Mentorship Content & Achievements
Outline Session by Session for the Filmmaking Mentorship Program
The pace you take the Online Flagship 5 Month Film School is up to you.
You can go faster or slower depending on your schedule.
Week One Getting Orientated:
- 5 Month Film Course Objective -> To Make Your Own Feature or Short Film in your home city using mentorship and training of the 5 Month Filmmaking Course:
- You have one personal one on one coaching Per week.
- And get your film seen by a huge audience around the world.
- How the Film Market now works
- Super Low Budget Filmmaking: It is not about the money.
- Setting the Goal for your Film – 5 Months to a completed 10 minute Short Film or Doco or one year to complete a 90 minute Feature Film.
- Preview Step by Step of what you will have to do, to succeed.
- Mobile Phone Camera Shoots V Black Magic Camera or RedCamera
GOAL OF MONTH ONE; CREATE THE STORY AND WRITE THE SCREENPLAY
Week Two Making Your Screenplay Happen
Story Invention Workshop: In this session we create the Story for the Film Production. We show you exactly how to create a story that grabs the audience.
Learn How to write a great story & screenplay:
- Every Film needs a great screenplay.
- Formatting the Screenplay. The software to use and how to get it FREE saving you $300
- Story Ideas Brainstorm and Generation
- Adding Conflict to your story
- The Improvisation Technique
- Scene by Scene Breakdown to create the Story Outline
To Do
- Write a scene-by-scene outline of your Screenplay over this Week.
- You also have a one on one Personal Coaching Session with your Coach Via Zoom or Skype or FaceTime.
- This Week, you will work on your scene by scene outline with your Personal Coach: Session 30 Minutes
Week Three Making Your Screenplay Happen.
- Review the Story Outline
- Work on Characters
- Ready Steady Get Writing
- How to Write Your Screenplay.
- These methods will make writing your screenplay an enjoyable and quick process.
- Write a 10 page screenplay over the next week
This Week You will discuss your script and writing it with your Personal Coach.
Week Four Rewriting and Casting
- Review the First Draft of your Screenplay.
- The importance of casting for the success of your film.
- How to set up a Casting Call in your City.
- Where to advertise for actors and what to say to attract them.
- Behind the Scenes from the Micro Budget Tabernacle 101
Week Five The Film Equipment – Using the Camera
- Today you should have a completed 2nd Draft of your Screenplay that now can be used to Shoot Your Film.
- What Film Equipment will you need?
- Mobile Phone Camera Shoot – List of Gear Demonstrated. Sound, Lights and Grips Gear. Keep it simple and keep it inexpensive.
- Black Magic Camera Shoot – List of Gear Demonstrated. Sound, Lights and Grips Gear. Same as Mobile
- PDF of Gear emailed after session with links to get the gear, at amazing prices. This is to save you money and so you get only what you need.
- Keep the Cost to a minimum. Save Thousands of $ here.
- Should you Rent the Gear.
- Camera basics (AFEW-Aperture, Focus, Exposure, White Balance) ⇀ How to balance a Fluid Head Tripod
- How to focus effectively using Focus Chart and pull focus
- How to check exposure⇀ How to compose/frame your shots
- Camera movement: Tilt & Pan using a tripod
- Camera movement: Handheld with a shoulder rig
This Week You will Work on How to Get your Gear with your Personal Coach.
Should you Shoot your Film on your Mobile or Buy Film Gear or Rent the Film Gear?
Week Six Sound and Lighting Gear and Using It
- The Sound Session: Learning how to use Professional Sound Equipment on location, including: ⇀ Sound basics
- ⇀ Shotgun Microphone & Boompole
⇀ Wind Sock
⇀ Wireless Transmitters and Receivers with Lapel Microphones
⇀ XLR Inputs on the Camera
⇀ Setting the right sound levels and monitor in sound on set - How to Record Great Location Sound on Set
- How to use the Boom
- How to use Wireless Transmitters and Receivers with Lapel
The Lighting Department
⇀ Basics of film lighting (3,2,1 point lighting and effects)
⇀ Lighting for exposure vs lighting for mood & effect
⇀ Using natural light
⇀ Lighting with set lights: Dedolights, Fresnels, LEDs and Redheads
⇀ Using Gels& Diffusion with lights
⇀ Grips Gear and Camera Movement.
This Week You will Work on How to Get your Sound and Lighting Gear with your Personal Coach.
It will be important to learn from your coach how to use the gear and get Sound Levels and Recording Sound with your Coach.
Week Seven Organising your Casting
How to organise and find the best actors. The A- Z of Casting
We will show you examples of Casting from a recent casting.
- Review the Actors that have applied to your casting call
- How to Book your Actors
- Every 15 minutes, three actors are scheduled for the casting
- Aprox 25 – 50 actors as a minimum but it can be more, will attend
- The Casting Space What you need
- How many people do you need at a casting.
- Get ready for your Casting that should happen within Days of this session.
- Work with your Personal Coach on your Casting this Week
Week Eight Casting Review Session and Locations
You will learn an invaluable skill. You will know how to cast a film effectively by doing it for real.
- Choose your Actors
- Learn what to look for in your playback to choose the best actors
- As we are getting close to shooting Day One of your movie, the focus is now on how to produce the 10-minute film by actually producing it.
- Locations – How to find your locations
- Location Scouting & Negotiation and Finalisation of location agreement
- How much should they cost? Free in nearly all cases but some will cost.
- Work with your Personal Coach on your Pre production and Making your Shoot Happen.
Week Nine Make Your Film Shoot Happen.
- Essential Crew to lock down now.
- Find Production Designer — Why it is important.
- The Shoot Schedule – How to break your Script down into 4 Shooting Days.
- Set up the plan to Find your Crew with your Personal Coach
Month Three
Week Ten The Acting Session Directing and Rehearsing Actors.
With the Shoot happening Soon, tonight’s focus is firmly placed on working with actors.
- Actor Blocking and how it will determine the shot list.
- Top 10 Tips for working with actors on set.
- How to direct Actors effectively when you are starting out.
- The A_Z of working with and Directing your Actors.
Part Two Rehearsals with your Actors
- Costumes for the actors finalised.
- Rehearsals with the actors How to rehearse
- Learn by rehearsing with the Actors
Week 11 Final Shoot Preparations: Ready Steady Go.
Tonight you will complete all the final preparations and the preproduction for the movie that you will shoot.
- Final Schedule organised.
- Final checklist for the following – Locations – Crew – Production Design
- Equipment Set Up.
- Call Sheets and how they are prepared
- The Essential Crew – Itemised Director, DOP , Focus Puller, Clapper, Sound Recordist, Boom Swinger, Gaffer x 2, Grips , Continuity Production Co-ordinator.
- Locations Reccies
- Production Design on a Budget.
- Ready Steady Go.
Week 12 The Shoot: How to Shoot your Film and Getting Ready To Shoot.
- Director reviews his or her’s plan.
- Walk Through Block the Actors Lock Blocking
- Shot List Preparation – Create your Shot List
- Meeting with your Crew.
- Lighting Plans and 3 Point Lighting Review
- Working a scene and How to get coverage
- Calling a Set to Order
- Clapping a Scene
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Month Fourth
Week 13 ,14 The 4 Day Shoot within the Next Three Weeks You Shoot Your Film on Location in your city.
- This is your deadline Time and it is now that You Shoot on Location.
- You can shoot on Saturday’s and Sunday’s
- This is a free choice and you do not have to shoot a film to attend the course.
- Please adhere to Covid guidelines in your city and state.
- Please work with Your Personal Coach on your Film Shoot
Week 15 Shoot Review and Edit Preparation
- Review of shooting Day One.
- Adobe Premier Pro Set up
- You learn to edit the movie, on Adobe Premiere Pro.
We currently have a video tutorial series of 11 tutorials, only available to people on the 5 Month Filmmaking Course. One must use these tutorials with the editing course lessons and the footage from the film. This way you will edit the entire short film. - Editing a short film takes time and enthusiasm to complete outside of class time.
- Allow 20 – 30 voluntary hours over a month,to complete an edit outside of course time.
- Please note that editing is a great skill to learn and there is so much work in the film and video business for talented editors. It also pays well.
Focus here for opportunity. - You will need a Laptop or Desktop computer with a minimum of 8GB of Ram and the Adobe Premiere Pro Software available from Adobe
Week 16 Learn to Edit Session Two
You learn to edit the movie, on Adobe Premier Pro. Editing continues on the film.
You will learn how a film is edited and how to make the film look and sound professional.
- Syncing footage
- We edit the film
- How to edit the material into a complete scene
- You actually edit the film on Adobe Premiere Pro
Please note that editing and colouring is a very valuable skill to learn. There is plenty of work for very good editors in the film business. Postproduction has the most jobs.
The Three Week challenge:
Edit the entire Film
Week 17 Feature Film Production and How to Make your Feature
- When to Make Your First Feature Film?
- Shooting Your Feature Film in Four Shoots
- The Shoot Budget Feature Film
- It can be done on $5K – This is how
- Your Plan to shoot a Feature Film.
- Earning money on Stock Video Sites
Week 18 Film Festivals & Business of Filmmaking Part One
After your Film is complete, how do you find the audience and how do you find work in the film business.
Film Festivals and your strategy for entering- the best website for Film Festivals
- The Poster – How to get it made
- The Trailer – Cut the best trailer
- The Press Kit and the Film Pitch Deck.
- Film Markets and how feature films are sold and make money.
- Colm O”Murchu attends the American Film Market and Hong Kong Film Market every year.
Week 19 Business of Filmmaking Part One
- Predatory Film Distributors and Sales Agents
- Finding the right aggregator or Distributor
- Our Recommendations where you will maximise the return on your Film.
- How much will you make
- Your Marketing Plan to maximise the Return.
Week 20 Edit Session Three Finish the post on Your film.
- Colouring the film to make the film look great.
- Music and how to use Stock Sites to source your music.
- Adding music to your film
- Credits and Titles
- Preparing for Sound Mix
- Exporting your Final Film
Week 21 Finishing your Film and Finding the Audience
- Film Directors Certificate provided you Submit a Finished Film
- Make Your Plan to Get the Film Seen
Ongoing 6 Months – 12 Months
- Enter Film Festivals IMDB Approved
- Go Back to Film Festival Section and
- Decision on if you would like to continue Coaching
- Film Distribution Plan
- Go Back to Business of Filmmaking and Decide on Distribution Plan.
- Set Eyeball Goals for your Film – Example 1 Million People or more see a Short Film — 10 Million People or more see your Feature Film
- Set Plan for Next Film
What you Gain and Achieve on the Filmmakers Mentorship Program
- Save Tens of Thousands of $
- Learn Filmmaking
- Make a Movie
- Gain Mentorship Now
- Catapult your Film Career