So I recently started a filmmaking club at my high school to get people who feel the same about it as me. The first meeting was way more successful then I would have ever guessed and 30 people showed up. I had a whole plan for about 8 people but I don't know how to start out with a 30 person group. So what I'm asking is have any of you guys ever been part of or lead a big filmmaking group. If so then what kind of things do you think I should do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Film Group
- Thread starter Fwilly
- Start date
Hey! This is actually the perfect topic for me to pitch in on. About 4 years ago when I was a Sophomore in high school I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in film. (Thanks to another student I met my freshman year that taught me a lot about it.) The first semester I spent all the time doing paperwork and whatnot to have the school start a Video Production Club.
It was my dream come true. I got to bring together like minded students to work on projects. What could have been better? However it turns out the mind of a high schooler is very different from what I myself thought. My first meeting was like yours, a large number of people. I think it was about 70 students? (And this is a school of about one thousand six hundred that year)
I can tell you with experience that it will be like that at the start of EVERY year for a club, especially a new one. The first few meetings will have this many people. A drastic amount of them will leave before even making the first video. Then progressively more will leave. This will be a number of reasons. Things aren't going the way they want, they aren't the focus of attention, they don't like you, etc...
Expect a two handfuls of those people to remain and only a half of that to return with you next year.
For me....
1st year - Very high start (70 as perviously stated), ended with about 5 members. Had about 9 or 8 during the middle.
2nd year - Great start about 60 members, very few returns from last year (3 i do believe). Middle of the year stuck around 12 to 15 members. Ended with about 10. This was a strange year honestly, and also at the end I picked the person I would appoint to carry the club after I left, I could tell he had a similar passion for filmmaking.
3rd and my last year- About 50 members at the start, this was also the year we'd take over the school's morning news broadcast and had become a major club of the school in the eyes of the board. (Hard work paid off with my close relationships with the faculty) I think this year ended with about 8 very dedicated members.
Those 8 very dedicated members are currently leading the club into it's first year without me. The person I picked in my second year is currently the president and I'm not disappointed in him at all, he turned out just how I expected him too.
Out of all the students who have been a member of this club two have pursued careers in the industry.
1st - My vice president the first year of the club was a senior and he went on to college for special effects.
2nd - Myself, I am now attending film school at Full Sail University.
Also the person I appointed to take over the club plans to attend Full Sail upon his graduation (and I hope others from those 8 dedicated members I left behind also pursue careers in film.)
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If you have any specific questions about things I did when I ran VPC at my high school... I'm more than willing to give you advice. ^_^
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I'm a sophmore in highschool so this is perfect. So what kind of things should I start out with. I was planning on submitting to Doritos crash the Super Bowl contest to start things out. Or do you think that we should do something difference as an ice breaker. Also advice that you gathered over your 3 years running club would be awesome if you could spread some. Anything you regretted not doing earlier? And advice would be great!
What you SHOULD be doing depends on your group. As you most likely don't know much about them, I'd recommend splitting them into groups (this will be where they'll drop in numbers) to create 3 minute or so shorts that express something everyone in the group has in common. Things like this will build a relationship within your group.
I didn't start trying to enter competitions with my club until the second year where we used contest websites and attended the local high school film festival.
What do I regret not doing earlier? Although I don't think the first year we could have made a good enough video for high school film festival... we should have attended to get a sense of what it was like. Also I feel like I never pushed as hard as I could to get school district funding, become close with your school's principle and any board members if possible. They can make this entire process so much easier with funding.
Also I regret not actually teaching my members about filmmaking. In my club not a single member knows how to correctly write a script. That's my fault. It was my job to teach them as their president, however I was too focused on creating content. I should have taken time to have meetings during school's "activity period" and possibly a few after school meetings and simply covered script formatting, basic lighting, and more.
Lastly, out of what just comes off the top of my head, I had multiple members (one of which is still dedicated to the club) that passionately wanted to work on their script/project with the club. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but the scripts were beyond the ability of the members. This problem will come up for you. I recommend you handle it carefully. I told the member I had that we couldn't make the video to match the quality of the high school film festival and in some cases that we simply didn't have time. However I made effort to see if he wanted to pursue the project outside of school and that I'd be very willing to help whenever he needed.
Again, if you have any questions, I'm very active here and I'll keep an eye on this thread.
how do you recommend I ask for funding. I'm not really sure how I would even go about that.
Approaching school board about funding for anything will ultimately result in one debate questions:
"How will this contribute to our school?"
There are a LOT of ways you can approach this question also...
The most efficient I think would be to answer it finically. Most high school film competitions have prize money for both the club/individual AND the school. However it's not high enough to get them to really fund the club, but in addition to that there are ways to get grants through organizations for the school to have a video/audio club. I highly recommend this route, but it will take a lot of research on your part to find out what those grants are in your state.
The route I took... (which didn't work to the extent I would have liked, and only worked when paired with my next recommendation)... You can explain to them the potential of the club to be a learning experience for students whom want to pursue a degree in the entertainment media industry. It's extremely straight forward, and in ways can even be "political" for the board to market them as supporters of dreamers. Don't say that though lol... Just explain the potential learning experience for students.
Lastly, and this is the one that eventually got my school grants.... If you don't have one in your school... The club can start a morning news program for the school. Channel One is a great way to connect your whole school with broadcasting equipment, aside from the crucial parts (which you're truly after). The school will have to fund the camera equipment and a broadcasting computer with software that can direct into the Channel One box. Kill a lot of birds with one stone. This will end with you having at least a small studio. Honestly is great experience directing a news crew and cast as well, I loved it. Plus it helps all school activity overall.
If there is already a school news... Have it be paired with your video club, it's only logical. At least get the school to give you access.
Good luck, and anymore questions I'm always willing ^_^
Well I'm almost 6 weeks into the club and I can't get people to start working on things. Last meeting in split people into groups based on what kind of things they wanted to make. And now coming up to the meeting no one has made anything. How do you think I could get them to work on things?
You can make something. Present your finished project to
the group and they might get excited and and want to make
more.
You can set a shoot date; On Saturday Dec 13 we will meet at
(fill in the blank) and shoot this scene and hand them the script.
Assign a job to each person.
An excellent reason to not get them to work on things.
No what I meant was that I can't have everybody meet somewhere because there would be too many people to have work on that one thing
I know what you meant. I'm thinking you don't understand what I mean.
You are finding excellent reasons to not get the group working. I'm
suggesting you find reasons to get them working. Yes, 30 people is more
than you were expecting. That means you need to find MORE to do.
They are looking to YOU for leadership. “That would work fine if we had a
small group” is not leadership. I suggested you make something and present
it to the group. Why can't you do that? I suggested you set a shoot date.
Why can't you do that? Because all 30 people may show up and want to
make a movie?
Can you think of some way to lead the group in making, say, three movies?
I can. Break up the group into 10 people each. You assign a director, the
person who owns a camera is the DP, you assign the people who will act.
This is YOUR group – lead them. Be creative.
I was involved in a filmmaking group in high school. Started with 20
people at the first meeting. When I set a shoot date 8 showed up. We
spent the next three weekends making a film. By the third week end
there were 5 of us. The 5 of us continued making films for the next 2
years. People came in an out. We showed the movies in the drama
class theater during lunch charging people and made a little money.
People would join up and then leave. But I always found something for
each person to do.
If you can keep even 8 of the 30 interested consider yourself fortunate.
Look at a group of 28/30 has a production company. Imagine if 15 of
those people want to direct a movie. They each have an available, willing
group to help them. YOU get to work on 15 movies in various capacities.
What if all 30 want to direct a movie. YOU get to direct a movie and you
get to work on 29 films before you graduate high school.
But you say you can't have everybody meet because there are too many
people. Why? Because you don't want to lead a group that large? Then
don't tell the people you don't want involved when you are shooting. Be
selective.
Is there a filmmaker posting here on indietalk who wouldn't want 30
people volunteering to make movies with you?
So its been about 6 months sense I started this group and honestly the group is going terrible. The meetings are getting shorter and shorter, we aren't working on anything. We haven't made one thing and now the meetings are more of a pain than enjoyable. I want this group to be something but I just can't find a way to get motivated. We have about 6 people remaining in the group which I'm somewhat happy about but they're no really the kind of people I was hoping the work with. I just don't see how this group could even last if we don't work on something soon. Any advice for how to get things rolling? I was thinking about just checking out some video contests we could enter or something, just anything to get us working.
You make it sound so easy. Something in my brain makes going out and filming something have to be perfect. And I know it's a bad thing making everything have to be perfect to go out do it but I just overthink it then end up not doing it. I don't want it to be my idea I want some people from the group to speak up.
It is easy. It's simply a decision. If you want a group sitting around talking about making films, you've got it. If you want a group of people who make films, you need to go out and make films. The first step is to starting to gain momentum and make something.
Your first film is not going to be perfect. Not even close to it. Even if you plan it with perfection, it's highly unlikely that you have the experience needed to know what it takes for it to be perfect. You need to start shooting stuff so you learn.
Your first film is not going to be perfect. Not even close to it. Even if you plan it with perfection, it's highly unlikely that you have the experience needed to know what it takes for it to be perfect. You need to start shooting stuff so you learn.
I see a pattern in Fwilly's posts.
Don't look for problems.
I know why your group isdoing nothing: it's because your group does nothing.
Apparently everyone is waiting for something to happen, without knowing they are the ones that have to make it happen.
A movie doesn't just land on your harddrive.
Like Sweetie says: take initiative, be a leader.
Change your mindset away from pondering why you can't make something.
What is wrong with the 6 people you have left?
Are they stupid?
Not cool?
Too shy?
Do you need a theme?
6 weeks from now it will be easter.
There are a lot of stories you can make up using eggs and/or bunnies. Bigfoot like footage mockumentary about the real easterbunny. The matrix with a red and a blue chocolate easter egg.
(I did that
)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUQC9-PH_KA
What about an evil easterbunny wanting revenche because humans ate his girl?
(Sounds like a terribly funny action B horror pulp to me
)
Or do you want to practise a bit simpler?
Go do interviews in school: ask people about their hopes and dreams for the future.
The shooting can be done in pairs: 1 camera and one interviewer with microphone. You can switch the roles or do it twice.
And then try to make an inspiring video with those interviews, think of extra shots that can make it better.
This way you'll only need a few hours to shoot interviews, without thinking about the perfect script yet.
Don't be afraid to fail.
You only fail when you do nothing.
Everything you actually do is a little victory where you'll gain experience.
Just do it!
Don't look for problems.
I know why your group isdoing nothing: it's because your group does nothing.
Apparently everyone is waiting for something to happen, without knowing they are the ones that have to make it happen.
A movie doesn't just land on your harddrive.
Like Sweetie says: take initiative, be a leader.
Change your mindset away from pondering why you can't make something.
What is wrong with the 6 people you have left?
Are they stupid?
Not cool?
Too shy?
Do you need a theme?
6 weeks from now it will be easter.
There are a lot of stories you can make up using eggs and/or bunnies. Bigfoot like footage mockumentary about the real easterbunny. The matrix with a red and a blue chocolate easter egg.
(I did that
)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUQC9-PH_KA
What about an evil easterbunny wanting revenche because humans ate his girl?
(Sounds like a terribly funny action B horror pulp to me
)Or do you want to practise a bit simpler?
Go do interviews in school: ask people about their hopes and dreams for the future.
The shooting can be done in pairs: 1 camera and one interviewer with microphone. You can switch the roles or do it twice.
And then try to make an inspiring video with those interviews, think of extra shots that can make it better.
This way you'll only need a few hours to shoot interviews, without thinking about the perfect script yet.
Don't be afraid to fail.
You only fail when you do nothing.
Everything you actually do is a little victory where you'll gain experience.
Just do it!
I'd hoped this thread would pop back up with an update. I bolded some points I'm going to try and hit for you.
Firstly, six months and only six members remaining? Perfect! You started with almost 30! That's a great amount of remaining members! My first year running my club I also started with a large number and was eventually down to a handful of people (as I'm sure I noted in my original advise that it would happen). Sure those handful of people weren't exactly the ones I hoped, but they turned out to be EXTREMELY helpful. Plus I'd rather a handful of people who really wanted to be there, than 30 that think they do.
Not happy with who they are? Well that one's just tough shit. I loved my first year crew even though I didn't personally know more than like two of them. All my friends had dropped out from boredom of the process. These people I didn't like however turned out to be the most important people throughout the next three years. One of which I got in the second year I trained to become the next leader of the club when I graduated. I'm very proud of how dedicated that original handful became.
Lastly, you haven't been working on things and you want to be.... well this one is the easiest. JUST MAKE SOMETHING! haha it's actually really simple, but I can understand the want for it to turn out perfect. There are tons of videos that I made throughout my time with my club that we never even posted outside of the school's broadcasting system, there were even things I planned to turn out perfect that just didn't. You're the absolute lowest branch of the filmmaking process, but doing this will give you the basis for the rest of your career hopefully. Find a close festival, perhaps look for student film festivals within your state. Partake in those! My club strived to attend Tupelo Film Festival every year with a funny short.
Once you get that first video down, the group's motivation will pick up. Especially if people find it funny. It doesn't have to be a cinematic masterpiece, remember that.