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A Charlottesville Summer Camp Fit for Hollywood

For most kids, summer camp means hiking, swimming, cooking over an open fire, and sleeping under the stars – or at least under the roof of a cabin. For a few, however, camp could be a ticket to Hollywood.

On a hot afternoon, when their friends might be swimming or hiding in their airconditioned homes, a dozen young people have gathered in the living room of a location to begin work on their first film of the summer. For about 300 kids between the ages of 8 and 18, camp means making movies.

Deana Gould is director of the program offered by Lighthouse Studios in Charlottesville:

Beyond the film-making skills of camera, lighting and the sound they also learn a lot about storytelling. Oftentimes they have scripts, and then they board those so stories.”

Board” is short for story board, a scene by scene drawing of how the story will unfold on film. In addition to learning the lingo, these campers will learn to work well in groups and gain self-confidence. They’ll stretch their creative muscles to produce narrative films, music videos and documentaries.

We’ve had everything from films with special visual effects, like “Space Girl,” which won a number of awards last year, to very thoughtful documentaries such as “Better than Baghdad,” which was made with a refugee.”

And they’ll learn the discipline needed to produce projects on time and budget.

What a lot of them don’t like to do is actually think about what they're going to make and spend the time planning out the filming. And as they get older they see how important that part is. But the younger student just want to pick up a camera and go.”

Rising high school junior Caroline Cox has been coming since the fifth grade.

When I watch a movie, I don't watch it the same was as I used to. I'm thinking about the story line, but also I'm thinking – what camera angle? Oh, I like the way it panned there. It’s changed the way I’ve viewed other works.”

And she’s got something to show for her summers, like a music video, honored at the Los Angeles film festival. Reid Hildebrand was also featured in L.A. for his first film – an animation called Divine Intervention.

It was an animated short, about 3 ½ minutes, that follows a character as he crosses between different worlds of animation. So there was a hand-drawn element, a clay-mation element. We had human hands come in to mess with him – hence, the 'divine intervention.'”

That was back in 2008.

I had no idea really what a film festival was. And then I got a call from the woman who was running Lighthouse at the time, she said 'Hey - remember that movie you made? That animated one last August? Well we just submitted it to the Los Angeles Film Festival, and they accepted it.' And that was kind of a watershed moment, when I realized, well...maybe I have a future doing this sort of thing.”

He went on to college where he majored in film, and now serves as a mentor to other young people discovering the art of movies at Lighthouse. The organization will host its own film festival on August 28th at the Vinegar Hill Theater, which it recently purchased to showcase the works of young filmmakers year round.  

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief
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