Where to start

Film School tries to take you through the SciCast process more-or-less in order, so if you’re new here, click down the links to the right, read these pages, and it should start to make sense.

SciCast films are usually made by small teams — see ‘Teams & Producers’ for more — and not much planning tends to be needed. No, really. A bit helps, but too much tends to sap all the fun out from both the experience, and the resulting film. The main rule of SciCast films is that they mustn’t be boring, so don’t overthink it: get stuck in, make a film, and if it sucks… make another one.

Films are usually based on demonstrations, straightforward experiments that you can repeat enough times for you to get your lines right. If you’re just starting out, we heavily recommend sticking to a classroom demo you know well. But if you’re feeling adventurous, you might like to explore other sorts of films. We have some links and useful sources of inspiration for you, too.

Also here in Film School you’ll find some general advice about equipment, some tips on camerawork, and our thoughts on the sorts of mistakes people tend to make, and how you might avoid them.

Using music, photographs, and video clips from others.

Short version: don’t.
Long version: here.

Safety

It’s only a film, it’s not worth being injured for. Well, your pride might take a knock if you make a complete fool of yourself, but physical injury is something else. Be sure to read our brief safety notes.