Will Dee

Troy Lanier and Clay Nichols teach filmmaking at a high school in Austin, Texas. Because they were never able to find a good textbook that effectively taught filmmaking while holding the ever-wandering attention of teens, they decided to write their own book. The result was Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts. By breaking down the complex process of creating and completing a short, the authors show that it is possible for anyone to make movies.

Comprehension

This is not your typical, mind-numbing textbook on how to make a movie; it simplifies the process of filmmaking by shortening the length of the project: just 5-6 minutes. Filmmaking for Teens gives you an idea of what to plan for when making a film by going over all of the essentials. As you read the book, you start to understand that this is pretty much the same process that all big-budget Hollywood films go through… just on a much smaller scale.

The writing is humorous in a satirical, tongue-in-cheek way (you know… the way high schoolers are), while at the same time not getting too ridiculous. It explains the technical side of moviemaking in language that both techie geeks and novices can understand and appreciate.

Depth of Information

For its (relatively) small size, this book packs a LOT of information in. Starting with brainstorming (or, as they call it, “brainshowering”), they walk the reader through writing, planning, filming, and finally editing the film. The authors give several guidelines and pointers for obtaining equipment, finding locations, organizing a cast and crew, and getting attention for the finished product.

The cool thing is they also emphasize creativity, professionalism, and responsibility with their teen audience. While they give suggestions, they rarely promote “shortcuts”; instead, they encourage the reader to learn to do things properly, with the understanding that the process will become easier with each project.

Interest Level

There is no danger of this book losing your attention. It’s technical and challenging enough to keep your brain cells engaged and operating, but the humor that is woven in with it makes this book both interesting and enjoyable.

Reusability

This book is definitely one to keep as a reference for when you do your projects or to recommend to a friend. The summaries at the end of each chapter can be used on almost any film project, no matter the size. There is also valuable information included about publicity, generating funding for future films, and entering student film festivals. For any young (or even old!) aspiring filmmaker, this book will be your “film bible”.

Value vs. Cost

Although the retail price of the book is $18.95, you can buy it from the Michael Weise website for less than $15. Is it worth it? Heck yes. That and a whole lot more. The amount of time, money, and headache this will help prevent is immeasurable. I wish that I had had this book two years ago when I was the producer on my first indie film; it would’ve made things a lot easier. (Okay, well, somewhat easier at least.) For anyone, teenager, parent, grandparent, whoever, interested in learning more about making films, this book is an absolute must.

Overall Comment

The thing that I really enjoy the most about this book is that, although it is written for teens, it isn’t limited to them; anyone with an interest in film can make a short project after reading this book.

The book takes the reader through the entire process of making a short film, planning for a shooting schedule of 3 days (usually found during those semi-holiday extended weekends). Three days is a reasonable amount of time that even most adults would be able to spare. Think about it: if teens-who have little to no money, might or might not have a car (let alone one that works!), and are juggling school, homework, a job, and extracurricular activities-can make a 5-6 minute film, who says that an adult can’t?

Understandability – 9.5

Depth of Information – 9.0

Interest Level – 9.0

Reusability – 10.0

Value vs. Cost – 10.0

Total Score – 9.5

Reviewed by Kari Ann Morgan

Microfilmmaker.com

Rating: 5 / 5

Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts

Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts

by Troy Lanier and Clay Nichols

Review by Pi Ware

Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts is a great gift for a young filmmaker. The book is concrete, fairly well organized, and written in a hip-and-now vernacular that will connect with the suburban teens of today (and sound utterly bizarre in about 7 years). The authors, Troy Lanier and Clay Nichols, have an in-depth knowledge of filmmaking and great ability to distill this knowledge down to its bare essentials, which is all a teen filmmaker wants or needs.

Not only is this a good book for teenagers, but it’s a great book for any first time filmmaker. It may not be as exhaustive as Kim Adelman’s instant classic, “The Ultimate Filmmaker’s Guide to Short Films: Making it Big in Shorts”, but for that high school kid in your life who wants to “get into the business”–or for anyone who wants to learn the gritty, Do-It-Yourself ethic of no-budget indie filmmaking–this manual is a great place to start.

Assuming (correctly) that many teen readers will only read the first ten pages of the book, Lanier and Nichols start with a quick summary of how to make your first short and how to keep the project do-able for a teenager. From there they take you through scripting, pre-production, production, and post, and then onto teen-themed festivals listed by deadline date. Lanier and Nichols teach the basics of filmmaking in an easy-to-follow manner, including how to compose a shot, how to write in screenplay format and how to edit the movie once it’s shot. And the basics they teach are not lopsided opinions but, rather, they’re the white hot core of filmmaking essentials. Though the book’s style may be too slanged-up and peppered with “attitude” for the smarter teenage crew, Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts is a great how-to book for any ambitious movie geek.

Rating: 4 / 5

Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts

For anyone who wants a really detailed book on how to make films using today’s technology, this book is perfect. Don’t worry if you’re not quite a teenager yet or if you’ve already graduated from high school — you’ll find this book incredibly helpful in getting you started as a filmmaker. Highly recommended!

Kim Adelman

Author, The Ultimate Filmmaker’s Guide to Short Films

Rating: 5 / 5

Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts