Tiny filmmakers telling big stories: Piplu R Khan conducts Junior Filmmakers Workshop

Zartaj and her team's story is a science fiction based on angry aliens who captured the protagonist Avery's parents. It also has the essence of a thriller, as Avery must find a way to survive. Zartaj, who participated in visualising this post-apocalyptic story of survival and aliens is only 11 years old. 

Recognising children's inherent ability to be creative and their storytelling strength, Dandelionz, a child and family development centre in Dhanmondi, recently carried out a two-day workshop (1 and 2 March) titled 'Junior Filmmakers Workshop.' 

The workshop was conducted by director, filmmaker and founder of Applebox Films, Piplu R Khan, and his team. The participants were children aged between 10 and 14 years.  

Piplu opened the workshop by doing what children do best: making noise. They began with a rhythm and beats session where all the participants got up and used different tools to make sounds. 

The children were then divided into groups of two and they brainstormed screenplays for their films and wrote their ideas on sticky notes. 

According to Piplu, the stories that surfaced from the two groups were a reflection of the little creators' lives. It painted a picture of the way they grow up, the way they are treated, and their household culture.

During the workshop, he also introduced a new concept to the young participants - The Montage Theory, which "presents a succession of images that are juxtaposed so that the contrast between the images makes the story in a forward-moving motion in the mind of the audience." 

The first day of the workshop consisted of many activities that aimed to help the children exercise their creativity, which came in the form of accepting their teammates and developing the ability to construct a simple understanding of cinema.

All the sessions were playfully conducted so the children never felt they were pressured into doing something they were not willing to. Moreover, they were never told about the next session, and this surprise kept them more engaged and the workshop more spontaneous.  

12-year-old Manha said, "I really want to do this again. Apart from filmmaking, we learned to participate as a team, and also relax at the same time." 

Throughout the later parts of the workshop, Piplu and his team, following a step-by-step guide, helped the children identify how films are made, the steps involved in it, the editing process, music, design, and the musical elements. 

The 'Junior Filmmakers Workshop' at its core, brought together the ideas and stories that the children had, shaped them, and created a final result at the end of the two days. 

Filmmaking might sound like an 'adult' skill but Piplu thinks otherwise, which was reflected in his own intentions for this event.

"The event is primarily focused on the very fundamentals of storytelling. Filmmaking is all about storytelling, and this was my attempt to see the appetite for storytelling in these children," he said, adding, "The children are already capable of telling stories. What I am doing is just tuning them into bringing their stories out." 

On the importance of such events, the director said, "It's important to open up a healthy conversation and create an environment for children to do something. It's important for us to create that flow." 

Tamzida Karim, one of the founders of Dandelionz, shared with TBS, "We wanted to do something to initiate the process of learning and experiencing how real filmmaking is done. It is very easy for someone to think that doing a certain job is very easy, however, once they experience the real process, the perspective is very different," 

In a way, the event gave children an early introduction to a profession that demands a lot of skill and creativity. Instead of letting such a dream remain an unachievable thought in their adulthood, the organisers helped the participants feel one step closer to making big ideas into a reality.

"This workshop is only an attempt to initiate that small feeling of what the child might want to do," Tamzida added.