My little film maker

My son turned 7 on March 15th. It's funny how much they change so quickly as they go from one thing to the next, but I think what is so interesting about him is his interest in creative thinking.

He's recently taken up the art of film making using his Lego toys. I found this odd, but I entertained his curiosity. He came to me one evening and told me he wanted to make a film. Just like that..."I want to make a film Dad, will you help me?" Who was I to say no.

Just as any parent I think, my first thought was well this shouldn't take long since most kids have very little patience to sit and watch a TV show much less make one. So, having an interest in making videos myself, I told him it's not as easy as he thinks. I continued to inform him of all the intricacies of developing an idea and then recording the idea on paper and then moving to film. He was a bit perplexed but truly showed an interest in what I was telling him.

First, I told him about the script. You can't even mention a movie idea without some serious thought. This means you have to sit down and record what the story is about. "You mean write a story?" he asked me. "Exactly!" I replied. But that's not all!

Then there is the storyboard. He lifted his brow as if impersonating The Rock as I continued on with my complicated process of explaining what that was exactly. Drawing out your idea allows you to "show" someone what you're thinking I told him. This along with the script is what helps others visualize your thoughts. Since you can't do it alone most of the time you need others to share in your vision in order to make it happen the way you want.

Finally, after I finished my otherwise complicated process of film making, he scurried off to play deciding not to pursue it...or so I thought. About every 15 minutes he would come over to me and show what he had so far. First there was the short story. He stuck to one scene as opposed to the entire movie to make things more simple. Then he brought me the storyboard. Seeing I wasn't getting off the hook I decided to go and see what he had come up with. I found that he had set up a small movie set with the majority of his Lego's and was really trying his hand at making it work.

Seeing my son with such enthusiasm was fun for me so I dove in with him and built the green screen backdrop so we could dub in some deep space in post production. We continued to work on the scene for about 20 minutes and what we got was about 3 seconds of good video. Who knows...keep your eyes open at the box office!