Creating a film crew.
Outside the realm of formal education we get to have a more intensive approach to our work. A smaller group of young people will be assembled to create a short film. That’s the whole brief, a short film. What it is about and where it takes place are matters for the young people to deal with. But there is always somewhere to film.
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/149452458
The film above is called ‘Lost’ and it was made some years ago. A simple idea done effectively is the absolute way to go on a short film made in a short period of time. Don’t try and re-make Avengers Endgame. You won’t have the budget, the time or the expertise and anyway, someone already did that,
In our first sessions it’s all about discovering what the young people already know and what they are interested in. We’ll spend an hour just talking about our favourite movies and theirs. Next up is who wants to be on what side of the camera. This is always fascinating because you hardly ever get undecideds to begin with. You get actors and you get young folk who can think of nothing worse than being filmed.
No matter – fortunately a film crew needs both.
After deciding on a genre (that’s what all that favourite movie chat was about) we start workshopping a story. Or, if we have a writer in the group, we get them going on a script. And it’s into pre-production.
Where will it happen?
What characters and costumes will we need?
Who’s bringing the baseball bat? (they want it to be a gun but that’s not happening).
And we film over the course of three days, maybe four if we are lucky. The edit gets completed by ourselves away from the set and then some weeks or days later there is a screening and celebration,
An outreach project can be a life changing experience. Past partiicipants are currently working in the film industry and broadcasting on TV but for those who do not choose the creative screen it can also be an affirming experience – showing them what they themselves are capable of. For young people who never managed to get along with school it can be an eye opener to an industry they would never have dreamed of.
But it all costs money, right?
Yes, yes it does. but SYFF is dedicated to providing things free of charge. If you have a local group then get in touch. We need to pay our film tutors but we can bring equipment and help you find the funding.
