R+P Post 11: Our timeline

We made our time line in order to plan when and what shots and sequences we will have in our opening sequence, as well as planning the music and sound effect entry and exit points.

The time line really helped us to plan how long to spend on each character interview, and how long to spend in the character introduction. It also allowed us to have an easy overview of the sequences we had already included, and what we would need to add to make it more engaging and exciting. For example, we had not yet included a continuity scene, and we were unsure of how to end the opening sequence, so we added a continuity sequence at the end (which we are now changing to a different continuity sequence), of Toby, Joyce, and Kenny getting dinner. It also allowed us to plan an effective beginning, middle, and end to our sequence, so we could almost evenly distribute the time evenly between the three sections. Additionally, this meant we were able to fulfil a classic narrative structure so that the story could flow and make sense to the audience. Additionally, we were able to think of the sound effects and music in relation to the shots and visuals.

Photo of our time line

The downside of creating a time line in this way was working out the timings of each of the shots/sequences without being able to visualise the sequence in the same way as we did with our storyboard, which we made after the time line. This was not a necessary part of making a time line, but I think that I, personally, would have found it a lot easier to create if it had a visual element to it. That being said, I think our time line went really well, as Tom and I had similar ideas and sense of humour, so we were able to work efficiently with each other. Also, it set us up really well for our storyboard, which we ended up getting done really quickly because we were able to keep referring back to our time line.