Making Movies: A Guide for Young Filmmakers

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Making Movies: A Guide for Young Filmmakers

Ebook - Film

Saturday, 08 September 2007

Making Movies: A Guide for Young Filmmakers, Asiaing.com This manual explains the basics of making a movie for the young filmmaker. It covers all of the nuts and bolts from how to tell a story to the final edit of the film. The Storytelling and Scriptwriting Chapters are excellent resources for educators using the Contest in the classroom. Created by The Film Foundation in partnership with the Director's Guild of America.

Introduction: This manual will help you make a movie. It is written like a basic recipe for chocolate; it gives you the basic ingredients and lays out the process. Whether you make fudge or M & M’s is your challenge. As a filmmaker, you also have a challenge: to tell your story with your vision, using your creativity and intelligence. Whether you are ambitiously learning how to make a movie on your own, or working with others in a moviemaking group or class, enjoy. Enjoy the flexibility and discover the fantastic foibles of filmmaking.

This guide explains the basics of making a low-budget, student film. It’s a big contrast to Hollywood, but the talents and skills needed to make a good film are the same.

In Hollywood, hundreds of people often work on a single film. You might work together with just eight friends but the process remains the same.

On a big Hollywood production, there are many specific jobs. If you watch the credits at the end of a major movie, you will see that there is a director (who is in charge of the entire movie), actors, at least one writer, a cinematographer, a producer, an executive producer, an associate producer, editors, art directors, and sound-effects people. One person operates the camera, one person is in charge of moving the camera, and still another might be in charge of making sure nothing gets in the way of the camera. There are also dialogue coaches, stunt coordinators, grips and gaffers, makeup artists, assistant makeup artists, costume specialists, and assistant costume specialists. These are just a few of those involved in a big Hollywood movie.

Fortunately, you do not need all these people to make a film. In making a short film, each person has a special role to play, and each will probably have multiple jobs in order to accomplish all the aspects of film production.

This guide introduces these different components.

Everyone has something special to offer in making a movie.
This is about learning, having fun, and exploring your creativity.

Just like athletes must practice to build their strength, coordination and skill, this manual offers experiments, or explorations to work your moviemaking muscles. Some might be as boring as lifting weights. Others might be as fun as a pick-up game of basketball. Together, they will help give you the skills and experiences needed to direct and make a movie. You have to provide the creativity.

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