THE SEQUEL

Having run a brand new film academy for kids from age 9 to 18 in July, I decided to reprise the event in August.

Film Academy summer school, the sequel.

There were a number of parts of the July summer school that didn't work as well as they could have for the students, and during the week that followed I went back to the drawing board, or maybe more appropriately, the storyboard.

One thing that occurred to me was we needed to get the students working on cameras more quickly, so we upped the ante, and threw them in at the deep end, shooting their main film after just two days.

We had received various bits of feedback, all very positive, but a few were surprised the students were filming a pre-written script. They had assumed they would film their own. We had decided this for very good reasons.

A five minute short film script takes around a month of full time work to write and perfect, ready for shooting. Part of that is getting everyone to agree on story, parts and roles. To have been able to do this well in just two days was going to be impossible, hence the pre-written script.

But it gave me an idea for the second week, to satisfy both.

First of all, we altered the website, listing a basic schedule for the week, so everyone knew in advance they would be filming a pre-written script.

During the actual week we trained them up, and shot the film, a day early. By the Thursday lunch time they were wrapped. Then we presented them with a challenge; they had now been shown how to do it all, so we gave them one hour on Thursday afternoon to write a one-page script, with full reign on what they could do. On Friday morning we handed them a camera and a microphone, and gave them just 30 minutes to shoot five short scenes to tell their story, in sequence, no editing allowed. Whatever came out of the camera was the finished film.

And they pulled it off amazingly well. These six shorts were both the most popular with the parents at the end-of-week screening, and it was the most popular activity with the students. An idea I am taking forward to the weekly academy.

So by taking the plunge into the first week, listening to the feedback, we were able to deliver more of what they wanted. Everyone left happy. Click on this link to see just how much fun we all had:
https://vimeo.com/284521768

Some students said that having to wait around for their turn to be in front of the camera during any of the shoots, wasn't their favourite thing, but that is part and parcel of filmmaking, and if that was the only moan, then we were doing well.

The closing event, once again, though not quite as problematic as week one, was plagued with last minute technical issues. We found a workaround but we were 30 minutes late. This is real life. Tech issues happen all the time, but for me this felt like a failure, and I left feeling less than happy, thinking, well, I tried it, but it looks like it's not going to work long term. I knew I had five young people overall that wanted to do a weekly, after-school version, but five was not viable.

Six days later and we have 21 signed up, and as I write, only two places remain in the teenagers group. Our capacity is 30, mainly to ensure tutors have a manageable class.

At my current place of work on a Saturday, I have to deal with up to 30 students per class, and it just doesn't work very successfully. It has been invaluable experience over the past four years, but I need to make this better. Having a maximum of 15 is at the top end of numbers in my opinion, with 12 being ideal, but we have to balance the books.

For the future, and I never thought I'd be considering this, we are looking at opening a second academy on a Wednesday. And just this morning I have had inquiries from the Borders and Fife from fellow filmmakers to open something similar there.

What have I started?!

https://www.filmacademyedinburgh.com/weekly-filmmaking-classes/

 

AND . . . CUT!

Run a brand new summer film school.

Tick. Done that!



I've been hiding away this week, sleeping mostly, as the previous week saw the launch of my new venture, The Film Academy Edinburgh.


Back in April no one had ever heard of it. By the end of June we were on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Adwords, had our own website, and had even been mentioned in notices in the Scottish Parliament.

By mid July 62 kids were signed up.



Day one was tough, but then, it was just day one. They say you learn something new every day, but boy, is that an understatement!



 

But we made it through to day two, changed a few things as we went, and started to make headway.



As previous experience has shown me, the 9 to 12 year olds would be full of energy and up for anything we threw at them. The teenagers on the other hand, well, they were teenagers. They still showed keen interest, but in the way that teenagers do.



Wednesday was when we realised as a team that we could have had them shooting. We had them in more workshops and prepped them for the shoot, but we took note to make this the first shoot day in future camps.

By the Thursday cameras were finally rolling and they were all shooting their first films. It was manic, and footage was flying back to the edit suite as we went.



Come Friday lunchtime both films were wrapped and the students spent the afternoon in masterclasses, covering special effects makeup and sound effects. 

 

Over in the edit suite fingers were a blur on the computers. I was pulling together a fun, behind-the-scenes film, whilst Chuck the editor was trying his best to finish the kids films. By 3.30pm, half an hour before parents arrived to view the kids work, we were still editing.



At 4pm I came on stage, and announced we were a little behind, though not revealing just how far. Our acting consultant, and Scottish film star, Shauna Macdonald, improvised with a Q & A with the kids, then presented each with a certificate for the week. She was brilliant, but we were still editing.

If you've ever seen the episode Gourmet Night in Faulty Towers, were Basil's wife, Manual and Polly play for time while Basil flies around trying to bring a new roast duck to the event, then you'll have a rough idea how I was beginning to feel.

Hopefully I wasn't going to end up with trifle instead of duck.

By 4.30 the transfers were transferred over to the laptop, and I walked back to the projection room with the laptop open in my hand, still rendering! The progress bar was at half way as I stepped back onto stage and delivered the thank you's. We were now 45 minutes late, but we had made it.



The films played, not at their best as we hadn't had time to check them, but everyone was happy and left smiling, and not a trifle in sight.

And relax.



Well, not quite, as I'm about to do it all again next week! This time with a different model, and we will be filming on Wednesday.



The editing suite should be a little less pressured and I'm confident it's going to be a great success.

 

 

LITTLE LOCH OF THE NOISY SOUND

Normally, as soon as the Scottish schools break up for the summer holidays, the heavens open and we endure 6 weeks of poor weather. But this year has been a pleasant change, and the sun has shone almost continuously for several weeks now.

To say I am busy just now is the understatement of the year. My new film academy for kids is just around the corner, and there is so much still to do. However, I am aware of the old saying, that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". I needed to find a way of taking a break, despite there being only days until the academy launch.

It's midgie season, so getting into the Scottish mountains is usually not a good option, but with such relentless heat the biting insect population is somewhat reduced, so Pauline organised a two night trek to take in five Munro's north of the Angus Glens, with the famous Lochnagar as the main goal, named after the small lochan in the mountain's northeast corrie.

With no public transport available at all, we reluctantly took my car. From Dundee we traveled the length of Glen Clova and arrived at the head of Glen Doll, on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park, around mid afternoon on the Saturday. Not surprisingly the car park was full of visitors, but within minutes of leaving the car we were alone on a track, leading north up the glen.

My achilles tendon on my left foot has been playing up in recent weeks, and the pain I experienced in the first few kilometers started to look like the trek would be over for me before it had even begun. I devised a routine to stop every so often to massage the ache out, and borrowed one of Pauline's walking poles to aid my ascent.

With long days and clear weather I had the opportunity to take it slowly, and by early evening we had climbed up to a saddle just below the first Munro, Broad Cairn, to camp for the night at 750m. Unsure of access to fresh water, we had decided at the bottom of the path to carry two litres each to the top. 

And let me tell you, water is heavy!

750m was high enough, combined with a slight breeze, to be free of the annoying midges, and after a late dinner, with views down to Loch Muick, we settled in for the night.

Another glorious day greeted us, and with most of the hard work done, we set off over the first Munro, a short distance from our nights camp. The area is very popular, and there is a well worn path along the whole route, but in some places this has grown to several metres wide, as many walkers have chosen to walk side by side, thus increasing the erosion.

Peak two, Cairn Bannoch, was probably our favourite Munro, mostly because of its bouldery summit and the view of the whole route ahead, all the way across to Lochnagar. There were few people at this early hour, which was very pleasant.

My achilles was once again reminding me of its presence, and I decided to sit several metres below the summit of Munro number three, while Pauline, having dumped her pack with me, ascended solo.

By now I was getting hungry. The path cut along the side of this Munro toward number four, and halfway along there was a crystal clear small river flowing, cutting across the path, so we parked ourselves for a while, munched our lunch, and watched the world go by.

Already on the route we had disturbed several female grouse, that displayed a behaviour designed to distract us. The reason being was because we had walked too close for her comfort to her young chicks. So small and cute, I imagine they were just a few weeks old.

As we moved on, over to our right on the hillside in the distance, were a herd of young red deer, mostly males, starting to move swiftly away, having detected our presence.

Munro number four, Carn an t'Sagairt Mor, was literally just a bump in the landscape, and not long after, we were approaching our main goal of Lochnagar. It was easily more than 30 years since I was last here. Clambering over its rocky main summit, called Cac Carn Beag, were several young walkers, and I remarked that the last time I was here, none of these people would have been born.

Clouds were gathering and the blue skies and relentless heat of the day was slowly diminishing. We circled round the top of the curve of cliffs that makes up Lochnagar, to catch a glimpse of its face from the eastern flank, with a view down to five deep blue pools at the head of the small lochan, in Lochnagar's northeastern coire, the Little Loch of the Noisy Sound.

On the way down, blending in well with the landscape, I spotted a Ptarmigan, motionless on a rock. It too had small chicks, which looked remarkably similar to the grouse from earlier.

Camp for the night was a little below the summit, at 950m, probably my highest camp in Scotland. It was by far a more comfortable spot than the previous evening. With everyone off the hill for the day, it was very pleasant to enjoy the evening and the landscape all to ourselves.

We awoke to thick cloud, and set off toward Loch Muick around 8.30am. The path is steep in places, hard packed and worn by many boots, which had ground down the granite rocks into tiny marble-like grains, which occasionally caused me to slide and lose my grip.

The going was slower than either of us had expected, but eventually we dropped out of the clouds beside a cascading waterfall, and down to the shores of Loch Muick. At the bottom of the path stands an abandoned, rather grand-looking lodge, built, so I'm told, for Queen Victoria to be able to take a boat trip up the loch for afternoon tea.

As you do.

We rounded the western end of the loch across a beach covered in geese footprints. Out on the water we could see large numbers of birds, most likely the ones that had left their prints on the beach, and we wondered if they were in fact resident there all year round.

Our final ascent was steep and long, but not as bad as it had looked from afar. The ridge ahead was shrouded in low cloud, but as we reached the summit it started to clear. We had come full circle, and stopped for our lunch just meters away from our first nights camp. We retraced our steps back to the car park, along the same track through the glen, beneath craggy peaks and wild flower meadows.

My achilles had held up not too bad, though by the end, after what was, afterall, a long hike from Lochnagar, I was grateful to be finished. Four Munros, albeit the hard work done on the first afternoon, felt quite satisfying. Five for Pauline, but it had been many years since I have stood atop any Scottish peak.

It felt good to be back.