Film camps galore

Notes from watching a few of the ShootOut Boulder films at the library last fall, just after making our own first attempt at a film:

• Great shot of a shadowed guy opening a sliding metal door. (I said so in the interlude and they were so grateful. "Yeah, we worked really hard to get that shot," one of the filmmakers said.)


• Many concepts in the stories were funny ("I lost my balls in a dice game," "Jords," -- wtf?) but ran out of steam by the end (perhaps because of not having a script or not editing the script?).


• Loved the locations we locals know spliced together in impossible ways -- simply hilarious!


• Great title: "Waffles at Noon."


• Having seen a bunch of these valiant efforts, I still believe a little "outtakes" section in the credits would be a great opportunity for a unique close.


• Having a solid, rehearsed story and script is key. (Or maybe if the actors really clicked or you had improv artists run with a storyline... oooh, you could recruit improv folks specifically. That would be a hoot! They would love the publicity, and the experience, and ...it's April -- that gives improv folks plenty of time to plan a film production into their schedules for this October, right? Hmmm....)


• Sound engineering -- it's worth doing this right up front.


• Next time I make a little film, I will give the kids/people all the jobs they like. They loved that. The more, the better. The collective enterprise thing really works for a film -- everyone wants to see the end result.