So You (Might) Want to Make a Movie

If you discovered this website and the idea of getting involved has piqued your interest even though you’ve never made a movie of any kind before, there are two obvious questions that will have immediately come to mind. Both however, can quite easily be wrapped into one and it is ‘how can I make a movie?’

Richy Thrower and the Motion Focus Media team on set for their latest short film. Everyone taking part is a veteran.

Many of course, will simply answer ‘I can’t’ and move on but they’re wrong. For making a movie has never been easier. All you need is the confidence to make the decision to actually try.

Now at this point, I should let you know that one of the key reasons for setting up this festival was to provide serving personnel something to do in their spare time. After all, anyone who’s spent time in uniform will know that when you’re away from home on operations, free time can be an absolute killer. How better to fill that time than by being creative?

Inevitably, the idea quickly caught the imagination of all kinds of people and before we knew it, we were talking about including single personnel in barracks and then veterans and even dependents but the core idea remains the same. Encourage people to make a short movie and provide them with an outlet for it.

So how do you make a movie? Well, the first thing to say is that we’re not expecting you to turn in something of the quality of Christopher Nolans’ The Odyssey or anything like it. All we want is something in an .MP4 file format which you can create perfectly well using nothing more than a simple iPhone. Indeed, it’s fair to say that the most recent smart phone’s have camera’s as good, if not better than anything people were shooting with 15 years ago. On top of that, there are apps such as CapCut which will allow you to edit to your hearts content and even add titles. If you have a laptop of course, it’s even easier.

However, making it is one thing, what you make is something else and this is where your imagination comes into play.

Given that the only limits to imagination are the ones we place on ourselves, the real question is, what do you want to make? A documentary about a subject dear to your heart or something you have experience of? Or a comedy about a date that went horribly wrong? Maybe you want to make a cartoon, or even a found footage horror! Whatever it is, the subject, tone and genre are entirely up to you!

Once you decide, then all you need to do is plot it out and if you need one, write a loose script and then go for it! It sounds simple, and it really can be if you need or want it to be. If you doubt that, then get on YouTube and search for short movies. It’s full of them. If you need them, it’s also full of films about how to make short films and we of course, are only an email away!

It doesn't have to be a huge amount of kit to make a great short film. All of the audio equipment and small tripod are in the bag. The pen and phone can fit in there too and a notebook for those spontaneous ideas..

So what’s stopping you? Worst case scenario is that you have fun, best is that you create something really special and who knows where that might lead.

After all, even Spielberg started somewhere! (Although to be fair, it probably wasn’t in a room at MPA or on a submarine 100 metres below sea level!)

25 August 2026 - Dougie Brimson