Chris! Hurray…

Congratulations to the lucky winner of our audio-technica prize giveaway. The lucky @scanprovideo tweeter bagged a fantastic video mic following our webcast giveaway on Thursday 20th June. Chris is a young filmmaker honing his craft the old-fashioned way; making no-budget films with friends. His latest effort is a zombie flick presented as his assessment piece for A’ Level in Film & Media Studies.

Chris collected his PRO 24 CMF from our store so we had a chance to sit down and ask him how he was going to use his new video mic.

“I’ve been making films for quite a while, about three or four years. I’ve just finished A’ Levels and I did Film Studies there so I’ve done quite a lot of stuff for that.”

Do you have access to filmmaking kit at college?

“We get given a camera but it’s quite old and not very good but we can use our own kit too. It’s difficult trying to get software because they edit on old computers using Windows Movie Maker so its a bit of a problem. That means I tend to edit at home on my Scan computer using Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. The last piece was a Zombie movie and I was experimenting to see what I could do in that genre, like stabbing people in the chest and putting a hole there in After Effects. Other than that I’ve made a lot of stop motion animation but I’ve just got a new camera (Canon EOS 650D) so I need to sort out some software to continue that part of my work.”

Is that the camera you’ll be using your PRO 24 CMF on?

“Yeah and I can’t wait to try it out. I’m hoping to go to university to study computer science but I want to carry on making films because its something I really love doing. I’ve been looking around to see what kind of filmmaking clubs and societies there are. I watch a lot of content online. Youtube channels like Film Riot and Indy Mogul are big communities where you can watch other peoples work and have a look at what’s going on which is really interesting. Indy Mogul focuses on the serious aspects of filming and they have some very useful tips on how to write a script and format it properly, to more complex things like how to create a documentary. Film Riot inspires you to do creative things with apps like After Effects for low budget films.”

Chris agreed that having a small or non existent budget can sometimes help rather than hinder the filmmaking process, forcing you to be creative with your resources and time and learning more from the process along the way.

“Spending the time watching tutorial videos and trying to make a scene work gives you more insight… you develop a passion that makes the end result better.”

That’s the best kind of film school then?

“That’s the best thing to do, just practise.”

And there you are folks. If you want to do something, just do it. Wise words from a young filmmaker.

Watch this space for future pings on what promises to be a wonderful oeuvre of work  –  www.chriscoxmedia.co.uk

Scan Pro Video are very proud to support the next generation of filmmakers. In the near future we will be announcing details of the Scan Film Festival. For the winners there will be cash prizes and video production equipment kindly donated by our sponsors, but hopefully what there will be in abundance is inspiration, or at least an excuse to finally ‘make that movie’. Remember; just do it!

© Scan Pro Video 2013