Ever wonder what goes into making a movie? How about a TV show? Or what about an infomercial?
Well, the kids enrolled in ConcordTV’s summer video camps know all about those things, and they’re excited to show off their skills at a big-time film festival next week.
On Aug. 24 at 6 p.m., Red River Theatres will host the 2016 Youth Video Camp Film Festival, featuring the works of kids ages 9 to 14. These kids have been working hard all summer to learn the ins and outs of making professional videos at one of ConcordTV’s summer video camps.
ConcordTV offers beginner, advanced and filmmaking classes, and all are similar but have slightly different focuses. As you might imagine, the beginner class is a little less in-depth than the advanced class, and the filmmaking class is the most in-depth. But the products of each and every one will be on the big screen at Red River. And, of course, they’ll all also be featured on ConcordTV.
“We’ve been doing these camps since about 2009, so the idea of doing the camp and putting (the videos) on the channels, that’s been around for awhile,” said Josh Hardy, production and training coordinator at ConcordTV who teaches the camps. “But Doris kind of – it was kind of her brainchild where she went, ‘Hey, why don’t we do this film festival as another way of showcasing their work?’ ”
That Doris he’s referring to is Doris Ballard, the mastermind behind all things ConcordTV. She always has some idea or another brewing, and this is just one of the latest.
The idea is that Red River will show about 20 to 25 videos, each one about three to five minutes long, and all of the films are 100 percent student-created.
“I insist that the staff isn’t here to hold the camera for you and to record you making a movie, it’s you guys are the ones doing it,” Hardy said. This means the kids play the role of actor, director, writer, cinematographer, editor – pretty much if it’s needed to make a movie, it’s handled by video campers.
Hardy admitted that he does jump in to do a tiny bit of touch-up when necessary, but the kids really run the show.
The film festival will be open to the public, and tickets ($5 for adults, free for kids 14 and under) are available at redrivertheatres.org.
