Making a movie is not only a great way to spend quality time with your little one, it is also a perfect opportunity to encourage them to use their imagination and delve into their creative side.
When it comes to making your film, you can be as creative or as simple as you like. Follow these steps and your little one will be on their way to becoming the next Steven Spielberg.
Write a script
Give your little one a pen and some paper and encourage them to write their movie script before they start filming it. If they are struggling to find inspiration give them books and magazines to help get their creative juices flowing. Don’t forget to get them to give it a name.
Allocate roles
When they have their script written they need to get their props and actors ready. Get the whole family involved and encourage your youngster to give everyone a role to play. However, if there are only a limited number of people, they can use their teddies or dolls.
Prepare
Help your child to pick out costumes and lay them out, ready for each scene. Again do the same with props. If they need to make background sets or move things around in the room now is the time to do it. Set up the area before letting anyone practice there. Remember, your child is the director so go with what they say and don’t try to make any changes. This is their movie.
Practice
Encourage your little one to get everyone to practice before they start filming. Give each person a script if they have lines and get them dressed in their appropriate outfits. This way they can make any changes to the script or the characters before they take out the camcorder or camera.
Methods to use
There are a couple of different methods that your child can use when making their movie. Obviously a camcorder is ideal but if you don’t have one a camera works pretty good as well and makes a great silent movie. When using a camera, your little one will need to make more scenes but have them shorter. Taking a photo of each scene, your little one’s movie will come to life when the audience looks through the images quickly.
Watch it
Finally, when the movie is completed, hook the camcorder up to the television and gather the whole family around to watch it. If it is a silent movie, upload the images to a computer and watch it in a slide show. If you are a whizz with computers, put your little one’s name as director of the movie.
