Making Movies At Home
This fall has been nothing short of incredibly busy. My husband had a work trip, sinus surgery, another work trip, then I had a work retreat. After all of that, we decided that our next weekend plan needed to involve staying home. Minus our sophomore’s homecoming dance preparations, that’s exactly what we did.
I would have been happy to lay around and watch movies all weekend for once, but I knew that wouldn’t fly with active, 7-year-old Isabelle. She would certainly go stir crazy. I was ready with a plan — we would make our own movie! It was a hit and something we will continue to do for fun.
You can do it, too!
If there is an iPad or iPhone in your house, you should have access to iMovie. It is a fun video editing app and the one that I started teaching Isabelle with this weekend. There are other editing platforms available, this is just a simple way to get going.
If we were going to create a short film, I wanted Isabelle to experience the entire process — the fun and the frustration. We started by writing down what Isabelle’s very short film was going to be about and drawing the scenes (storyboards) and then set up and shot the scenes using an iPad. She made the choice to capture some scenes in slow-motion and used a toy car to knock down a magnetic tile wall. She felt empowered when making artistic decisions but annoyed when things didn’t go quite how she wanted. In one case, we had to do 15 takes to get a car to crash through a wall the way she planned. It certainly taught patience and determination.
Editing on the iPad
We recorded each “scene” separately then sat at the table where we opened the iMovie app and selected all of our clips. It is worth noting that we used the “Movie” option, which is where you make a movie from scratch instead of using a template. With iMovie you can drag and move things around. It was particularly easy for Isabelle to use on the iPad at age 7, with guidance. If you are new to video editing, it will take some time to get accustomed to the process, regardless of age. There are some great YouTube tutorials on iMovie (safety tip: kids should be monitored when going online).
Using filters in iMovie
As she and I edited clips together, we talked about how major films are made. It gave Isabelle a better understanding of how many people and how much time it takes to complete a production. Within iMovie Isabelle added a soundtrack, sound effects, and a title at the end. I think the most fun part was her scripting the narration, then recording it using the built-in microphone.
End shot with a title added
The final product was just over a minute long after editing, but it took a good chunk of time to create. It was a great experience for her, and she was thrilled to show her short film to our family. Now she wants to learn more about iMovie and is already thinking of new techniques to make her next project better.
There will likely be an upcoming weekend where it is too cold to go outside, someone is quarantined, or being somewhat lazy sounds perfect. In addition to watching tv, playing video games, reading, or board games, consider making an at-home family movie. There are memories to be made and this could be a new way to make them.
