Scaffolded filmmaking in PlayOFF: A playground for worldwide film experiments

How is it possible to make an entire short film in only 48 hours? This task was carried out in the global online film contest, called PlayOFF, held by Odense International Film Festival (OFF) in August 2010 and -11. Contestants came from all over the world — from countries as different as Palestine, China and Romania. I believe this kind of contest to be a fruitful area for research, giving better understanding of how motivation, flow and creative ways of thinking can be initiated through filmmaking. Creative competences, environments, educations, classes etc. are in constant demand. Nevertheless, only a few scholars have actually studied conditions behind these elements, and even fewer have researched them in relation to filmmaking. I will seek to expand knowledge in this field which has hitherto been assigned insufficient priority in media research. How to analyse and experience films is very well described, but when it comes to the process of creating films we find almost no scientifically based research or qualifying designs for stimulating creativity. While other media researchers focus on successful films, I find it crucial to study the idea-making, team work and other conditions behind the productions. This article is based on an empirical study of film processes in PlayOFF 2010 and -11, and I will point out how these findings could be used in developing creativity. Based on my empirical studies I will suggest a learning design for scaffolded filmmaking and propose some ideas of how to transfer this knowledge to an educational context.