other elements are less than ideal. Consider options for adding music, where appropriate. It’s pretty easy to do, and goes a long way toward increasing audience pleasure. Examining the original filmmaker’s use of sound and music could be helpful here.

Once a preliminary “working” cut is ready, all the members of the group should review it. Titles, including credits, may be added to the final cut. The completed video may be uploaded to the Web, but I will need the final cut on a USB drive to project for the class presentation.

Individual write-up

Due at the time of submission, I will also ask you to individually write up a brief (250-500 words, or 1-2 pages) account of your role and thegroup’s process in creating your video.

In your individual write-up, please respond to as many of the following questions as are relevant to your project:

  1. Why did you choose a film to remake, and how did the remake succeeded in altering it?
  2. What research did you consult in learning about the background of the film?
  3. What did you learn about the original filmas a result ofyourproduction?
  4. What did you learn about thefilmmaking process during your production?
  5. What did you learn about managing a complex group activity during this process?

Please elaboratespecifically on the group process, including how well the group worked together.

Please submit each of your write-ups, on the due date, to the upload link at shlensky.com/materials.

Class presentation

After your remake video is complete, the members of your group will present it to the whole class during the last week of the term. Please be sure to give me the film on a USB thumb drive on the due date.

After presenting your video, your group may wish to comment on some of the preceding set of questions that you discussed in your individual write-ups.

Grading

I will grade each individual’s work on the basis of the quality of work evidenced in the final product (technical proficiency, however, will not be a consideration), the individual’s participation in the group as discussed in the write-ups, and the quality of the individual write-up.

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