How to teach film making to a teenager?
I’ve been asked to teach a one time, one hour high school class on the fundamentals/elements of film making. What aspects of film making would be most exciting for them and with no film making gear how would one go about teaching it?
I’m thinking that I could give them a crash course in the elements of film theory – screen 5-10 min of say “Psycho” and talk about each shot and how it imparts meaning through what’s in the frame (mise-en-scene). Then maybe hand out 3-4 pages of a film script that hopefully they don’t know like “Blade Runner?” and collectively come up with a shot list for this script. Then view the film of that script part and discuss the differences of our shooting script and what the director actually did. Does this sound like anything a teenager who has already shown interest in the field of drama and film be remotely interested in? I don’t want to bore them (there could be up to 20 students). Any thoughts on what else I could do? Maybe my film choices need updating? Maybe my approach sucks? I’ve never taught before but I’ve taken many film courses and have worked in the film industry for a number of years – I realize this does not necessarily qualify me for the job but I have been asked and I do want to help as best I can. Thanks hive mind.
eyje answers,answers
ANSWERS: