“When I was younger I always wanted to know how the things I saw on TV were created. Lately, I have gotten some of the answers from doing it myself. I’m enrolled in the Media Academy at Pali, and there I have started to write scripts and make movies out of them.
One day my teacher Mr. McGlothlin asked the class if any of us would like to go to a program at the Museum of Television & Radio and many hands were raised, including mine. That day I showed up at the museum and found out all my other classmates had ditched me, but that didn’t stop me from proceeding with my plan to see if filmmaking was meant for me.
The program was sponsored by the Museum of Television & Radio and Workforce L.A., a non-profit organization that teaches career skills through media. There were different workshops each weekend — yes, I got up at eight on Saturday morning for this, but I can say it was worth it. The three workshops were script writing, cinematography and editing — all related to making a TV show, movie, or a video game. These workshops gave me and others an idea of the biz — show biz.
I learned from professional script writers
The first workshop I attended was called “Celebrating Story” where I got an idea of script writing from the pros. This was the most informative workshop of the three. In total, six writers came. They were: Claudia Caplan, the creator of the Carl’s Jr’s slogan “If it doesn’t get all over the place it doesn’t belong in your face”; Jane Espenson, the executive story editor for Buffy The Vampire Slayer; Carol Flint, the writer and executive producer of ER; Javier Grillo-Marxuach, a writer for Charmed and The Pretender; J.J. Abrams, the co-creator and executive producer for Felicity; and Phil Fehrie, a writer of films which I and others haven’t seen before such as The Whipping Boy and The Little Kidnapper.
I asked the writers where they got their ideas for scripts. The one answer that caught my attention was from the writer of Buffy, Jane Espenson. She said that she started practicing when she was young, writing ideas down and then making them into mock scripts for existing shows. Basically what they all said was they started writing at a young age and had a passion for it.
This workshop wasn’t just about the views of these writers. It went beyond that, going into our perspective and how we could enhance it. During our lunch break we were told to work with our school group and come up with an idea for a show, movie, or computer video game. We pitched it to the pros and got suggestions for improving the idea and our pitching skills.
For those who don’t know what I mean by pitching, it is when you get up in front of the people who can give you the green light to make your idea come true. Your presentation should never be dull and you should keep their attention. Never lose the people you need to back your project, so control the atmosphere and make it lively! This workshop gave me the perspective I had been looking for — where the writers got their ideas from, how they actually put it together and transform it into the actual product.
Different shots affect how you see and feel an image
The second workshop was about cinematography. Cinematography is the art of camera movement. A cinematographer chooses the angles and amount of light the camera catches. Different angles each capture a different feeling. Say if you had a person crying. Most likely, you would prefer a close-up to the face rather than a wide shot because the close-up will show the tears and pain, enhancing the power of the scene.
As a cinematographer, you have to keep your options open to what will work best — a high angle, a low angle, a close-up, a wide shot, etc. I learned all of this affects how you see and feel the image.
To improve our skills and techniques, the pros gave us a one-page scene from a movie to film. When we all finished, we found that each group saw everything in a different perspective. Almost everyone’s film worked well, but of course I had to favor mine as one of the better ones. The pros were surprised at how well we did but of course they had something to say to improve it. If it was perfect we would have gotten an Oscar. This workshop wasn’t as informative because only two cinematographers were there. But I looked at it this way — I got a good idea of what it’s like and I enjoyed it, so it’s okay.
I’m exploring filmmaking as a career
The third and last workshop was editing. For me this was boring, yawn, whatever, because I frankly didn’t enjoy it. We had some guest speakers who were informative but when we started editing on the computers, I knew this wasn’t for me.
See, when your favorite TV show is being filmed, usually there are four cameras on the set capturing different angles. The editor’s job is to break these angles down and choose the best one based on its effectiveness. Then the editor places the pieces together using computer programs such as the Media 100. This program allows you to see all of the frames and let you mix and match to get the final product. I usually enjoy working on computers but the whole idea of putting the show together piece by piece didn’t thrill me. I want to be part of the action.
I’m now exploring different parts of filmmaking as a career, especially screenwriting and cinematography but definitely not editing. But if filmmaking doesn’t work out, there’s always cardiology!
These workshops gave me a different view about making a TV show or a movie. This was worth going to and you should try to go if you can so you can experience the fun too!!! “