Teens take to the camera
Toolbox
By ROBIN PALMER Staff Writer - Published: January 2, 2005
WAITSFIELD – Most of the five Harwood Union High School students who signed up to spend afternoons making a film with Waitsfield's Claudia Becker had never used a camera for anything more than home movies.
Eight weeks later, however, "Open Hearth-Open Minds," an 18-minute documentary highlighting the Mad River Valley's efforts to build a community center, was complete.
Becker, a German-born special educator and organizer of the MountainTop Film Festival in Waitsfield, said the experience was empowering for the students – Jillian Spencer, Cinzia Coppola, Spencer Campbell, Bennet Rolland and Ryan Torres – who participated.
"I think they discovered they can really say something with the camera, with music," said Becker.
Based on the Educational Video Center program in New York, which puts cameras in the hands of urban youth so they can document social issues in their communities, Becker created the MountainTop Film Festival's Video Education Project.
The film festival, now in its second year, aims to bring human rights issues not told by mainstream media to the forefront. Becker is extending her outreach to youth through the Video Education Project.
"I'm really a teacher by trade. One of the reasons I'm doing the festival is larger educational outreach," she said.
Becker met with teachers at her community's high school, Harwood Union in Duxbury, to get permission to launch the project and the names of students who might participate. In the fall, the students and Becker began meeting after school for an hour-and-a-half twice a week for a "crash course" in documentary filmmaking.
The students say they learned filming and editing, interviewing techniques and about their community.
"I learned about interviewing and the composition of a shot," said Torres, 17, of Waterbury. "I learned the perspectives of some of the community members. … It was an interesting experience."
Spencer, 15, of Fayston said she learned about types of shots and about how to move footage digitally from a small handheld camera to a computer for editing with Apple iMovie software. "That was my favorite part," said Spencer. "I got really interested in what it took to make a film."
The students' film focuses on the proposed Open Hearth Community Center and community members' opinions on whether such a community center should be built in the Mad River Valley.
"It's sharing people's views on what the center should have and if the valley needs it or not," said Spencer, who spent her summer working at the Waitsfield farmers' market selling lemonade and iced tea to raise money for the center and promote it.
According to Spencer, the center would contain everything from a pool, indoor soccer field and a skateboarding park to a cyber café and hangout area for teenagers.
Spencer said the concept has the support of different population segments except one – seniors. "I didn't realize how much they didn't want this to happen," said Spencer of senior citizens interviewed at a Waitsfield senior center and home for the elderly, Evergreen Place.
Coppola, 18, of Waterbury said she likes the idea of a community center. "I think Waterbury needs a community center also," said the young filmmaker.
Both Waterbury and Mad River Valley students attend Harwood Union High School. Coppola says the film project taught her about the neighboring Mad River Valley and about the seniors.
"I learned more about the elderly, in the sense that I've never really spoken to them," she said.
The teamwork interested Campbell, who is hoping for a career in filmmaking. "I want to study film in college," the 17-year-old Warren senior said. "It was just great working with other people. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again in the future."
As part of their task, Campbell said that he and his fellow filmmakers had to think of locations different segments of the population might gather, such as Evergreen Place and at the Fayston Elementary School where a mothers' group gathers, in order to conduct their interviews and find out a variety of perspectives.
Campbell is enthusiastic about showing the film to his peers.
And Coppola said she's happy with the way "Open Hearth-Open Minds" turned out.
"It's a novice film … but I'm proud of it," she said.
The film will be shown as part of the MountainTop Film Festival's Jan. 11-13 youth program, which includes free daytime screenings for high school students.
Becker, whose husband is a documentary filmmaker, hopes to continue to work with area youth through the MountainTop Film Festival's Video Education Project to create more student films and to offer documentary filmmaking workshops.
She's also looking for more youth films to share with a broader audience next year. "I would like to develop a real showcase for youth-produced films," she said.
Student films would have to be done by November to make it into next year's festival and must focus on a social or political issue, Becker said. E-mail Becker or festival manager Kimberly Ead at info@mountaintopfilmfestival.com for more information on submitting a youth film.
The focus of this year's youth program is military recruiting, globalization and privatization – such as the privatization of water, and the juvenile justice system, said Ead. At least six high schools, including Harwood Union, are expected to bring students to the festival.
Contact Robin Palmer at robin.palmer@timesargus.com or 479-0191, ext. 1171.
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