Track 63

Track 63.

So welcome to Film-makers’ Club.

I hope you’re excited at the thought of making a film and that you’re bursting with great ideas.

I’ve put you all into groups, so here’s what you’re going to do.

Now you might think the first thing that you need to do is to come up with an idea for a story, but even before that you need to think about what type of film you want to make.

Remember that a film is really a story in pictures.

There are lots of ways of telling a story.

So choose a style of film that suits the talents of the group.

If you have talented artists, but no good writers, or actors, you might want to make your film in the style of a cartoon or some other kind of animation.

Last year a group made an excellent film using Lego bricks.

So having decided that, you can start to think of your idea for the story.

Think about the movies you like to watch.

What is it that makes them interesting?

Is it the characters, the plot?

As regards plot, my advice is, don’t be too ambitious, don’t make it complicated.

Keep it simple, the simplest ideas are often the ones that work the best.

Initially you just need to find the basic concept.

You can fill in the details later.

It’s a good idea to keep a notebook in your pocket and carry it everywhere.

You never know when a great idea will suddenly come to you! And the more ideas, the better, in my opinion.

The next stage is to write the screenplay, for this you need to divide the story up into a series of scenes.

For each scene, the screenplay should begin with a short description of where it takes place and the time of day, that is day or night.

Then the rest consists of the script, the lines the actors will speak, and it should also describe the camera movements, and give directions to the actors about how they should move.

Before you can start filming, you need to prepare a storyboard of your film to help everyone involved to imagine the scenes clearly and to understand what you are trying to achieve.

This is similar to a comic-book version of your film, but without speech balloons.

And at this point you need to appoint a director.

This is a major role and it’s vital that he or she is a good communicator, as they are the key link between the actors and the rest of the team.

This person will have responsibility for the creative side of the project.

He or she will have the final say in the choice of the main actors and in directing the action of the film.

That brings me to the next stage, casting your film, finding the actors.

Don’t just rely on your friends.

Be creative!

Perhaps you could advertise on social media.

Or if your film needs a doctor, perhaps you could ask one from the local hospital if they could spare a couple of hours for you?

And then before filming finally starts, you will need to assign other jobs, such as director of photography, in your case this will be the person who operates the camera; someone in charge of sound and music, and someone in charge of costumes and props {including furniture and any other objects needed) and also someone to look after hair and make-up.

But we’ll look at these roles in more detail in our next session.