What is Project 5x5?
Project 5x5 is a short and simple video project. To shoot a 5x5 you need to come up with a story, or theme to use (this can be almost anything) and create 5 shots each 5 seconds long. Only the original audio is to be used, no additional audio tracks etc. Further, no use of titles, transitions, or credits, just pure video.
Project 5x5 has been around on vimeo for some time. The inspiration behind this post is the successful use of the 5x5 project to help teach video production students how to think in shots and to take a story or theme and distill it down to the bare essential components. One of the main advantages to using this project to teach video production is the highly structured yet simple parameters for the video. This allows students to focus on the steps and process of video production without letting the project get too big or complicated. This project lends itself nicely to be paired with a storyboard project as again, the main parameters of the video are set and are short and simple enough that it is not overwhelming. This short project allows students to go through the entire pre-production, production, and post-production phases of video production in a short amount of time with limited stress or confusion.
For the project I assigned, I broke the assignment up into two main parts, the written portion and the video portion. To complete the written portion, students go through the pre-production phase and develop a video "pitch" or concept that distills their story or theme into a one or two sentences. Students will then prepare a short but descriptive storyboard to go along with the pitch. Once completed, students move onto the production phase and shoot their 5x5. When all of their shots have been filmed they then move onto the post-production phase to edit the final video together. To edit the project, any non-linear video editng platform will do, for my class I had the students use Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, but any will do.
Storyboard:
Behind the Scenes:
Video Tutorial: