Teaching Film: Idea Generation

This course is the first in our new Teaching Film series, a collection of bitesize courses focused on short film production. It has been designed specifically for educators delivering film qualifications to young people aged 14-19.

Steven Spielberg once remarked that “audiences are harder to please if you’re just giving them special effects, but they’re easy to please if it’s a good story.”

So, what are the ingredients of a ‘good’ story? And how can we empower young people to craft their own compelling film stories?

About the course
Teaching Film: Idea Generation starts right at the beginning of the filmmaking process –the development stage. It introduces you to strategies you can use to support your students in generating film-worthy ideas and translating them into impactful short film narratives.

Whatever your confidence level with short film production, the course’s exclusive tips from film industry professionals and experienced teachers offer a fresh spin on key aspects of the process. Combined with our curated film highlights and easy-to-implement activities, you’ll have everything thing you need to inspire creativity and embed good practice.

Free masterclass
This course also offers a free masterclass webinar, focused on pitching to test and refine short film ideas. In addition to accessing exclusive content, not available as part of the course, this live session is a chance to ask questions to course experts and share ideas with educators across the UK. 

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

• Engage learners in creative idea generation activities
• Introduce your learners to the conventions of short film form
• Explore the building blocks of effective short film narratives
• Facilitate the practical application of narrative theories
• Encourage stress-testing to refine story ideas and ensure feasibility
• Link in-class learning to screen industry careers and processes.

What you’ll get
Underpinned by feedback from our network of film educators and screen industry professionals, the course combines classroom learning with real-world application to set your students up for success in their studies and beyond.

Watch a quick, sneak preview of one of the videos made exclusively for this course, where experts from the film and education industries share advice that you can put into practice straight away.

This self-paced course is available on-demand to give you the flexibility to learn whenever you want, wherever you are in the UK. While learning with us, you’ll have opportunities to try out activities, complemented by our diverse collection of professional and youth-made shorts. You’ll also gain access to classroom-ready resources as well as advice from experts and our network of educators across the UK. 

Start learning for free today.

You'll need to be logged into your Into Film account to access this course. If you don't have an account, it’s FREE to join and it only takes a moment to sign up!

Into Film courses are only available for UK-based teachers.