Film ‘boot camp’ gives Idaho teens a taste of professional movie-making

Keith Taylor, a 17-year-old Timberline High School student, crouched over a camera and backed up slowly, filming actors who crept toward him in a gulch off Idaho 21 just north of Lucky Peak Dam.

As the scene ended, director Estlin Feigley called: "How do you feel about that, Keith?"

Bill Roberts
The Idaho Statesman

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040622/NEWS01/406220329/1002/NEWS

"It was all right. They were really close," Taylor replied. "It’s kind of intense trying to keep them in the frame."

Taylor was one of about 10 Idaho students who spent the day Monday shooting a 10-minute film they’re creating in the desert hills outside Boise under the guidance of Feigley and other film pros.

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See the Idaho students’ film in about a month, which is when it be on the Internet. Check these Web sites:

• Book of Stories: http:www.bookofstories .com/home.htm

• Fresh Films Web site: http://www.winterfresh.com/films/

Or see it at the Idaho International Film Festival, Sept. 30 to Oct. 3.

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The kids are part of Fresh Films Boot Camp, a two-week project in which students get an opportunity to work with professional film crews to create, shoot and edit a film. It’s part of a series of 20 student-made short films the group will produce this year.

The film — titled "Operation Daylight" — will make its way to the Internet and be shown at the Idaho International Film Festival, Sept. 30 to Oct. 3.

Fresh Films is a project of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and Dreaming Tree Films, a Chicago-based production company that works to teach young people how express themselves through making movies.

Feigley is Dreaming Tree’s creative director. He has sought the creative juices of young people interested in film and this project gives them an opportunity to see what real-world movie making is all about.

"We want them to know what it is like to be a filmmaker," Feigley said.

The kids — many from the Boise area — were selected from over 200 students statewide.

They did little of the acting. The students mostly helped with sound, direction, camera work and developing the storyline.

Students met about a week ago to hash out a story idea.

First they picked a theme.

"We voted and came up with war," said Matt Henry, 16, from Nampa.

Then they put together a story about a young man playing "war" with paintball guns who suddenly finds himself in a past-life experience fighting in real combat.

Deciding the story line took about two and a half hours, the kids said.

"But we did break for pizza," said Sarah Oneida, 13, from Boise.

Many of the students dream of a career in film.

Kyle Clark, 17, of Boise is headed to Montana State University in Bozeman to study filmmaking.

"I want to work my way up … from college to broadcasting to film," he said.

But before Kyle gets to a sound stage, he’s helping tell a surreal story among Idaho’s sagebrush.

And for all the emotion or irony the story make pack, filmmaking turns out to be a technical business focused on getting the right sound, the right camera angle and the right lighting.

In the first half of Monday’s shooting, the crew had shot only three of the 18 scenes planned in a move being made on a $1,000 budget.

"I don’t think people realize how much hard work goes into getting two minutes of film," Taylor said.