Worked example · Drama · Year 7
DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
A secure Year 7 response, annotated so you can see which success criterion each part meets. Step 2 doubles as an answer key: the first code in each row is the strongest answer, the one in brackets is also acceptable if the pupil gives a reason. The only wrong answer for (e) is any shot that shows Mr Price. Check every storyboard table adds up to 60 seconds. Show this after pupils have drawn their own panels, so they do not copy the drawings.
By line 13 the audience should feel the same panic as Lowri: the whole class’s photos might be lost and there are only five minutes to find them.
Names one clear feeling and the reason for it. Every shot choice below is chosen to build towards that panic.
| Shot code | Why this shot? | |
|---|---|---|
| a | ES (or WS) | The audience needs to know straight away that they are high up on a castle, with the town and the harbour below. An establishing shot shows the place before we worry about faces. |
| b | ECU (or CU) | The empty pockets are the most important detail in the scene. If the shot is wide, nobody will notice her hands. |
| c | CU (or OTS) | This is where Lowri’s feeling changes from happy to panicking. A close-up lets us see it in her face. |
| d | POV (or HA) | We see exactly what they see — how tiny and far away the courtyard is. That makes the problem look bigger. |
| e | Stay on the courtyard POV, or cut to a 2S of their faces | Mr Price is off-screen: we only hear him. Keeping him unseen makes him sound far away and makes the five minutes feel scarier. |
| f | LA (or WS) | A low angle from the bottom of the stairs makes them rush towards the camera, so the scene ends on speed. |
Six codes, each tied to what the audience needs to see or feel at that moment rather than “it looks cool”. Evidences criteria 1 and 4.
Every panel shows what that shot would really look like: the close-ups are mostly face or hands, the wide shot makes the people tiny, and arrows show movement. Stick figures are enough. Evidences criteria 2 and 3.
| Panel | Shot code | Script lines | What we see | What we hear | Seconds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ES | 1–3 | The top of the tower with the hills, harbour and rooftops behind. Lowri and Twm come up the stairs, tiny in the frame, and walk to the wall. | Wind and seagulls the whole time. Twm (line 2), Lowri (line 3). | 12 |
| 2 | 2S | 4–5 | Both of them from the waist up at the wall. Twm points out at the view; Lowri’s hand goes to her pocket. | Twm (line 4). Wind. | 8 |
| 3 | ECU | 5 | Only Lowri’s hands, pulling both coat pockets inside out. They are empty. | No words. The wind gets louder. | 5 |
| 4 | OTS | 6–10 | Over Twm’s shoulder onto Lowri’s face. Twm is just the back of his head, so all our attention is on her panic. | Lowri (lines 6, 8, 10), Twm (lines 7, 9). | 18 |
| 5 | POV / HA | 11–12 | What they see over the wall: the courtyard far below, tiny, and the bench. We cannot tell if the camera is there. | Mr Price, off-screen, far away (line 12). | 9 |
| 6 | LA | 13 | From the bottom of the spiral stairs looking up. Twm pulls Lowri down the steps towards the camera. | Running footsteps echoing on stone. | 8 |
| Total | 60 | ||||
All 13 lines appear, in order, across six panels, and 12 + 8 + 5 + 18 + 9 + 8 = 60. Panel 4 is the longest because it holds five lines of dialogue; panel 3 has no words at all, so it can be short. Evidences criteria 2 and 3.
| We need | Where it will come from | Are we allowed to use it? How do we know? |
|---|---|---|
| A place that looks like the top of a castle tower | A stone wall on the school site, filmed from low down against the sky so no buildings show. The school stairwell for panel 6. For panel 1, a photo of Conwy Castle that one of us took on the real trip. | We must ask the Head of Drama before filming anywhere in school, and a teacher must be with us on the stairs. The photo is ours because we took it. If we used someone else’s photo we would have to check its licence and credit it. |
| Wind and seagull sounds | Record them ourselves on the seafront or the yard on a windy day. If that fails, the BBC Sound Effects archive. | Our own recording is ours. The BBC archive says its sounds can be used in personal and educational projects, so a film shown in school is fine, but we would have to read and follow its licence before putting the film anywhere public. |
| Mr Price’s voice, far below | One of us records the line standing at the far end of a long corridor, so it sounds distant. | Only if the person agrees to be recorded. |
| Props and costume | An old camera from the drama cupboard, or a small box painted black. Our own coats. Two school trip lanyards. | Ask the drama department before borrowing the camera, and give it back. |
| The people in the shot | Just the two actors. Nobody else in the background. | Everyone in the film has agreed. Before the film is shared outside the class, a teacher checks the school’s photo permission list. |
The chart song: the song belongs to the people who wrote and recorded it, so copying it into our film without permission breaks copyright, and a video site would probably mute or remove the film. We could compose a short tune on the keyboard ourselves, use music whose licence says we may use it and credit it — or use no music at all, because the wind and the footsteps already build the panic.
Every row names a real source and a real permission, and the answer spots that sounds, photos and music all belong to somebody. That is the “sourcing” half of the DCF element. Evidences criterion 5.