GET THE MOST OUT OF FILM SCHOOL

🔑 Unlock your potential 🔒

🎥 Make your best films 🎬

💫 Kick-start your career ⚡️

PRIMER is a straightforward, comprehensive guide filled with helpful tips and creative exercises used by filmmakers and students around the world.

A LOOK INSIDE

Film schools want successful students and PRIMER provides a practical approach for your best film school experience. Follow time-tested advice to make the most out of your creative efforts.

A Sample Selection — ‘OUTCOMES’

There are many filmmakers throughout history who set ambitious goals for their student productions.
Two notable examples are George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, trailblazers and legends, both at school and in their professional careers. While enrolled at university, they made memorable films at the opposite ends of the filmmaking spectrum: Lucas did a 60 second short and Coppola finished a 97-minute feature.
Lucas went to the University of Southern California (USC) but not to study film, initially. He discovered his interest in filmmaking through an animation course. The term project required students to shoot one-minute of film, 1440 frames, using the school animation equipment. This was an exercise to demonstrate that they understood the camera and frame-by-frame creation of movement.
While others were happy to do pencil drawings of a bouncing ball, Lucas created a photo montage from magazine clippings with a vision beyond the silent frames. His film told a story using a stylized collage of images. He later added sound, music and narration.
Lucas worked within the guidelines and constraints of the assignment but took a completely original and creative approach. His film was experimental, but narrative; abstract, yet grounded in the zeitgeist of the 1960s. It engaged the audience and made them feel something.
The difference between George Lucas and every other student is that his class assignment went to festivals around the world. It even has a Wikipedia page: Look at Life.
Coppola, on the other hand, won a playwriting scholarship while he was pursuing a major in theatre arts at college. He graduated, gained experience in the professional film business, and went back to school enrolling at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) graduate film program. He set out to do something no one else had done before: shoot a feature film for his thesis project.
You’re a Big Boy Now (1966) got a theatrical release, some critical acclaim and put Coppola on the radar as a director.
Lucas and Coppola set their own standards. They approached their assignments with an eye to creating something bold, something different. They demonstrated their inventive spirit in school and went on to break new ground as pioneers in the film industry.

‘CREATIVE BINDER’

Your portfolio is constantly evolving. You need to keep it organized and current. PRIMER helps you generate original ideas and track your work with over 20 exercises to supercharge your creative juices and storytelling skills.

Admission requirements vary from school to school. You need to be well-organized with your portfolio assets so that you can assemble your best application for any program.

Your Creative Binder is your bank for original ideas. Ideas that you’ll turn into films.

‘STORY DRILLS’

Coming up with a good story that you can turn into a film is hard.

It’s not the same kind of stress as writing a term paper or cramming for an exam. It’s creative stress, and this is why preparation is your most important consideration. ‘Writer’s block’ can be devastating, especially when deadlines are looming. Stress can impact your work in other courses as well — not to mention your mental health.

PRIMER has exercises to help you generate story ideas and turn them into screenplays. Arriving at school with scripts in hand is your best laid plan.

“The book you must read before writing that film school tuition cheque!”

— David Roncin Head of Production @ The Herd Films

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