By Steve Cook
Photos Courtesy Joe Carabeo
You ought to be in pictures. No! Really, you should. And, if you’re between the ages of 14 and 24, you’re eligible to spend a week immersed in the motion picture industry. We’re talking about the Southern Mystique Film Camp, held each summer at Tim and Daphne Maxwell Reid’s New Millennium Studios in Petersburg.
The camp is conducted by the studios in cooperation with the Central Virginia Film Insitute, which, in case you didn’t know, is a non-profit corporation, which, according to Ken Roy, executive director for the Institute, is “dedicated to celebrating the entire breadth of the filmmaking experience and promoting film as an educational resource as well as an art form.” I had an opportunity to speak with both Roy, and Frank Underwood, chairman of the organization, during this past July’s camp.
 My first question, explain the name, Southern Mystique. Roy answers, “We had come up with the name for a proposed film festival back in 2001. The festival never happened, but we liked the name.” So, when, later that year, the film camp was inaugurated, it was given the “Southern Mystique” name.
The week-long camp opens, Roy explains, with the students, who come from all over the nation, getting acquainted on Sunday evening. Monday and Tuesday is rimarily academic discussion, film and script development, and the time when the students present the projects they want to film. During these first two days, Roy says, the students develop concepts, and write the scripts for their projects. “The students,” he continues, “learn story and character development, as well as the use of equipment.”
By Wednesday morning, two scripts have been selected and shooting begins. Thursday and Friday are spent editing the productions, adding a musical score to the productions, and on Saturday evening the students and their families get together for the world premier of their films.
“It’s a very collaborative effort,” Frank Underwood explains. “The students learn a variety of jobs, both in front of and behind the cameras.” Underwood knows a bit about the motion picture industry. His son is Blair Underwood, who has co-starred or appeared in a variety of popular TV programs and motion pictures, including Murder in Mississippi, L.A. Law, Sex and the City, and, most recently, The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Frank Underwood says the camp is open to any within the age range, who is a film enthusiast. “Each prospective student,” he says, “must provide a fifteen-panel storyboard, to demonstrate his commitment.”
The cost of the camp is $595, and Ken Roy says the Institute has been seeking organizations that might wish to sponsor a student. The $595 includes application fee, tuition, all production and instructional materials, plus snacks, lunches and graduation and reception expenses.
 After speaking with Roy and Underwood, I wanted to take a peek, behind the scenes, for myself. And, what I saw was impressive. This is no “Hey, I’ve got some props in the barn” operation. “We provide the student filmmakers with professional Sony HDV cameras, real sound equipment and access to Final Cut Pro and Avid editing software,” Roy says. Add to that the fact that the filming is taking place on a real, honest-to-goodness professional motion picture soundstage, and you get the sense that this is indeed a first-class operation.
I had an opportunity to speak with a couple of the students during my visit:
Ian Anderson, a senior at Clover Hill, in Chesterfield County, says he learned about the camp online. Anderson says he had appeared as an extra during the recent filming of the John Adams mini-series, but at the camp, he tells me he’s enjoying working behind the scenes as a grip. As regards a future in film, Anderson says, “I have thought about doing that, but I’ve also thought about being a history teacher.” He says he’s also interested in engineering and is planning on attending Virginia Tech after graduating from high school.
Britni Harris was also at the camp. Britni had come all the way from Bixby, Oklahoma, where she is a sophomore in high school. “It’s really fun,” she says of the camp. “I’ve learned lots of stuff.
Britni tells me that she has been acting since she was eight, but has decided she’d rather work behind the scenes. “I enjoy being able to come up with ideas,” she says.”
If you have a young person in your family who ought to be in pictures, or if you’d like to help sponsor a young person, visit www.cvfo.org, or phone 804-957-4211.
In addition to the Southern Mystique Film Camp, the Central Virginia Film Institute is involved in a host of other film-related activities, including the official Oscar Night party, held each year on, as you may have guessed, Oscar Night. The group is also planning a film festival in the spring of 2008. For more information, or to volunteer, visit www.cvfo.org. |
