by Tiffany Patrick

"American Chain Gang" by filmmaker Xackery Irving is one of the most famous works to come out of the Film Camp.

Editors hoping to break into the film industry face a dilemma: how to get experience without already having experience. An answer lies in a small industrial park in Portland, OR: Film Camp. Film Camp is a six-week total-immersion course that teams up a small group of students with two supervising editors, an Avid-certified instructor and a director with a film in the can. Under the supervision of experienced editors, students develop and fine-tune their skills, earn screen credit, and get important career counseling on issues like résumés and demo reels.

A combination of Avid technology and the Film Camp formula is helping hundreds of students enter the film industry armed with experience, confidence, and screen credit. Digital Media teaches the Media Composer family of software made by Tewksbury. MA-based Avid Technology, Inc. Jamie Fowler, founder and executive director of Digital Media, is familiar with the different nonlinear editing systems used in the industry and is most impressed by the industry leader's line of Media Composer products. "Media Composer is the tool of choice these days," says Fowler, who consults with some of the major studios and post-production houses in Los Angeles. "That's really all I see out there. Avid has the most options and the most tools, and is by far the best technology to learn on. As a company, Avid has, in the past, listened more to editors when developing their interface. That is important to me."

Film Camp is a true hands-on learning experience. After a short orientation, students begin editing on day one, working on scenes from the acclaimed television show "Highlander." After two weeks of practice that includes adding foley, ADR, and music, students begin the process of editing a previously unedited feature film. In the third week, students take a series of advanced Avid authorized workshops, including troubleshooting technical problems with Media Composer. Also in the third week, students begin digitizing and logging their film, sorting audio and video, and synching sound with picture.

Each student is assigned a portion of the film. Timelines are strung together for screenings and to create the final cut. After six weeks, students take home a copy of the film to use in their demo reel, and have earned screen credit for their résumé. For their part, directors are free to complete the post-production process, or hop on the festival circuit right away. Directors pay nothing to attend Film Camp and have their films edited, but they must go through an acquisition process. Once accepted, they are bound by certain rules; foremost is that they may not touch an Avid, no matter how familiar with the system they are. Editing is strictly for the students.

Jamie Fowler left a lucrative editing career in L.A. to form Digital Media and the Digital Media Education Center, culminating in the creation of Film Camp in 1997. After 21 feature-film camp sessions and seven short-film sessions (short-film sessions are no longer offered), Fowler credits the success of Film Camp to his dedicated staff and a personal commitment to helping his "creative children" find a career in editing.

The idea for film camp came from Fowler's own experience teaching Avid workshops in L.A., where students were given Avid instruction and 100 hours on an Avid system to practice, yet nothing to edit. "Having something to edit," says Fowler, is what makes Digital Media different. "Finding new and interesting films for people to edit help both the editor and filmmaker."

The staff at Digital Media wants film camp to be as close to a real-world experience as possible, and thus takes a risky yet effective hands-off approach when it comes to controlling interactions between filmmaker and editor. "We really do try to make it real world," says Fowler. "The key here is to learn from experience."

The feature-film camp format has been so successful for Digital Media that the company stopped offering the short-film version in November 1999. The reason, instructors say, is because the feature-film camp formula works so well. "Film camp is process-driven," says Fowler. "Three weeks wasn't long enough for the process to mature as much as we would like."

Digital Media is committed to allowing time and space for relationships between editor and director to grow. "In the beginning," explains Fowler, "the director comes in and wants things a certain way. Finally, after a few weeks, the editor and director have figured each other out, and the communication gap narrows. After several weeks, you've done things before the director even asks. The relationship with the director is the key to being a good editor. Digital Media is about real life, and in real life, editing is 85% diplomacy and 15% skill and creative talent. Film camp is a lesson in diplomacy."

The camp's formula for success seems obvious to anyone who goes through the program, so why aren't there more programs like this? "Despite what people think," says Fowler, "we don't make a lot of money doing this. I hire people that have the same love of the art of editing that I do. I pay my staff far less than they are worth. They are here because they are committed to editing." And, he adds, "it's the only way to edit feature films in Oregon. We understand what the artist needs, and we understand what the editors need. We have had 120 people come through this program. Hopefully we have enriched people's lives, and in doing so assisted in building a community of editors."

Film Camp is not only an opportunity to learn and practice editing by cutting a film for screen credit, but it's a place to meet other editors from around the country and around the world. Students come to Digital Media from every corner of the globe and as far away as Australia and Asia.

On February 11, Digital Media will release its 22nd class of feature-film camp students into the industry, some of whom will likely head straight to L.A. for work. Digital Media provides alumni with access to the job-posting page on their Web site, and promises to take one S.O.S. call per alumnus who finds herself or himself in a fix. Digital Media's commitment goes beyond the student/ teacher relationship; they want to help editors establish a career.

Fifteen Film Camp sessions are scheduled this year in total, meaning 15 feature films will be coming out of the little corner office of this Oregon-based company. That is more than some movie studios. Some of the films edited here have gone on to major festivals; several more have received critical acclaim. The HBO documentary "American Chain Gang" is among the most recognized and successful films to come out of film camp.

Check out Digital Media's Web site, www.filmcamp.com, for an application to the program or for more detailed information, including a complete schedule of classes, course description, information on how to submit your film, and synopses of the many films to come out of Film Camp.

Tiffany Patrick is a writer and producer based in Marblehead, MA, and is an alumnus of Short Film Camp 7. You can contact her at tiffany@ej9.com. 

Sponsors: