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Thursday, August 15, 2001
Teens learn filmmaking basics at Movie Camp
By CLAIRE BICKLEY -- Toronto Sun
At this summer camp, there are no marshmallows, mosquitoes or sleepovers.
But for 33 Toronto-area teens, Movie Camp may be their first step towards becoming the next James Cameron.
"I want to do everything. I want to direct, I want to (be a director of photography), I want to do special effects, I want to write, I want to choreograph, I want to do everything," Barry Cheong, an 18-year-old from Mississauga, said yesterday on Day 3 of the sessions the National Screen Institute has run across Canada the past three summers.
For $450, the camp offers teens a chance to try out various jobs in the business, including director, sound, editor, production manager and actor, use state-of-the-art equipment and be taught by industry professionals. By graduation next Friday, they'll produce three short documentaries and three short dramas from scripts by top Canadian talent.
Don McKellar (The Red Violin) contributed Where I'm From, a wacky allegory about teen angst. David Sutherland (My Father's Hands) wrote Boys And Girls, about a boy who uncovers a secret in the girl's school bathroom. Semi Chellas (Picturing Claire) scripted Odd Sock, a drama about how a girl deals with teasing by classmates.
Yesterday, on Glendon College's Bayview Ave. campus, the campers were being led through a mock film shoot by Christy Garland, an assistant director who has worked on Witchblade and X-Men. A few campers are already working in the business through internships or parttime jobs. Cheong has a paying job this summer with Toronto's Revolver Films, a company he'd interned for earlier.
Others, like Alex Bateman, have no experience beyond family home movies and school projects.
"I was hoping to direct, but everyone here seems to want to be a director," said Bateman, a Brampton 15-year-old who nonetheless seemed satisfied with her continuity assignment.
"It's so much fun, so much information. The days are packed and it's just great," she said.
Monday, they began improv exercises. Tuesday, they shot and recorded the results and had a workshop on editing aesthetics. Tomorrow, they get their scripts and start shooting.
"They absorb, absorb, absorb and at the end of the week we say, 'Okay, we've told you everything you need to know. Go make a movie,'" said NSI programmer Robert Sauvey.
"What this is is a phenomenal production module that teaches you the basics of production. If you're a real keener and you're really into it and you think this is the way you want to go in life, what you end up with is this really solid piece of knowledge where you can walk in to meet somebody and say, 'Yes, I do know what a grip is. I know what a gaffer is. I know what the A.D. does.'"
Eighteen-year-old Mark Letchumanan also attended the first, more basic Toronto Movie Camp two years ago. Since then, he's made a film that earned an honourable mention at a youth festival in Vancouver and assisted on an infomercial shoot. Although he'll major in business at the University of Western Ontario beginning next month, he hopes filmmaking will be his career.
"The ultimate dream would be to be in Steven Spielberg's position because he can produce and direct and he can help other people as well and I want to help other people who are in my position get started and hopefully get their careers going," he said.
By the way, the NSI knows you're reading this and thinking, "I wish they had this when I was a kid." They've heard that so often, they're considering Movie Camps for adults.
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