Basic Filmmaking for High School Drama Departments

Welcome to the "Filmmaking for High School Drama Departments"

A film and a play

Wikiversity Film School is developing a new way for drama departments to create short motion pictures at the same time they produce a school play.

The idea is to create a 5-minute motion picture using the same set, lights, costumes and props as the current school play. After the school play begins its run, rehearsals on a short movie can begin with new actors. Once the play is over, the shooting of the movie can begin. Since the set and the lights and the costumes are all ready, filming can be done very quickly during the weeks that follows the closing of the play.

Once the short movie is filmed, the raw footage can be put on DVD-Video disks for people around the world to edit.

To do this, schools need 5-minute motion picture scripts which can be filmed on stage for the most popular school plays.

Script Writing

We need you to write a script which a high school drama department will turn into a 5-minute motion picture.

But not just any script. Your script must use the same movie set, lights, costumes, and props for popular schools plays such as:

The Situation

It has been 15 years since digital video came to personal computers. Yet today, few high school drama departments create their own motion pictures. (I have only heard of one in Lawrence, Tennessee.)

There must be an easier way for drama departments to begin making movies.

Each year, high school drama departments put on outstanding plays by extremely talented students. These plays have beautiful and expensive stage sets, very extensive lighting, and wonderful costumes.

So why not use all of this to make a very short motion picture once the play is finished?

Right now, the missing ingredient is a movie script for each of the popular school plays.

Once we have scripts, we can begin to create the storyboards and all the rest of the pre-production elements for the movie.

Getting started

The story

The first step is to think of a story for one of the popular school plays. This can be similar to the play or completely different. The only requirement is the movie must be able to be filmed on the same stage, with the same lights and costumes as the play.

Format the script

Then type the story as a movie script. When formatted, it should be one to five pages long. Two or three pages is best.

Final Draft free demo version

You can use the free demo version of Final Draft to type your script. If you do not know how to do this, take the lesson on script formatting.

Original material

For plays newer than 1923, you must not use any of the names, the story, or any music from the original play or musical. That means you can use words and names from the classics such as "Romeo and Juliet" but not anything newer than about 90 years.

Fun for all

Remember that this is for the enjoyment of the parents as well as the students. Don't go too wild with your story. Make it entertaining for all.

Your first step

Your first lesson is to think of a story which can be produced by a high school or junior high school drama department which is putting on one of the popular school plays.

Contact Your Instructor

• Your instructor for these courses is Robert Elliott. To email me, you simply Click Here.