Young Filmmakers Turn Ideas Into Movies at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival camp
John Palminteri
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The filmakers of tomorrow are coming home after spending a week in the Santa Ynez Valley at a special camp.
It’s in a collaboration with the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) and the United Boys & Girls Club of Santa Barbara County.
The camp was held in the Santa Ynez Valley near Cachuma Lake at the rustic Camp Whittier.
The participants get the tools and the instruction to create mini films from their ideas.
David Guerrero-Jimenez is 14-year-old from Santa Barbara and came with an idea. “I wrote a script, before beforehand, and I brought it here, so we used some of it. “
The young filmmakers can make any type of movie they would like, but this setting seems to inspire most of them to go with one specific theme.
Claire Waterhouse, the SBIFF Education Director, says, “our campers are often inspired to make horror films mostly every summer. It’s a chance for them to test their creative skills, and there’s so much that goes into making a horror film with angles and lighting and music, so it’s a really fun challenge to see them they love watching horror movies.”
“We learned a lot on, camera angles and lighting and, line execution, which is all critical for making films because it can determine, like, the mood, the setting or the vibe of the film,” said Guerrero-Jimenez.
One student Jax Palumbo wanted to be an actor and be tougher than he is in real life. “I played like a bad guy, and I wanted to be, better looking, more menacing.”
Among the mentors was Producer Joe Medjuck, who worked on movies including Ghostbusters. “It’s amazing how good many of them are. They’re learning the artistic part of a very early.” He was very impressed. Watching them work, “we see kids this age making finished films that they can show to people right away.”
In addition to making movies, there’s also time for many summertime camping experiences here.
Next month the finished films will be shown at a First Thursday screening session in downtown Santa Barbara.
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