by Cassandra Wipf
Powell River’s Digital Film School is a five-month, 16-credit course for grade-twelve students. On completion, students who want to continue film studies receive automatic acceptance into Capilano University’s Motion Picture program. Students experience what a real film set is like, as well as involvement in development, pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution that goes into making a film.
I found my experience of the 2010 course absolutely amazing. As assistant director in our final project; I worked with other students on their projects; worked on shooting schedules, call sheets, and script breakdowns. I edited and helped edit films in class, transferred the films from computer to DVD for our final screening—which, I quickly learned, is not a quick process—made up sheets and Facebook groups for casting calls and designed thank-you cards and invites for the film.
The class was a great experience for me. If I could, I would take it a million times over. It changed my view of the world; involved me more with the community, I met people I would probably have never even seen if it weren’t for the course, and learned things about people that I wouldn’t have realised had it not been for the relationships that were developed throughout the year. It was definitely the best experience of my life, and made me decide to go to Capilano and further my film-making education. It made me see movies in a different way, as well as realise and appreciate all the hard work of developing, producing, filming, editing, distributing, and everything else that goes into making a film.