Blue Ridge Stories 2011 ended today with the final screening of all the campers’ videos!

The camp director Ashley Maynor opened the commencement with a few comments and special thanks, then we all watched the documentaries. This year there were four films. First was “From Page to Stage”, a look at how “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” was brought to life in Roanoke. Next was “Lost Gone Neighbors Remembered”, a film about the Neal family who found a Civil War era graveyard in their backyard. “Pop’s – A Taste of the Community” was next, looking at the famous ice cream shop in the area. To end the screening was “Train of Thought”: a look at the history and implications of trains in Roanoke.

After the screening, all the campers were awarded with certificates of completion and a copy of the DVD, as well as held a short Q&A about their films.

We would like to thank the Taubman Museum of Art, Virginia Tech’s Department of Theatre and Cinema, and InnovationSpace for their support, in addition to the campers and their families. We had a blast this week and hope to see some of you next year!

Today was the final day of the camp, and today was also the day where the campers worked hard but played harder. The campers were constantly reminded that they had until 2:30 in the pm to complete the entire editing. They were also given chances to take frequent breaks. However, most of the campers were reluctant to take short breaks. They were extremely dedicated to their work, and they completed editing before 2:30 pm. We, the counselors, were proud to see strong work ethic already instilled in the campers.

As a reward of their hard work, the counselors took the campers out for ice cream at the Little Dipper. The counselors and the campers enjoyed the delicious ice cream. After the ice cream, it was time for some games.

The campers and the counselors enjoyed playing ninja and giants wizards and trolls in the park and the team t-shirts were completed with their logo iron-ons.

We look forward to seeing  the campers and their parents for the final screening on Sunday at 1pm at the Taubman!

The spirit of the campers was unflappable entering day 4 of the camp. Little did they know that today was the first day of full on post-production, the most daunting stage of film-making. But our campers were troopers. They behaved as seasoned sea captains, navigating fearlessly through the foaming cascades of footage. There were laughs, there were tears, there was sweat. But most importantly there was progress. Yes, all of our campers today took one small step for their prospective futures and one giant leap towards the completion of their projects.

But it wasn’t all work for our cinematic wayfarers. No. They played games and competed in logistic challenges that stimulated their creativity and ingenuity. All in all the day was a veritable gumbo of events that left the campers feeling both exhausted and accomplished. There was plenty of editing going on today, and tomorrow there will be more. But the campers sail forward, not knowing exactly what tomorrow will bring, but knowing that they will finally see land after all this time lost in the sea.

Friday marks the last official day of Blue Ridge Stories 2011. That means, by the end of tomorrow, the four different groups will have each had to finish their documentaries – filming, editing, transitions, sound, music… everything!

Today, though, the campers got to dive into all that is iMovie. My group, the British Double Chocolate Turtle Raisins, or B-DCTRs for short, seemed to enjoy every bit of it. With only two official sets of headphones, it appeared as if only two of the three campers could work on editing at a time. However, no one wanted to take breaks, so we all found a way to share the headphones and work all together.

While editing can be a tedious (and definitely time-consuming!) process, the B-DCTR’s found our own way to have fun. We developed our own language to help us communicate to each other how best to edit a clip. For example – “Drag it from the pickle jar to the end of the refrigerator!” That may be easier to understand once you see our final product, but then again… it might not. We were also able to find creative ways around shaky shots and sound issues.

After spending a long time in front of the computer, the B-DCTR’s took a well-deserved break. They got to explore problem-solving challenges like building paper bridges and airplanes and free-standing straw towers. Then, to get a taste of the outdoors, we went to the park and the campers played a rousing game of Keep Away!

After adding a bit more to our rough cut, it was time to go. Tomorrow will be both busy (very busy) … and bittersweet. But there will be ice cream, completed documentaries, and a screening on Sunday to get us through it!

Another exiting day began with a lesson in iMovie. The campers were already excited to edit their footage towards the end of the lesson. However, they just couldn’t start editing. They needed to go outside to collect more footage for editing.

                The WOOZLES got their B rolls from the vicinity of O. Winston Link Museum and the Virginia Museum of Transportation. They also went to O. Winston Link Museum to film the antiquated pictures taken by the legendary photographer O. Winston Link. Kimberly Parker, the director of the museum, was interviewed by the WOOZLES. She talked about the contribution of Mr. Link and his photography to the history of railroad.

                The WOOZLES experienced their first disappointment as filmmakers. They wanted to get footage of a moving train. They waited forty-five minutes for the train. However, the train never showed up. The WOOZLES would never allow any disappointment to diminish their motivation and enthusiasm. They   are determined to film a moving train tomorrow.

                Towards the end of the day, the groups, including the WOOZLES, started editing their footage. They are definitely going to complete the editing by the end of this week.

Today, the second day of Blue Ridge Stories, the different groups jumped right into creating their documentaries. As each group had scheduled interviews at some point during the day, the campers and the counselors immediately started brainstorming different questions to ask their interview subjects.

At noon, the cookie-loving team, The British Double Chocolate Turtle Raisins, were ready to put all that they had learned about interview do’s and don’t's into action. They met up with their interviewee from the Roanoke Children’s Theatre to find out about the history of the theatre and about the current production of “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” After some minor technical hiccups with the sound, the camera was rolling and the BDCTRs worked together to ask questions, run the camera, and monitor the sound.

The interview went incredibly well and we all learned a lot about the Roanoke Children’s Theatre. We even got to look at the backstage area and at all the cool costumes! Later, we had the fortune of interviewing a current intern at the RCT, and the campers did a great job interviewing someone off-the-cuff style.

After our two interviewers, the BDCTR were ready to start gathering some B-Roll footage. We shot around the outside of the Taubman and within the lobby. The campers were eager to experiment with different shot types – pans, tilts, and moving camera shots galore!

Then it was lunch time, so we sat outside and had an in-depth conversation about movies. We talked about everything from classic Disney films to comic book movies to classic Hollywood stars like Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. The kids’ knowledge and interest in film could not have been more apparent and it was so much fun to get to learn about what movies they are watching and how they feel about them. Maybe we have a future famous filmmaker in our midst to join the ranks of those we talked about!

Once we were all done eating, we went back to the Taubman to import our footage. We had a fun time fiddling with the “rabbit” function in iMovie, which allows you to speed up your footage. We also starting looking into music available through GarageBand and danced around to the different tunes.

After the groups reconvened to play some games, it was time to go. Overall, it was both a productive and a fun day. I look forward to shooting more interviews and gathering more B-Roll tomorrow!

From the morning to the afternoon, Day 2 was action packed! To start the day off, campers split into their teams to prepare for a busy day of shooting. The theme for Day 2 was Rock Stars and the campers rocked at collecting footage for the day.

The Woozles were the first to head out for filming. The team interviewed Frances Fergusom, the Director of Development at the Virginia Museum of Transportation and filmed the numerous trains found at the museum, including a giant model train set.

At the museum the Woozles also got to climb into some trains to see what it might be like to operate or ride in a caboose.

The team wrapped the day up with creating a team logo and  the group game: Director Says. Tomorrow the team will continue and will begin to learn iMovie! Day 3 should be awesome!

Blue Ridge Stories 2011 started off with a bang today as all 12 campers arrived eager to learn. We all got accustomed to the new location at the Taubman Museum of Art and, after a few games, were quick to work.

Tiara led us in an in-depth discussion on what constitutes a documentary and we watched a few of the shorts from previous years as examples. All of the counselors pitched their documentary ideas: stories about Roanoke and the surrounding Blue Ridge area. The campers received ballots and voted on which group they wanted to be in.

After a short break for lunch at a nearby park, we returned to the Taubman to watch an example of how not to make a documentary. In the video, Rita Skeeter tried to solve a mystery at Hogwarts, followed by her awful film crew. We discussed the few things that did work in the video, and the many things that did not work.

We then announced the four groups and their projects for the week. Campers broke into their groups and learned about camera basics, composition, and sound from their counselors.

To end the day, we did a 45-minute scavenger hunt in downtown Roanoke. Each group had to find several local items, as well as practice the skills they had been taught earlier in the day.

Tomorrow we will resume the fun, as many groups will begin their interviews!

Today was the fist day of Blue Ridge Stories. Although the camp wasn’t new the location had changed as well as the people, but even so the day was a blast. The camp started with some fun games to help everyone get to know each other, and before we knew it friendships formed.

The campers learned or help to teach each other the basics of what is a documentary and watched examples of both good and bad documentaries, like the ones they would be filming.

We all enjoyed a nice lunch in the park and played some more out-door games. And then everyone got to fin out which groups they were working with for the week.

In our groups campers got to get hands on experience with the equipment they will be using in the upcoming week, and even got to do a scavenger hunt to show off their newly gathered skills.

With so many activities to do it was hard to believe the day had come to an end by 4pm. Everyone left looking excited about the films they would make this week.

We were pleased and thrilled this past July to receive a letter from U.S. Senator Mark Warner, complimenting the Blacksburg Stories Youth Video Workshop, and wanted to share it with all our readers. We hope you’ll be equally thrilled with our new pilot program and expansion to Roanoke this summer as Blue Ridge Stories!