How to make a film and enter it into this great film festival

The Co-operative Young Film-Makers Festival is taking place on 9th and 10th October 2008 and they are now calling for entries. Any individual or group of filmmakers aged under 21 is eligible to submit their film, which if selected will be shown at the National Media Museum in Bradford.

Films need to be no longer than six minutes long and more information about how to submit your group's film can be found at http://www.youngfilm-makers.coop

Getting started

Ideas
When developing the idea for your film, generate ideas with your group, young people will be more involved and enthusiastic if they can see their ideas and hear their voices shining through on film.

Roles
Roles should be assigned carefully and equally wherever possible, for instance, giving somebody the role of Editor, with little involvement in the filming might leave that member left out. It may be more constructive to make more, shorter films rather than one longer one, thereby giving participants the chance to try different roles on the crew.

Care should also be taken to ensure that one person doesn’t get to monopolise the creative process or take more than their share of responsibility. It’s important to teach the value of teamwork, and the vital importance of every role on the crew.

Time
Don't underestimate the time involved in making a film. Make sure groups have time to plan, familiarise themselves with the equipment. Shoot, review and edit the material. Nothing is more frustrating than a project going unfinished due to lack of time assigned to the edit.

Tips on making your film

Drama
Establish the location. Let the audience know where and when the action takes place. Use shots of the location exterior, town name signs, or onscreen titles can all set the scene effectively.

Using a shot of a window from the outside of a building, before cutting to an interior shot will effectively convince the audience that the action takes place within that building even if the interior was filmed somewhere completely different. This common trick is very useful for locations that you can’t get permission to film inside of.

Documentary
Some documentaries inform the audience, other make the audience question their beliefs or assumptions. The best documentaries do both.

Making a documentary about a topic you have explored at school can provide an interesting subject and could help bring what the children have learned to life. Encourage your group to look for the unexpected, interesting facts, the things which will make the audience think 'I didn't know that!'

When doing vox pops interviews (interviewing people on the street to capture public opinion) apporach a range of different people from different age groups and backgrounds. Only interviewing school children is unlikely to get the most interesting range of responses.

Animation
Watch back everything you do, both to check it’s working, and also to help motivate your group.

Think about combining and mixing media, using photographs as a background to stop frame animation for instance, or taking photos of people pulling different facial expressions, which can then be animated effectively.

Think about the way you use sound. The most effective animations usefully have a lot of thought put into the way sound effects and music are used. Very simple everyday sounds such as footsteps, a door closing or water pouring can bring the action to life.

Production advice

Filming
Do film a variety of shots, especially of important dialogue or important props - it gives you more choice when it comes to editing. It is better to film a scene twice than to discover later on that you have missed the vital action or dialogue. Also think about shooting cut-aways (close-up reactions of other actors) so that in the edit you can intercut long sections of dialogue and make it more interesting.

So that you can be confident that you have the shots you were aiming for, always sit down and watch through the footage you have filmed, the sooner the better, at the end of each day or half day’s filming is ideal, or even immediately after each take for the most important and difficult to film scenes.

Camera work
Make sure your group don’t zoom in and out without knowing why, zooming in just for the sake of it will render many shots unusable in the edit, and is a very common beginners’ mistake.

If you have opted not to use a tripod, instruct your camera operator to keep the camera held close to their body (ideally pressed against the chest or stomach) and breathe gently - a camera doesn’t weigh much but your cameraman will start to shake if they're holding it at arm’s length for a long take.

Sound
Good sound is vital, especially clear dialogue. A camera with an external mic option will be far better than a model with a little spongy blob on the front because you’ll be able to bring the mic closer to your subject and cut out the background noise. You can also strap it to a boom or remove it altogether if
you want total silence.

But if you’re stuck with the little spongy blob, all is not
lost. Think about finding the quietest locations you can (avoid main roads, windy days and flight paths!), and if you’re filming indoors, try to muffle hard surfaces with carpets, curtains and cushions to prevent bouncy echoes.

Pacing
The quickest way of improving a film is to trim off the ‘dead’ on the front and end of a shot. You don’t want one character to say ‘Look out!’ then have to wait several seconds for the other character to turn around and say ‘What?’, so pacing is essential. But pacing varies depending on the scene - to create high-speed frenzy (ie a car chase), short, quick cuts work well, but if sadness or peace is the emotion you’re after, allow time for the audience to feel the mood by using slower cutting.

Music
Music adds a whole new dimension to a film. A long shot of a forest is just a long shot of a forest, but add mournful strings and suddenly it’s a sinister forest. Or add medieval harps and flutes and you’ve got Robin Hood before you’ve even seen the actors. Choosing the right tracks for your film is an art,
but one that’s well worth persevering with.

The advice above has been taken from the Co-operative Young Filmmakers info sheets which can be downloaded from here: http://www.youngfilm-makers.coop/info.html

Keywords: Filming, filmmaking with young people, camera work, pacing your film, sound, music, production tips, drama, documentary, animation