Photo submitted – This IS a smartphone with a lot of gear attached to it. Do you really need all of this?
By Dave Warner
We’ve all got these phones in our pockets, and they take great pictures, right? They can also create videos, but how about making something intentional – more than just a clip of the kid swinging in the park, the birthday party, or the house on fire down the street? Not that all of those things aren’t interesting, but what if it was something longer form – more planned, creative, and maybe interesting?
That’s the idea behind the Little Falls Smartphone Film Festival next summer. But if you don’t have the skills or know how to make a movie, where do you start, and how do you even get the phone to create something like that?
The Classes
Well, it’s a lot easier than you might think, and to prove it, the Creative Outpost will offer a mix of free and paid courses over the next nine months or so to help you get started and create something that could be entered into the festival.
The Photo Walks, which begin this month, are one opportunity, but Austin and Sean Green will be the first two to hold classes at Studio 25 on West Mill St.
The first one will be ‘Heartfelt Acting’ by Austin Green. He says, “Let’s not overcomplicate things – acting is about playing pretend. However, we all know when an actor’s expression moves us in such a way where “believable” doesn’t quite hit it – we know how they feel, what they think, and understand why they do what they do in a story. This course aims to rediscover the balance between playful spontaneity and the authentic delivery we all had as children and apply it to acting.
Day 1 – Introductions and improvisations
Day 2 – Performing a scene
Day 3 – The flow of inflections
Day 4 – Writing your own characters
Day 5 – Final performances
Austin is also going to teach the ‘Cinematic Eye.’
He states, “A well-composed shot that supports the narrative of a film or TV show strikes a chord in even the most layman viewer of cinema. Sometimes, the cinematographer goes for symmetrical scenes and order, while others may favor awkward angles and chaos. The goal of this course is to practice various methods of framing a scene with your camera and learn how specific perspectives and motions can support the tone of your film.”
Day 1 – Introductions and practice
Day 2 – Framing a scene
Day 3 – Polarities of angles
Day 4 – Setting the tone
Day 5 – Final compositions
Sean gets into the act with a course called ‘Writing with a Strong Hand.’ He says, “Every phenomenal project begins with a document with a lot of words on it. The promise of this course is how to make those words turn into something cohesive and, more importantly, incredible. This course aims to help writers learn how to find their voice, how to create interesting and believable characters, and how to create an original story.”
Day 1 – Introductions: Why write a story?
Day 2 – How People Talk: Dialogue
Day 3 – Characters
Day 4 – Plotting the Course
Day 5 – Finalizing your Script
Future Classes
Future classes will include your smartphone camera app and other phone software you could use, as well as how to add a few attachments to make things even more film-like and then edit the footage, both taught by Dave Warner.
Shawn Uebele has worked on a couple of films already in Little Falls, and he will teach a class on framing shots, camera techniques like transitions, and even some movie trivia. This will be a fun class as well.
If you’ve read this far, the bottom line is that we need to get out of the house, off the couch, and breathe some fresh air. The photo walks, classes, and events leading up to this film festival are social as much as educational and something meant to improve our mental health, including our teens.
So sign up NOW! Each class is limited to ten students. If you are a high school or college student and need tuition assistance, we have funds available; just email dave.warner@creativeoutpost.org for details.
Listen to the Podcast
Austin and Sean joined me in the studio for a podcast about the courses, and we discussed them in much more detail. Since I sometimes have writer’s block myself, I played a quick game with them, giving them 30 seconds to develop a story for an entry into the festival. It was pretty funny, and they had no trouble at all expressing the idea.
To listen to the podcast, click here.