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Learning to Make Movies
. . . with a banjo on my knee!


Sometimes people get into their hobbies with a lot of energy and drive.  Making Movies is no exception. 

In 2002 we received an email from the Casablanca company (they make Avio and Kron video editing systems) advertising a series of summer seminars on making movies.  We thought we would pass some of this along to you, in case you are interested.  Here are a few quotes from the email:

Billy Field, through his Make A Movie.Net program, is offering a series of summer seminars that cover everything involved in making a movie, including screenwriting, camera, lighting, audio and editing.

Many of you remember Billy from his hugely popular programs at our Casablanca Conventions. Like Billy, these seminars are not only instructional, they're inspirational! As Billy says, if you don't believe you can make movies, you'll believe it when you complete this seminar.

Every movie starts with a story. Billy was a screenwriter in Hollywood for 14 years, where he wrote for the television series FAME, Trapper John, MD and The Lazarus Man. In Billy's seminar, you will learn many of the secrets of screenwriting that Billy learned in Hollywood.

To learn to make a movie, you need to actually make a movie. This seminar gives you the opportunity to do just that. The seminars, held at the Bryant Conference Center at the University of Alabama, are a cross between movie-making and living history. As part of the seminar, you will make your own movie about the history of the civil rights movement, the life of Helen Keller or the great American novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.  In doing so, you will actually go "on location" to either Selma and Montgomery for Civil Rights, Ivy Green (the birthplace of Helen Keller) or Monroeville, Alabama, the home of Harper Lee.

. . .

The cost of the 5-day seminar (limited to 12) is $1,000. But if you sign up for the seminar by May 20 (and tell Billy that we sent you), then the seminar is yours for only $750. That's a great deal -- a deal that we are proud to make available to you.

The seminars are ideal for teachers, BUT ANYONE MAY ATTEND. If you're not experienced in movie production, that's fine. The only requirement to be in the seminar is the desire to learn.

To be eligible for the scholarship you or your school must own a Casablanca, an Avio or a Kron.  If you do not own a Casablanca product, the scholarship is still available.  All you have to do is contact your Casablanca dealer and arrange to test drive an Avio or Kron.  You do not have to agree to buy.  You only have to agree to test drive. 

To find a dealer near you, go to www.casablanca.tv  Once you have made your appointment, tell Billy and the $250 scholarship is yours!  If there is no dealer in your area, you are free to test drive the Avio or Kron at the seminar.  Tell Billy so he can make plans.

For more information, to sign up or to download a PDF of the seminar brochure, please go to www.makeamovie.net/seminars

First, this sounds like a marvelous experience.  We've left the contact info in place in case you want to pursue it.

Second, we all know that most people are not going to do this.  Not everybody can or will plop down a $1,000.00 (or $750)  and spend 5 focused days learning to make movies. 

But it sure would be fun!  (C'mon, admit it.)

Fortunately, you don't have to go to those kinds of lengths, or spend that kind of money, to make movies, have fun, and have an enjoyable hobby.  But it is nice to see that companies like Casablanca are making such things available to the die-hard movie-makers among us. 

We say a lot more about companies like Casablanca in Making Movies with Your Kids


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This page last updated Monday, June 13, 2011 10:20:33 AM