Designing a short film shot and editing list
The instruction rules out setting, costume and casting on purpose. Everything you are left with is shot selection and editing, which is exactly the vocabulary being assessed.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 15, 2026
Think like a director: four lines, and every cut is a choice
The exclusions are the assignment. By telling you not to think about setting, costume or casting, the activity strips away everything except the two things it wants you to practise: how the camera sees each moment, and how one image gives way to the next. Four lines of a nursery rhyme is deliberately trivial source material, because the point is not interpretation but whether you can express visual decisions in the language of shots and cuts. So do not write an essay about what Humpty Dumpty means. Produce something that looks like a shot list, with a line of text and the treatment set against it, which the instruction explicitly permits — saying next to the words of the text what you would be asking for is offered as an acceptable format and is the clearest one for a marker to read against the rhyme itself.
Use the named terms precisely, because precision is the whole assessment. A cut is an instantaneous change; a dissolve overlaps two images and reads as time passing or a connection between them; a fade moves to or from black and usually marks a beginning or an end. Camera angle carries meaning on its own — a low angle looking up at Humpty on the wall makes him monumental, a high angle after the fall makes him small and abandoned. Think about what each line needs: the establishing image, the moment of the fall which is the only real event, and then the arrival of the horses and men, which is a crowd and invites a wider frame. Adding terms beyond the four named ones — a whip pan, a match cut, a jump cut — is encouraged by the phrase there are others you could use, and shows range, provided each is used correctly rather than decoratively.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Express a visual decision using the correct editing and cinematography vocabulary.
- 02Distinguish a cut, a dissolve and a fade by what each communicates rather than by mechanism.
- 03Use camera angle to convey a relationship rather than merely to show an object.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. Discussion: Basic humanities The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Discussion: Basic humanities
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01A shot-by-shot treatment covering all four lines.
- 02Correct use of at least the four named terms.
- 03A stated reason for at least one angle or transition choice.
- 04A format that reads as a shot list rather than as an essay.
Building a shot list line by line
Choose a format and commit
Set the text on one side and the shot and transition treatment against it.
Line one: establish
Decide the framing and angle that establish Humpty and the wall, and say what the angle conveys.
Line two: the fall
Treat the only event in the rhyme, choosing between showing the fall and cutting around it.
Lines three and four: the crowd and the failure
Handle the arrival of many figures and the flat finality of the last line.
Justify two choices
Explain one transition and one angle in terms of what the audience should feel or understand.
Getting the vocabulary exactly right
Recommended databases
- Your module's readings on editing and cinematography
- British Film Institute
- Yale Film Analysis Guide
- Criterion Collection essays
- Oxford Reference film studies
Search sequence
- 1.Check each term against a film studies reference before using it; the marks here are in precision.
- 2.Watch a short sequence and note the cuts, which trains the eye faster than reading definitions.
- 3.Look up one or two additional terms so you can extend beyond the four named ones accurately.
- 4.Keep the module's own vocabulary, since that is what your instructor is marking against.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Yale Film Analysis Guide
Yale University · 2024
A reference-quality glossary of shot types, angles and transitions, which is the vocabulary this activity is assessing.
- 02
About CAHPS
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality · 2024
Included as an example of how a discipline defines its terms precisely so they can be applied consistently; the same discipline is what this activity asks for.
- 03
Asking Focused Questions
Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, University of Oxford · 2024
The structure that turns a clinical issue into searchable terms, which is exactly what the 'include your search terms' half of the prompt is testing.
- 04
Information Technology and Moral Values
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · 2018
A model of applying a specialist vocabulary accurately to concrete material rather than gesturing at it.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Writing about the meaning of the rhyme instead of producing a shot list.
- Reintroducing setting, costume or casting, which the instruction rules out.
- Using dissolve and fade interchangeably.
- Choosing angles without saying what each one communicates.
Submission checklist
- Does every line of the rhyme have a treatment?
- Are the four named terms used, and used correctly?
- Have you avoided setting, costume and casting as instructed?
- Is at least one choice justified rather than merely stated?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
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Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.