INKED 2023: SHS students partake in filmmaking seminar-workshop

Senior high school students learned about the different aspects of filmmaking, from scriptwriting to video editing, in the “INKED: REEL for PEACE” held on Saturday, January 7.

This year’s edition of INKED, held face-to-face for the first time since the pandemic, invited speakers with expertise in the fields of scriptwriting, acting, and video production to share their knowledge about the said topics.

Mr. Earl Harry Bea, in his plenary session at the Marian Hall, highlighted the roles that contribute to film production such as directors and actors. He differentiated directors, as the people responsible for conveying what the writers want to convey, to actors, who perform the director’s vision for the production.

Mr. Bea also walked the students through the elements of scriptwriting from writing a concept to creating the characters that will give life to the script and the things to consider during production such as sound design and camera work.

Breakout sessions in HyFlex rooms were dedicated to scriptwriting, acting, and video editing with Mr. Erwin Conchada, Ms. Anabelle Peralta, and Mr. Denis Corpuz taking the helm of speakers, respectively.

Mr. Conchada tackled in his talk on scriptwriting how to write a story that will be put into a script. He discussed how to write fully-fleshed characters by giving them character sheets that help establish the characters the writers want to include in the story. He also went on to discuss the different ways writers can improve their plots by using plot and literary devices and symbolism.

For video editing, Mr. Corpuz talked about how vertical videos can be efficiently used as an alternative format for filmmaking, deviating from the usual formula of horizontal video, due to its accessibility and being easily adaptable to the present social media culture. He also tackled the basics of photography and videography and shared websites where students can get stock videos and photos and royalty-free music for their productions.

Meanwhile, Ms. Peralta organized an acting workshop for the participants, giving them tips on how to act realistically by channeling the character they are portraying. In an interview, she hopes that participants can develop a love for the arts after the workshop.

“Somehow, kung meron man sa kanila na tutuloy sa pagiging scriptwriter, they would be able to create and produce movies and write scripts that are inspiring to people,” she added.

The seminar-workshop, exclusive to SHS students, serves as a training ground for SHS students who will be applying their learnings in their reel productions. The mechanics for the project are yet to be released.