What I really want to do is direct...
Summer Camp Puts Kids Behind the Camera

BY VINCENT J. MORAN

Cut! Action! Zoom In! And similar terms normally saved for film sets can now be heard echoing in the halls of Middlesex Middle School.

Summer camp has a new look and sound, as Filmmakers Ink has brought its act to Darien for the first time. The idea of Patrick McCullough, a filmmaker and an instructor at the Greater Hartford Academy of Arts, was to provide kids with the tools to become familiar with a medium that wasn't accessible to kids in his day.

"I thought of all the things I wish I had (then) now that I'm a filmmaker." McCullough said. "My purpose is to give kids more skills so their films become better."

McCullough, who started his career making educational films, didn't go to a fancy film school. He learned his craft by being on movie sets.

It's the hands-on process, which fuels the camp, McCullough said.

"The kids learn by doing," he said.

Ed Gomez, director of summer and continuing education for Darien Public Schools, was unsure of how much interest there would be in the film camp, but he was willing to let McCullough stage the camp. McCullough has run the show with help from friends and fellow film gurus Chosei Funahara and Joe Hertz. Chosei has made more than 60 films, music videos and commercials, and was mentored by immortal Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.

Director George Lucas credits much of the original Star Wars trilogy to the influence of Kurosawa pictures like "The Seven Samurai" and "The Hidden Fortress."

The trio covers basic filmmaking (using digital cameras because film would be far too expensive) with McCullough running the acting, Chosei handling the camera and lighting and Hertz teaching the visual arts and animation. The students will script, storyboard and film a 50 second piece, a minute long piece with dialogue and a two-minute piece with dialogue, to be performed by the acting class…

...The morning sessions are for 11 –13 year olds, and the afternoon classes are for kids aged 14 to 17.

McCullough said the first couple days of camp are usually tough and involve a lot of ice breaks.

"Everybody comes from a different place," McCullough said. "They don't know what to expect. When the kids turn their attention outside of themselves, they start to really fly."

The kids learn more than the basics of flash animation, stop motion, Claymation, figure drawing, lighting, directing, camera work, acting and editing. They learn to listen to themselves and each other.

"When they learn that they are not alone and it is OK to be different, they open right up." Hertz said.

Chosei, who McCullough described as having "forgotten more about film than I've learned," said the collaborative effort of filmmaking is a great teacher, its lessons can be applied in the real world because kids learn to problem solve and work together.

Hertz agreed, saying the kids have to wear many hats in camp, some of which they are not very familiar, including that of director.

"Some of these kids have never been in a leadership role before," he said. "They get a chance to step outside their skin and tell (the others) what they want to see. They have to be assertive."

McCullough agreed.

"I find these camps are really helpful to kids. They learn to work together, they learn to collaborate, they learn to trust each other and more importantly they learn to trust themselves and their own ideas," McCullough said.

He added that the kids progress rapidly.

"You give a kid a tool and they just soar with it." McCullough said.

Even shy kids who are timid at the beginning of camp open up were "sticking up for their scripts." by the end, he said.

The students agreed.

"It's cool to not have to think about school and do something you love," said Michael Demiattia, one of the participants in the camp…

McCullough plans to open New England Academy of Film Arts, in North Hampton, Mass., in September as a bridge between high school and college for future filmmakers. He will teach filmmaking and acting in Darien as well as a professional class in Fairfield next year.

McCullough, Chosei and Hertz plan to keep making films together every spring. McCullough said. The class has been successful enough that McCullough plans to run an advanced camp next summer for returning filmmakers along with the basic skills camp he is running now.

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