Short Film Workshop

And so it begins. This past Thursday our class opened up with Eric showing a couple of short film examples. In these clips, he pointed out the importance of details that should be included in our films. From costumes to the background scenery, details should be added to a film in order to make the scenes seem more realistic. Other vital tips that Eric gave us include advertising for good actors. Actors can make or break a movie, so it is a good idea to advertise far enough in advance to cast the actors you are interested in. And probably the most important tip Eric told us is to have everything ready before shooting. By being organized with paperwork, knowing which shots go with each scene, and having your lighting and sound set up correctly, the time you spend on set will go smoothly and productively.

Although we do have a script and storyboard written, we still have a long way to go before we are ready to start filming. Our next step is to begin the production process. I thought that we already had our crew assembled, but we are missing one key member: the producer. The producer is vital to our short film project because they are responsible for getting the paperwork assembled and organizing the set. My group definitely needs to designate someone as producer as soon as possible due to the fact that we begin filming in 4 short weeks!

The second half of the class we broke up into our small groups and had a workshop, discussing ideas about our plot and the technical aspects of our film. Although we had created a storyboard and script, we decided that we needed to expand our ideas a little bit, allowing our short film to be longer in length to fit the assigned time. In addition, we decided that we needed more actors in order to expand our story. Although we have the framework of our script and storyboard, we still need to decide what to do about our lighting and the location of the film. We are gradually making progress, but I know we still have quite a ways to go before we can even think about filming. Having the genre of horror, I think that my group has a big challenge to overcome. It is hard enough to legitimately scare someone with a movie that even professional filmmakers create. And it will be that much harder for us rookies to do the same; but do not worry, we will find a way.