The Movie-Making Process: As a Teenager

In my sophomore year of high school, I started a film production club. Our goal was to create a 20-30-minute movie to present to the school by the end of the year in June. It was a huge feat, and many were skeptical to start, especially those who knew how much time and effort it takes to create a short film.

Yet, after the first year’s success, our second year was ready to take off with the support and backing of over 100 people. This post will outline the long and arduous, yet gratifying process of creating a movie.

We have 3 general phases to our process, each of which is drastically different and requires the involvement of distinct groups of people. The first is pre-production. After we’ve recruited new members to our club, we begin the ideation process. The beginning meetings will usually happen during bonus blocks, which are 30-minute free periods in our school day designed to allow students to study, participate in clubs, or be with friends. Once we have our main idea and plot outline, the head writers split the plot points into scenes, then we divide the work by assigning scenes to writers. The writers write their scenes individually, then submit them to the head writers, who edit them and put them all together to form one cohesive screenplay. In our most recent year, we had over 20 writers involved in writing and plotting, with about 5 acting as head writers. Writing is arguably one of the most important and defining parts of the process. It is our foundation, and it determines the overall direction of our production.

The second phase is the production season. The first step is to host auditions and cast our main characters. For The RoomLink Initiative, we had over 15 people audition for our main 6 characters. Once we have our cast set, we begin the busiest time of the whole process, which is filming. This will usually start right after our winter break, and wrap up before our AP test season in late April. We have a little under 4 months to film our entire movie, so we try to make the most of our time. Immediately, we collect information about when our actors’ schedules and create our shoot schedule around that. Then, we have to book locations, find props and costumes, and create shotlists. Once our classes end and the bell rings at 2:20 pm we only have until 5:00 pm to set up, film, clean up, and leave the school, so everything must be streamlined.

Once filming is complete, we move into the final phase: post-production. We have 1 month, starting in early May and ending right before our premiere in early June, to do VFX work, cut, color grade, and sound our final product. Editing is mostly an individual job, so we’ll assign tasks to our 5 editors and once those tasks are completed, their products are reviewed by producers and other editors. If changes need to be made, they’re made, and then they’re sent to the head of post-production, who compiles all the scenes, handles transition work, and puts on the finishing touches. Post-production also involves advertising. This is when our trailer is put together, the poster is created, and we release cast interviews and BTS content on YouTube and Instagram.

The biggest challenge when it comes to this process is time and money.

It always comes down to time and money. A school year is roughly 9 months. That means we have 9 months to cover all stages of production. On top of that, high schoolers are busy people. We have to find time between school work, other clubs, and personal commitments so that we can film with everyone. If even one actor cannot make it, we cannot film. Most of our film was shot inside the school, but when filming in the school, we only had from 2:20 to 5:00, then we had to be out the door. Even when it seems like everything is perfectly planned, something always goes wrong. Either our microphone dies and we can’t find batteries, or an actor has to make up a test after school and is running late, something always happens. There was one scene this year that we had to reschedule 3 different times because something always came up.

We’re also only high school students with a budget as big as how much we earned in ticket sales last year. Last year we made $300 in ticket sales. That budget went toward buying props and a few costumes, but it was far from nearly enough to provide us with good equipment. Last year, we used the school’s camera and microphone equipment, but we soon realized that this limited our growth. The camera and sound quality were lacking, so instead, we used camera equipment owned by one of our club members and bought extra supplies using money from our own pockets. However, if we want to continue the club past our own time, better equipment is necessary, and we really shouldn’t have to use money from our own pockets since the club is supposed to be a school club.

Yet even with all the hardships we face, the process is extremely fun and rewarding. Some may even say that the challenges we struggle with along the way are what make the production worth it in the end. Our final product serves as a testament to all our hard work and effort.