Lauryn Ford was one of the first participants to show up in the morning. She went to her table and set up her station. Then she went around the room to help set up all the light boxes the other girls would need for the final day of their 2D Animation Camp on Saturday.
She knew exactly what she had to do to complete her story. Her main character, Ukiee, had to catch alpacas. She had drawn three attempts. She wanted at least a dozen more.
“I think I can re-use these pictures,” Lauryn told her mentor. “Then I can just change them a little.”
Lauryn and all the other girls attending the camp just had one more working day to go until the evening screening. She felt pretty good about the pace she was working in. After all this wasn’t her first film camp with Hawaii Women in Filmmaking. Lauryn had taken the Basic Reel camp and returned for the animation camp.
“I like making films. I like how these camps teach me how movies are created,” 11-year-old Lauryn said. “I like animation.”
Saturday was last day of fun-filled film camps for girls. The first of the camps started in the beginning of January with Basic Reel and concluded with 2D animation Stop-Motion camps. These camps gave the girls insight into the filmmaking process. They learn how a film evolves from just a concept, from an idea to storyboarding, to the filming and editing, to a finished product.
For the reel camp, Lauryn got to illustrate the storyboard and draw the story out for her team.
“This camp is awesome and educational,” Lauryn said.
For Mele Hattori, her experience with the Basic Reel Camp was an eye-opening one and inspiring one.
“I didn’t really know much about film,” Mele said. “It was really interesting because somebody just started out with an idea and people started adding on, and adding on, and we basically created this entire story in just a few brainstorming moments. It was interesting hearing everybody’s ideas, how it started out as one thing and it became this new picture.”
Mele admitted that, at the beginning, she was intimidated by the process. But during the course of one week, and working closely with her team, she gained more confidence and had a film she was proud of.
“It was a great experience,” she said. “You’re going to learn a lot and it will help you if you’re ever seeking a career in acting, filming, editing. You should definitely come here for a week, or whenever you can.”
Lauryn and Mele were two out of more than 30 girls from across the state who attended the winter break and weekend camps offered by HWF. They were a part of HWF’s initiatives to provide a creative space and time where girls unleash their creativity and brilliance!
At the culmination of the camps, the girls had a grand film screening in which family and friends were invited to view the short films they produced during the Reel Camps.
More Reel Camps for Girls Animation and Basic Reel will be offered again in March and then in the summer.