Filmmaking 101: Make Your First Short Film

This afternoon workshop offers a practical introduction to making a short film. Led by filmmaker and PhD researcher Shanshan Wu, the session will cover simple scriptwriting and storyboarding, camera composition, and basic editing. Participants will use these skills to plan, shoot and edit a film of no more than three minutes.

The subject is open, but each film must include at least one East or South East Asian reference. This could be a memory, object, food, word, place, person or cultural detail.

The workshop is open to beginners, and no specialist equipment is needed. Participants will use smartphones or other accessible tools and work individually or in small groups.

We will end by watching the completed films together. The workshop is based on a simple idea: anyone can become a visual storyteller when they have the space and tools to begin.