Lab Spotlight

Film Challenge: Take a Shot

Image Film Challenge #2: Take a Shot!WEEK: 6/25 - 7/1

Challenge posted Thursday, June 24; Film Challenge #2 submissions due Monday, June 29 by 5:00 pm.

Congratulations to last week's Film Challenge winner David Sapp, whose film You Got Framed wowed the judges! Click HERE to watch | more »

Film Challenge: You Got Framed

Image Film Challenge #1: You Got Framed

WEEK: 6/18 - 6/25

Challenge posted Thursday, June 18; Film Challenge #1 submissions due Monday, June 22 by 5 pm.

General Challenge Rules

Film Challenges come out on THURSDAYS. To enter the prize pool you MUST send us your film, or a working | more »

Making Stronger Images

Each month the JBFC Film Challenge Series will focus on a different area of filmmaking. June's focus is the concept of Image. If you follow along with the JBFC Film Challenges, you’ll finish the summer with a solid understanding of the fundamentals of filmmaking, good filmmaking | more »

2020 Summer Film Challenge Series

The JBFC has made the difficult decision to cancel all 2020 JBFC Summer Camp programs, encompassing the Viewing and Doing and On the Set experiences beginning June 29-August 14. Our decision follows Governor Cuomo’s announcement of no in-person summer school in New York State. We | more »

How to Find Free Media Resources on the Web

How to Find Free Media Resources on the Web

Over the years at the Burns we have run many courses, the majority focused on filmmaking. While we try to create as much as we can in-house with our students, there are often situations where we need to include other artists' work to | more »

Make Your Own Silent Movies

Make your very own short silent movie just like Charlie Chaplin! A popular JBFC Kids film exercise with students, you can get all the silent movie elements, film scratches, dialogue filled title cards, and old-timey music, by using the Silent Film Studio App.

Story Prompt: One or | more »

Viewing: The Kid

The Kid53 min. 1921. USA. English. Not Rated.

Recommended Age: 6+

Read Common Sense Media to learn more about whether The Kid is right for your child.

Streaming: Kanopy (Free), Amazon Prime (Free), The Criterion Channel

Synopsis: The Tramp, played by Charlie Chaplin, finds an | more »

Suggested Viewing: Landfill Harmonic

Landfill Harmonic86 min. 2015. Paraguay. Spanish. PG.

Recommended Age: 10+

Streaming: Kanopy (Free), Rent/Purchase: YouTube/Amazon

Synopsis: A documentary focused on the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group made up of children of all ages all who play | more »

Suggested Viewing: The Little Bird and the Caterpillar

The Little Bird and the Caterpillar5 min. 2017. Switzerland. No Dialogue. NR.

Recommended Age: All

Streaming: Kanopy Kids (Free), Amazon Prime (Free)

Synopsis: It's summer. High above in a tree the little Bird cherishes and nurtures the green leaves of his home. Suddenly a hungry | more »

Film Challenge Winners

For the past three weeks, the JBFC has presented Weekend Film Challenges. These fun filmmaking activities get the whole family involved. Each challenge had a basic set of rules with new twists and criteria each week. We’ve had some amazing submissions!

Week 1 Film Challenge: Fun | more »