A media-pedagogical youth short film project
The project kick-off took place on 30 September. While we were still explaining the framework and the possibilities of the short film project to the young people, the first ideas were bubbling up.
On this day, many female participants were present, the keywords scary film, fear on the dark way home came up and each of them told us about her experiences, feelings and fears. We noticed that the feeling of being unsafe in the dark affected all the young people, including the boys. (age group 14 to 18 years) We asked the participants to take photos, videos of their way home and to sketch scenes of their fear. We put a lot of emphasis on personal initiative and responsibility.
A lively exchange began, “Do you know this too?” It was good for the young people to talk about their fears and problems and to feel that they were not alone.
We had our title “Steps in the Dark” and many ideas. As many experiences as possible were to be realised in our short film project. The media educators (scriptwriter, director) taught the participants the importance of storyboard, drama, documentation and suspense.
A script was written in which we searched for the red thread for the many scenes. At the same time, we visited locations and looked for actors. Who wants to do what? I want to play! I want to do make-up! I want to direct, but not alone!
We had many trades to fill: storyboard, script, shotlist, shooting schedule, actors, direction, continuity, recording, camera, lighting, sound, location scout, props, costume, make-up, film music, postproduction, layout, press, social media
We were glad to be moving so fast because the Corona case numbers were starting to rise and the next contact restrictions were looming. The autumn holidays were coming up and we decided to shoot in the 2nd week of the holidays. Everything had to be ready to go by then. Luckily we had 4 lecturers media/music teacher, script/director, cameraman and set/costume designer. We divided into concentrated wish groups, workshops took place digitally or in small groups during the first week of the autumn holidays. All developed results were collected digitally on teams.
The filming permit for the tram and the turning area is still missing.
Granted!
But all with protective masks.
On the last day of the holidays everything was shot. Everyone was very happy and satisfied, because from the next Monday the first contact restrictions applied. The next day the OK came from the cameraman Material is good.
Post Produktion „what’s that“
Now it was time for the rough cut. All the material was made available online to everyone and sifted through. The sound and music were still missing. Sound recordings and sound effects for the self-produced soundtrack were recorded by the band in the sound studio.
We decided on DaVinci Resolve as the film editing and cutting programme. A fully professional programme and free of charge: editing, cutting, colour correction, visual effects, audio music and sound effects. The programme also offers a lot of tutorials for those who want to go deeper.
Originally it was planned to hold the workshops in the KRASS MediaLab. But because of the Corona contact restrictions, all workshops had to be held digitally. Technically possible, but unfortunately the participants lacked the appropriate devices to work in parallel and could only watch, but decide. All intermediate stages were uploaded and published so that the participants who had to study for exams could keep up to date. In general, all participants moaned about the flood of homework and learning content for up to three exams per week.
Since Corona also cancelled the premiere in a film art cinema, we decided to make a digital presentation via YouTube, and to participate in short film festivals. We needed press releases, lettering, film posters, DVD covers …
Premiere
The presentation took place on YouTube on December, 27th 2020 at 6pm. The presentation was promoted through all social media channels and through the networks of all participants and met with great applause and praise from the audience. The live Filmkunstkino presentation will be made up as soon as possible. The short film will be submitted to festivals.
