Make Your Student Film Shine

Film schools put their student through the student film experience at least once. It's a very valuable project, but it can also be incredibly frustrating. Whether your program was animation or more traditional film, these are often group projects, and as a student you have a limited budget and resources.

Work with what you have and build an idea around that

You will not have the best cameras, audio recording equipment, or lighting. Let's face it, your team will all be at about the skill level expected for a student and learning on the job. You probably won't have professional actors and your access to audio resources will be severely limited. This does not mean you can't make a good movie, but you shouldn't go overboard.

Your best strategy is to take advantage of this and build your film in a way that incorporates what you have. For example with less artists on your project, making the art styles in your animation as simple as possible can facilitate a unique looking style and be easier to create something. Similarly you should focus on topics you know and understand. Save the blockbuster film making for your future career.

Communicate with your team

Unlike a regular film, student projects are much more collaborative. While any artistic endeavour depends, at least in part, on good synergy, in this particular instance everyone has an equal stake in things, and usually in film production programs, no one person is no better than the others enough to take a real leadership role and run the entire show.

Find out what everyone's talents are. A sincere assessment of everyone's skills can be hard to do without hurting anyone's feelings, but if you can delegate accordingly you will get the best possible marks and results.

Combine forces

If your school is a large one, and film production programs are just part of the course offerings, working with someone in audio school for your sound effects can deliver better results. And generally, film schools are located by things like acting colleges, where you can try to create projects that include everyone.

Of course before you do this, speak with your instructors to see if you can get approval so that you can use each other in each other's projects. This is easier in a school that has multiple subjects available for study, but be sure there is approval for inter school collaboration.

Deliver it On Time

Whatever you do, don't get hung up on being perfect at the expense of your deadline. The plummeting grade is unlikely to be made up for by the quality of your work, regardless of how good a masterpiece it is. Do right by your work and deliver it on time. If you feel like there just isn't enough time to get it done, then go into overdrive and do what you can to complete your work.