Create a Shot, or Tick

Check out the video on How to Create a Tick

There are two ways to create a shot, or a Tick, in Filmatick. Either way will get you to the end result but there is a preferred way as well.

Filmatick is setup to have the users create a set, do scene blocking by adding the actors and then moving them around, and then create a shot.

Either way you choose to do it, Creating a Shot is done in a very similar way:

  1. Draw a tick.

  2. Select the type of shot - media or SHOT.

  3. Pick the camera shot.

  4. Pick the Actor (if applicable).

  5. Confirm and Open shot or Confirm.

Scroll down to Draw Ticks without Sets or Scene Blocking, to see the alternate way of creating shots.

How to Create a Tick

  1. In the Script Panel, click on the Tick Icon (T - Hotkey)

  2. The cursor looks like a Tick and you are in Tick Creation mode.

  3. Find the part in your script you want to start drawing a tick and Left Click. This will start the drawing of the Tick.

  4. Find the end of the shot you want to create and Left Click again. This will create the end of the Tick.

  5. A CREATE TICK WINDOW will pop up.

    **If you are creating a Tick without doing Scene Blocking, the Preview window will show “N/A”. This is because there is no character in the scene. You can still create the shot.

  6. Under Media Type, Select the type of Media you want to use:

    1. For IMAGE, learn more at Using Media as a Shot.

    2. For SHOT, continue to step 7

  7. Click on the box next to Shot Type to choose which type of shot this tick is.

  8. Scroll down to find the type of shot you want and Left Click.

    1. There are two types of shots you can choose from:

      1. Actor related shot - these are shots like Closeup, Medium Closeup, and so on.

      2. Non Actor related - these are shots like Two-Shot, Establishing Shots

    2. The Character button will be either activated for Actor related shots, or non-activated (greyed out) for Non Actor related shots.

  9. If you chose a non-actor type shot, skip to step 10. If not, continue below:

    1. Click on the box next to Character.

      1. Filmatick knows which speaking actors are in your scene.

    2. Scroll down to the actor you want and Left Click.

  10. Filmatick has selected default lenses for each shot. If you wish to change the lens, simply click on the box next to Lens.

    1. Scroll down to the lens type you want and Left Click.

  11. If you choose an Actor Related shot, the Behavior Button will be active. If not, it will be non-activated (greyed out). Go on to Step 12.

    1. Click on the Behavior you want for the camera. Learn more about Camera Behaviors.

      1. Static - a regular camera that can be animated

      2. Follow CHARACTER - This will make the camera Follow (move with or translate with) the Character selected in the Shot.

      3. Look At CHARACTER - This will make the camera Look at (pan or tilt with) the Character selected in the Shot.

      4. Follow and Look at CHARACTER - This will make the camera both follow and look at the Character selected in the shot

  12. Click on Confirm and Open Shot to open the shot, Confirm to continue, or Cancel to opt out.

Confirming or Cancelling your Shot

After you tell Filmatick what type of shot you want to do, the last step is confirming. There are three options when confirming;

Confirm and Open Shot

If you want to immediately make changes to the framing or add movement to the camera, this is the option to use. This will create the shot and then open it in the 3d view in Quadrant 2. This will allow you to edit the boundaries of the shot within the blocking, edit camera movement, or edit character/prop movement.

Confirm

Clicking on this button will create the shot but not open it for you to edit. You may open the shot and edit it at anytime in the future.

Cancel

This will cancel the Tick Creation without creating a shot. This is undoable.

If the cursor is still the shape of a Tick, you are in Tick Creation mode. To exit that mode, click on the Tick Icon at the top of the panel. (T - hotkey)