Though still a teenager, Shelby can officially add co-director to her credits thanks to Anythink Libraries’ Teen Film Camp with SeriesFest. The experience also helped her realize her passion for filmmaking goes beyond a hobby.
“It’s kind of like my niche,” she said. “And I really want to make it into a career.”
This program is in its fourth year, and Shelby has been involved every summer since it launched. Each year, she’s worked on a team with other teens and preteens crafting short films. Though she stepped into the director’s chair this time, she’s tried a bit of everything over the years.
“We’ve all had the chance to do different jobs,” she said.
The film camp is a collaborative effort where kids make an entire short film start to finish over one month from coming up with an initial idea to shooting to editing the final product.
On a weekday in July, the crew set up shots and filmed scenes among Anythink Huron Street’s seating areas and rooms. Teens and preteens were huddled both in front of and behind the camera capturing an eerie scene from the beginning of “Front Rooms,” their horror short inspired by the feature film “Backrooms.” One teen held a boom mic, while another started the camera and Shelby announced the scene and take number with a clapperboard before the film’s cast began their performance, which bordered on the strange and unusual.
Guiding them along the way was local filmmakers Matt Sandoval and Emmet Sheehan.
Sandoval has noticed the film industry’s lack of diversity firsthand, which is why free educational classes like this one are important.
“This program allows us to give exposure to a wide range of students across the state – socially, politically, economically and demographically,” Sandoval said. “It’s a way for me to give back, [and] it’s just a really fulfilling experience.”
As a filmmaker himself, he said seeing the teens’ passion and energy inspires him.
“It gives me drive,” Sandoval said. “With kids, their imaginations are endless, and it’s to the benefit of their projects.”
Sheehan said the program teaches kids to work together “to create one vision.”
“It helps them develop skills that they can use not only in film, as well as be able to collaborate,” he said. “And it’s fun.”
Shelby said the film camp has taught her so much about filmmaking and how to make stories come to life.
“I’ve learned how there’s different kinds of camera shots you can do, and they affect how a scene looks. I’ve learned how to write entire scripts,” she said. “It’s really rewarding to see the end of it or to get a really good shot,” Shelby said.
Watch the completed short film here.
Although Sheehan and Sandoval provided support throughout, they made it clear that the film came from the kids, not them.
“My role is just to make sure we’re on task,” Sandoval said. “This is all their ideas on screen.”