Moving image literacy

Movie-making software advertisements usually tell you how easy it is to "turn boring video footage into outstanding productions to amaze your friends and family". They talk about their "great range of simple preset effects and 'transitions" and often refer to the hundreds of "Hollywood transitions" they contain.

It all sounds very exciting and easy but there's never a word about why you might be making a video in the first place.

It's all about communication
You make a movie in order to communicate a message of some sort. It might be to entertain. It might be to advertise a product or service. Or it might be to argue a case. Whatever the reason for making your movie in the first place the object is communication - and communication means literacy.

The new literacy:
When you use text you follow a set of rules called spelling, grammar and punctuation. When you make movies there is also a set of rules to follow. They include camera angles, shots and soundtracks.

Of course there's nothing wrong with stringing all your holiday video together with a lot of fancy animations except that, like using every font in your word processor, the finished result looks a mess. What you need is to learn the rules of film making and you'll soon be producing really meaningful movies that stir your viewers' emotions and communicate your message effectively - even if it's just to show off your holiday snaps..

The skills are easy to learn, great fun and very creative. Plus you'll be familiar with most of them already through enjoying films and television.

OK. Here we go.

You are about to take the first steps to making your own films. There's much to learn but your journey will be an exciting one.

Let's start a the very beginning. Films and television are simply the latest in a long line of story telling:

For thousands of years people sat round campfires listening to stories told by the elders.

Later, books and
the theatre replaced
campfires.

Then, about 100 years ago, moving photography was invented and a new way to tell stories appeared.

The first films were rather like plays. The camera was fixed in one place and the actors told their story in front of it.

As time went by many new techniques were invented and nowadays film-making is a very powerful medium for telling stories.

The techniques are simple to learn and you will have great fun practising them. We shall start with Soundtracks, move on to Still Images, then Moving Images and finally a look at Animation.

Start with soundtracks - or choose from the menu on the left.