Tampa Theatre film camp inspires young actors, writers, directors

Julianne Ramirez lies on an operating table screaming and shaking with convulsions from a mysterious illness.

A nurse administers a sedative and begins monitoring Ramirez's vital signs. But it's too late for Ramirez. She closes her eyes, takes her last breath and flat lines.

"And cut," yells Riley Moran from behind the video camera. "That was really good. I really like the emotion. But next time, I want you to scream like you're in a lot of pain – like you're on fire."

That scene will be shot and reshot until they've got it down.

This is just another day at Tampa Theatre's Film Camp.

The eighth annual filmmaking camp could be a scene straight from the popular summer hit "Super 8," which tells the story of a group of children filming their own movie when a train derails unleashing a mysterious monster.

Open to children from third to 12th grade and spanning a week, students learn the art of filmmaking from screenwriting to filming to editing and production, and even acting.

The camp is a partnership between the historic, ornate movie house in downtown Tampa and the University of South Florida College Of Education's Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT).

Students begin by choosing a movie genre – anything from drama to science fiction to comedy, write a script and bring it to life.

"We give them a lot of leeway with content," says James Welsh, camp director and assistant director of FCIT. "Because of the influence of [Tampa Theatre], you tend to see a lot of zombie and ghost films."

Welsh said the camp teaches attendees much more than filmmaking.

"They're learning how to make a movie, but they're also being taught collaboration, compromise, decision-making skills and how to communicate effectively," says Welsh. "And we're using technology here that we can take back to the classroom."

The camp, which costs $165 per student, also gives participants the chance to see their hard work on the big screen. The students' ideas become two- to three-minute films that are screened on camp's final day.

Ramirez and Moran have been working on a film about being trapped in someone's dream. They're not sure whose dream it is yet, but they have time.

"We know we're dying," says Moran, whose face is made up to look as if she's been in an accident for the next scene. "We have to try to get out of the dream before we die. When she wakes up, she runs to a castle."

But Moran isn't offering any spoilers.

"It's a little confusing, but I think it's all going to come together in the end."

Huddled around a computer, Amy Roher's four-member team is working on a film called "The Case of the Blue Gem" which "involves a blue gem being stolen from a movie star and the two detectives who try to find it."

"We all had a lot of different ideas going into it," said Roher, who plays one of the detectives. "We were all able to get our ideas in."

Another team member, Coleman Middle School seventh-grader Caroline Swan, says the group's different interests made for a better film concept.

"We had to collaborate," Swan added. "I think it made the original idea much broader and more entertaining."

Swan, who wants to be an actress some day, says she's excited to learn about what goes into making a film.

"I really like being able to come up with the idea (for a movie) and writing the script," she said. "We have the chance to grab people's attention and make them want to see more."

Outside the theater, Parker Foreman, an eighth-grader at Learning Gate Community School, is working with his team on a film inspired by the video game "Portal."

Foreman, in his fifth film camp, is acting out a scene wearing a cardboard arm-sling he crafted for his character.

"This (movie) really involves a lot of stuff," says Parker, 13, who hopes to follow in the career path of Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg, who also started making films as a teenager. "It's really exciting to see it all come together. I really love this."

A new crop of students will begin camp July 11. Two more summer film camps have already filled up. Students interested in attending next year's camp can go to Tampa Theatre's website and get on its email list. They also can get camp registration news first by becoming theater members.

ccabrera@tampatrib.com

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