Filmmakers Collaborative has opened registration for three new summer filmmaking classes in Melrose, Wakefield and Dennisport. FC Academy provides week-long film classes for middle school students across eastern Massachusetts, taking them through the entire filmmaking process, ending the week having produced their own short film. Select student films will then be screened on Monday August 31 as part of a special FC Academy night at the Kowloon Restaurant Drive-In in Saugus, MA. Each of the new classes will begin August 3. Registration is now open at filmmakerscollab.org.
Through the week-long program, students will learn scriptwriting, storyboard sketching, character development, improvisation, and camera skills. They will write, shoot, and edit a film in a genre of their choosing. The classes are taught by professional filmmakers using professional equipment such as Adobe Premiere Pro editing software. All final projects are eligible for submission into the Boston International Kids Film Festival, scheduled for November 2020.
This year, students will be practicing social distancing whenever possible in class. Students will be required to wear a mask at all times, and due to smaller class sizes the students will not have to share equipment. In addition to in person classes, FC academy is offering eight digital classes that will be streamed online. Students in the online classes will still write, shoot, and edit their own films, but they will do so from their own home.
FC Academy will be hosting a special evening at the Kowloon Restaurant Drive-In to kick off their 9th Annual Boston International Kids Film Festival. Films created at FC Academy programs this summer will be screened prior to the showing of a feature film. The screenings will begin around 8pm after the sun begins to set. Guests may choose to sit and enjoy the films from the comfort of their own car or may gather around one of the tables set up. Each table is allowed a max of 6 people. Tickets to the Boston International Kids Film Festival 2020 Kick off Drive-in event at the Kowloon Restaurant are available now through EventBrite for $35. Visit this page for tickets and more information.
“This year we are offering a variety of class options, so that we can help educate as many students as possible,” said Laura Azevedo, Festival Director of the Boston International Kids Film Festival. “With the addition of our online program we hope to offer every child the chance to learn regardless of where they live, or what their family’s comfort level is during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The 2020 FC Academy Summer Schedule is as follows:
| MELROSE | Week of August 3 | Register |
| CAPE COD- Community Media Center | week of August 3 | Register |
| ONLINE– Filmmaking 101 | Week of August 3 | Register |
| ANDOVER | Week of August 10 | Register |
| ONLINE– Stop-Motion Animation | Week of August 10 | Register |
| BURLINGTON | Week of August 17 | Register |
| ONLINE– Filmmaking 101 | Week of August 17 | Register |
| BEVERLY- The Cabot | Week of August 24 | Register |
| ONLINE– Stop-Motion Animation | Week of August 24 | Register |
Registration is now open for all classes.
About Filmmakers Collaborative
The FC Academy and Boston International Kids Film Festival are projects of Filmmakers Collaborative (FC), a non-profit organization that encourages and supports the making of great films and media projects by people of all ages and experience levels. FC offers grants management, mentoring and workshops to a diverse and national community that includes award-winning PBS documentarians, first-time producers and directors, and young people just discovering the power and potential of visual media. For more information, please go to: www.filmmakerscollab.org.
The Nerds Templar 