2010 T Tauri Movie Camp Instructor Summaries: Juli Jackson

JULI JACKSON INSTRUCTOR SUMMARIES~

“Its SO COOL to talk about movies, angles, and shots and have people know what you mean!” Anthony Fugo excitedly told me after our first day of T Tauri’s Script to Screen program. I was having similar thoughts about my students as they solidified their ideas to create the short film, “Exit,” a psychological thriller about a group of teens becoming lost in a maze of endless hallways.

My 2nd year as a Script to Screen instructor, I found my students far ahead of the game - being familiar with technology, having previously attended acting camps, and absorbing technical terms almost immediately. Who would have thought that a group of high school students would be as fascinated with the differences between 1080/24P & 1080/60i as any professional working in video? Add in Tanner Smith, an ambitious young filmmaker and T Tauri veteran as the group’s mentor and this was my team for the week. I was very excited from the start.

The first day of the workshop was focused on introductions and pre-production. Our brainstorming session was robust, carefully thought through, voted upon, tweaked, and finally yielded the idea for “Exit.” A new approach in story development this year focused on creating characters by outlining their specific story arc -- detailing character development, conflict, and resolution. “Exit” had 4 principle actors, and 2 secondary parts. As multiple students vied for the same parts, a spontaneous improv session developed to help with the decision making process.

With no hesitation, Luke Shoemaker, Robert Stodola, and Sawyer Wright jumped into the characters the group created and, with no script, played out key scenes to show what they could bring to the table. The remaining members of the group (who had the task of voting for whom they thought gave the best performance) found their decision harder than expected as each potential actor had a different take on the character and played it uniquely.

Sawyer was selected to play the character of Andre, a loner and mysteriously quiet rebel who has a dramatic outburst of fear and anger at the film’s climax. This was a character he had pushed for from the outset and Sawyer took his role of Andre very seriously - selecting an appropriate costume from home, staying in character, and, most impressively, being consistent in his inflection and gestures for every take – a talent professional actors constantly struggle with. Robert and Luke were a close vote for the lead of Conner with Luke taking the part. Robert was gracious in his loss of lead and picked up the part of Bobby, a student who delivers the film’s final haunting line as he throws a paper airplane.

With all the ideas in place, the beat sheet and log line written out, Lundy Bowren stepped up to give the pitch to Bob Pest who acts as T Tauri’s in-house producer and ‘green lights’ the projects. With Lundy weaving the tale of suspense, with references to Hitchcock and the Twilight Zone, Bob gave his nod to the project and also agreed to give a cameo performance as the professor.

The 2nd day of the workshop started with scriptwriting, location scouting, and dividing up the scenes for each student to have the experience of storyboarding and directing. This was tricky with several members of the crew also playing the cast but as the afternoon fast approached and principle photography began, the students worked as a team to shoot the classroom scenes with Bob as Professor Harrington and also portions of the film’s montage, which included fun dolly shots down the hallways of UACCB.

Day 3 was action-packed as our team pulled together to get all the key scenes complete. The entire group had been ambitious with camera angles and set-ups in the pre-production stage but found their stride as the day wore on. It was rewarding to watch these students become confident with crew communication, camera set-ups, and acting. Luke noted how he felt that his performance became easier the longer he worked as the character of Conner. Caroline Stone shared that she enjoyed acting as boom operator – holding the microphone in place and following the action. Savannah McIllwain showed great multi-tasking ability as she directed the set-up and action for her scene and then when everything was ready, stepped into her mark to act as Adriana. Ben Taulli and Robert Stodola worked tirelessly trying to master a trick shot of the hallway (sometimes called the Hitchcock effect - where one dollies in while zooming out to create an unsettling optical illusion.) When unsatisfied with the results, Ben took it upon himself to shoot a time lapse of the same hallway that could be used for similar effect.

The final day of the workshop came quickly. My group deemed themselves Reality Check Productions and lost no time, stayed on task, and showed dedication the entire day. After a group introduction to Final Cut Pro, the team split into 3 parts – one responsible for getting the last remaining pick-up shots, another searching for soundtrack material, and the final beginning the editing process.

Anthony Fugo spearheaded the rough cut of the film and not only exhibited notable talent with non-linear editing (having worked with the program previously, as well as taking the new Final Cut Pro Workshop offered by T Tauri the week before.) but also the willingness and rare ability to discuss and teach others while piecing the work together. Out in the hallway, Lundy focused keenly on mastering the camera and finishing the montage shots with a series of hands opening doors to help build the tension of the film. Even with the film firmly cut together with music and effects, the group hesitated to leave at noon for their own Wrap Party and several students stayed the afternoon to participate in the fine cut and getting the piece output to DVD.

That evening at the T Tauri Movie Camp Finale screening, I walked into a full auditorium to find my group all sitting together in the front row waving to me enthusiastically. The film was complete. We shared the experience of watching it play out on a big screen in front of an audience for the first time. Each and every member of Reality Check Productions brought something special to the film “Exit” and showed passion for creating a unique and well-designed short film. As an instructor, I find their blossoming talents rewarding, and as a filmmaker, I feel lucky to encourage this new generation in my field.

Poetry in Motion

Leading the new T Tauri workshop, Poetry in Motion, was an exciting challenge to undertake and a chance for me to design a new approach to introducing young students to video. The workshop was structured as a 3-day program with a morning session and an afternoon session, each running for 3 hours. Working with me for 2 days as a mentor was Dylan Scarbrough who was constantly by my side, helping maintain order and documenting by taking still photos.

The first day, the classes were concerned with getting to know each other and viewing video projects from other students that utilized text, voiceover, and imagery to illustrate poetry. As a group, we talked about these pieces and what was interesting and unique about them. For most students, this was an introduction to experimental filmmaking as an artistic medium and what it can accomplish.

Next, students were given an overview of several different types of video cameras and we set out to explore our environment with these new tools. Our location at the historic Landers Theater on Main Street in Batesville gave an interesting variety on what was available to shoot. Outside the students observed historic buildings, different shops, window displays, the Pocket Park, and lush greenery, while inside the Landers, we had free run of various classrooms and a large theater space.

As the students were given cameras and told to observe their surroundings, each interpreted these instructions in their own way. Claudia Bui began documenting the outing from beginning to end, focusing on the journey and the conversations of the group while younger students like Trent Summerlin and Nathan Wright placed the camera inside a cupboard and took turns opening the door with mock surprise.

What this first exercise allowed was ice-breaking between the students and new equipment as well as each other. We practiced getting wide, medium, and close-up shots at low, eye-level, and high angles and discussed how each shot type could be used. Towards the end of our first session, we began talking about poetry as a literary art and video as visual poetry. Students were asked to select an existing poem or create their own to illustrate.

Surprisingly, the next day all students introduced original poems they were excited about. They ranged from 12-year-old Miracle Holliday’s piece encouraging kids to “just be yourself” to Alley Lewis and Haley Moody’s piece “Natural” that talked about the simple joys of spring and nature’s beauty. Students were allowed to work as 1 group or divide into smaller groups. The older students in the morning class broke into groups of 2 and made 4 different pieces, while the afternoon group, with students as young as 2nd grade, worked together to make one longer piece.

In the afternoon group, Sophie Ross introduced the idea of a girl wandering and wondering about the historic downtown area. The group gravitated to this story and ran with it. In a unique twist, the class developed the idea that the poem could be this character’s thoughts as she looked into a specific building that was being renovated. Benjamin Weinzierl contributed the question that would ultimately become some of the first lines of the question poem, which is “What is the point of this building? (Or was?)."
Once the poems were decided upon, we worked to create a shot list that detailed what images would illustrate each portion of poem. Some students had a clear vision of what would best illustrate the work. Graham Ross envisioned the girl in their piece, “In A Daze,” staring at the building, the camera zooming into her eyes, then cutting to black with text fading in to the questions, “Who, what, where, when, why” When I asked why he thought this shot was important, he immediately responded with “it shows what she is thinking.”

Several students had the fun experience of realizing there were no boundaries in this workshop. There was no script or specific storyline that has to be upheld and for those new to filmmaking this was a chance to be creative. “In A Daze” features hand-drawn question marks dancing around the head of a questioning girl. 7-year-old Mariah Holliday was delighted to find that instead of showing a person sleeping in a bed, she could instead draw it and this meant the same thing. For added interest, we decided to animate her drawing, which helped reveal the magic of post-production and editing.

Once shooting the pieces began that 2nd day, the excitement grew. Students who had been reserved before found they could use the camera to express an idea. Dalton Pfeifer found that setting up the camera in an alleyway with windows allowed the shot to change from an audience watching a girl walking to the focus starting on the girl then moving to see her reflection revealed in the windows.

Our 3rd and final day of the workshop was action packed as the students viewed a “rough cut” of all the footage from the previous day edited together as they had outlined in their shot lists. Tim Krogen filled in as mentor on the 3rd day and did a fantastic job beginning the post-production process with part of the group while I took the rest of the group to finish shooting. With all the video recorded, the class gathered at the computer to learn how the footage was brought in from the camera, selected and arranged using Final Cut Pro editing software, and worked together to select appropriate text, music, and sounds for the pieces.

Knowing that the videos were being screened at the upcoming T Tauri Film Festival gave the students a heightened sense of duty and attention to detail. Being reminded that their work was going to be seen by an audience on a big screen was great motivation for everyone to work as a team, helping each other with setups, moving equipment, acting, and coming together to accomplish each group’s film.

Saturday night after screening the 5 films created in the workshop and seeing the positive audience reactions, I felt a profound sense of pride in my students’ abilities to be introduced to new media, fresh concepts, and work together to produce video in such a short time. Their work not only exhibited basic learned skills of working a camera, but also showed passion, creativity, inventiveness, and, most of all, heart.

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