Gulu 2024

We have held film trainings since 2019 in Gulu, under the banner of Mobile Film School, a project run by Dilstories, who in 2023 founded a non-profit organization to continue these trainings. It is a collective for Ugandan filmmakers to network and share expertise and easily produce films. See details on how to join here. In 2024, the collective will conduct film trainings in five districts of Uganda, and this page is dedicated to the training in Gulu. Our previous trainees from Gulu have won awards, while others have gained employment in the film and media sector, since we focus on practical lessons and our mentors are experienced professionals. We work in partnership with Dilstories to give trainees opportunity to work as paid interns.

This training is open to anyone interested in film, including beginners. At the end of the ten months, you will be a well rounded filmmaker capable of producing your own films, or starting your media business, or employing yourself in sectors like wedding video-photography. At the end of the training, selected participants will win a cash grant of up to UGX 1.5M total to produce short films, or a short film, while three some will be taken on as paid interns for a TV Series that Dilstories will produce in Nov-Dec 2024.

Requirements

  • A filled application form.
  • A letter expressing your interest in the training. Please include your bio and tell us about your experience in the arts.
  • A script or story for a short film
  • A sample of work demonstrating your art. This includes writing, poetry, blogs, podcasts, painting, acting, dance, theatre, photography, videography. We need to know that you are an artist.

How to send your application:
By email to: gulufilmproduction@gmail.com
Hand Delivery at our offices, located at TAKS Art Center Gulu, Uganda.
For more information or inquiries, please Contact us On:
David: 0788508119
Email: gulufilmproduction@gmail.com
Or visit www.sisifilmcollective.org/Gulu-2024

A young woman holding a boom pole, with the 'dead cat' windshied in the foreground.
Lakeri learns to swing a boom

Overview

Every participant will be trained in all the modules of filmmaking, including screenwriting, directing, producing, cinematography, audio recording, and video editing. It is important for even those interested in other categories to participate in each category, for filmmaking is an eco-system and you perform best if you are knowledgeable in what happens outside your area of interest. There will be a special training on pitching and fundraising.

Screenwriting

Participants learn the fundamentals of scriptwriting, including screenplay format, story structure, character development, writing visual scripts (without dialogue), and writing dialogue for the screen.

Resources: Laptops, KIT Scenarist

Directing

You learn the art of telling stories through film, and techniques of script analysis so as to prepare for shooting. Directors will learn how to prepare actors for their roles, and other crew will learn how to interpret the script so as to help the direct realise their vision.

Producing

This will involve learning the basics of film production, including budgets and schedules, to the advanced class of pitching, creating pitch decks, and how to raise money for your productions, as well as how to sell your film.

Sound recording and audio production

Each participant will master the fundamentals of sound. Each will produce a short radio play, or podcast, and participants will learn how to record sound using professional equipment (and your phone!), and to edit this sound using open-source audio editors.

Resources: Tascam DR-60D MKII, Rode NTG-2, Laptops

Cinematography

Here participants learn film language, and how to use the camera to tell a story. Directors will learn how to use shots effectively, how to stage dialogues, blocking scenes, and other techniques necessary to make a great film. Emphasis will be on visual storytelling and participants will be required to make a short film with as little dialogue as possible.

Resources: Smart phones, DSLRs Canon T3i, Canon M50, BlackMagic Pocket 4K with Prime Lenses

Film editing

How exactly do you put together a series of clips to make a great film? Aah, did you know that films are ultimately made (or destroyed!) in the editing room? We shall learn both the creative side of editing (how to edit actor’s performances, how to re-write the story in editing to fix broken stuff, how to put two clips together to make a good film) and the technical stuff, editing audio, colouring the film, a bit of visual effects, rendering….

Resources: Laptops, Gaming PCs, Kdenlive (open-source), Davinci Resolve 17

A woman leans over a table on which is an audio recorder. She holds a boompole with a boom micrphone pointed at a man sitting on the other end of the table.
Blacky learns how to record sound

Schedule

Orientation: 8th March 2024 (2pm-3pm)

PHASE 1: BASIC TRAINING Here, participants learn the fundamentals of film at an entry level phase. At the end, each participant will a) write a script of under two pages, b) produce a radio play of under three minutes c) produce a scene of a film of under three minutes.

Duration: 15 Days (11th – 27th March 2024)

PHASE 2: INTERMEDIATE TRAINING In this phase of the film training, each participant will write and produce up to four short films in a real life working environment. The idea is that the more you do, the more you learn.

Duration: 9 Days (3 Days a Week)

Week 1: 11th – 13th April 2024

Week 2: 2nd – 4th May 2024

Week 3: 23rd – 24th May 2024

PHASE 3: ADVANCED TRAINING Specialization of Class(es)

  • July 2024: Scriptwriting and Audio
  • August 2024: Camera and Editing
  • September – October 2024: Short Film Production
  • November – December 2024: Selected participants intern in Kampala
A woman stands behind a phone mounted on a tripod, while a man watches. They are filming a scene in a film class.
Christine learns how to direct, as Ogen is on camera.

Terms and Conditions

  • The Deadline for submitting all requested materials is 16th March 2020. Successful applicants will be notified one week after the deadline.
  • The workshop runs from 10th January 2022 and continues for ten months. Participants must be available full time to attend all sessions as described in schedule.
  • This is a non-residential workshop to be held in Gulu town. Participants will cater for their own transport and accommodation costs.
  • Upon selection, participants will pay a registration fee of 100,000/= (one hundred thousand, Ugandan shillings).
  • Participants will own all copyright(s) of their works, and works they write or produce must not be in violation of any existing copyright(s) of any individual or organization.
  • Participants will grant Sisi Film Collective, Dilstories, United Youth Entertainment, Stitching DOEN, and all their partners, permission to use photographs, video recordings, and audio recordings bearing the images of the participants for publicity and for fundraising purposes.