We will again be holding a film festival to highlight GIN achievements and share a message related to the conference theme, “Empowering Youth.” We will be showing this year’s entries throughout the conference. If you are interested in submitting a film, please review the following guidelines and submission instructions.
Selection guidelines
Submission Instructions
Film format ideas
Creating a Video
In the guidelines below, we will guide you through the steps of creating a video for the GIN Film Festival using a PSA format as an example:
The most important part of this is to have fun with it! :)
Due Date is March 5th!
Selection guidelines
- The video should be somewhere close to 3 minute.
- It should include the conference theme which is “Empowering Youth.” If the video is irrelevant, it won’t be accepted.
- There will be judges who will assess the videos. The best ones will be shown before/after main events while the rest are shown throughout the conference.
Submission Instructions
- The video should be at its highest quality as possible. If the film is blurry or ‘illegible’, it won’t be accepted.
- The submissions must contain your school name, the global issue that you are focusing on, a contact person, and their email address. This is all written in the video description.
- Please upload to youtube and then send the link to [email protected]
Film format ideas
- A Public Service Announcement (or PSA) is a short commercial that informs about issues and inspires action. A typical PSA is about 90 seconds long.
- A Documentary is a film that documents real life. For our festival, your documentary should be about an activity that your school or organization within your school has done to raise awareness or work towards solving a global problem. These documentaries should be no longer than 3 minutes
- A Narrative film is a story. Your narrative should tell a story that is based around solving a social or environmental issue. This can be handled in any way that you’d like – the more creative the better. However, the final product should be no more than 3 minutes.
Creating a Video
In the guidelines below, we will guide you through the steps of creating a video for the GIN Film Festival using a PSA format as an example:
- Pre-Production refers to the planning phase. In order to create a good PSA, pre-production will involve creating a well-thought out concept, interesting videos, and a well-researched idea.
- Choose a Topic: Your topic can be anything, as long as it pertains to global issues and allows you to capture the GINSAIGON theme, "Education for All," in your video. A good place to start would be looking at Jean François Rischard's 20 Global Issues.
- Narrow your idea: Creating a well-crafted PSA is different than creating a well-crafted essay or position paper. The goal of a PSA is not to prove your point or back up a comprehensive argument. Instead, it is to raise awareness and inspire action.
- Plan your attack: Decide which aspect of your topic is the most significant and thought-provoking. What are the most troubling or surprising facts about your topic? Focus on these to make your video all the more meaningful.
- Script: Write out the script for your PSA. This will include any written or spoken dialogue or narrative, as well as a description of the images that will accompany the words.
- Storyboard: A storyboard is a visual representation of your script that helps you visualize the final product. Plan to have different camera shots to emphasize your points. For example:
- Close-Ups are used to show reaction or emotion on a person's face, or highlight the significance of a particular object.
- Medium shots usually show people from the waist or chest up. They are used to create a conversational tone and represent people from a comfortable distance.
- Long shots are taken from far away and are important for establishing location or showing action.
- Bird's Eye Views are where the camera is tilted down onto the subject. These are used for a variety of reasons, but are most commonly used to represent something small or less powerful (the audience is literally looking down on them).
- Worm's Eye Views are where the camera is tilted up onto the subject. They are especially effective in making something or someone look more powerful.
- Do not start filming from where you want the shot to begin. It's best to include a few seconds of shaky filming before calling "action," to ensure that the camera is where you want it to be before the shot starts. You can edit out anything you don't want later on
- Use a tripod. A shaky camera can be used for effect, but more often than not it looks messy.
- Don't use zoom, if possible. Simply move your camera closer to the subject. If you want to get gradually closer to your subject during a shot, sit your cameraman/woman on a rolling chair and move them closer. Only zoom if you are physically unable to get close enough to the subject.
- Make sure that you are using good light. If you have a lamp (even a desk lamp would work), use that instead of relying on sunlight or the overhead fluorescent lights you probably have in your school. Fluorescent lamps make people look flat, and light from above is unflattering. Lighting from the side makes people look more three-dimensional because it highlights the attached shadows on the body and face.
- Post-production is all about editing. The guidelines to post-production below are not specific, because not everyone uses the same editing software. For filmmaking beginners, Apple's iMovie film editing software is highly recommended (it comes with Macs).
- Import your movie into the editing program on your computer.
- Cut the clips in the bin (the window that they appear in) before moving them into the timeline (the window in which you construct your movie).
- Place the clips in the order that they will appear in in the movie.
- Cut on the action. This is an important editing convention. It means that whenever you cut from one shot to another, something should be happening on the screen. For example, if a character walks off screen, don't wait until they completely walk off screen to cut to the next shot. This will make your video much smoother.
- Add sound. Think about what music or sound effects can be used in the background to compliment your message. iMovie comes with a sound library you can use. You can also search for free sound effects online.
- Add effects - maybe. Don't go crazy with the effects that come with your video editing program. It's one thing to make your video black and white to give it a more serious feel, or alter the saturation and noise to give it a retro look. It's another thing to add flying sparkles in every clip because you think it's cute. It's not.
- Don't let any shot last too long. Look at every shot and think about whether it goes on too long or not. Sometimes, cutting even a fraction of a second makes your video look much better.
- Export. Different programs have different default file formats when videos are exported. Make sure that your file is compatible with YouTube. iMovie allows users to upload directly to YouTube.
The most important part of this is to have fun with it! :)
Due Date is March 5th!