FILM CAMP
In the July school holidays 2024, RYT staff organised and delivered a Film Camp in the hall! Some of the Teen Ensemble joined us over two nights and three(ish) days.
Over term 2, RYT’s Teen Ensemble worked in groups to develop three unique short horror films. Each member of the crew tried out different filmmaking roles throughout this process to understand the responsibilities and tasks required to make a film come to life – from design, to storyboarding, to directing, and acting.
DAY 1
Before everyone arrived, Sam, Li and Kirste made sure to come in early, set up the space, a last-minute grocery shop and organise pickups. As our five brave teens arrived, they claimed their bed spaces and settled in. We had a quick chat about housekeeping things, and gave a loose structure of what the next few days would look like. We split off duties, cooking, building a dinner table out of drama blocks, and setting up the projector for a movie.
Over a bowl of homemade spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread, Li, Sam, Kirste and the teens chatted, dreamed, schemed and played Pokemon Go. Afterwards, the crew banded together to set up the hall as a cinema – we moved foam mats, air mattresses and canoes to the projector on the stage.
Everybody gathered their nesting items and snuggled in for a night of quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with mountains of pillows, sleeping bags, stuffed animals, crochet tools, and other art equipment to keep our brains and hands busy.
We chose films that reflected elements of the films we’d bring to life over the following days.
There’s been a resurgence of Pokémon Go in the office, so many of us played that while the movie was playing too.
The movies finished and everyone gathered around Kirste as she illustrated RYT staff as Pokémon trainers (you can see these illustrations on Wayfinder!) and we all had a very relaxed chat-session before falling asleep.
DAY 2
Waking teenagers (and Li and Kirste) up any time before 12pm is sometimes very challenging, Sam, who woke up very early, bribed everyone out of bed with a cooked breakfast – bacon, pancakes, hashbrowns and warm drinks.
Some of the Ensemble didn’t stay overnight but came to do some film development stuff through the day. The crew finished off costumes and make up for lost footage before we got stuck into filming the Big Scene (no spoilers). This shot required a long take shot, which means an uncut sequence. The scene was choreographed and needed multiple takes to make sure all the bits were moving at the correct time and the camera was capturing all the footage we needed.
While lost footage was being filmed, other Ensemble members worked on the last details of the Mothman costume, characters, plan and script.
When this filming finished, we let the teens have some down time (nap time too) for a few hours – they burrowed away into different corners of the hall and office to recuperate some energy. Those that had the energy to continue went on an excursion to the abandoned school in Renmark North (permits were acquired) and roamed the grounds to capture some creepy cultist lurking.
Before heading out to the riverbed scrub, we stuffed out faces full of pizza and garlic bread and watched half of Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. On a chilly July night, with flashlights and car headlights as our only sources of light, we dressed one teen up as Mothman and painted gory gashes on another. We filmed for three hours!
We collected muddy shoes, tired bodies and joyful spirits after another successful filming session. The team dropped off teens who weren’t staying overnight and we all fell asleep in the middle of Treasure Planet (thanks Li for turning everything off).
DAY 3 and Reflection
After a long night of filming, we had a slow and lazy start to the morning. Such a huge effort from our young cohort, we were able to film TWO of their short film ideas in the span of 12 hours. From mysterious tunnels and cultists, to tracking through the scrub to find a giant winged beast.
Sam and some of the teens designed and crafted the whole Mothman costume thread by thread over the term. With cardboard, papermache, spray-painted ferns, yoga mats, buckets, fabric, lightbulbs, crape paper, old costumes, pillow fluffing, bamboo, puppet back-pack frame, and blankets, we brought the cryptid to the Riverland. He now sits proudly in our office.
Below we have some images from our Mothman Caught in 4K filming. We worked under flashlights and car headlights (note Li painting and applying prosthetic wounds below) for three hours to bring this horror film to life.
Here are the titles and summaries of our short films! Link to view film anthology will be updated soon! We’re in the middle of editing.
Mothman Caught in 4K **MIDNIGHT CHALLENGE**
YouTuber and his team journey to the scrublands in search of the cryptid, Mothman.
lost footage
Lost cam-cord footage of a mysterious, underground tunnel.
Dance Like None is Watching
A drag show like you’ve never seen before.
Note: Dance Like No One is Watching was filmed through the term in small increments and didn’t need any additional filming during the Film Camp.
This event was made possible thanks to Variety SA and generous donations from our local community to support our food and materials costs.
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