Students take part in workshop with Canon on the Production of a Short Film

Canon’s live “How to make a short film”, with Ryan Bouman and Michael Janke, was very interesting. It delved deeply into the makings of one of their documentaries “We the Bereaved”, which talks on grief and losing a loved one.  Here is Chardonnay Henry, from Year 12s’ experience!

When creating a short film within a company, you usually have a client that comes to you with a very specific idea of what they want which is easier to create or you personally have a connection with the story line.

What did you learn?

Something I learnt from this webinar, is that for a short story to really work you need to show true emotions that us as humans can relate to during our everyday life. It needs to hold raw emotional material that can make us sympathise and have empathy for the cast on screen.

What is something that surprised you about making a short film?

It is very easy to stand behind a camera and say what you want and how much of it, but once you do stand in front of the camera that easily changes; and unless you yourself stand before a camera you won’t understand how daunting it is.

“Planning is necessary however; you need to be susceptible to change”

Canon Live Workshop

Planning is necessary however; you need to be susceptible to change and unplanned circumstances because that can make your short film all the more natural or more vibrant, depending on genre. This of course was surprising to me, because I assumed all great films were planned down to the very finest of details which I realised is not the case.

What is a skill you would like to develop after the workshop?

Being able to come up with a plan quickly, and then having to change it on the spot to fit a different criterion or what your client or team wants is a very important skill to have. It’s a skill I’d like to master.

If you had to make a short film what would be the subject?

If I was to make a short film, based on what I’ve seen today I’d choose a topic close to home. The topic would be my life growing up with a brother who has special needs and always needs attention and special help from other people. Also, interestingly I came to find out I have special needs also but they were not noticed and continued to progress because all the attention was on my brother instead of shared.

All together I think this workshop was really useful because it helped shape my mind into what direction to take if I was to create a short film.