Blacksburg Stories 2010 Premiere: Look Out Hollywood!

June 27th, 2010 marked the big day for the students to premier their films at The Lyric Theatre in downtown Blacksburg.  There was a crowd of about one hundred, and even some previous Blacksburg Stories participants came to enjoy the films and support the program.  After a short picture slide show and introduction by the Program Director, Ashley Maynor, the lights went out and the films were screened.

After the four movies, the crowd erupted with applause and the students were introduced on stage to be presented with their certificates of the camp and their own copies of the DVD.

My favorite part of the screening was the question and answer portion, where each of the young filmmakers answered questions from the audience about their film.  It was great to see the progression and growth of each student.

The students put in a lot of hard work this year, and I can’t wait to hear about how they are using the skills they learned at camp and applying them into their own projects!  Ladies and gentlemen, a new generation of film makers has been born, I’m sure you will be seeing them in Hollywood soon.  See you next summer!

Blacksburg Stories: Screening at the Lyric “Curtain Call!”

The Lyric was filled with campers, counselors, and community members for the 2010 screening of Blacksburg Stories final films!

The event kicked off with an introduction by Program Director Ashley Maynor and films were soon projecting onto the big screen. Afterward, campers were called on stage to receive their DVDs and certificates and the event wrapped up with a Q & A session with the audience.

The day was truly a success!

Campers and counselors gather for a group shot.

This was my first year working with Blacksburg Stories, and I was absolutely amazed by every single  camper. They were exciting to work with and every morning I was eager to see what new ideas the campers would come up with for their film. I loved watching the transformation our campers went through from the first day until our last. We had some campers truly broaden their horizons from exploring advanced film editing software to writing and recording music at the Innovation Space.

I cannot wait to see what our campers do next!

Join us this Sunday for free movies @ the Lyric!

Blacksburg and New River Valley residents of all ages are invited to attend a free screening of four short documentaries made by local teens at 1pm at the Lyric Theatre, this Sunday, June 27th!

You’ll be inspired by what can happen in just nine days when teens and Virginia Tech Cinema students unite for intensive documentary video-making!

Blacksburg Stories Day 9 – The Final Cut

A camper feels the pressures of editing!

As the final session of Blacksburg Stories 2010 started, everyone seemed to recognize that it would be a bittersweet day.  This, however, was no excuse for the hard work we had ahead of us!  It was a race against time on the final day, as all of the kids had to prepare the final cut of their movies.  However, instead of getting right to it, we all warmed up with some games outside like “Sharks and Minnows” and the campers’ new favorite, “Ninja.”

After a session of serious playtime, we made our way to InnovationSpace, where the kids split up into their respective groups in order to put the finishing touches on their documentaries in iMovie.  It was tedious and time consuming work, but all of the campers stuck to it and did their best to make their movies as awesome s possible.  For Team Stika Gangstaz, this work included adding very special effects to their film, and even recording a surprise team rap to play over the credits.  Viewers are surely in for a treat!

Team Ninja Pirates of Awesomeness taking a quick break for a photo opp.

Soon, a well-deserved and special snack time of ice cream sandwiches and chocolate cake, it was time to wrap up.  Fortunately, all of the campers did a great job of completing their movies on time!  We all headed outside for pick-up, where undesired “good-byes” were exchanged between everyone.  Luckily, we have the exciting premiere at the Lyric to look forward to on Sunday, where all of the hard work will pay off when the campers’ documentaries will finally get a public screening!  Personally, I can’t wait, and I hope to see you all there to wrap up Blacksburg Stories 2010 in style!!!

Team Green working hard!

Blacksburg Stories Day 9 – It’s A Wrap

Watching a rough cut of team "Green"'s documentary

Today was a hard working day. Everyone dedicated a lot of time to finishing up their documentaries. As usual the morning started off with a variety of games ranging from “Redrum” to the ever-popular “Big Booty”.

After getting out some energy, we all headed to the innovation space. The campers worked very hard, and remained diligent throughout the day, and personally I am very proud of them as a whole.

Team"Way More in Your Face" diligently works to get a rough cut.

My group in particular, “Team Way More in Your Face,” ran into some issues but after some disgruntled attitudes the group buckled down and got the job done.

Even with all the work to be done today, it was definitely not a day of all work and no play. Some of the counselors dressed up in a 80’s theme, and snack was special as well. The campers got to enjoy ice cream and cake once as a reward for all their hard work.

Camp Counselor in a Opitmas Prime Mask and rocker wig

The day ended with some bittersweet goodbyes and plans to see each other for the screening on Sunday.

Blacksburg Stories Day 8 – The Final Stretch

The beginning to the end of Blacksburg Stories was met with both excitement as well as sadness. Kids arrived to camp this morning with parents telling us counselors that their children were upset that camp is almost over. However, this sadness was soon replaced with anxiousness and excitement as each group raced to get a rough cut finished of their documentary in the editing lab today.

Team green, my group, worked very well together and made tremendous amounts of progress on their documentary on sustainability in Blacksburg. They have had some setbacks in the past few weeks from missing some members on a couple of days but they have been able to overcome it like pros. After a few hours of hard work and concentration they ended the day with a rough cut of their film with some fun stop motion animation and titles added in as well. They are on a good path to finish their film tomorrow so it will be ready for the big premiere on Sunday! They are ready to show everyone why green is the new black this summer.

Every other group made strong progress towards finishing their documentaries as well. It was a long day in the lab, with a few headaches and a lot of sitting and concentrating. A Ninja Pirate group member, however, helped everyone out by bringing in some tasty fortune cookie treats. An Innovationspace employee even blamed the USA win on her fortune cookie.

We ended the day with some fun dance battles between the campers and counselors. Team Stika Gangsta and Team Green members have some serious dance moves. Some of the counselors even surprised us. Luckily one of the campers was able to catch it all on his flip camera. Maybe some of the footage will pop up at the premiere on Sunday… who knows..

All around, it was a successful day. The hard work is already starting to pay off.  Everyone’s footage looks great and I look forward to seeing how they all get pieced together.

Blacksburg Stories Day 8 – “A Story is Born”

Innovation Space was quite the buzz today at Blacksburg Stories. Being the second-to-last day at camp and the campers’ first full day of post-production,  all of the teams were excited to get their movies put together in iMovie and ready to go for the premiere. Putting the dreary weather behind them, the campers did excellent work staying focused and handling the editing process. In fact, we counselors found ourselves twiddling thumbs and watching the kids run the whole show.

Editing away

We all know all work and no play makes dull boys and girls, so today wasn’t without rays of excitement. In addition to starting off the dull day with a few games of tag, one particularly awesome camper brightened up the day by bringing in home-made fortune cookie snacks. This was probably the first time this counselor has ever enjoyed a fortune cookie more than the fortune inside. Fortunately, the drab day didn’t get to anyone, and everyone had their nose to the grindstone.

Some heavy decision-making!

Team Stika Gangstas got to record voice-overs today, and worked on a pretty sweet title sequence for their film. Team Ninja Pirates of Awesomeness and Team Green finished a rough cut of their movie and are looking forward to an easy day of editing tomorrow. Team Way More In Yo Face got all of their interviews organized and will be working on filling in the gaps. Overall, all of the groups got a tremendous amount accomplished today. One day left at Blacksburg Stories! Auf Wiedersehen!

Blacksburg Stories Day Seven – The editing begins…

Day Seven began with the arrival of counselors and campers decked out in their craziest hats! No one on campus was able to miss any Blacksburg Stories members today!

After playing a few energetic games outside, team members went their separate ways to finish filming or begin the editing process.  The Ninja Pirates of Awesomeness and the Stika Gangstaz finished filming some necessary b-roll footage before returning to the Innovation Space to put in some serious editing time.  Team Green did some experiments in the editing room while Team Way More In Your Face filmed their last interview.  Many of the campers were able to lay out the majority of their raw footage in the editing room in an exciting race to Sunday’s premiere.

Campers ended a long day of editing with some group photos, more games and the announcement of the craziest hat winner.  Congratulations to the creative Team Green member!

Blacksburg Stories Day 7 – Crazy Hat Day

We started the day off by playing a few games of Ninja, Handshake Killer, and Mafia.  Don’t worry, no one was actually harmed in anyway.  Today was also crazy hat day.  All of the counselors wore crazy hats and a lot of the campers brought in hats too. 

Once everyone was settled in we really got to work on editing the videos and getting some last second B roll. Team Green worked on cutting up the interviews and created an awesome title sequence using all recycled products.  Team Ninja Pirates of Awesomeness put together a skeleton of their film with lots of great B roll from around Blacksburg High and Middle School.  Team Stika Gangstaz got some great B roll at D2. Team Way More In Yo Face even did an interview today.

All of the documentaries are shaping up to be great.  I hope everyone can make it to the premiere on Sunday.

Blacksburg Stories Day Six – Back in Action

After a much needed weekend of rest and relaxation, counselors and students met under Torgerson Bridge once again to start the second week of Blacksburg Stories.  After a variety of games, it was time for the students to get back to working on their films.  Each team had their own agenda for the day.  Some teams conducted interviews, some shot b-roll and some teams saw some action in the editing room.

The Ninja Pirates of Awesomeness made their way to Blacksburg Middle School. First up was an interview with a Blacksburg Middle School student.  Questions were asked, opinions were recorded and it was business as usual for the tech savvy teens.

Next, it was time for the all-important b-roll.  Team members took turns composing and recording their favorite b-roll shots.  With the summer heat beating down, it was time for a much needed snack break.  After the quick refreshment, another round of camera sharing yielded some great footage for The Ninja Pirates of Awesomeness. Before we could realize, it was time to return to campus.  But one last thing remained: A group photo to celebrate a wrap on production!

The rest of the day was spent inside as the Ninja Pirates put the finishing touches on their team logo and brainstormed the title of their film.  It was a great way to end the day and relax before tomorrow’s big task of editing all of the wonderful footage!