The Cork Young Filmmakers programme offers day-long workshops to schools and youth clubs around county Cork. On the 21st September, about fifteen of our classmates got to participate in one of the workshops.  Two other workshops with another 30+ students participated later in the week.  We spent the morning being shown different types of shots, how to make sure your camera is in focus, how to achieve a natural exposure, and so much more. We also worked in groups and came up with ideas for short films (most of which included zombies!!). A script then was drafted for our favourite idea. 

After lunch we moved on from theory and planning out our script to making our short film. Before we could start, we cast our main acting roles.  Acting was very enjoyable, but a lot more goes into filmmaking than simply acting. Whilst filming we made sure everyone got to try many different jobs. You could be an assistant director calling the shots, you could operate the camera and make every shot in the film serve a purpose by using the theory of shots we learnt earlier in the day, or you could work sound and ensure all audio is loud, clear and undistorted. You could also have one of our personal favourite jobs- working the clapper board. The skills we learnt whilst filming our short film will definitely help us in future if we ever want to work as part of a crew for a short film or even a feature film. 

The day wasn’t long going and 3.30pm surprised us all with its arrival. We all left the stage delighted with ourselves after creating our own short film. Our mentors, Chris and Max told us about additional upcoming events involving the Cork Young Filmmakers, that many in our group are already looking forward to. We really enjoyed the workshop, it’s a great experience for those who are thinking about pursuing filmmaking later on in life, as well as a lot of fun. There could even be a film festival hosted in Cork that we are invited to attend in March! (Covid permitting).  We would highly recommend any future TY’s to participate. 

By: Sophie Peare, Lilian Gleave and Gemma Sadler (TY)