Short Film Making Workshop

Reported by ELC

      The Short Film Making workshop which was held on April 9th, 2016 received an encouraging response from about forty students from both the senior and junior levels. It was held at the Convergence Access and Computer Lab 2 at the Science and Technology Tower.

      The 4-hour workshop was designed to provide students with a foundation in filmmaking. It gives students practical experience in key areas such as video shooting techniques, editing skills, audio inserting and credits and finally producing a quality video. It is believed that by providing students with this necessary information, it will help them in the production of their own short films. This will be helpful if students want to particip
ate in the internal Short Film Making competition in September. In the internal competition, students are required to cover the essential craft areas of screenwriting, use of camera and sound, casting and directing actors, editing and script development.

      It was indeed a great pleasure to have our very own ex-Hin Huarians, Mr Yenz Lee and Mr Joe Siow who are very experienced and knowledgeable in this field. Mr Yenz Lee has worked as a Production Assistant, Project Leader, Director and Editor for a production company during his internship. While, Mr Joe Siow is an experienced photographer and videographer for special events. He also has experience working as a Production Assistant. These two talented gentlemen shared their experiences in film editing during the workshop. The participants not only enjoyed the workshop, but also actively took part in the activities held that day.

      After going through the three stages of productions thoroughly, there was a question and answer session. A few participants were keen to know more about the software used in editing films. They were advised to use Adobe Premiere Pro for future editing works. In fact, the compu-ters at the computer lab (2) at the 5th floor of the Science & Technology Tower have already been installed with this programme. Therefore, it is very convenient for students who want to edit footages and sounds for future projects.

      The participants were given an assignment that was to produce a 3-minute short film. In groups, they had to brainstorm to complete the task. The process included scriptwriting, deciding on the setting and actors, and title for the short film. They were given exactly an hour to complete the task.

      The trainers supervised and guided the participants during the practical shooting of scenes around the school area. During the final part of the workshop, participants learnt how editing further developed a story through pace and point of view. Developing an understanding of the creative interconnection between the shooting and editing stages underpinned this workshop.

      At the end of the workshop, all the participants were quite satisfied with their masterpieces. They also received a certificate of participation.

Ngiam Tse Xuan (S3 Manchester)

    This workshop was very useful. I had limited experience in film-making before attending this workshop. That was why I decided to attend it and learn some techniques. The trainers were very helpful too. The workshop was well planned. I would suggest having more workshops in future to teach other techniques in film-making.