To produce a video takes a lot of effort and planning. Hollywood productions usually take about 5 years until they are brought to theaters. To produce a video while collaborating with partners who are from across the world can be even more difficult.

Throughout this unit, Yvonne and I (KAS) worked with Kate (BMSA) to create an amazing movie based on Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.

Wingardium Leviosa!

The book was chosen by Yvonne and me. We thought that because this book is very popular among young adults, it would be interesting to add our magic to it. We chose to write a scene rather than a trailer. The scene was of Draco and Harry’s first encounter in a tailor shop while having their robes tailored for their first year at Hogwarts.

Slytherin’ Behind the Scenes

Script

I have written several movie scripts in the past, but I never actually researched how to write a script correctly. In my previous script writing, I always only have the dialogue portions. This, I realized after researching, is not efficient and is too elusive to whoever has to produce a video off of it. I went to “10 Great Websites To Download Movie Scripts” to see where I can get samples of movie scripts. I clicked on the IMSDB link where it led me to “The Internet Movie Script Database.” I first went to read the Coco movie script. I followed its format for our script writing.

The formatting is essential for another person to understand the script clearly. I also learned about the different abbreviations and their meanings. Some abbreviations were INT., EXT., and V.O., meaning indoors, outdoors, and voice over respectively. I think that the most important part of the script was the directions for the camera and actions. Writing these directions emphasize the ambiance the movie should capture. When Yvonne and I showed the script to Kate, she could understand what we were trying to convey and has a better idea of how we want the movie to look like.

Below is the script for the movie:

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997.

Storyboard

I view storyboarding as the visualization step—transforming words into pictures. This step further elucidates the directions from the script. I also have experience with storyboarding from middle school IT classes. I was drawing them more accurately than I did with the scripting. So when I went to look at example storyboards, I was searching more for details that I should add to the storyboard. From “Draw and Composition for Visual Storytelling,” I find that the storyboards have directions inside the boxes to show the characters’ movements. I decided to add some annotations at the bottom of the storyboard boxes to be clear on which box is referenced too. This way, Kate can film more easily.

Below is the storyboard for the movie (illustrated by Yvonne and annotated by me):

Some Siriusly Interesting Parts of this Project

I found script writing the most interesting because this is the part where I can shape, or should I say SNAPE, the story to fit my own imagination. I am not reading the book anymore, I am the one writing the story, controlling what each character does. When thinking about characters’ actions and the setting of dynamics, I felt connected to the characters.

Moreover, I think the project of working with people in another country is a very rare opportunity. It allows me to learn more about their culture and different lifestyles. It is always nice to make a new friend.

Dumbledore’s Army

While Dumbledore had hundreds of students to support him as a team, I had two partners to help me through this unit. The most significant part of working with people is teamwork and communication. Kate, Yvonne, and I contributed equally in this project. This is very important to me because having equal amount of work prevents conflicts or arguments. Yvonne and I made sure that we were both happy with the amount of work we do. We always notified Kate once we finished something so that we are all on the same page. Kate would also reach back to us. However, recently we haven’t really communicated. A few weeks ago, Kate messaged us that she would have the shot list finished, but Yvonne and I haven’t gotten the shot list yet. When I asked Kate how the video is coming along, she didn’t reply back. I’m unsure how far she is on making the shot list and video. I think our communication was strong in the beginning, but should be stronger as we are wrapping this project up.

Some Pottercular Challenges

One of the very obvious obstacle when working on this project was the long distance between Kate and us. As we live in different countries, the time zones were different. Sometimes when we have class and send the script or storyboard to Kate, she would reply later in the evening. Sometimes when Kate messages us, we have to reply when we wake up for school, which is hours after. To overcome this problem, Yvonne and I would finish our parts very early before the deadline. This creates more time for Kate to get back at us and for us to be able to turn in on time. During this time, Yvonne and I would also reflect on our works and edit.

Homenum Revelio!

After several weeks of writing, filming, and editing, Kate, Yvonne, and I were able to create a movie. Here is the final product: