Filmmaking guide

See, Think, Imagine,

Make, Influence,
Filmmaking guide

Inspire, Change
FILMMAKING GUIDE
Con cept ualized by
 contents
• 1.IntRoDUctIon to FILMMAKInG
• 2.WARM UP ActIVItIes
• 3.LInKInG FILM to LIteRAcy AnD cURRIcULUM
• 4.eqUIPMent yoU neeD
• 5.FILM LAnGUAGe
• 6.MAKInG yoUR FILM
• 7.GettInG yoUR FILM seen: coMPetItIons AnD FILM FestIVALs

3
1.IntRoDUctIon to FILMMAKInG

Making films doesn’t have to be

really complicated and expensive.
You’ve probably already got enough
basic gear to get started. Here are
some ways to make sure you get
good results, and to make the
process manageable and enjoyable.

4
 Keep it short Build skills
The number one rule for good filmmaking : • Get started with simple activities so you can
discover things like:
start short and simple before you try making
longer films. Making long or complicated films ➢ What the different shots are for, and how to use
is a sure way to get learners fed up, bogged them
➢ How to work together in filmmaking teams
down or bored. The first films they make ➢ How to shoot good video, and how to tell if it’s
while they are learning shouldn’t be more than good
half a minute long. (You’d be surprised how
much work it takes to make a really good 20 • Be clear about the film You will find things a
second film.) They can go on to make longer lot easier if they know exactly what kind of
films once they’ve learnt the basics. film you’re going to make, what it’s for and
who’s likely to watch it.

They, Them, Their

are being referred to the group, participants, students etc. learning filmmaking
 Cut the choice Let them copy

It might seem odd, but one of the Young filmmakers can learn loads by trying
best ways to bring out you creativity to copy ‘real’ films. Choose a very short
in filmmaking is to stop them doing scene from a film the club has watched.
Then get them to make a shot-by-shot
things. Set really tight limits and copy and see how close they can get to the
they’ll really have to think hard. Tell original. It’s a real challenge.
them the film has to be twenty
seconds long, they can only use five
shots, or they’ve got to use two
closeups, a long shot, a mid shot
and a low angle shot. 6
Work with your gear The Separate sound

There’s nothing more frustrating It’s hard to record good live

than trying to make a film with sound, particularly if you’ve only
equipment that isn’t up to the got basic equipment. Even if
job. But it doesn’t mean you you’ve got better gear, you’ll
need more expensive gear, it just probably still get better results by
means you need to make films forgetting the sound while you’re
your gear can cope with. No filming and making a soundtrack
microphone? Don’t try and on your computer. You can include
record live sound, make the natural-sounding effects, music
soundtrack on your computer or and voiceovers, or you could
tablet afterwards. Basic camera? record the voiceover first and edit
Shoot outside or in rooms with the pictures to fit.
plenty of light. No tripod? Zoom
out and get in close 7
 2.WARM UP ActIVItIes
Here are some basic ways of getting skills and understanding of film up to scratch before they
start serious filmmaking.

Learning to act (Performing exercise)

• people can be shy – or silly – when they are filmed for the first time. Get them used to acting,
and build their confidence, with activities that include the whole group . You could start with the
Magic Floor. Get them to stand on one side of the room and tell them the floor is magic. Then tell
them how they’ve got to cross it: for example “you’re on a tightrope”, “a monster is chasing you”,
“you’re wading through a swamp”.

Learning about cuts (Editing exercise)

➢ Play a short film sequence. Get the learners to guess how many separate cuts there were in it.
➢ Play it again and get them to clap on each cut. Get them to count the number of times they
have clapped.
➢ Get them to talk about why there are so many cuts. 8
Freeze frame (Camera exercise)

• Pause a short sequence on each shot. Get groups to talk about what’s in each shot and why
it’s there. They could also discuss what kind of story it is, where they think it’s set, and what
they think will happen next. If you’re in group, you could get them to write a story sentence
based on each shot.

FABRIKAM RESIDENCES
Sound with no picture (Sound exercise)

• Choose an opening sequence with a good soundtrack and a variety of different sounds. It
could have just diegetic (natural/real) sounds, or it could have music as well. Play the sound
without the picture. Get groups to list everything they hear, and what it makes them
imagine about the place, the people, the time of day or year, and the story.
Framing with the camera (Camera exercise)
Set each group the task of shooting examples of different kinds of shots with no camera movements or zooms (e.g.
one person shoots a long shot, the next person shoots a closeup, and so on), then screen and discuss what they’ve
filmed.

Storyboarding (Pre-production exercise)

Use the Lumière Brothers film L’arroseur arrosée (available online or on the BFI ‘Early Cinema: Primitives and
Pioneers’ DVD). Get the students to guess when it was made, and discuss how it’s different from a modern film (it’s
all filmed in one take). Then get each group to storyboard a modern version of the film, using different shot sizes
and camera positions.

Editing rushes (Editing exercise)

load some unedited film clips (‘rushes’), including examples of different shot sizes into your editing programme and
get learners to edit them into a sequence. 10
3. FILM, LIteRAcy AnD tHe cURRIcULUM
English
• Make a very short film adaptation of a key scene from a novel.
• Create a trailer for a film adaptation of a novel.
• Make a film which explores the imagery in a poem.
• Make a short advertisement using persuasive language.
• Film a place in the local area and create a voiceover using metaphor or personification.

History
• Make a documentary using archive footage.
• Create a film using techniques from propaganda films.

Geography
• Make a documentary film about a site in the local area or one visited on a field trip.

Modern Foreign Languages

• Make a fiction film of an everyday activity, e.g. shopping, using appropriate vocabulary.
• Make a ‘digital story’ about yourself and what you like doing: create and record a script and 11
illustrate it with video and still clips.
 Science
• Use film to record and present experiments, using techniques likecloseups, time-lapse
and slow motion.
• Make a film about a scientific debate, including interviews.

Design and technology

• Use filmmaking to explain the rationale for a product or to record building, testing or
disassembly.
PSHE/Citizenship
• Make campaigning films, documentaries or short fiction films about issues and problems.

PE, Dance and Drama

• Use film to record performance and correct technique, or to explain techniques in detail.

Music
• Create a music video.
• Make a short drama film and create a score for it.
• Make a short piece of music and illustrate it with a ‘montage’ of images.

Art
• Use film to explore and explain making processes and techniques. 12

• Explore the use and effects of different kinds of lighting.

 4.eqUIPMent yoU neeD
Camera
• Before you decide that you need to buy a camera, check out what’s already available around you.
➢ The cameras on lots of fr’ phones are pretty good, at least in good light. iPads and some other tablets have
also got built-in cameras, but they’re awkward to hold.
➢ Some compact still cameras can shoot really good video. The sound may not be great, and they’re a bit
fiddlier to hold steady, but if your school’s already got them they’re a good option. Some of them have better
wide angle lenses and longer zooms than basic video cameras.
➢ Basic HD video cameras are a lot cheaper than they used to be. Some are better and more suitable for school
use than others (more reliable, better video quality, easier to use). Check out the reviews and try them out if
you can.
➢ If you’ve got a bigger budget – or if your Art department already has them – you could look at still cameras
with interchangeable lenses. A lot of these ‘digital SLRs’ and ‘mirror less cameras’ shoot excellent, film-like
HD video, though they are fiddly to use
Tripod
• You really need a way of keeping the camera still. It’s not just about stopping camera shake. Putting
the camera on a tripod makes students slow down and think about each shot, rather than ‘panning
and scanning’. Any tripod is probably better than nothing, but you really need a pan and tilt head. It
13
also needs to be fairly big and stable.
Sound recording
• The easiest option is to plan your film so it doesn’t need live sound.
• The camera’s built-in microphone might be OK if you can find a quiet space and get close to the
subject.
• If you’re serious about sound, you need a separate microphone (and a camera with microphone and
headphone sockets).
• A basic tie-clip or lavalier microphone is the cheapest way to get good sound for interviews and
presentations to camera.
• If your camera has a microphone socket and an accessory shoe, you could put a directional
microphone on it. Good ones are quite expensive.
• For recording drama the traditional way, you’ll need a separate microphone on a boom pole, plus a
student to hold it up in the air above the action.
• A furry windshield can make all the difference between usable and unusable sound if you’re filming
outdoors.
• You need headphones - recording sound without them is a bit like filming with your eyes shut.
• If you’re recording a voiceover into your computer, it’s worth getting a USB
14
Lighting
Film lighting is too much for most school situations. Lamps
can overheat, lights can dazzle students and cables can trip
them.
You could use desk lamps or high-powered torches.
Instead of a second ‘fill’ light for the shadows, use a
reflector: make your own (by gluing foil to a board) or get
a cheap 5 in 1 folding reflector.

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 5.FILM LAnGUAGe
The learner needs to understand how films work if they’re going to make good films.
They need to learn the language of film: how they can use pictures, sound and
editing to tell stories.

The camera
Shot size This is one of the basics. How big are things in the frame of the camera? You can use
different sized shots to show different things:
• to show places, use extreme long shots and very long shots.
• use long shots and mid shots to show people in the place.
• if you want to show people’s expressions or important details, use close ups and
extreme closeups.

When they get started, young filmmakers sometimes try to shoot everything with mid
shots or long shots, because they’re easy to film. If they learn to use a variety of
different shots – with more closeups – their films will have a lot more impact and be
better at telling the story.
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An extreme closeup shows just a small part of a
person or thing. Use it to show an important
detail.

A closeup shows part of the subject - their face, or maybe their head and shoulders.
It lets you imagine what they’re feeling.

A mid shot shows the top half of the body. You can see the face and what the
person is doing

17
A long shot shows someone from head to foot. You can see
the person in the setting

With an extreme long shot you’re too far away to recognise people. You can use it
at the start of the film to show the setting

Camera angle
Putting the camera in different places is important
to tell the story and make it interesting. Instead of
just shooting everything at eye level, the camera
can go above, below or behind the subject.

If you want to make a person or thing seem important or scary, use a low angle shot that
points the camera up at them

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A high angle shot looks down and make people look weaker.
Try putting these two together to show who’s the strongest
out of a pair of people.

A birdseye shot looks straight down at the scene or a thing

With a Dutch angle, everything in the scene is on a slant. You can use it to make things seem
odd, wacky or cool

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 You can use an over the shoulder shot to show two people
together. It’s quite handy to help the viewer understand
where the characters are in a drama scene or an interview

Conventions
These are special kinds of shot, or ways of shooting them, that help tell the story.
• A master shot – usually a long shot - shows a whole scene from start to finish. If you shoot a master shot
(as well as closeups, mid shots and so on) it can make editing a lot easier by giving you a shot you can go
back to if there’s any problem with any of the other shots.
• A two shot just has two people in it.
• Here’s a useful one: a reaction shot. It shows somebody’s expression. You can use it in a scary film to
build up tension before you show the scary thing. They’re also really useful in comedy.
• You can show what somebody’s seeing with a point of view shot. It’s often a walking or tracking shot.
• An insert shows a detail of a scene (like the text of a note someone’s reading).
• A cutaway shows something away from the main action, like pictures on the wall, other things in the
space, or the audience. They’re good for showing more about the setting, and like master shots they can
help with tricky editing by giving you something to ‘cut away’ to.
Shot-reverse shot
• Shooting in one direction, then in the other
(the reverse angle), is the way most dramas
are shot. It makes it easier for the audience
to understand the space, and it lets you
shoot two people facing each other using
closeups.

• To make this work, you need to follow the

180-degree rule. You should shoot all your
shots with the camera on one side of an
imaginary line between the two characters.
If you ‘cross the line’ viewers won’t be able
to make sense of the scene.

you don’t need two cameras for this: instead, shoot the scene several times with the camera in different
positions, then cut between the different positions when you edit the film. Learning how they can ‘fake’
reality like this is quite a revelation for young filmmakers.
 Camera movements
•To help your students learn filmmaking, you could start by banning camera movements.
That will make them learn to use separate shots instead of panning and zooming.

•Once they’ve got the idea, you could let them experiment with moving the camera. Here
are some key camera movements:
• Slow tracking shots are a cool way to explore a space or show what a character is seeing.
They look a lot better than zooms and most other camera movements. They’ve got to be
steady, so the camera needs to be on something like a wheelchair or skateboard. It can go
forwards (track in), backwards (track out), or sideways (crab).
• A tilt turns the camera vertically up or down. It’s useful for slowly revealing somebody or
something. The classic example is the shot that starts with someone’s feet and tilts up to
show how big or scary they are.
• With a pan, the camera turns left or right to scan a scene or follow a movement. It doesn’t
look great unless it’s really smooth and steady, which is tricky and takes practice.
• Using the camera handheld can make the action seem more real - but it’s more likely to
make the film unwatchable. Zoom the camera all the way out to make handheld camera
shake less obvious.
Zoom all the way out, or use a special adaptor, for wide angle
shots. These can make small spaces look bigger and make
camera angles look more dramatic.

Zoom in for a telephoto shot, which is like looking through a telescope - good
for showing details and cutting out distracting backgrounds, but hard to hold
steady.
 Light
Good light can make a big difference, but setting it up can be complicated. Try to film
where there is plenty of light, with the light above and behind you. Don’t think that
filming in a dark space will give you moody shots: they’ll just be flat and grainy rather than
dramatic.
• Flat light (light from a cloudy sky, or reflected off a white wall or ceiling) is much easier to
handle than contrasty light such as low sunlight.
• If you want dramatic low key lighting for a scary scene, try using a desk lamp or work
lamp to the side of the subject to give strong shadows.
Sound
Sound is crucial. Filmmakers should be thinking about it right from the start, rather than adding it as an
afterthought. Here are three kinds of sound they might want to use:
• Diegetic sounds like footsteps, waves or crowd noises seem ‘real’. They don’t have to be recorded live –
sound effects (added in editing) can sound better than the real thing.
• Music is usually non-diegetic - the audience knows it’s been added. There are lots of different ways to
use it: to tell us where and when the story is set, to set a mood, to tell us what kind of film it is, or to let
us know that something’s about to happen.
• Voiceovers should always be recorded separately. Don’t try recording them into the camera while you
film. A voiceover can tell the story from the point of view of an impartial narrator, or it can tell us what a
character is thinking.
Editing
• The main thing with editing is to get students to focus on telling the story, not on playing with effects
and transitions. If they put a lot of wipes and dissolves in a drama scene, it’ll just confuse people. If the
action is supposed to be continuous, the best way to show this is to use simple cuts.

• They should only use other transitions if they actually help people to understand the story.
• A dissolve – where one shot melts into the next – can show that part of a journey has been missed
out. You can also use dissolves in montage sequences that sum up stories or ideas.
• You can fade to black at end of a scene, or use a fade to black followed by a fade in to show that
time has passed.
They need to watch the pace when they edit. They
should judge this by watching their sequences as they
go on and seeing how they make them feel.
•Fast editing (which could get faster) can make
things exciting, and slow editing can make them
seem peaceful (or build tension).
•If nothing’s happening in the shot, it doesn’t need
to last more than a second or two.
If a shot flashes by really quickly it can be really
disrupting and confusing
6.MAKInG yoUR FILM – tHe PRocess
 There are three main stages towards making a film:

• Pre-production is the bit that happens before you start filming.

This is where you get ideas and work out how to make the film. If
you spend plenty of time on this stage, you can save hours or days
later on.
• Production is the actual filming part.
• Post-production is where you edit the film. together, add or edit
sound and titles, and get it ready to show to people.
 Filmmaking roles
• There are lots of different jobs at different stages of the filmmaking process. If there’s a big
enough team you should be able to find roles for everyone, and everyone should know what their
role is - even if you decide to rotate them.
• You could have a producer, who’s the driving force behind getting the film made, selling the idea
and making sure it gets shown.
• You can allocate creative jobs like writers, composers, set designers, makeup artists and prop
makers.
• The director is the person with the creative vision. Even if the group makes most of the creative
decisions together, you’ll probably need a director at the filming stage to keep things organised.
• When you’re filming, you can also have a first assistant director to check that all the shots get
filmed, pass the director’s instructions on to the crew and note down the good takes.
• You’ll definitely need a camera operator even if you have to rotate the role so everyone gets a go.
• If your film’s got live sound, you’ll need a sound recordist to check sound levels, hold microphones
and so on.
• A continuity person keeps notes to avoid distracting changes of costume and hairstyle from shot
to shot.
• Production assistants can do things like set things up, keep the set tidy and stop other people from
wandering onto the set.
• Once the filming is finished, you could have editing as a separate role - though everyone may
want to have some creative involvement.
 • Pre-production
• This is where you decide what your film is about, what the story is, and how you’re going to make it.
There are lots of different ways of planning. Which ones you use depends on what kind of film you’re
trying to make.

• For example, if you’re trying to imitate the style of a scary movie or a drama you’ve just watched, you
could make a list of all the different features of that genre: characters, typical scenes, typical settings,
music and so on.
• A mind map is a good way of getting lots of ideas about the film. You need to know what the main
things that will happen in the film are and from whose point of view it’s being told.
• Writing a short pitch or summary can help. You can include things like what genre of film it is? What’s
the story? What characters will it include? What will the visual style be?
• Scripts include the dialogue and descriptions of actions and settings. There’s a standard format for
laying out scripts, as in this example.
 include the dialogue and descriptions of actions and settings. There’s a standard format for
scripts, as in this example.

Scene 1
nt. Room
Ethan and Ivy are sitting on the bed talking to each other

Ethan
You Know I saw something strange on my way here today

Ivy
What was that?

Ethan
I saw Mary’s husband with another lady cosying up in a car

They did not notice that Mary is listening to their conversation

• A storyboard is really useful. It’s a visual plan of every shot in the film,
with descriptions. Don’t worry if it’s just stick figures, as long as you
can see which shots are which (e.g. which ones are closeups and which
ones are long shots). If the filmmakers really don’t like drawing they
could use digital still cameras instead. Make sure they realise that the
storyboard is a rough guide to help them plan, so they can change the
order of shots and add in extra ones.
• You don’t always need a storyboard – for example, you wouldn’t
storyboard every shot in a shot-reverse shot drama scene. And you
may not be able to plan every shot if you’re making a documentary: a
basic list of shots might be best.
• Getting the right locations is important. Before the group decides to
film somewhere, they need to visit it to check it out properly, what
filmmakers call a recce. They should find out whether they need
permission to film there and see if there’s enough space, what the
light is like and if there are likely to be any distractions.
• What costumes and props will they need? They should make a list
and make surethey can get all of them.
• Writing out a shot list as well as a storyboard is useful.
 • Production
• This is the actual filming process.

• Calling the shots

• Following a standard sequence will help keep things organized and make sure thateverybody knows
what they are doing.

• Each team should practice this several times until they know it by heart before they go on location. Try
this:
• The camera operator sets up the shot.
• When it’s ready, the Director calls out “Quiet please”.
• When everyone’s quiet, they call out “Roll camera”.
• The Camera Operator starts the camera. When they’re sure it’s recording they call out “Camera rolling”.
• Now the Director waits five seconds before calling “Action” or giving a visual signal.
• The actors or presenter do their part. The Director waits five seconds at the end of the scene before saying
“Cut”.
• The camera operator stops the camera.
• The Director makes a note of whether the take was good or not. See, think, make.
 Filming
•The camera operator should follow the 180-degree rule, keeping the camera on one side of an imaginary line
so that the shots will join together when they edit the film.
•If you’ve only got one camera and you’re filming a dialogue scene shot reverse shot, that’s no problem. Shoot
the scene several times with different framing and camera positions, then alternate between them when you
edit the film.

They should make sure they don’t shoot into the light and try to avoid mixing different kinds of light.
Sound recording
• If the film uses live sound, they should stop for a few seconds and get everyone to be quiet and listen,
in case there are sounds like buzzing lights or traffic which will affect the shot.
• Microphones on booms need to be held over the actors, as low as possible without appearing in the
shot. This is really tiring so you need to make sure the sound operator takes a break between takes.
The easiest way to hold it is above the head, with hands spread wider than shoulder width. Watch that
the boom doesn’t drop into the shot as they get tired !
• If the camera has a headphone socket, plug headphones in and use them.
• If you can adjust the sound levels, you should. This usually gives better sound than using automatic
levels.
• If the sound is too quiet, you’ll get hiss when you make it louder in the editing program. If it’s too
loud, you’ll get nasty distortion.
• Try a few lines of dialogue and watch the sound level meter. It’s OK if the levels go into the orange bit
but they should never go into the red.
• Make sure the actors leave pauses between their lines and don’t talk over each other.
• It’s a good idea to record half a minute or so of silence. This room tone can be really useful for
patching up gaps in the sound at the editing stage.
• It’s a good idea to play back a test recording to check whether the sound is OK. (But if you’re using
tape cameras, make sure you don’t rewind and record over stuff you’ve already filmed.)
 • Post-production
• This is where all those separate bits of video come together to make a film.

• The editing process

• If there isn’t too much video, it’s easiest to import it all into the computer and then choose which bits to
use.
• If there’s loads, it’s worth logging it: going through (with the help of the first assistant director’s notes
and the shot list) to choose what to import. This can save a lot of time.
• Put the shots in order on the timeline and see if the story makes sense. Can it be improved by adding,
removing or repeating shots?
• Now trim the clips so that you just have the important part of each clip.
• The editing team need to keep checking how the shots work together in sequence, rather than just
looking at one shot at a time.
• Effects and titles
• Some young editors love adding effects and transitions like dissolves or fades, Butit’s really important
that these things make sense. Gimmicky effects can just confuse things.
• Useful effects: things like black and white or sepia (to show something’s in the past or in somebody’s
imagination)
• Useful transitions: dissolves or fades (to show the passage of time).
• They can add opening titles, subtitles, intertitles between scenes, and credits at the end.
 SOUND
The filmmakers need to allow enough time to sort the sound out: adding
effects,
. music and voiceover, and adjusting the sound levels.
If they get this right it can make a massive difference to their film.
•Don’t let them use copyright music if you want to show the film in public
or put it online.
•The editing programme will probably have free loops and effects you
can use. If your score is complicated, you could use a separate music
programme to make it.
•They could start with a soundtrack or voiceover, put markers on the
timeline (or just fit to the waveform of the sound) and edit their shots to
fit. This is great for making music videos where the edits match the beat,
or documentaries where the video matches what the presenter is talking
about.

Sharing the film

• Don’t just leave the finished film as a project file in the editing programme. If you want to show it, you need
to export or share it. That way, you’ll have a version that you can use on other computers or put online.
• It’s a good idea to export one version in the highest quality possible, and then to make smaller versions to
put on the school website or a video sharing site. You could also make a DVD.
 7. GettInG yoUR FILM seen:
coMPetItIons AnD FILM FestIVALs

• Before you think about sharing a film, check that

• it’s in the right format
• you’ve got parental permission
• there are no child protection issues
• the film doesn’t include copyright music or images

• Here are some ideas for where to show a film:

• Screen it at an assembly or parents’ evening
• Show it before a film club screening
• Put it on the school website
• Upload it to a video streaming site (check that the site doesn’t include unsuitable material or links)
• Enter it in local, national or international film festivals or competitions
THANK YOU
⁠🙏⁠