Saturday's Film Class with Ben Sidoti!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you got to follow along Saturday with some of the updates from class. It was AMAZING!!! Over the last few years, we've gotten to know a lot of students, many of whom are film buffs and technical aficionados with dreams of working in Hollywood. In other programs, we've tried to give them as much exposure as we could, but with limited technical equipment (and, speaking at the very least for myself) limited expertise, we haven't been able to give them the full experience... Until now.

Enter Ben Sidoti, one of our long-term collaborators in documenting the work of Daytime Moon. Ben is an accomplished filmmaker and photographer, but most importantly he shares a passion for filmmaking with our students. And they had such a great time getting to work with Ben!

The class began with a discussion about the similarities and differences between film and theatre. The group was so insightful in the things they picked up on: the live audience in theatre, the special effects in film, and the focus on story that's important in both. 

Then, Ben introduced the equipment. Every student got a chance to explore the lenses, looking at the view through all of them. Then they each held the boom mike and wore headsets so that they could see how powerful the mike was (they could other students whispering from across the room!!) Ben taught the group about wide angle and close up shots, which lenses to use for each and how the different shots tell a different story.

Safia looking through the lens

Samy and Ben holding the boom mike

Jake whispering into the boom mike

Ben explaining how to work the camera

The group getting the hang of their roles on the set

Jake practicing his camera work with Samy

And then the group got to work. They came up with a great story about two actors rehearsing for a play who are fighting become one actor can't remember her lines. The director comes in and helps her to get the line, and the group celebrates together. With a little help from some of the staff who stepped in to play the actors, the group cast the film and got to work: running sound, filming close ups and wide shots, and making sure the raw footage was perfect.

The group in rehearsal!

We didn't have time to edit it in class, so Ben's going to put the final movie together over the next few days and I'll post it on YouTube as soon as it's available. In the meantime, you can check out the highlight reel:

Hope you enjoy!! See you this Saturday for Creative Writing!!
Jenna