HKAIFA-R048

When resources shrink, what must the producer protect?

Choose a short-film task within a verified budget and crew. Compare cuts, alternative methods and reduced scale for their effects on character and theme.

What we will make

A three-minute film, initial and actual budgets, consequential trade-off records and a delivery checklist.

How we will evaluate it

Deliver within agreed resources and explain how the core expression survives. Savings cannot depend on concealed labour or unpaid obligations.

7-day intensive

Proposed guest: Christine Vachon

$2,800

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Course programme

Beijing · 2027-01-22T02:00:00.000Z – 2027-01-28T09:00:00.000Z · Asia/Shanghai

Who this is for

Creators, researchers, producers and participants prepared to own an actual delivery responsibility. Choose one accountable role in the team; previous work or a short preparation task helps the lead organise complementary working groups.

Before you begin

Bring a one-page statement of the problem, one relevant experience or work sample, and materials you have permission to use. Review the preparation brief in your workspace before the first session. The course lead coordinates roles, interviews and external reviews; permission is required before using a contributor’s material or publishing their information. You will work towards: A three-minute film, initial and actual budgets, consequential trade-off records and a delivery checklist.

The city as a research setting

Beijing is a setting for collaboration with writers, researchers and film production practitioners. The host city is the working base; market-specific interviews and reviews involve people from the named target market, in person or remotely. Choose a short-film task within a verified budget and crew. Compare cuts, alternative methods and reduced scale for their effects on character and theme.

1. Establish the lived problem

Choose a short-film task within a verified budget and crew. Compare cuts, alternative methods and reduced scale for their effects on character and theme.

What you submit: A one-page agreed brief, source and permission register, participant roles and the questions the first version must answer.

2. Test consequential choices

Develop two contrasting treatments of the same problem. Rehearse, storyboard or assemble only the decisive scene; review it with the relevant contributor before extending production. Deliver within agreed resources and explain how the core expression survives. Savings cannot depend on concealed labour or unpaid obligations.

What you submit: Two reviewable alternatives, notes on their effects and a reasoned creative decision attributed to its author.

3. Make the agreed work

Produce and assemble the work in assigned roles. Keep sources, permissions and actual resource use with the files. A three-minute film, initial and actual budgets, consequential trade-off records and a delivery checklist. Coaching addresses the next creative decision; tools are introduced only as needed for that delivery.

What you submit: A three-minute film, initial and actual budgets, consequential trade-off records and a delivery checklist.

4. Review, revise and hand over

Deliver within agreed resources and explain how the core expression survives. Savings cannot depend on concealed labour or unpaid obligations. Complete the final revision and handover by the last scheduled day. Separate observed responses from assumptions and unresolved questions.

What you submit: The final authorised work, external review notes, revision decisions, a resource ledger and a signed account of each participant’s actual contribution.

Completion requirements

Complete all four evidence packages, an individual decision log and the final review. Attend at least 80% of collective sessions, or agree an equivalent contribution within the course period. Reviewers record whether the agreed brief was delivered, what each person actually contributed and which issues remain unresolved. Artistic disagreement is documented rather than converted into a single taste score. Participation and verified completion are distinct records; commercial results are recorded only when evidenced.

Your verified experience record

Your record identifies the course, dates, role, verified contribution and assessment outcome. It links to permitted evidence and names the issuing Academy. Issued records include the signed payload hash and stored issuance timestamp. Public visibility follows your consent and the project’s permissions. INDEX association is made only after a work has a valid INDEX record; taking a course does not itself issue an INDEX certification.