Filmmaking workshop Getting your story on the big screen

Transcription

1 Filmmaking workshop Getting your story on the big screen

2 Workshop outline What is REC Ya Shorts Youth Film Festival Choosing your story simple, simple, simple Three phases of filmmaking The first steps how to get started Writing, shooting, and editing your film Getting on the big screen at National Youth Week

3 Why make a short film?

4 Getting started Concept What makes you happy? What do you find interesting? What do you think more people should know about? Word association exercise

5 Three phases of filmmaking Pre-production Every that happens before you shoot your movie Production Shooting your movie Post-production Everything that happens after you shoot your movie

6 Crew Script Actors Locations Release Forms Shot List Shooting Schedule Call Sheets Equipment List Pre-production Plan everything!

7 Production Shooting your movie! Be prepared. Be safe. Keep to a shooting schedule Allocate time for breaks First AD runs the set Bring food, water, sunscreen, hats etc Know your production roles Director, First AD, Producer, Cinematographer, Sound recordist

8 Editing Tell the best story from the raw footage Be ruthless. Cut away the dead wood. Get some fresh eyes on your work Allow time Post-Production Editing and distributing your film Distribution (Producer s role) What film festivals is your short film eligible to enter? Promote your film for FREE on Youtube, Vimeo, and Social Media Create a Facebook page for your film

9 Writing Finding your voice and your story What s something you find interesting? What do you do in your spare time? What kind of story do you want to tell? Documentary/drama/comedy/lifestyle? What s going to be that one great moment/idea in your film (the climax)? Work backwards to fill in the blanks with the Three Act Structure Plan your story using the Three Act Structure

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12 Writing cont. Tips to writing a better story Actions speak louder than words - show it, don t tell it Keep it simple, keep it short, keep it practical Locations, actors, props, crew Writing organically Format your script so that others can tell your story

13 Script formatting example

14 Director creates storyboard Cinematographer/DOP decides how to shoot storyboard Camera type, handheld vs. static shots, lighting Nine basic shots Wide, Medium Wide, Medium, Medium Close-up, Close-up, Extreme Close-up Establishing shot, 2-shot, cut away Shooting your story

15 Shooting (cont.) Establishing shot Places the scene Creates a reference point for the audience Sets up the next shot

16 Has two people in frame Used for dialogue scenes Helps the audience follow the scene more easily Use walking & talking shots to add energy to scene (see figure 1) Shooting (cont.) The two-shot Figure 1

17 Be kind to your editor get lots of cut away shots Can be used to cut two different takes together into one scene No actors faces Shooting (cont.) Cut-away

18 Video editing Like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, video editing is about piecing together the raw footage to fit the Director s story. Steps to video editing 1. Gather all raw footage 2. Setting up your timeline 3. Importing raw footage 4. Cut together the story 5. Sound and music 6. Effects and colourisation 7. Export final film

19 Entry level editing software Microsoft Movie Maker (Windows free!) imovie (Mac - $20) Video editing (cont.) Editing software that you can use Professional editing software Adobe Premiere Pro (Windows) Final Cut Pro (Mac)

20 Video editing (cont.) Troubleshooting Getting stuck with editing? Google and Youtube are your friends! + Example searches: Introduction to imovie How do I import video into Microsoft Movie Maker? Which timeline settings should I use? (Widescreen, 48Khz) How do I trim a video clip in Adobe Premier Po? How do I set in and out points? How do I make the timeline bigger/smaller? How do I add titles? How do I slow down a video clip? How do I add effects on to my video? How do I export my film?

21 Make a film about what makes you happy

22 and include a banana in your film!

23 Let s Make a Short Film (2012)

24 Fruit Man (2012)

25 Twisted (2014)

26 Milk (2014)