Boy Scouts of America

Moviemaking Merit Badge

Moviemaking
Merit Badge

Boy Scouts of America Merit Badge Hub

Boy Scouts of America
Merit Badge Hub

moviemaking

Moviemaking Merit Badge Overview

Moviemaking is a way to tell stories visually through the art and science of motion picture photography.
Movie-Making_merit-badge-overview

Moviemaking Merit Badge Requirements

The requirements will be fed dynamically using the scout book integration 23
1. Discuss and demonstrate the proper elements of a good motion picture. In your discussion, include visual storytelling, rhythm, the 180-axis rule, camera movement, framing and composition of camera shots, and lens selection.
2. Do the following:
  • (a) In a three- or four-paragraph treatment, tell the story you plan to produce, making sure that the treatment conveys a visual picture.
  • (b) Prepare a storyboard for your motion picture. (This can be done with rough sketches and stick figures.)
  • (c) Demonstrate the following motion picture shooting techniques:
  • (1) Using a tripod
  • (2) Panning a camera
  • (3) Framing a shot
  • (4) Selecting an angle
  • (5) Selecting proper lighting
  • (6) Handheld shooting
  • (d) Using motion picture shooting techniques, plan ONE of the following programs. Start with a treatment and complete the requirement by presenting this program to a pack or your troop, patrol, or class.
  • (1) Film or videotape a court of honor and show it to an audience.
  • (2) Create a short feature of your own design, using the techniques you learned.
  • (3) Shoot a vignette that could be used to train a new Scout in a Scouting skill.
3. Do ONE of the following:
  • (a) With your parent or guardian's permission and your counselor's approval, visit a film set or television production studio and watch how production work is done.
  • (b) Explain to your counselor the elements of the zoom lens and three important parts.
4. Find out about three career opportunities in moviemaking. Pick one and find out about the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this career with your counselor. Explain why this profession might interest you.

Get the Moviemaking Merit Badge Pamphlet

This digital download merit badge pamphlet gives Scouts an in-depth look at cinematic magic! It includes information about making movies and the requirements needed for earning the Moviemaking merit badge.

Discover more about "Moviemaking"

Not coming soon to a theater near you: Humanic Park, The Dino Infection or Rexy. But these three short films, among the movies created last summer at Camp Josepho, could very well be springboards to Hollywood careers. Scouts attending the Western Los Angeles County Council camp wrote, directed and starred in these films on the way to earning the Moviemaking merit badge. Program director Stephen Snowden, who holds a degree in film and video production, helped start the program seven years ago. Sure, the camp is just 16 miles from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And, yes, some campers have family members in the film industry. But Snowden thinks his program would work just about anywhere. “This isn’t just a Los Angeles thing,” he says. “In any state or city, you can find people that are doing this stuff.” Read First, Shoot Later Snowden says counselors (and Scouts) should read the merit badge pamphlet first, because it offers a great introduction to the subject. In fact, Snowden himself first got interested in moviemaking when he stumbled across the pamphlet (then called Cinematography) as a Scout. He didn’t know what cinematography was, but he recognized Eagle Scout Steven Spielberg, who helped develop the badge, on the cover. When Snowden couldn’t find a counselor, he taught himself the subject. “Even in college, there were things I’d already learned in Scouts that gave me a leg up on my degree,” he says. Use Your Resources Hollywood studios use expensive equipment, but Scouts don’t have to. Smartphones can shoot great video. Free programs and apps like iMovie let you add titles, special effects and other features. At Camp Josepho, Scouts used a free version of the editing software DaVinci Resolve on old computers donated by California State University. “You can run editing software on computers that are six or seven years old,” Snowden says. And Scouts don’t need to commission soundtracks from John Williams or Hans Zimmer. Plenty of websites offer royalty-free music under the Creative Commons License. Get Wired Besides cameras and computers, it’s important to have reliable power and internet access when you’re working on the badge. “While a lot of cameras can run on batteries, you want to plug in as much as you can so you don’t have to worry about the batteries dying,” Snowden says. Time is of the Essence Although Moviemaking has just four requirements, it can take quite a while to complete. It’s especially important to build in extra time at the beginning, when Scouts are developing their scripts, and at the end, when they need to render their movies (i.e., turn raw video files into a finished file that can be shown to an audience). “That can take a couple of hours to do,” Snowden says. “If you wait till the last minute, that will hurt you.” Finally, Snowden recommends enlisting people younger than he is — he’s in his mid-30s — as instructors. “They’re making movies to put up on YouTube and trying to become the next YouTube sensation,” he says.
“The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.” That FBI warning — seen by many, but read by few — is one way to urge young people to find legal sources for movies and TV shows. It’s just not likely to work. For best results, try something like the Moviemaking Merit Badge Day, a recent collaborative effort by CreativeFuture, Warner Bros. Studios, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the BSA’s Greater Los Angeles Area Council. The 60 Scouts who attended left with a greater appreciation for the real men and women who make movie magic. And while that means they’re less likely to steal movies, the day’s full impact goes deeper. These Scouts — many of whom couldn’t afford the $62 cost to tour Warner Bros. Studios on their own — had their eyes opened to a new career field full of jobs they didn’t know existed. Romy Vasquez is Scoutmaster of Troop 780, which meets in South Central Los Angeles. Before this event, his Scouts never dreamed of stepping onto a movie studio lot. “They never had an idea how movies are made,” he says. “They just thought, ‘Oh, let’s go to the movie theaters and have a good time.’ But to see how everything is built, how the movie is put together — there’s a lot of lessons.” One lesson: Movies are made by real people with exciting, well-paying jobs. Mix a lot of hard work with a little luck, and that could be you someday. “You want to go this way? You want to go this route? OK, go to school,” Vasquez says.
Like other merit badge counselors, Francis Lawrence brings passion, expertise and professional experience to this important volunteer role. It just so happens that Lawrence’s experience is as an accomplished Hollywood director. The Scouting dad and board member in the BSA’s Western Los Angeles County Council directed Will Smith in I Am Legend, Keanu Reeves in Constantine and Jennifer Lawrence in three of the four Hunger Games movies. (He’s also been hired to direct the film adaptation of the Hunger Games prequel.) Lawrence is teaching — what else? — the Moviemaking merit badge to a group of Scouts in Troop 223 of Los Angeles. That’s the troop where his son, Andrew, is a Star Scout hoping to earn Eagle next year. Last week, Lawrence met with seven Scouts and one adult from Troop 223 for the first of what will become six or seven weekly Zoom meetings. With the permission of the Scouts and their parents, the meeting was recorded and shared with Bryan on Scouting so we could offer readers an inside look. Speaking of Francis Lawrence, the director will be a part of this weekend’s BSA National Camp-In, streaming live on Facebook. Don’t miss it!

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Bray Barnes

Director, Global Security Innovative
Strategies

Bray Barnes is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Silver
Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Learning for Life Distinguished
Service Award. He received the Messengers of Peace Hero award from
the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he’s a life member of
the 101st Airborne Association and Vietnam Veterans Association. Barnes
serves as a senior fellow for the Global Federation of Competitiveness
Councils, a nonpartisan network of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and
national laboratory directors. He has also served as a senior executive for the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, leading the first-responder program
and has two U.S. presidential appointments

David Alexander

Managing Member Calje

David Alexander is a Baden-Powell Fellow, Summit Bechtel Reserve philanthropist, and recipient of the Silver Buffalo and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the founder of Caljet, one of the largest independent motor fuels terminals in the U.S. He has served the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, Teen Lifeline, and American Heart Association. A triathlete who has completed hundreds of races, Alexander has also mentored the women’s triathlon team at Arizona State University.

Glenn Adams

President, CEO & Managing Director
Stonetex Oil Corp.

Glenn Adams is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the former president of the National Eagle Scout Association and established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. He has more than 40 years of experience in the oil, gas, and energy fields, including serving as a president, owner, and CEO. Adams has also received multiple service awards from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.