Back in March, The George Washington Wilson Centre held a two-day filmmaking workshop for school pupils aged 16+ from Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire at the University of Aberdeen’s Media Lab. The pupils had one week to plan, shoot, and edit a short 1-5 minute film that would be shown at the University’s May Festival. The workshop was organised by GWW’s Dr Áine Larkin and led by myself, a graduate of the MLitt course, alongside Sofia and Nora, honours students of Film and Visual Culture. The workshop was sponsored by Aberdeen City Council Creative Funding.
Nora, Sofia and I were keen to give the students as much creative freedom as possible but within a short time limit, we understood that we needed to emphasise how important planning your film really is. The first day we outlined some useful filming techniques and prepared them for shooting their film by having them create a shooting schedule, script and any other material that they felt would help them during filming. The students then pitched their ideas, and we tailored feedback about how best to approach shooting, emphasising any backup plans needed especially if relying on other people such as actors – this is an issue that did, in fact, come up in the following workshop. With the editing, we knew that it was important that the students make the best use of the time by getting stuck right in. We summarised the software but because it was a small group, we could give more one-to-one attention and help with the software as they went along.
I think the pupils’ main challenge was the time constraints and fitting shooting around their own schedules and whether to rely on using other people in their films. However, the footage that came to the editing workshop was very promising, and they proved their adaptability when problems arose. One student could not film due to reliance on actors but could still take part by helping another student with their film. Another student knew that she wouldn’t have time to shoot a lot but focused on creating an eerie atmosphere during filming and then played with effects and sound in the edit suite to create a short teaser that was rather effective. In contrast, another student managed to film a lot, so whilst having plenty to work with, had to sacrifice parts to make the film more concise and focused on its story. A voiceover carried the narrative, so they had to decide which visuals fitted with the script they had written, and which parts of the voiceover they would have to cut.
Interestingly, both films were fictional and proved that you do not necessarily need actors to tell a story, that it is all about how you frame when shooting, how you edit and particularly your use of sound. I think the best films to make within a short time frame are the ones that tell stories through an environment, sound and framing, that show rather than tell, letting the audience create their own conclusions. Both these films did this in their unique ways, and I am really impressed by the quality they produced in such a short time using their smartphones. They prove that whilst filming and editing a film in just one week is challenging, it is possible. I am sincerely excited about the future creativity in this area and hope that any other young budding filmmakers try this challenge over the holidays or in their spare time. Here is a list of resources we recommended during the workshops that you may find useful in your filmmaking projects at home:
- Screenskills – https://www.screenskills.com/
- Creative skillset – https://www.screenskills.com/
- Prospects – https://www.prospects.ac.uk/
- Creative Scotland – https://www.prospects.ac.uk/
- The Dots – https://the-dots.com/today
- Celtx – http://www.celtx.com
As far as editing software goes, Adobe Premiere Pro is my preferred choice but during the workshops, we used iMovie which is great for beginners, easy to use and is similar to Premiere. Another piece of free piece of software is DaVinci Resolve. No fancy camera equipment was needed during this project, aside from the students’ smartphones. We recommend paying attention to sound when you are filming though and perhaps use another phone or separate recorder rather than relying on the sound taken when the video is captured. So all you need is a phone, a computer and a little creativity, and you’ve got your beginner’s filmmaker toolkit!
Happy Filmmaking!
gww 