Do you have a teen who loves to make home movies or aspires to be in the film industry? How about a teen who just wants a fun elective course for their high school transcript? That’s where Intro to Filmmaking comes in! It’s an exciting elective course from Film School 4 Teens.
What Is It
Intro to Filmmaking is an online film course for middle school and high school students. It covers how to create a movie, analyzing films and fun film facts. This course can be taken individually or as a group. Students who complete this course will have knowledge in many aspects of film including things like:
- Visual storytelling
- Camera angles
- Characters
- Lighting
- Sound
- Editing
- Analyzing film
- How film was used in war propaganda
- and so much more!
Make sure to visit their website for a full list of topics covered, films that are viewed and analyzed and fun facts that are taught. You will be surprised by how much this course covers!
How Does It Work
When you purchase Intro to Filmmaking you are getting online access to the course for one year. One physical workbook is included in your purchase and mailed to you. Additional workbooks can be purchased if you are using this course with more than one student. Your student can work through the course at his or her own pace.
The instruction for this course is amazing! Damon, the instructor, is fun and engaging to watch while doing an excellent job of sharing his knowledge and love of film making.
The course is divided into 18 sections. Each section includes a lesson, an assignment, a film report and a fun film fact. Intro to Filmmaking is a year-long course that fulfills 1 credit of fine arts in high school. While the course is designed to be done over one school year, it can easily be adapted to fit into one semester for the enthusiastic filmmaker. (1 credit can still be given for completion of the entire course even if it is done in one semester.)
Find out more about the course and how to enroll in this video.
What Did We Think
This was my daughter’s favorite course of the year! She learned a lot about the different aspects of creating a movie from writing a script, shooting scenes and editing a film. Better yet, she was able to put what she learned into practice by creating short clips and a short film of her own.
Another excellent aspect to the course was the film analysis portion. My daughter was able to use her critical thinking skills to analyze the content of different films and think carefully about the message the film was attempting to convey.
Students will enjoy the course so much that they’ll probably forget they are doing school work. It really is a fun and engaging elective for teens!
Intro to Filmmaking would make a great fine arts elective credit on a high school transcript. While homeschool parents can create their own high school elective courses for their students, it’s nice to have an excellent course already created that students will enjoy doing and learn a lot from. I highly recommend this course for any student interested in film making or just wanting a way to check off a fine arts credit.
Things to Keep in Mind
Film School 4 Teen offers two options for their Intro to Filmmaking course. You can choose between the classic version and the charter version. The classic version includes some faith-based material while the charter version is almost identical to the classic version but without mention of a specific faith system.
My daughter took this course on her own and loved it. She did have to recruit a few siblings to help her make her short film though. While this course can be done individually, it would make a wonderful co-op class. Find out more about how to use this course in a co-op setting in this video.
I know that homeschool families differ on what types of movies they find appropriate for their family to watch but don’t pass up this course just because you don’t like the movie selections listed.
Intro to Filmmaking has provided a “Standard Film Report Worksheet” in the back of the workbook that can be used with any movie the student chooses. That means that you can skip the pre-selected movie, choose one of your own and still strengthen those critical thinking skills by analyzing a movie that you find more suitable for your student.
One more thing I want to share about Film School 4 Teens. There customer service is amazing! If you have questions, concerns or want to know how to best use this course for your family or homeschool group, they are just a phone call or email away.
Film School 4 Teens is continuing to add more film courses for high schoolers. Visit their website to learn more!
Disclosure: Film School 4 Teens gave me free online access to this course however I did purchase the student workbook with my own money. I always share my honest opinion regardless of whether I purchased the curriculum myself or received it for free.
Thank you so much for this review! My son will be doing this course next year for his junior school year. He’s very into film & video, so this looks perfect for him. I had seen that your daughter was going to be using it in one of your earlier videos, & it’s great to get the thoughts & tips about the course from both yourself and your daughter. Thanks again! 👍😊