Film workshop for local youth in Pass Christian
PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (WXXV)- It’s lights, camera, action, and community in Pass Christian down at the public library.
This summer, the Pass Christian Public Library is rolling out the red carpet for young filmmakers. Led by Dr. Richard Ward, the library’s annual film workshop is teaching young students the importance of teamwork. “We take teenagers. They come in and spend the week with us three hours a day for five days. You tell them the first day you’re going to have to write a script and shoot it. They’re in the shooting phase right now. I think they enjoy it. I doubt that very many of them are going to go into this as a professional or some might. I think that it’s nice to understand the visual arts, to understand the way movies and television shows are put together.”
With opportunities for hands-on experience, these teens are learning the tools and key factors of media and film. “Most of them don’t know each other when they show up on Monday for class. Very quickly, they have to form friendships and a working relationship. There’s a lot of problem solving. It’s like you’ve got five people in a group, four people want to do it one way, one person wants to do it completely the other way and you have to negotiate and figure it out.”
Student Destinay Delcambre shares the life skills she is taking away from the workshop, “Coming in here? I was honestly kind of scared that I wouldn’t find anybody I’d relate to at all. Whenever, I realized that there were more people who find interest like similar to me and are more like me. I felt like that kind of like helped me be a bit more comfortable here. Being here, it’s a new experience and it helps people like get an actual feel of it rather than just saying that they want to do this kind of thing when they’re older.”
The workshop is also promoting community involvement. “Well, it adds to the community. It adds creativity to more kids. It just opens their imagination, in my opinion.”
Students will be able to review their films at the end of the workshop with a special screening of each group’s project.
