Digital Filmmaking for Teens

DVD Table of Contents

Neo's Ring Hollywood's First Seven-Minute Blockbuster

• Director's Commentary

Neo's Ring Rough Cut with Director's Commentary

Here You Go Again Music Video of the Hit Single from Neo's Ring (song courtesy Sonicfire Pro)

The Making of Neo's Ring with Director's Commentary

Hearing is Believing: The Importance of Music and Sound Instructional video with feature film writer-director Pete Shaner

Selling the Punch: Basic Stunt Fighting Instructional video starring two professional Hollywood stunt actors

Student Film Festival Short films from the School of Cinema and Performing Arts (SOCAPA), some with director's commentary, introduced by instructor Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Demo Software: Sonicfire Pro (music composition, Windows and Mac www.smartsound.com), Gee Three Slick Sampler (plug-ins for iMovie, Mac www.geethree.com), Final Draft (screenwriting, Windows and Mac www.finaldraft.com). For support or to purchase these products consult the manufacturers’ websites.

Script of “Neo's Ring” Microsoft Word (.DOC) file

Video Clips from “Neo's Ring” for practice editing

Production Forms

• Camera and Sound Log and Call Sheet

• Player's Release (sample)

How to Use the DVD

The DVD that accompanies Digital Filmmaking for Teens provides examples of the kinds of projects you can create with a DV camcorder and desktop editing software. Although we hope you think the shorts we produced look polished and professional, we used DV tools exclusively. Our gear included Canon XL and ZR series camcorders, a Sennheiser boom mic and pole, and Apple Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro software, as well as Sonicfire Pro for all the music tracks. We shot outdoors, using no movie lights at all--relying exclusively on reflectors, flags, and silks to control sunlight. (As we noted in the text, we bought a green screen from a camera store to use as a background for the special-effects shots in “Neo’s Ring.”) Because we shot on weekends, none of the shorts required more than two days to shoot.

A selection of short movies produced by high-school students is also included, and all of those were done entirely in DV.

In short, there’s nothing on the DVD that you can’t do yourself with a small crew and inexpensive or borrowed gear.

To watch the movies, insert the DVD into a computer that has a DVD-R or -RW drive (such as the Mac SuperDrive), or into a set-top DVD player. Mac computers require DVD Player or comparable software. Windows machines must have Windows Media Player or comparable. You can access all clips, including director’s commentaries, through the on-screen menus.

You can get a lot of how-to information by watching the shorts with the Director’s Commentary tracks. If you want to delve deeper, you’ll probably find a more detailed explanation in the book. If you still have questions, send the authors an email at info@lapuerta.tv or check the Reader Support section of this site.

The disc also contains demonstration software, a sample script for "Neo's Ring," and production forms. You can only access these files on a computer equipped with a DVD-R or –RW drive. On a Mac, use the Finder application to explore the disc and open the files. On a PC, use Windows Explorer. All files and applications are provided in both Mac and PC versions, with the exception of the Gee Three Slick Sampler, which works only on Macs that have Apple iMovie installed.

Vacation at "The Roost" in Sedona, Arizona

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