KIDS FIRST! Film Critics Boot Camp – A Summer Week of Fun and Learning
Yes, it’s back! The popular KIDS FIRST! Film Critics Boot Camp builds valuable learning around one of kids’ favorite activities: watching movies. Kids know what they like in movies; the program of this one-week summer day camp aims to help them understand why and how movies create the impressions they do.
With visual media as pervasive as it is in today’s world, such knowledge gives kids valuable tools that go far beyond the movie theater. Boot Camp director Janet Davidson brings her experience as a filmmaker to the program that teaches kids aged 12 to 15 how to look critically at individual elements, from directing and acting to cinematography, writing and art direction. Boot Campers will take in new films and discuss them, and will also view older films and compare published reviews with their own reactions to the films.
The fun part is when kids learn to perform on camera! They will develop confidence and self esteem – skills that will carry them into the future, even if their goal is nowhere close to being a film critic. We are looking to discover the next Lisa Guerrero or Ryan Seacrest but it may be that we find the next Zac Efron or Dakota Fanning. “The value of learning to perform in front of a camera is incomparable,” says Davidson, noting that kids often have strong opinions but become self-conscious about expressing them. “It will carry you in every walk of life.”
Other on-camera experiences will be in sit-down, two-camera interviews such as are seen on TV. The play-acting (one kid is the star, the other is the interviewer) also goes with staging red-carpet interviews. “If they want to dress up, that will be fun — and acceptable,” says Davidson.
Whether kids dream of a film-related career or not, understanding the dynamics of how a film is appreciated will be a valuable skill. And Davidson notes, “Because film encompasses so many attributes of life, appreciating film can help them also appreciate more of life.”
Santa Fe, N.M., hosts the first KIDS FIRST!’s Film Critics Boot Camp this summer, June 13-17. The next week, June 20-24, it is scheduled for Albuquerque, N.M. Los Angeles offers it July 11-15. And the camp will be available in Annapolis, Md., July 18-22. For more information and to sign up, visit http://www.kidsfirst.org/become-a-juror/BootCamp.html.
Photo: KIDS FIRST! film critic Anthony Aranda (eight years old) interviewing Danny Gokey (“American Idol,” Change of Plans)
