Speed… Rolling… ACTION!

The osrui blog

Home » Speed… Rolling… ACTION!

Our Kallah Aleph and Tzofim Aleph campers were really sent off with a “bang” last night, with the fabulous Star Spangled Mesibah and awesome fireworks.  As we bid most of them goodbye this morning, we thought you’d like to learn about the media chug, led by Yael Azoulay & Michael Greenstone, Media Specialists.

In film-making, these three words are what the director says to start shooting a scene. These words are also perfect for describing this summer in the media center at OSRUI.

Speed
There is never a dull moment in the media center. The first day in media chug (elective), campers jump right into learning about different camera shots and angles. They also get a chance to create a small project of their own to practice what they have learned. This includes being on both sides of the camera, shooting and acting. We use a variety of cameras to suit the ages of our campers, from the simple touch-and-go Flip cameras to the larger HDD cameras. The projects are based on a simple idea, such as a commercial, a talk show, a news program, or even a game show. The campers always come up with very creative ideas, and we like to let the projects really feel like their own.

Rolling
We keep things moving at the media center throughout the session. After the first project is completed, usually using an editing software called iMovie on one of our six 24” iMac computers, we roll on to a bigger one. To keep the aspect of Judaism in our chug, this project is always based on the campers’ limud (Torah study) topic for that session, which differs among the units and sessions. Once again, the campers always come up with great ideas, and we help them along to create fun and entertaining movies. Some examples of past projects: a time-travel movie where campers traveled back to meet famous Jewish historical figures they had been learning about (we really made the campers disappear using movie magic!); a superhero movie where the heroes were Theodore Herzl and other founders of Israel; and a Monty Python spoof where King David and his knights (we use creative liberties sometimes) search for the Holy Talmud. The long list of great ideas and final products in the past few years goes on.

ACTION!
The campers’ level of involvement in creating their own movie is as extensive as possible. From the beginning of the process, campers use a software called Celtx to create their own scripts and storyboards. Not only do they film, act in, and edit all of these projects, but they even have the opportunity to create their own soundtracks using Garage Band, a music looping software, also on the iMacs. For more experienced campers, we have access to Final Cut Pro, a more advanced video editing software that we use to create the promotional video for OSRUI. At the end of the session, campers use iDVD to create a DVD, menus and all, to take home to show their family and friends. The final project is also shown at each unit’s Beit Café, a talent show each unit holds for their campers at the end of each session, so their peers can also see how much hard work they put into their movie.

Though the ages of our campers have a large range, we involve every camper as much as possible in the media chug at OSRUI. All units follow the activities described above, with Kallah Aleph being the only exception. In this unit, campers attend a different chug each day, and a movie is not something that can easily be created in one hour or less. To remedy this, we involve all the Kallah Aleph campers in a collaborative project, such as a video dictionary or a day-in-the-life, with a piece being created by each group, one per day. Once the whole puzzle is put together, the product is quite impressive.

In addition to our chug duties, we are in charge of creating the camp promotional video, which is seen online and at temples throughout the year. At the beginning of the summer, during staff week, we also produce a short video describing all the chugim around camp in a fun and exciting way. Campers see this video and use it to decide which chugim to pick. Last year the theme was “Cash Cab,” and this year it’s “CSI: OSRUI.”

Our first set of chug videos will be up on the website soon.  That’s a wrap!