Foundations of Film Production

This unit introduces students to the creative, managerial, and technical foundations of narrative filmmaking, covering genre analysis, screenplay selection, preproduction planning (scheduling, budgeting, locations, casting, and crew), and introductory production and post workflows (camera, lenses, lighting, sound tests, storyboarding, and editing basics). Students will also explore distribution pathways—festivals, streaming, and publicity—to prepare materials and plans for a short film project and to enable more advanced, hands-on production work in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze film genres and screenplays to identify storytelling conventions, target audiences, and appropriate production approaches for a short film project
• Apply preproduction processes to develop a prospectus that includes a production schedule, location plan, basic budget, and crew/cast breakdown for a short film
• Demonstrate technical decision-making by selecting appropriate camera systems, lenses, lighting setups, and by performing camera and sound tests and creating basic storyboards for planned scenes
• Evaluate distribution and exhibition options (film festivals, streaming platforms, press outreach) and produce a press release and preliminary festival/streaming submission plan