It’s not the shot he was going for, but as 12-year-old Nick Brieger walked Main Avenue last week, it was hard to not evoke memories of Tony Manero’s Brooklyn stroll from the opening of “Saturday Night Fever.”
Technically speaking, Nick had more to work with than his 1977 predecessors. He was one of five students in this summer’s “Filmmakers Wanted: The Making of a Short Film” summer camp at the Durango Arts Center. Independent filmmaker John Ford, a former Durango resident who divides his time between Grand Junction and Los Angeles, pitched the idea to DAC Theater Director Theresa Carson last winter and offered to teach it. He also brought his own state-of-the-art equipment, such as camera cranes, dollies and the rickshaw that makes those sidewalk shots possible.
“You can certainly make a movie without all the toys,” Ford said. “But it’s important they understand the value of this gear. It’s not to make a movie around fancy equipment, but it’s great to have the toys because it adds to the production value.”
Ford wanted each student to learn every aspect of filmmaking in the short month they had to work. Each has produced a finished short film, three to five minutes in length. Each wrote his own screenplay, and the students shared jobs. One would direct, another would operate a camera, another would act, and other jobs such as sound, editing and lighting also were shared and rotated. The films will be shown at a free screening Thursday in the DAC theater.
The teacher took a traditional approach for the young filmmakers. They’ll be introduced to all kinds of experimental- and alternative-filmmaking processes, but Ford wanted them to have a solid foundation first. The scripts had to be constructed in the three-act format and Ford did his best to recreate a real movie set feel.
“I stress the hierarchy because there’s a pecking order about who answers to whom,” Ford said. “They were in charge when they were directing, and the others had to respect that.”
Expect to be pleasantly surprised. These kids – Garnet Smith, Alden Spitzer, Egan Lindsay and Nick Brieger (Derek Junttonen was only able to attend half the class and may or may not have a final film) – were not sent to camp to give their parents some much needed solace. They are intelligent, dedicated, creative and hardworking, and they embraced each step of the filmmaking process with a professionalism that belies their years.
“It takes six hours of work for two or three minutes of movie,” Garnet said. And on the Wednesday of shooting Nick’s film “Don’t Forget to Look on the Inside,” Garnet was relegated to guarding the crew’s equipment on the sidewalk outside Maria’s Bookshop.
“I’m going to appreciate it a lot more when I go to the movies,” Garnet said.
ted@durangoherald.com
If you go
Durango Arts Center will host a free screening at 7 p.m. Thursday of short films created by young filmmakers in DAC’s Summer Arts Camp: The Making of a Short Film. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/events/695484610465866.
“The Will” by Garnet Smith, age 12.
“The Digeridoo” by Alden Spitzer, age 12.
“Seatless” by Egan Lindsay, age 13.
“Don’t Forget to Look on the Inside” by Nick Brieger, age 11.
Instructor John Ford can be reached through his production company, Silverwood Entertainment, at www.silverwoodentertainment.com.
