The production day
Once a term the work is shot properly rather than filmed in a hall: a full day at one location instead of the weeknight class. Everyone comes together and groups mix.
What the day is
Every student works in a group with actors they have never worked with before, which is what an actual set is like and what a weekly class with the same five faces can never be.
It sits at the end of the term deliberately. Everything the class has worked on through the weeks is what gets shot, and there is enough lead time to write for it properly rather than improvising on the day.
One location gives three completely different looks: a working kitchen, a warehouse space and an outdoor area. So a term's work does not all come back looking the same.
It is a small unit, deliberately. A director and a cinematographer, shooting each group and covering the scene angle after angle. Coverage is the whole point: a performance shot from more than one angle can be cut, and one filmed straight through from the back of a hall cannot.
After the day, every student gets their raw footage (parents receive it for under-18s), the uncut takes, and the best moments from the whole day are cut into a featured episode, the start of an ongoing FilmLab web series.
CONTACTShot on a FilmLab production day with Koevari Pictures, covered and cut.
And beyond the term
And then there is the step above
The production day is included in the fees you already pay. It comes at the end of the term, at a location, with everyone together.
A FilmLab short film is a different scale again: a full crew, a call sheet, an IMDb listing and a festival submission to external festivals through Koevari Pictures. Those are cast, not enrolled in. When a student gets there, it is by being ready, and the production days are a large part of how they get ready.