Community Corner
Kids Become Directors at Winnetka's Video Camp
Students return year after year to learn new techniques and movie-making at Winnetka Public Library.
The basement was occupied last Friday by a group of middle school students snacking on ice cream and cookies, while giggling as they watched videos on a projector screen and calling out what they wanted to see next.
What made the gathering special was that they were watching their own movies, the products of the library’s fifth annual weeklong video camp that ran from July 16 to 20. The free program is open to up to 15 kids in fifth through eighth grade.
Instructor Kathy Hargrave brings in experts in animation, storyboarding, videography and sound effects to provide lessons to the kids, who then break into groups and make movies using the techniques.
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On one of those days, the whole class worked together to create a piece of stop-motion animation, deciding on a storyline, and then spent an hour cutting out the images of trees, cacti, people and unicorns used in the movie.
Check out the videos:
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“They have fun, they learn something new, they get to be creative,” Hargrave said.
Hargrave founded the Studio 60093 Children’s Video Fest in 2007, inspired by her own love of making videos as a kid. She began teaching the video camp a year later to keep interest in the event going. All of the films the children make at video camp are entered into the festival.
“My goal is that they’ll learn how to make a good video by the time the week’s done and that they’ll continue to do it,” Hargrave said.
So far that goal has been very successful. First-time student Ellie McGregor of Northfield said she plans to ask for a video camera for Christmas. Many go on to participate in Hargrave’s monthly hour-long video class where she teaches kids to make 10-second films.
“We do a lot in an hour,” Hargrave said.
Winnetka resident Ingrid Flechtenmacher, 14, has participated every year since the video camp started and makes her own films outside the program to submit to the fest. She said she’s planning to continue making videos when she starts high school in the fall.
“Each year is a brand new experience,” Flechtenmacher said. “It’s just fun. You get to try something new with each video you make and improve your filmmaking.”
