How To Make A Film is a digital series of interviews and learning resources from satellite. Part instruction manual, part manifesto, How To Make A Film explores the practicalities of, and makes the case for, socially-engaged moving image work.
What is socially-engaged moving image?
It can take different forms: finished outputs might feel like documentary, drama, artists’ film, performance video, and many other things. What unites the discipline is a concern with process and its effect. It asks questions like: Who makes the work? How is it made? And for whom? and then explores how altering these things might lead to positive social change.
What will the series cover?
How To Make A Film will cover all areas of making a film from idea generation, to researching, developing, finding funding, making treatments / teasers, pitching, speaking to commissioners, finding collaborators, getting your work seen + distribution. We’ll also ask artists doing pioneering work about how they approach filmmaking, ethics, working with communities, and other big questions about their process.
The series covers lots of areas, and will include many artists, makers, curators and more, whose work we love. To make it easier to navigate, we’ve highlighted where the discussion touches on particular issues with illustrations:
They stand for: Ideas, Development, Equipment, Experience, Support, Finance, Time, Care, Audience and Discussion.
You can read the articles and interviews in their own right, or skim through to wherever there’s info that’s relevant to you.
The project is a contribution to our community. We hope it’s useful to you, but we’re also learning as we go. If there are people, issues or practical things you think we should be covering, please get in touch. And if you find the series useful or you know someone who might, please help us by spreading the word.
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