Making a Short Film: Lessons Learned

This narrative essay describes the experience of making a short film without relevant theoretical knowledge and the lessons learned. The essay highlights the importance of theoretical knowledge and experience in film making. The essay also describes the process of making the short film, the challenges faced, and the feedback received. The essay concludes with the team's pursuit of theoretical and practical knowledge and the creation of another successful short film.

Running head: NARRATIVE ESSAY
Narrative Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1NARRATIVE ESSAY
Making films was one of the most ambitious wishes that I had since a very young age.
It takes considerable skills and understanding of various concepts related to films in order to
make a film on own. The moment I turned 19, I wanted to make a film on my own with my
friends acting in it. I had a group of friends who were into the idea of being casted in a film
so that they could showcase their talent. I came up with the idea of making a short film with
my group of friends. I took up the hat of director and started scripting for the short film. It
never is an easy job to direct a film and it requires considerable amount of knowledge to
make a film on own (Irving & Rea, 2013). I believed that I learnt a lot by watching films
from all parts of the world, I being a film buff believed that watching films would endow me
with enough knowledge to start making films. The short film making process started from the
scratch and it considerable effort to make sure that everyone on the team was on the same
page. The script was finalized by me and conceptualized with a friend of mine who I took in
as Assistant Screenplay Writer. The concept of the film was based on certain practices of
inequality in the society and as I was a student of English literature, the script looked great on
paper. The team was wowed with the script when it was read out to them for the first time.
The concept was well presented on paper by me and John, the assistant screenplay writer.
The language perfectly reflected the emotions that were present in the real concept and it
made sure that the plot was hitting the audience at the right points. We took the script and
went to few people who had considerable knowledge about story and plot. The feedback that
we received from them was very motivating and it lead us to believe that a good short film
was about to be shot and presented to the world.
After the script was set, the actors in the team were taken up for rehearsals. The actors
would come at my place regularly to jam up and perform the scenes together. All those who
were in the team were new and didn’t have any experience regarding acting. They were doing
well in the rehearsals and it further made sure that the best was expected from them on the

2NARRATIVE ESSAY
day of shooting. The actors were guided by me and Kevin who was assigned as the Assistant
Director of the project. Kevin mainly focused on the acting performances and fine tuned the
actors. Kevin wished to be an actor, and though he was not professionally trained in acting he
had watched plenty of acting tutorials and learnt from them. After rigorous rehearsals for 15
days, the team was ready for the shoot and the actors were confident enough to pull out their
best performance. The technical team was ready as they were professional with the camera
they did not need much of an explanation or direction on how the shoot was to be conducted.
The Director of Photography was a friend of mine named Charles. Charles graduated last
year in photography and videography and he had considerable idea about how the shoot was
to be executed.
It was the day of the shoot and everyone seemed to be nervous as they were all first
timers including me in the director’s seat. The shoot began in time and then the main issues
started to take place. The actors who were outright confident in the rehearsals on the day
before were stuttering to perform on camera and multiple retakes took place which
lengthened the shoot enormously. The direction from my end was in tatters as I had no idea
on how to effectively gain control of the film set and make sure that the actors and
technicians were on the same page. The shoot was supposed to be of one day but it was
extended to a 3 day schedule. The reshoot and retakes made the process longer and delayed
the progress. The lack of professional experience made it difficult for the team to withstand
the pressure that is prevalent at a film set. The shoot was wrapped and the clips were then
sent to the edit team. The edit team comprised of a friend of mine who was pursuing film
studies and wanted to be a professional film editor. The editing of the 15 minute short film
took about 10 days and then the product was ready to be released in out on YouTube. It was
decided from the initial days that the film would be given out on YouTube. YouTube is a

3NARRATIVE ESSAY
platform that enables the user generated content to travel faster among the audience and
hence reach out to a wider range of audience around the world (Lee & Lehto, 2013).
The film was screened at my place for the first time fo r the entire team and the entire
team was astounded after watching the short film. The members were very happy seeing their
performance and after the screening ended the team was confident that the product that was
made was one of the most appealing short films that came out in the recent times. All the
friends were elated and they shared congratulations among the team and every member was
confident about the film. After this, the film was released in YouTube and this is when the
team faced a reality check. The film failed to garner any positive response in terms of
direction, acting and script. The viewers in the comments section were disappointed with the
film completely and thought it was a waste of good 15 minutes of their life. The topic was
appreciated but the execution was criticized by everyone alike in the audience. The direction
was poor and the actors were said to have let down the entire plot with their forceful acting in
the short film. The only positive part of the film was its cinematography and editing. The
director of photography, Charles, was appreciated for the work and so was the editor friend of
mine as his editing was crisp and on point.
This experience in life made gave an important lesson to me that concerned
knowledge and experience is required to take up any work. I went into making a film without
any relevant theoretical knowledge and that was a big mistake on my part. The mistake
allowed me to understand that there is always requirement to take up theoretical knowledge
and success cannot be achieved in shortcuts. The film was based by the audience and it
motivated me to make sure that I gain sufficient knowledge and then again make a film that
would completely be a game changer. The team kept working hard from then and pursued
theoretical as well as practical knowledge on acting and film making. I took up a film making
course and after duration of 3 years the same team came together and created another film.

4NARRATIVE ESSAY
This time around the shoot was much professional and accurate and the results are visible as
its been a month that the short film has crossed 1 million views in the YouTube and people
are sharing and liking the film even after 8 months of the film being released.

5NARRATIVE ESSAY
Reference
Irving, D. K., & Rea, P. W. (2013). Producing and directing the short film and video. Focal
Press. ISBN 9781136048340
Lee, D. Y., & Lehto, M. R. (2013). User acceptance of YouTube for procedural learning: An
extension of the Technology Acceptance Model. Computers & Education, 61, 193-
208. Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/download/39464875/1-s2.0-
S0360131512002229-main1.pdf