Title The Lad
Duration 10 mins
Type live action drama
Production Skamm
Skamm (Scottish Kids are Making Movies) is an organisation based in Edinburgh at the Filmhouse which recruits young people aged between 13-17 for film skills training
A week long shoot with approx 10 young people aged 13 - 17 during the Easter break. The group was made up of young people from all parts of Edinburgh who simply wanted to learn about film making. The script was developed in workshops run once a week over 6 weeks during term time on Saturday mornings. More than one script was written on the understanding that only one would be chosen for filming. The workshops took them from idea, to a 1 page outline of the story to a script and a second draft of the script. Writing was done at home in their own time, the workshops were to review the work done.
We had an open casting call advertised through drama and English departments in schools across Edinburgh. For the audition they had to try a key scene from the script.
Once actors were chosen and dates agreed upon the crew had two weekend workshops in camera and sound. During these weekends we also planned locations for filming and delegated responsibility for finding props and any other bits and pieces needed to make the project work. The students assumed a lot of responsibility for organising the shoot and really devloped quickly from a group who barely knew each other, to a well organised crew with a common focus.
The crew said which roles they were most interested in and where possible were given at least one day doing that role. They also had to indicate 2nd and 3rd choice jobs and these were divided up into a rota. So over a 3 day shoot a person may be director on day one, sound recordist on day two and the continuity person on day three. The benefit of this system was that everyone got a shot at their preferred job but also learned to appreciate the skills needed for what they may have thought of as boring or unimportant roles. By the end of the shoot they really understood how much filming is truly a team effort.
The key lesson from this case study really is the importance of good film project planning and development work produces an effective learning process and film product.
All of the crew and actors were given a schedule of filming, maps and addresses of locations and a list of busses there. They were all responsible for their own transport and all were on time every day. We started at 9am and aimed to finish between 5 and 6pm, with an hour lunch break. Lunch was usually sandwiches ordered and picked up from a local shop. We were lucky with weather and were able to have a picnic on the days of exterior filming. Other wise we would have had to find cafes or use locations closer to our office base.
Adult staff during the shoot were: A camera/sound person who oversaw the young people in these posts and kept them on the right track, also maintained the kit. A Props/Costume person who made sure locations looked right and the correct costumes were being worn. Production person - coordinated all the schedule and travel info, consent forms, money for lunches etc. A producer - responsible for everything else including hiring the kit, raising money for the project, advertising the course,finding locations, and making sure the film got finished and went to film festivals, organising the cast and crew screening and getting a copy of the film for all involved
Editing was a group effort to start with, but we then handed over to a professional editor who did a couple of weekend workshops to explain how and why and how he changed the work they had done. We finished with a sound dubbing workshop, again on a weekend, when the dubbing mixer explained his job and then showed what he had done with their film. The young people were able to try differnet music and effects over their film to understand how the sound and music affected the pace of their drama. This workshop was one the group least looked forward to, but by the time it was over they were VERY enthusiastic about the subject. The sound and music had given their film a final polish and they loved the result.
This was a great project for all concerned because not only did the kids make a good film they also took seriously their jobs and responsibilities and worked incredibly hard every day without complaint. They were taught by professionals from the film industry who made sure they undrestood the discipline of working as a team as well as how to use the equipment.
A week seemed to be a good length for the shoot, everyone had a chance to do the jobs they wanted and it gave us a realistic amount of time to shoot the drama which was about 10 script pages. The young people were especially pleased that their film looked like TV , which it sort of did (!) mainly because they had the time to do storyboards and plan the shots they wanted. If you have the time for a project to be about the product as well as the process, this style of project, ie properly planned and developed, can be very satisfying.