Become The Family's Film Star

Ready to be a screen star?

Maybe you've jumped off the treadmill of non-stop work and have a little more time on your hands. Looking for a new activity to prove to everyone that you are still very much alive and kicking?

Then why not dig out that video camera that you never quite got around to reading the instructions for and discover the Cecil B. DeMille lurking inside of you?

Rope in your grand children to play starring roles in a video project of your choosing and your whole family could soon be sashaying down the red carpet to your very own movie premiere. OK it might just be the red carpet in the living room, though there's no reason not to get ambitious here.

At worst you'll have a piece of family fun on film that will be horrifying/amusing future generations of the family for many years to come and if all goes well you can upload your short movie on to U Tube and have a world-wide audience for your work.

If you haven't got a video camera yet, there are loads for sale on the internet at ever decreasing prices. But don't get yourself so totally tangled up in the advanced technical attributes of this and that camera that you end up totally confused and end up chucking in the towel before you even begin.

Any film maker will tell you that the story you have to tell, whether factual or fiction, is far more important than the make or model of the camera you will be using.

CAMERA EQUIPMENT

Start off with a simple camera which has automatic settings, but also the options of manual white balance, manual focus, sound and exposure controls.

A tripod is a really good idea too - unless you have muscles like Sylvester Stallone and the balancing capability of Nadia Comãneci (remember her?) you will definitely end up with camera wobble...not a nice condition to have.

Invest in a clip microphone - handy for interviews inside and fairly close to the camera. This is attached by a wire to the camera, so entails whipping up jumpers to feed the cable out of shot.

You'll need radio mics if you are filming people talking a fair distance from the camera, the internal mic isn't strong enough to pick up sound and the radio mics will result in less outside interference from cars etc passing by.

A little insider tip - learn this word - WAFFLE. A very handy ditty to recall when you first set up your new camera and then secondly go in to blind panic, realising that you can't remember what to do next.

W IS FOR WHITE BALANCE

Somewhere on you camera you will see a button with the words "white balance" alongside. Get a friendly grandchild to hold a piece of white paper at the spot you are about to film and then press the white balance button and the camera will adjust to the lighting conditions there. Repeat the process at each new location.

A IS FOR AUDIO

Again, there will be an audio wheel on the camera, under a monitor showing the sound levels. If you are conducting an interview, for example, get the interviewee to speak normally and move the wheel until the sound is about three quarters along the sound monitor, no higher.

F IS FOR FOCUS

Leave this at the auto setting when you are just getting started.

F IS FOR FRAMING

Check the framing of your shot... ensuring that passersby are not pulling faces and waving for example, or that your star performer doesn't end up in a spot that makes him look as though a tree is growing out of his head.

L IS FOR LEGS

The camera tripod will be adjustable with each leg locking separately. Ensure that the legs are locked in to place to avoid the embarrassment of your picture suddenly slipping out of view and you feeling a complete wally.

E IS FOR EXPOSURE

Again, leave this on auto until you've got better acquainted with your camera and the film making process.

HOW TO FILM

Until you've had lots of experience of film making it's best to leave the zoom and various trick shot options well alone. The best way to cover a scene is to shoot a wide shot of the action first and then an assortment of other shots at close up and medium range, with cutaway shots of other relevant subjects, such as photographs, objects, even hands or eyes. This will make editing much easier.

WHAT TO FILM

The absolute worst thing you can do is hand someone a page full of words and then point the camera at them and expect all to turn out well. There are different techniques, of course, for factual and drama productions, but all productions start off with the script. The point of the script is to separate the work in to manageable segments, or scenes. There are lots of different ways of laying out scripts for professional productions and even then, script layout can vary from production to production. Don't start worrying about this side of things, or you will get into a tangle with your own film.

I'm going to give you a very basic outline of script layouts so that you can get through your first production without stress. Quite simply, your script should be segmented from start to finish in chunks. Here are two examples of scenes within scripts. These both happen to be TV. One drama, one factual.

DRAMA

SC10 EXT. CINEMA TICKET OFFICE DAY1 12.30AM SARAH ADAM

SARAH WAITS WHILST ADAM IS AT THE TICKET OFFICE. HE APPROACHES, EMBARRASED.

ADAM No special needs spaces left. Didn't book in advance. Welcome to the wacky world of wheelchairs.

SARAH Don't like any of those films anyway. Come on, I'll show you some really good pictures.

CUT TO:

-----------------

FACTUAL

SC. 3 LOCATION ABBEY STREET ARDENS HOUSE

CHARLES EVANS

PT CAM (Piece to camera)

Guessed yet? Well today I'm in Faversham, the Market Town of Kings.

REGAL MUSIC COVERING PICS OF THE COATS OF ARMS IN GUILDHALL CUT TO:

The examples above are from two real TV series and as you can see, the scenes are short and snappy. Even feature films rarely run to more than one page of script which averages out to 60 seconds on screen.

So build your story in advance of filming, scene by scene, deciding the location and characters in each scene until your story is finished. Simple!

Sometimes in factual productions, you can't be absolutely sure what you are going to get or what real people will say on any particular day. But not to worry. Just sketch out your script, listing key filming spots and questions you already have in mind and then update your script once you've finished filming the sequences.

In professional TV and film productions, setting up locations and moving from one place to another, is one of the most expensive parts of the process, so scenes are filmed out of sequence, in groups, according to where those scenes are located, with all scenes located in the same place being filmed together.

If you choose to shoot your own film this way, be aware of continuity, especially if you are shooting a drama - all characters must be in the same clothes and props, hair and make up must be the same as the scenes before and after - even if you've shot the scenes weeks apart. That's why drama scripts have the time of day printed on the top of each scene and employ an army of staff to ensure that everything in shot matches up.

For a newcomer to filming a short drama, you may find it simpler to follow the scenes in the order that they appear in your script.

So what are you waiting for? Get stencilling your name on the back of one of your deck chairs and leap in to action!