RUNNING HEAD: Filmmaking

Filmmaking: An Introduction
Komal Patel
Kathy Milhauser
Post University

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Introduction
Every year thousands of films are released (Follows, 2015) and watched worldwide.
Many people have their own creative dreams and want to create and share their own movies as
well. With the right skills and foundation of knowledge a filmmaker can achieve this quite easily,
technology is now on their side bringing all the tools needed into their own homes and pockets.
Topic
Everyday filmmaking has become easier than ever with smartphones and GoPros, but the
true art of filmmaking has not been lost, many modern-day filmmakers go to great lengths to
ensure their movie is perfect with or without the use of CGI (computer generated imagery).
Christopher Nolan is one such director, he tries to film his movies using real sets and minimal
computer graphics (Ashley, n.d.). In addition to keep true to the art of filmmaking in general,
picking the right genre to work with is very important for all filmmakers, actors, set designers
and anyone else involved. There easily a hundred genres and subgenres used all over the world,
each with their own unique elements to draw in viewers. Being aware of the necessity of
engaging with the theorisation of genre that includes productions outside mainstream American
cinema (Caoduro & Carroll, 2016) is important to new filmmakers so they stay open minded to
all the ways they can bring creations to life.
Audience
Filmmakers can come from many different experiences and backgrounds. Some could
have been making home movies since they were children, or started exploring how to do it when
theyre in their 40s. Regardless of when the interest starts the more one can learn about their
subject of passion the better. Many basic skills for careers begin at the high school level, be it
with math and business classes, high school biology for doctors and scientists, or a filmmaking

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class for future directors. High school students would be an ideal age to being learning good
groundwork for filmmaking. High school students have access to outdoor and indoor sets with
schools and their own homes, as well as an abundance of actors, designers and musicians with
their classmates. Being in a school environment also means students, typically, do not need to
pay for the equipment needed, as it is provided for them.
Rationale
Students need to learn not only the basics of filmmaking, such as how to use a camera,
blocking shots properly, and the importance of lighting, but they also need to learn about the
different ways to tell a story. By exploring the many genres available from around the world a
future filmmaker can learn which genre or method may be best to tell the story they either write
or are given to put on screen. Elements from multiple genres may even be used, films like The
Mummy uses action, fantasy, romance and comedy to tell its tale (Sommers, 1997). By learning
about the use of different genres a filmmaker can become more well-rounded, or find their niche,
even while early in their careers. Before a film is the motion picture that is typically thought of, it
can come in many different forms to represent its elements. The film could be a story board, set
designs, set locations, costumes designs, or perhaps a trailer showing one scene that could be
used to pitch the movie. Exploring aspects such as set design and set scouting is important for
budding directors to learn how to dress their set for the genre, and to better understand the
importance of the style of movie that is being made. It is not often that the script writer is the
director, or vice versa, by understanding how the genres can end up looking on screen, can help
writers write for directors, and for directors to portray the writing in a way that brings it justice.
Subtopics
Genres

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There can be many subtopics within the giant umbrella of filmmaking, some of which
have been discussed already. By constraining where a creator can go or what they can do can
alter the final production. Giving open ended guidelines to follow and deadlines that must be
reached can help hone the efforts and ensure the final products gets finished. For filmmaking
some topics to explore in a semester of a course could be to research top genres in global film
industries, scouting film locations, create sets for specific genres, followed by filming a scene to
incorporate what has been learned thus far. What this would do is help the students to take their
vision, apply research and create a script which can be used as an end of unit project, midterm or
final. The students would be assessed on the research conducted to find different genres and
ensuring the information is credible. Being able to create a virtual set for a genre that was
researched and favoured, it could be recreating a set from a movie, or envisioning their own
creation. Students can then scout a location in their own town, or neighborhoods that could be
used for shooting a scene in the selected genre, and finally needing to shoot a scene, with given
cameras that can depict their understanding of what was learned over the semester.
Location Scouting
Scouting a location for a film can be important, once the script has been set, the and
genre identified the filmmaker needs to find the locations for all the scenes. Certain styles of
movies can even be done in one room or setting. The location for each scene is as important the
movie to the what is occurring in the scene. Without the right location, a horror movie would not
have the frightening element to it, and a comedy movie may not make sense. Filmmakers will
need to be very considerate while choosing what types of places to place their movie scenes.
Students in filmmaking will need to scout and photograph a minimum of two locations
where their selected genre can placed create a presentation as to why it would be the ideal set

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location. By creating either presentation with the photos taken for each selected location it will
allow the students to visualize the set and ensure the selected genre will fit as the presentation is
completed. It is important to continually utilize the different aspects of film when completing the
mini-activities as it will solidify the idea of visual art. Using photos and putting them into a
cohesive presentation it will be like a stop motion version of the scenes the students will need to
complete at the end of the semester. During the presentation, it is important to hold the learners
attention Frazel describes storytelling as a process that blends media to enrich and enhance the
written or spoken word (p.9) in a film class the students are already expecting material to be
visual, and being an elective film class students should love not only putting together
presentations but showing it off.
Set Blocking
When an artist has a vision, the best way to showcase the idea is to display it in some
way. For musicians it is playing the music, but there are steps they have to do first like picking
the instruments and writing the score. For filmmakers the final way is having the movie
completed to show people. The preceding steps are to write the script, pick the actors, pick the
set, design the set, pick costumes, pick the equipment to use, plus many other things. The next
step for these budding filmmakers is to create a set design.
By creating a scale model of a final set, or even a portion of the set it gives a mock work
to try different options. The virtual model provides a physical representation of the idea, which
assist with how the scene can be set up and where everything needs to be for when filming
occurs. This can help ensure everything is thought of before the film or scene goes into
production and eliminates many mistakes that could otherwise have occurred. The other thing
that can be accomplished is that be recreating the space, you can get a sense of how it should be

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decorated. Taking the genre that was decided upon a living room type environment can be
lightened up brightly for romantic movies, darkened for horror, and all those thoughts can be
modelled to ensure the right look is achieved before going into the real world space.
Filming
Filmmaking is a laborious process that has been simply introduced to students in this
unit. They are learning some of the basics that go into filmmaking, and the importance of these
elements will aid them as they progress further to other courses. To cap the first half of the
introductory course, students will finally be able to film a scene in the genre and location that
they have selected. While some students may have opted to use a location that is not local to
them, this unit presented some 3D immersive technology as well as mobile technology that can
be utilized to create their scenes. For those students who have local sets to film in they should be
able to utilize their mobile devices to film a scene, and even edit it using freeware apps if
desired. The idea behind this subtopic is to take a scene from a movie in their selected genre and
recreate it word for word, but not necessarily in the exact location that the original used. Students
using a remote location, should either utilize a 3D immersive program to recreate the scene after
building character, or can film locally as their classmates are doing. This can also be done by
those who are using the local sets as well.
By actually filming something that they have been studying this entire time, it will
provide perspective that all these smaller activities come together to make their final project.
While in the realm of filmmaking there are a lot more elements to consider and get done, this
will be a great first step and introduction to the art form.
The importance of being able to film and produce on mobile technology is that mobile
technology is improving at a very rapid rate, cell phone cameras now have greater ability that

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most point-and-shoot cameras, and some even producing very high quality photos similar to
professional grade cameras. By using either the mobile technology available or the 3D
immersive technology explored students will be able to bring their vision to life. Teaching this
technology to students will allow them to be able to explore all the different ways that films
could be made. There is animation, 3D modeling, straight filming, and it is important that they
know these options are out there and available to use. They should also be aware that some of
them are easier to use than others, and the effort put in, will show on the final product.
Objectives
Using the ABCD, or CABD model as described by The eLearning Girls video, 2014,
students will have different goals to complete in the overall objective of location scouting.
Learning objectives or learning outcomes are Learning outcomes evolve from defined goals
(Larson, 2014 p. 151).
Students, after completing the mind mapping will be able to identify popular genres.
Students will also be able to identify popular genres in foreign countries. Students will also be
able to select a genre to work with on remaining projects for this unit.
After taking pictures of the set location students will be able to find other set locations
with 90% accuracy. After creating a presentation for the set photographs, the students will be
able to create additional set proposal presentations with 90% accuracy. After completing the
learning activity for location scouting students will be able to utilize google maps/earth to scout
locations with 90% accuracy. Once students have completed these learning goals, they will have
accomplished the learning objective to be able to successfully scout and propose locations for the
current and any future film projects. At the time of this learning activity students are only

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expected a 90% accuracy and can be repeatedly tested, with the goal to get students to 100%
accuracy for each goal.
After utilizing a 3D modeling software program of their choosing the students will be
able to recreate at least 1 room or outdoor space for their film with 80% accuracy. After creating
a scale model of the set space the students will be able to create a visual representation of their
set idea with 100% accuracy. After creating the set model students will able to block the scene at
that location. This completed for 60% of the scene. By being able to complete these objectives
the students will be able to create additional set designs if they require more than one location, as
well as, can block and lay out any other projects they have.
While completing the filming activity, the students will be able to demonstrate what they
have learned about location for their specific genre. While completing the filming activity,
students will be able to showcase the preparation work they have conducted in the past weeks.
After completing the filming activity students will able to create their own scene for their
selected genre and return to this location to film it. Students must be able to stay within in their
selected genre and on their chosen or preapproved locations, these tasks must be completed with
at least 90% accuracy. The filming portion and how the scene gets blocked out, has creative
freedom that will not be measured, it needs to be completed by the due date.
Conclusion
By completing these learning objectives, the students from this introductory filmmaking
course will have learned about popular genres worldwide, how to scout a location, and block and
set, and finally how that preparation lends itself to the final step of filming. While there is still a
lot more that needs to be accomplished for a full scale production as we see in Hollywood or on

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TV, this is a good foundation for students to learn basics and continue to build upon, should they
choose to.

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References
Ashley, K. (N.d.) Christopher Nolan Shows How He Filmed Interstellar Without Using Green
Screen. Retrieved from
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Christopher-Nolan-Shows-How-He-Filmed-Interst
ellar-Using-Green-Screen-68932.html
Caoduro, E., & Carroll, B. (2016). Introduction: Rethinking Genre Beyond Hollywood.
Frames Cinema Journal. Retrieved from
http://framescinemajournal.com/article/introduction-rethinking-genre-beyond-hollywood/
Follows, S. (2015, October 5). How many films are made around the world?. Retrieved from
https://stephenfollows.com/how-many-films-are-made-around-the-world/
Frazel, M. (2010). Digital Storytelling Guide for Educators. Eugene, Or: International Society
for Technology in Education [ISTE].
Larson, M. B. (2014). Streamlined ID : A Practical Guide to Instructional Design. New York:
Routledge.
Page, Edwin (2006): Gothic Fantasy: The Films of Tim Burton. Marion Boyars Publishers,
London, ISBN 0-7145-3132-4
Sommers, S. (Director). (1997, May 7). The Mummy [Motion Picture]. United States: Universal
Pictures.
The eLearning Girls. (2015, June 5). VideoScribe Writing Learning Objectives. [Video].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXxTpDglthI.

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APPENDIX A
Project 1 Learning Activity: Mind mapping
Using the mind mapping freeware that was discussed in class create a mind map for at least 3
countries, with 3 different popular genres for each. From this information, you will select a genre
to base the remaining projects in this course on.

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APPENDIX B
Project 2 Learning Activity: Scouting Locations
For this learning activity, students will take the genre selected from the mind-map in the previous
unit and scout a set location, and create a presentation for the class on the location and why it
was chosen. Include elements from all the steps below into the presentation.

1 . Identify the genre being used. (Horror, comedy, science fiction etc.)
2. Using google maps/earth, your own neighborhood, or public areas in the town find an

appropriate location for the selected genre to place scenes at or in.

3. Once the location has been found take a minimum of 4 different photos at the location for

the presentation.
4. Using powerpoint, prezi, powtoon, animoto, or a presentation tool of your own choosing

create a presentation explaining your genre, why that location was chosen, how and why
you chose that method of scouting.
5. Submit your presentation by Wednesday by e-mail
6. Be ready to show your presentation on Friday in class, if your presentation does not

include narration, come prepared to narrate live.

Completed Activity: http://prezi.com/rwx8morqyrnx/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

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APPENDIX C
Project 3 Learning Activity: Set Design/Blocking
For this assignment you will choose one of the programs demoed in class and create a virtual set
design.
Taking the location scouted in the last assignment recreate the area here, and add the
different elements of your film. This can be where the camera will be, chairs, tables, wildlife,
where the sun should be if outside, elements like that, set the area up for the scene. If people will
be moving and walking around, make sure there is room for that and the camera to not be seen.
7. Identify the genre. (Use the same one from the last two assignments)
8. Pick a 3D modeling program (Unity, Google SketchUp, The Sims 3 or 4)
9. Create the location that was scouted in the last assignment. If you picked a new location
use that.
10.

Place at minimum 3 objects in the space plus the camera. (4 objects total)

11.

Label your added objects. Either on the image, or in an attached document.

12.

Submit the screenshot, or export the file and submit it me by the Friday at

midnight.
The attached examples are done in the Sims 3 for a horror movie setting.

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1.

bench, blonde character is sitting on

2. rock for the male character to sit on and fish in lake

3. fish in the lake
4. horse/wildlife.
5. Camera (represented by a telescope)

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1.

Dinner table

2. Chairs
3. Sofa
4. oven
5. fridge
6. lamps
7. smoke detector (the bright camera flare)
8.

camera (represented by telescope)

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APPENDIX D
Learning Activity
For this learning activity you will be filming. Use the scene that was selected during class,
and film on your location (if possible).
1. Using the previously scouted and blocked location, use a mobile device, or a 3D
immersive program to film a scene.
1. Those who used a non-local location can opt to film locally on this
assignment, please make note with the assignment that you are doing so.
2. The scene filmed should be the approved scene from your genre, that we went over
in class this week.
3. Use one of the editing apps discussed in class if filming on a mobile device.
1. Those using the 3D programs should be able to create a linear scene in one
take
4. Upload the file to the class share drive and submit an email with the link to your
assignment by next Friday 12/23.
To see a sample of how to create a 3D immersive program to make film, please see this
example: https://youtu.be/tQo6oxedY9E