Kids at this year’s Foundation Camp will have a chance to let their imaginations and creativity soar when they get to experience the magic of filmmaking firsthand.
Some will be behind the camera while others are in front of it. But campers at this year’s Foundation Camp can get a glimpse of what its like to help create a film, an opportunity many would never have, if not for this special camp session.
Offered through a partnership between Georgia Highlands College and the 100 Black Men of Rome-Northwest Georgia, Inc., the Foundation Camp is held each summer for young men between the ages of 10-14. It includes academics, athletics, and enrichment activities, while also building teamwork and leadership skills.
The camp is held on the GHC Rome campus and is completely free for the campers who are also provided with breakfast and lunch each day. Transportation is available for campers living within Rome city limits.
Last year, one counselor, Timothy Booker, said he attended Foundation Camp 15 years ago. The Georgia Highlands graduate was attending Kennesaw State University for his master’s degree.
“My past experience led me to being engaged in this activity now,” Booker said. “It taught me how to tie a tie and just simple things. It’s called Foundation Camp because it gives you the foundation of how to become a man and how to carry yourself in the world.”
In addition to the wealth of activities the camp provides including sports, mentorship and other enrichment activities, this year’s camp will feature a film workshop led by Rome International Film Festival Creative Director and GHC Division Chair, Seth Ingram.
“It’s a one-day session with the students and the goal is to make a short film in that compacted amount of time but to also give the students a little look at what goes into making a film,” Ingram said. “It’s a lot of fun because many of the kids would never have access to the equipment and this opportunity so we like to show them as much as we can in the time we have them.”
Ingram said this is the fourth year they’ve offered a film workshop. Students will work together with him and GHC film students to create a short film. They’ll be involved in every aspect of the process. Some will be running the lights, operating the clapper board, some will be in front of a green screen being interviewed while others will get to operate some of the equipment.
“It broadens their perspective a little bit into what all goes into filmmaking,” he said. “Many people hear ‘filmmaking’ and they think of the actors or the directors. But we’ll divide the campers into individual roles and let them see that there are so many different jobs that work together to make a film.”
At the end of the two-week long camp, Ingram said campers will be able to watch the film they helped to create.
“It’s a story they helped to make,” he said. “We let them have an input into the story. We do interviews with them. It’s sort of a Mad Libs. They get to show their creativity and imagination.”
But it’s not just the filmmaking that the campers experience.
Ingram said even if the boys aren’t especially passionate about filmmaking, the workshop is a chance to inspire them to realize there are career fields outside of what they’re traditionally exposed to.
He does admit, however, that the campers are always thrilled to help make a film that they then get to sit and watch with their friends at the end of camp.
“To see their reaction is the best,” he added. “To see some of them unlock something in them is the best you can hope to achieve. They get really excited about it.”
This year’s camp will be held July 10-21. For an application or additional information, email foundationcamp@highlands.edu.
