Just over a year ago, I had the privilege of attending a one-week intensive workshop on filmmaking at the Gulf Islands Film and Television School (GIFTS). All I knew going in was that I would make a film in one week and leave knowing the basics of the whole process.

My week began on a Sunday evening getting off the ferry at Sturdy's Bay on Galiano Island, one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands. I walked up the road to a curious looking vehicle adorned with decals that resembled film rolls. Over twenty weary, would-be student-filmmakers piled onto this rickety bus and were whisked away into the blackness of the Galiano Island forest.

To see GIFTS for the first time might actually be discouraging. The facility is basically just an extended logging camp at the top of a long muddy hill in the middle of the forest. Being surrounded on all sides by evergreen rain forest can seem a little isolating at night. As the week went on, though, I found the surroundings helped me focus on the job, undistracted.

There are many challenges involved in bringing a piece of art as dynamic as a film to fruition, but none so great as creative conflict between visionaries, especially when everyone's an absolute beginner. From the start, we were encouraged to act in ways that would benefit the whole group. Our team was basically made up of five directors, each with their own vision, and compromise became a very difficult thing. At each meeting, I would become more concerned that the film would never get made, not knowing how realistic our plans were or whether we could even agree on a plan. At one point, two members of the group were working on the same shot with totally different intentions for the final product. A heated argument ensued over whether the subject should burn himself on his coffee or not. Two team members were for the burning; three were against it. Because of the nature of the project and the GIFTS teamwork philosophy, we agreed to create a whole new project and discard each of our individual plans. In the end, the experience of having to foster organized teamwork between conflicting egos was far more valuable than had we simply agree. Our differences of opinion opened new possibilities for the content of the film. (Incidentally, in the final product, the character in the aforementioned shot instead finds the cup too hot and drops it, providing a much richer effect than either of our two initial ideas.)

By the middle of the week, our work was feverish. We had managed to get all of our scenes, one of which had involved flipping two cars and getting a police patrol vehicle to come and sit there with its lights on while we tried to set up the shot. Were it not for the quality of our mentors at GIFTS, we would not have been able to pull together our project as we did. Every minute of this hectic, over-burdened week was pure elation. Coming up from editing or sound forging in the middle of the night, one could always find a pot of coffee and a group of people taking a break and having a laugh.

The week flew by. The computers were grinding away at rendering the last images as guests arrived for our screenings. Everyone -- awake for at least the past 24 hours -- was giddy with excitement. We were proud to share the fruits of our labors in the big hall and demonstrate how, for one week, filmmaking had consumed our lives. It was then that I truly understood what it took to make a film: the sweat, the time, the planning, and the labor. Our film was less than thirty seconds long and had a total of five or six shots and yet it had taken us a week working round-the-clock to complete it two hours before screening time. When I realized, despite all the work and tests and challenges, that I still loved it, I knew it was something I could pursue as a career.

Film can be one of the most powerful tools for conveying ideas to people on a massive scale. It is the telling of a story by showing. It breeds imagination in its audience and can be used to offer hope and change our world for the better. GIFTS is a place that fully recognizes this potential and aims to create a supportive environment for learning yet another method of improving the world. I can attest to it being far more than a film school. It is an experience that allows one to fully realize how equipped they are to overcome challenges. To improvise and push the limits of their own creative and technical abilities. To realize their vision in less than a week.

Chris Mock (e-mail Chris)

Chris loves movies and recently graduated from high school in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He has acted on stage and in film and television for six years and has called himself a student filmmaker for two. He recently finished a documentary about his one-month service/study trip to Africa last summer. Next month, he begins pursuing a degree in film studies at Ryerson University in Toronto. [ Check out a few of his favorite goodthings ]

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