Download: How to create a short film guide

[Gregory]

Cultures Of Peace Film Festival
How to make a 5-10 minute film about a Global Issue (Topic).

If the entire world would listen to your message for ten minutes what would you say?

WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? HOW?

WHO?
You can make a movie, as long as you have access to a digital camera, or a video capable mobile phone and a computer. Young people from all over the world are making movies today! Many are motivated to tell a story concerning a topic that is important to them. You have an important and unique perspective. By creating short films that are about important topics, you can creatively spread awareness about the issues that are important to you and to the world?

WHAT?
There are different types of films with the most common being a documentary. “What is a documentary?” The simplest definition is that a documentary is a film that documents a topic. One type of documentary film is based on interviews with people. In order to find out their opinion (what they think about) a certain topic. Some people create Mocumentaries, which can either be a documentary of a fake event, or a satirical (funny) point of view on a real event. Mockumentaries are meant to be funny are usually created to make people think about a serious topic in a creative way (click here to see an example of a mocumentary about Global Warming). If you do decide to make a mocumentary about a certain culture or country to illustrate a point it is best to use your own culture or country and to communicate the fact that you are from the particular culture or country that you are mocking (making fun of) so not to offend another outside group. Whatever method you choose make sure that you are honest in how you tell the story, be careful about stereotyping and remember to treat people with the same respect that you would like to be treated.

What Equipment will I need?
Equipment checklist. In order to make a short film you will need:
Some type of camera: A normal digital photo camera that can record video works just fine as does a good mobile telephone. If you have a full featured video camera with or without a microphone this will generally give you the best results.
Your camera´s cable (s) power supply and possibly a card reader.
Access to a computer either at your school or at home that has Windows Movie Maker (a standard program on Windows XP and Vista) or another easy video editing program.
Images, text and music from your research. Remembering that all music and images must have a Copyleft or a Creative Commons License.. The above links will redirect you to free legal music and images which you can use in your films.

WHEN?
Timing is very important if you want to have your movie finished on time. You will need to brainstorm, storyboard and write your script. Then you will need to film and edit our movie. With a little advance planning you will succeed on time!

WHERE?
Our http://culturesofpeace.ning.com/ social networking site will be utilized for all project related updates and communication. All completed films will be uploaded to our Youtube Video platform no later than . We are also working to receive sponsorship from various sponsors in order to hold an awards ceremony and to bring the winners to Vienna for the ceremony. The outcome of these efforts are not guaranteed. Regardless of whether we do gain sponsorship we will be able to hold the online festival as long as you or your school can meet the minimum technical requirements.

HOW?
So, how are you going to make your movie and where are you going to start? First you need an idea and then you need a plan. You may already have one in mind but we are going to provide you with a set of instructions to help you succeed. So here are the steps involved in order to create your film.

•First you will assemble your production team. Then you should decide who is going to do what (who will be the cameraperson etcetera) on the team. You will essentially be your small movie production company. Although a one person can create a film, it is best to work in teams of two to four people.

•Next your team will pick a topic. You will need to research your topic and collect little bits of information and text which you will place into your film during editing.

The topics that you have to choose from are Fair Trade, War and Peace, Conflict Resolution and mediation, Nobel Peace Women (Bertha Von Suttner, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Wangari Matthai and others) Peacemakers (Martin Luther King Jr., Hildegard Goss-Mayr, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Thich Nat Hahn, Richard Deats and others), Religious Tolerance, Xenophobia, Xenophilia, The Environment (Global Warming, Sustainability , Sustainable Tourism, Water Resources, Environmental Justice, Energy) Racism & Discrimination, Diversity, Equality, Economy, Culture (music, dance, languages & dialects , customs, traditions, clothing, food, religion and religious practices), USA Civil Rights, The UDHR (Universal Declaration on Human Rights), Politics, Freedom of Speech, Artist Activists (Musicians, Poets, Writers.) (provide active internal ?links to several topics and people)

•The next step is to brainstorm about how your team will proceed, will your film be a documentary or a mocumentary?, a dramatization or some other type of film? You will need one or two team members to be the news reporter (s), to conduct the interviews, to conduct research and you will need a cameraperson.

•The next step is to begin your storyboards.

•Part of the storyboarding process is to start to compose (write) the questions and follow up questions that you will ask the people you will interview.

•Filming (Tip! Pay attention to background noise as it can ruin and otherwise great scene!)

•Editing / cutting of your films utilizing Windows movie maker or another editing program.

Brainstorming
Every good movie starts with an idea. Some questions you might want to ask yourself are: What kind of story is important to me? What story can I tell that hasn’t been told in my voice before? What issues in my community do I think people outside of it could connect to or understand? Once you’ve found your topic it’s time to plan out your movie! We’ll do this with a storyboard, a script, and by researching your topic. Be creative, and remember that very often, your local community is a reflection of what is going on in other places. For many people, documentaries, no matter what their subject, centre on the human condition. Make sure to treat you’re the people you will interview with the respect and honesty with which you would portray yourself. Remember to also let the story tell itself.

Storyboarding and Script’s
So what is a storyboard anyway? And why do we need a script? A storyboard is a series of rough drawings, like a basic cartoon strip, that shows shot-by-shot how your movie will look and what type footage you need before you go out and get it. If you do not like to draw then a storyboard can be a text based plan. This is especially important for you if you only have access to a camera for a limited amount of time.

Scripts
(location, people, action, dialog) The script is the foundation of your movie. You will want to write down possible locations, interviews, sound (Tip!) and music cues and expected film footage in the order that you want them to appear. Even if it feels like you’re writing a script without any idea of how your story will turn out, it is still a good idea to try so that you’ll know what you need (equipment, interviews, etc.) to get your movie done.

Tip! Pay attention to background noise as it can ruin and otherwise great scene!


This two page guide will get you started on how to do it easily.