The prospect of creating a student film may seem overly ambitious and very difficult to achieve. You may be saying to yourself, I wouldn’t even know where or how to begin such a complex project.
Well, you would be half right. Although film making is a very arduous, complicated and time consuming art, it’s not as unachievable as one may believe. As with everything, there’s a systematic process and steps that break down each part of the creative process for you. If followed correctly, your end result will be your vision being brought to life through your film.
Before we get into the more technical stages of film making, let’s first start with a few basic definitions and concepts.
“The purpose of filmmaking is to tell a story,” says my Video I professor Tom Campbell. “In film making we work with the concept of threes. Ever film must contain [and be comprised of] shots, scenes and sequences.” These three components are what give life to a film.
Now the question is; what do these terms mean to you in terms of filming making?
SHOT:
Let’s start with a shot. Basically, a shot is anything that occurs between the time of you hitting record to stopping recording. This is known as single shot shooting. When you take those single shots and begin piecing them together you begin to develop a scene.
Let’s start with a shot. Basically, a shot is anything that occurs between the time of you hitting record to stopping recording. This is known as single shot shooting. When you take those single shots and begin piecing them together you begin to develop a scene.
SCENE:
A scene is what unravels the story you’re trying to tell. In creating a scene, you take the collection of shots you’ve taken and begin piecing them together in order to create a story.
A scene is what unravels the story you’re trying to tell. In creating a scene, you take the collection of shots you’ve taken and begin piecing them together in order to create a story.
Transitions are helpful tools that help make the shots being pieced together flow in a more natural appearance. When filming a scene there is usually only one location. When you change the location, you change the scene.
SEQUENCE:
The last component is sequence. Sequence is taking one action to another. What you are trying to do here is create a sense of flow between your scenes. You want to make them look as natural and smooth as possible.
The last component is sequence. Sequence is taking one action to another. What you are trying to do here is create a sense of flow between your scenes. You want to make them look as natural and smooth as possible.
Now that you have these three components down, you’re in pretty good shape to start brainstorming your film concept. When creating your script think in terms of what shots, scenes and sequencing you want to use. That will come in handy when you move on to pre- production. We discuss pre-production in the next blog.
If you’re interested in connecting with fellow students and exchanging tips and stories check out this Student Filmmakers Forum
