What could be more fun than making your own movie? How about remaking a movie that everyone knows, but with your own style applied to it? Didn’t like The Phantom Menace? No worries, you can completely rewrite it if you’d like. And instead of droids, clones and Jar-Jar Binks, you could have Micronauts, bullfrogs and a sock-monkey.
It doesn’t take much for kids to believe in things. Even the most basic collection of sets, characters, props and special effects is enough to get their imaginations rocketing into the most distant galaxies. Much in the same way that Jack Black and friends recreated popular film titles with homemade props and a basic home video camera in the movie Be Kind, Rewind, Adam Campbell has created film workshops for kids that turn the conventions of the film industry on their heads, allowing all manner of deviation, improvisation and blooper-filled action. It would be enough to make a Hollywood director throw down his megaphone and storm off a set.
Having gotten his start under the wing of Eleyne Austen Sharp in 2004-2005 at Kid Filmmakers in Newport, R.I. (www.kidfilmmakers.com), Campbell decided at some point that it was time to branch out on his own to try and explore areas of programming he felt weren’t as robust as they could be. Expanding his use of animation techniques and especially presentation of video projects on the Web, he crafted his own version of the program that was more Internet-accessible, so that kids and parents could more easily see what the workshops were about (for those still pondering), and those already participating could provide a more instantly gratifying result to their parents and friends in the “YouTube” embedded video format.
Campbell offers week-long programs in summer and over school vacations, and also holds after-school programs during the school year. The workshops touch on pretty much all the ingredients required to make a film—writing, acting, shooting, editing and everything in between. Kids learn everything from how to speak in accents to how to use green screen technology to apply special effects in Apple editing software. Sometimes, and despite their youth, the students come up with some truly impressive work. Cambell gave The Advocate a peek behind the scenes in a recent interview.
Valley Advocate: How many kids can take a workshop at one time?
Adam Campbell: I generally like to keep the groups small for most workshops, especially if I’m working alone. The animation classes can usually accommodate more kids because they’re making a bunch of little projects, rather than one big one. Also, I favor stop-motion animation, because most of it is done with digital cameras. I don’t like to have kids too bound to computers when they’re working. Kids, especially young kids, are much happier working when they can move around.
As a Montessori-trained teacher, how do you incorporate elements of education into your film workshop curriculum?
What I just said about letting kids move around is one Montessori principle. Of course, Montessori is practiced differently depending on what school you go to, but in general it’s about setting up an environment in which kids can explore and achieve some level of mastery independent of the teacher. You know you’ve done your job when the kids no longer need you, when you can just sit back and watch. Group filmmaking projects often require a more hands-on approach, though. I generally direct younger kids unless someone else really steps forward and wants to take over.
Most of the younger children are more interested in playacting than filmmaking, so I think of it as doing a school play on video. Older kids and teens tend to be more interested in the nuts and bolts of filmmaking. You need to follow the student’s lead—another Montessori principle.
How do you choose the films and/or scenes that you set about making or remaking?
In the Harry Potter workshop, I narrowed the choices down to five or six scenes, and then we decided as a group which ones we would do. You have to consider how many people are in a scene, how technically demanding it is, and how well it stands on its own.
What sort of equipment do you use to produce your films?
I try to keep everything we use within the budget range of a typical family. We use inexpensive digital cameras for animation, consumer camcorders for video footage, MacBooks with relatively inexpensive software for video editing. I want kids to be able to go home and continue working on their stuff. It’s an amazing time right now. I remember I took an animation class at a college in Boston in the late ’80’s, and I never even got to see the final project because it took so long to get the film developed. With digital technology, you’ve got instant feedback. It’s now as easy to develop skills in filmmaking and animation as it is to paint or write.
Your website says you’ve written for film and television. What did you work on?
In the early ’90s, I was working at a Montessori school in North Carolina. I made up a story for the kids there and ended up adapting it into a screenplay. That screenplay won the Chesterfield screenwriting fellowship, which was presented by Steven Spielberg and Universal Pictures. I worked at Amblin for a few years, writing three feature scripts under contract, sold a few options. I was mentored by David Koepp, who has been Spielberg’s go-to screenwriter for the last 15 years or so. I wrote for Honey I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show on the Disney Channel. My wife and son and I came back to the Pioneer Valley in 2000. I was pretty burned out on Hollywood by that point, but I’ve kept busy with local production companies and my own projects. If you go to Boston, check out the “Codzilla” ride—I wrote the very silly script for the performers on the boat.
Do you ever worry that re-making stuff like this further entrenches the idea of “branding” kids? In other words, might you be helping to contribute to the corporate takeover of the young, imaginative mind?
Harry Potter was the first time we did a “remake” workshop, and the kids had a blast. Starting with characters the kids are already excited about is a great way to demystify the movie-making process. I really believe that if you’re going to live in a media-saturated society, the best way to arm kids is to make them media-savvy, to help them understand it from the inside. Metaphorically speaking, you may choose not to live in the big city, and that’s fine, but if you do live in the city, you’d better develop some street smarts. If you’re going to let the media into your life and your child’s life, it’s best to understand something about how it works, to become an active participant rather than a passive “target audience.”
Talk with kids about how images and sounds and stories work together to evoke a response in us. Which commercials work on us, and why? Which movies? We should be teaching our children critical thinking—maybe above all else—and a huge part of that should be marketing literacy.
Do you keep things intentionally light and/or adventure story-oriented because your students are kids? I mean, you’re not planning on doing any versions of Hamlet or Schindler’s List, are you? Do you ever make any horror movies, or is that too scary for your students?
Younger kids tend toward the silly and the light. Older kids, left to their own devices, mostly tend toward doing horror movies. At that age, I think horror movies are a way for kids to gain mastery over the creeping awareness of their own mortality. That said, all I have to do is remind them that their parents are watching, and that’s usually enough to keep things in the PG-13-and-under realm.
Can you describe some of the animation and/or effects techniques that you use in workshops?
For animation, we take photos using digital cameras, transfer the photos to the computer, compile them using Quicktime Pro and export as an uncompressed DV file. Then we edit in iMovie or Final Cut Express. Our “green screen” is usually just bright orange or green poster board.
We did light sabers by covering foam swords with bright orange duct tape, then chroma keying them out in Final Cut Express and replacing them with a glow. Light sabers are usually a lot more tedious and time-consuming because you have to animate them frame by frame, but I think we’ve come up with a decent way of doing the effect without boring the kids to tears. The force effect in the second light saber video [on the workshops’ website] was done by reversing a video of a kid throwing his sword so it looks like it’s flying into his hand. The floating feather in the “Wingardium Leviosa” scene was also just a video of a falling feather run backwards.
I’m a big fan of old-school practical effects. It’s gotten to the point where people are so used to seeing CG that they’re stumped when they see simple in-camera effects. Practical effects are also a great way to get kids to problem-solve without necessarily knowing the latest technology.
What do you think is the best aspect of taking one of your workshops? In other words, if there’s one thing you’d like every student to come away with from the experience, what would that be?
I want the kids to have fun. If they go home happy and tell their parents they had a good time, I’m happy. I am not looking for the kid who necessarily wants to have a filmmaking or acting career. I’m looking for the kid who has a creative impulse and wants to play with cool toys. They will learn, too, as long as they’re engaged. It’s impossible for a kid not to learn. It’s what they do.
Keep them happy and engaged, and the learning comes naturally, whether they realize it or not. (Animation is a great example—you can’t do animation without brushing up against math and science.)
Do you think any of these kids will go on to have careers in film?
Some of them may go on to have careers in film. I know some kids I’ve worked with over the years (through another organization) are still pursuing film. These film workshops are more than that, though. I see these classes as a nexus of arts and technologies. I have a quote on the site from Akira Kurosawa: “In films… painting and literature, theatre and music come together.” That’s it in a nutshell. If you have an interest in the visual arts, in storytelling, in acting, in music—even in science and technology—you can explore that interest in film. This is why film is unique, and why I’ve been drawn to it all my life.
Eventually, Campbell hopes to establish a permanent location for a video studio, ideally in Hadley or some similarly central Valley location. He also plans to expand his mobile workshops to include locations in Hartford, on Boston’s South Shore (where he hails from), and New York City. Themes to come will likely include a kid (and grown-up) favorite: superheroes.
Film workshops for kids are held in various locations around the Valley. For more information or to register for workshops, call (413) 340-0005 or visit www.filmworkshops.net. The site also features a video gallery of clips from films produced by some of Campbell’s current and previous students.