Kids these day love their screens. Between the smartphones, the TVs, and the tablets it can sometimes be difficult to keep kids engaged with anything else. While its hard to beat watching a movie on a rainy day, try taking that interest in film and funneling it into a creative project.
Chances are your child has everything they need at home to try their hand at filmmaking. As technology continues to grows more sophisticated, most smartphones and tablets are equipped with advanced recording technology. Most phones allow you to adjust the degree of your zoom, lock the focus and exposure values on your screen, and even increase your frames per second to better capture action shots. Not to mention, most software includes basic editing techniques such as color filters or adjustments to the light exposure and brightness.
To quickly take your home video to the next level, consider downloading an editing app for your young filmmaker to explore. Free apps such as iMovie or Adobe Premiere Rush allow your child to add multiple layers to their movie such as text or even sound effect and background music.
Short on actors? Or maybe your child is more of a visual artist? Free apps like Stop Motion Studio help your child learn to tell a story frame by frame. Legos or characters made out of clay or play-doh are perfect characters for stop motion short films!
No matter the technology you have a home, exploration is the key to success.
The best way to learn about filmmaking is to make film! At Austin Film Festival we believe filmmaking is not about fancy the equipment! It’s about having a story to tell and honing your creative skillset in order to tell it. At home smartphone filmmaking is a great creative outlet for your young storyteller during this time of restrictions and social distancing.
If your child is looking for crash course in virtual filmmaking check out Austin Film Festival’s first ever Virtual Film Camp: Smartphone Filmmaking 101. Designed for the young filmmaker stuck at home, students will learn what makes a compelling image as well as the basics of filmmaking and editing on a smartphone. Think remote learning meets Summer Film Camp! For more information on Virtual Camp please visit: https://austinfilmfestival.com/yfp/virtual-film-camp/
For more information on Austin Film Festival 18th Annual Summer Film Camp please visit: https://austinfilmfestival.com/yfp/summercamp/