Camp RED - Kids go to summer camp to make movies with the RED EPIC
Many moons ago, when I attended summer camp, the most impressive skills I brought home were tying the bowline and the clove hitch, spinning the nunchaku and flipping open a butterfly knife. Sure, I've been able to employ a few of those tricks later in life, but I wish I'd been able to attend something like this year's inaugural Camp RED, where kids aged 9-15 are given a chance to direct, produce, light, shoot and edit their own projects using RED EPIC and RED ONE cameras on location at RED Studios in Hollywood, California and at a camp in Malibu.
Camp RED is the brainchild of RED's Ted Schilowitz, the company's first employee and frequent spokesperson. Schilowitz says he was discussing summer plans for his own children with his wife when the idea struck him: "We have the movie studio now, we have the cameras. I wonder if it's possible for us to run a summer camp on the lot for kids?"
His pitch to colleagues was simple. "I've got this idea, Camp RED," Schilowitz recalls, "and they all go, 'You have to do it!' So then I talk to Jim [Jannard, RED's owner and founder] about it, and he's, like, 'You should totally do it!'"
After discussing their kids' summer vacation plans with his wife, RED's Ted Schilowitz came up with the idea for Camp RED, a summer camp where kids aged 9-15 are given a chance to make their own films with RED cameras. All images courtesy of RED.
Schilowitz and his team put the word out via RED's website, and the response was overwhelming, with kids from all over the world signing up to attend. Suddenly, Schilowitz had to figure out just what Camp RED would be. "We had literally no idea what we were doing or if it was going to work at all," he recalls.
Schilowitz recruited RED's Brian Henderson to head up the logistics and codirect the project, and the two decided to treat Camp RED as an extension of their existing REDucation program, which teaches film and television professionals the ins and outs of shooting with the RED system—in essence, Camp RED would treat kids like adults, allowing them hands-on experience with state-of-the-art motion-picture equipment.
For this first foray, the team settled on a schedule of three weeklong sessions of camp. The first two weeks would be a day camp based at RED's own historic studio in Hollywood, formerly Ren-Mar Studios (where I Love Lucy and other classic shows were shot), while the third week would be a sleepover at a camp in Malibu. The first two sessions would be open enrollment, while the sleepover camp would require attendance at one of the first two sessions as a prerequisite.
Although Camp RED was intended to give kids a grown-up filmmaking experience, like any other summer camp, Camp RED would need counselors to help manage and care for the young filmmakers. Turning to the YMCA, Schilowitz and Henderson were able to enlist a group of film students who went through the YMCA's standard camp counselor training and vetting procedures.
"And then we have a group of what we call counselor-specialists, who are people from the industry—gaffers, grips, directors, directors of photography—real working professionals who work in tandem with the counselors to ensure that everything gets learned and done correctly," says Henderson. "I sort of act like executive producer and run around all day checking on the shoots and making sure everyone's got what they need."
Equally important was lining up sponsors to support the ambitious programs Schilowitz and his team wanted to offer at Camp RED. Top-level partnership with Adobe, 3ality Digital, AJA, Anton/Bauer, Litepanels and OConnor made it possible for campers to use professional lighting and editing gear, as well as the unique opportunity to shoot and edit 3D projects. Additional support came from Cake Live Inc., DSC Labs, HP, J.L. Fisher, JMR Electronics, Keslow Camera and Samy's Camera.
These partnerships also allowed RED to keep camp tuition at $500 per week for day camp and $800 for the sleepover week. Henderson says that a scholarship program supported by their partners meant that no camper was turned away because they couldn't afford tuition.
"You're going to shoot on sticks and handheld, you're going to shoot 3D, you're going to light it, you're going to do sound, you're going to edit it, so it's up to you to make it look good," explains Schilowitz, describing Camp RED in action. Schilowitz started each weekly session with a brief introduction to RED camera technology and then let the kids run with their projects—basically, learning by doing.
Split into groups by age and experience, the campers were given a variety of projects on which to learn their chops. Schilowitz and his team offered the campers a few basic scripts to produce and also brought in local bands for music videos. Counselor-specialists offered instruction and assistance on fundamentals like lighting and composition, but the campers took on all of the necessary roles, including director, 1st AD, cinematographer, focus puller and audio, making their own creative decisions about how each project should be put together.
"It's pretty amazing," says Schilowitz. "Obviously, the kids are learning, getting their chops, but by day two they were a full production crew. They were shooting and figuring things out, making it all come together. You would walk onto set, and it just felt like any movie set, except they're all just smaller."
Cinematographer Lila Javan, one of Camp RED's counselor-specialists, was impressed by the maturity level and focus of the campers, and felt reinvigorated by the kids' enthusiasm, fearlessly tackling even the most difficult concepts. "They don't have the preconceived rules about what you can and can't do, and that's what's been so fun," says Javan. "I think what's really great about this camp is that we're not dumbing it down. We're telling them about really advanced topics, and I think kids really respond to being treated that way and they rise to that challenge."
For postproduction, the campers received instruction on editing using Adobe Premiere Pro and were set loose to cut together their projects. Adobe representatives started the kids with editing basics and moved on to more advanced topics like layering and greenscreen compositing. As a quick metric of the campers' zeal, Schilowitz points out the empty tables in the lunch area—minutes after the food was served. "They eat lunch so fast because they want to get into editing and see the footage they shot," he says. "They shovel the food down in five minutes, and they're back in the edit room cutting their stuff."
Henderson concurs, saying he was surprised by the ease with which the campers grasped the technology. "They were shooting and editing on their second day and coming in early by Thursday of each week to edit their projects in time for the film festivals," he says. "We hosted 150 people for the first week's festival, 200 for the second."
For the staff of Camp RED, the rewards for their efforts have been enormous. After the first week, parents were telling Schilowitz that their kids have never had a better time in their life and begged to return for the subsequent sessions.
"I think more than anything it's the exuberance of the kids, the creativity of the kids, their willingness to try new things and to literally not be afraid," says Schilowitz. "I can tell you, what's really interesting is that we work with a lot of big people in the industry all the time, and they always have lots of questions about exposure, and they think it's really complicated. But you put these kids in front of the camera—did you see anything that wasn't properly exposed? No, they just instinctively get it."
Asked whether there would be a second year of Camp RED, Schilowitz turns to Henderson, who immediately quips, "Why wouldn't we do it again?"
