Scottish Association of Moviemakers

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2008 Workshop

 

report by Brian Saberton FACI

 

Every year SAM runs a popular video workshop weekend. The objective of the workshop is to give delegates the opportunity to gain greater knowledge and experience of working as a group to produce a fiction movie. Members can attend for the whole weekend or just for the Saturday workshop.

 


 

For the workshop delegates are organised into groups, provided with some story ideas, given two actors recruited from local drama groups and have a day to shoot a short fiction film.

 

 

In 2008 the event was held at the Stirling Management Centre which is a dedicated conference complex set within the spacious campus of the University of Stirling. With 300 acres of ground, including parklands and an attractive lake, there were plenty of locations for the groups to explore. The residential accommodation and meals in the hotel were excellent, the staff could not have been more helpful and the conference facilities for the Sunday morning seminar were also very good.

 

For the 2008 workshop we had four groups. The story ideas are issued in advance so that the groups can decide on which story they wish to film and prepare scripts.

 

The workshop starts with group discussions in the morning followed by a sometimes frantic day trying to get all the shots in the can.

 

 

 

 

  All of the groups managed to complete their filming in the allotted time, albeit with some modification to scripts, and it is always enjoyable to see how the films turn out.

 

 

On the Sunday morning there is usually a practical seminar on a topic relating to film-making. The topic for 2008 was Camera Craft which examined the photographic, rather than technical aspects of camera work.

 

 

There can be a tendency for some clubs to dwell too much on the technical side of the hobby when we should really be encouraging members to consider the artistic and creative elements of film-making. After all, the camera is merely a tool and is only as good as the skill and imagination of the operator.

 

In view of the success of the workshop and very positive feedback from the participants the Stirling Management Centre has been booked for the 2009 event which will be on the 9th – 10th May.