Shanghai Student Film Festival

Making a movie can be hard or easy, depending upon how much work you’d like to put into it.  Below, we offer recommendations regarding how to get a film done in time for the film festival deadlines.  Remember that this is just a recommendation!  Everyone works in different ways!  You might be able to write, film, and edit an award-winning film in a DAY!  Trust us, some people do!  OR, it could take you much longer and you may be working right up until the last minute.  Either way, we’re offering this timeline to help you get your work done.  Take it or leave it, but trust us…THIS IS GOOD ADVICE!

JANUARY

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! There are a million ways to plan your movie (or not plan your movie, depending on what kind of person you are!).  We would recommend writing some kind of movie script (remember, in proper screenplay format, one page of script equals one minute of footage), then storyboarding your footage.  What are storyboards?  Imagine your script in comic-book form.  That’s it.  When you plan your film, it makes both the filming and editing process a LOT easier.

FEBRUARY

FILM YOUR MOVIE! Get out on the street!  Set up your elaborate special effects!  Coax amazing performances out of your actors (even if they are your annoying brother or sister)!  You should use the month of February to put your vision up on the screen1  It’s entirely up to you how you want to film.  Maybe you’ll be making your movie up on the spot!  Maybe you’ll want your film to be an exact recreation of your storyboards!  Maybe you’ll just turn on the camera to see what happens!  It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re out there, MAKING FILMS!  Just get out and see what happens!

LAST WEEK OF FEBRUARY

CAPTURING!  We’d highly recommend that you spend this time capturing your footage.  This means you should find some way to get the footage from your camera onto the computer.  This should be fairly easy, but in case you have difficulty, you can use this time to ask your teacher for help.  Once your footage is into the computer, then you can begin the editing process for your movie!

MARCH 1-13

EDITING! Now is the fun part!  This is when you should take all of your footage and begin to put it together in some coherent form.  By giving yourself two weeks for editing, there is plenty of time to figure out what, exactly, you need to add or subtract from your movie.  Use your storyboards, your script, and your own sheer and utter brilliance to make the movie that you want to make!  YOU ARE A GENIUS!  SHOW US!

MARCH 13

You should have a decent copy of your film by now.  Basically, it should be a finished copy of your film, ready for tweaking in various ways.  The main part of your story should be complete and most of the sound FX and music should be added to your film.

MARCH 13-19

This week should be used to look over your cut and fix any errors that you might have made.  Look for things that would need to be fixed.  Can you trim a few things here or there?  How can you make your film tighter?  Are your sound effects in the proper place and synchronized?  You should use this week to tweak the things that will make your film that much better!

MARCH 20

Prepare your movie in the proper format.  This gives you plenty of time to fix any errors and to ensure that your movie is exported properly and in the proper format.

MARCH 23

TURN YOUR FILM IN TO THE FESTIVAL!

APRIL 23

Come and join us at Shanghai Community International School for the official festival at 6:30 PM.