We run workshops in schools and colleges, youth centres, and film and literature festivals. Most of our workshops can be adapted for different ages and groups.
Here are some examples – if you don’t see what you want here, we can devise a workshop to answer your specific needs.
CREATIVE WORKSHOPS
Film and poetry
Participants work in groups to create film poems. They can take an existing poem or film as a stimulus, they can write a poem and then illustrate it with video; or they can film first and then use their images to inspire their writing. We normally work alongside writers on these workshops, which can be used to explore the local area, examine techniques such as metaphor and personification, or to address specific issues. We’ve run these workshops with children aged 10 upwards, and with adults. An ideal activity for writing squads or as part of literature or film festivals.
Editing and continuity
These half-day workshops are an ideal introduction to film language, and a great way for participants to learn about the relationship between camera, sound and editing before they start making their own films. We provide an unedited sequence; students work in groups to edit it and create a soundtrack.
Modern Foreign Languages
Half-day, day or longer workshops. Students view short examples of films in the target language. In a half-day workshop, we provide footage which the students edit in groups before creating voiceovers. With longer workshops, students plan, film and edit their own complete short films. These can be factual (eg travelogues or news items), dramas with dialogue or voiceovers, or creative montage films.
Filmstart
This workshop takes students through the whole film-making process from start to finish in a day. The workshop includes an illustrated introduction to film language using classic film; introductions to planning, shooting and editing video. Participants then plan, film and edit a simple sequence which we screen at the end of the day.
Film and music
We can offer two half-day workshops on film and music, which can be linked to make a full day’s activity:
Planning a score
We explore how music and diegetic (‘natural’) sounds are used in film to create mood and develop suspense. We provide a video suspense sequence, and participants work in groups to plan and create a score using Garageband music-making software.
Montage
We look at the use of montage and the relationship of film to music in Soviet films of the 1920s and recent and modern title sequences. Participants work in groups to film images, create a piece of music, and edit the images to match the pace of the music.
CRITICAL WORKSHOPS
We can deliver a range of workshops in your cinema (or school) which explore specific aspects of film. We can devise workshops to answer your specific needs, or offer workshops based on specific concepts.
Introduction to film
How do we understand what’s going on in a film? This workshop uses a range of extracts from advertisements, title sequences, and classic and modern films to explore the links between story, setting, costume, camera, sound, and editing. 1-2 hour workshop, can be adapted for ages from 8 to adult by the use of different film extracts.
Image and sound
This workshop (delivered at last year’s Soundtrack festival) uses films from a wide variety of periods, countries and genres to explore the ways in which music and diegetic sound contribute to meaning in film. Ideal for GCSE and AS Film Studies and BTEC National Diploma in Media Production.
Film and Global Citizenship
This workshop explores how film-makers across the developing world use film as a powerful way to depict their changing societies and cultures. It uses a number of short film extracts to explore and discuss issues of global citizenship.
