Film Camp
A couple of weeks ago, I participated in a week-long virtual film camp as a way to explore all that I can do with using iMovie to create short films! We would either start or continue a project each day, and it definitely kept me busy!
Our first assignment was to take a bunch of different photos that represents a topic/idea or tells a narrative. That night, my family and I were traveling back from our apartment in the city to our lake house, so I thought it would be a perfect idea to create a collection of images that would show us getting ready to leave. Below you can see the images that my mom and I took (plus a black and white filter to make it even more interesting!)
Our next project was to piece together raw footage to create approximately a 4 minute short horror-comedy film. The camp provided us with about 2 and a half hours of raw footage that was not in any specific order and wasn’t really organized in any specific way. We also originally had zero context on what this movie was or was supposed to be about. So, as you can imagine, it was pretty difficult at first. I had to watch some of the raw footage and figure out what order the footage should be in, and all of the different angles I wanted to incorporate into each scene. It was especially tricky when the dialogue between different angles didn’t match up perfectly, which was when I really had to play around with the audio to make the cuts as smooth as can be. At the end, I added some music and sound effects to make the movie more engaging and interesting to watch. This was the first time I worked with a “professionally” filmed movie. There was sometimes a director talking in the background (which of course, I had to cut out), and you could even see some bloopers in certain clips of the raw footage. Overall, this was a very fun experience and while it may have been a bit harder than I originally anticipated, I enjoyed the challenge! This film is called “Stranger at the Door.” While you’re watching it, notice any angle changes/cuts, or any sound effects or music you may hear. That was all me!
And… you’ve guessed it! Our final project was to shoot a film of our own and edit it! This required lots of brainstorming, which was probably the hardest part. I knew that I had to create a film with no more than 3 characters considering that there are 3 people in my family including me, so I wanted my film to be very minimalistic while still being intriguing. I was able to narrow it down to the genres of horror or thriller since there are many stories you could create in these genres with a small cast. I thought back to when I played a horror game on Roblox, and there was a creepy phrase written in blood on the TV (I can’t recall the exact words, but it was definitely something suspenseful). With this inspiration, I was able to craft a basic idea of what I wanted my movie to be about. I don’t want to spoil it, so I will leave it at that. After this, I created a script (for the little dialogue there would be), and a list of all the different angles I wanted to shoot and incorporate into each scene. I think that when editing a film that you have created, it is much easier to start off since you really have an idea of what you’re looking for and already know your way around the raw footage. I put all of my clips together on iMovie, cut out anything I didn’t want included, incorporated different angles for each scene, and added sound effects and music to escalate the tension and suspense. After filming and putting everything together on iMovie, I created a really cool short film. I hope you enjoy!
I really enjoyed film camp, and I was able to explore iMovie and learn new ways to film and edit! I hope you enjoyed watching the short films I shot and/or edited.
