A little over 20 years ago we came up with CreaTech Academies. Bored kids? Parents desperate to send their creative children to anywhere but a football camp? It was an innovative idea and one that has been incredibly successful ever since.
And in summer 2024, we are offering Harpenden Seniors, Harpenden Juniors , The Barn Theatre in Welwyn Garden City and Verulam School in St Albans, these film school summer camps are exciting and innovative for creative youngsters.
Here are some of the reasons why every place gets snapped up, every summer!
Film Fun!
There’s a million reasons why kids come to us but the main reason is fun! Yes, there’s some pressure getting everything filmed, ensuring sure that costumes and props are all in place, meeting deadlines and people being able to learn their lines for when it is their scene. But we have such a fun time doing it. The excitement at the beginning of the week never leaves…and the WRAP party at the end of the week really celebrates all the hard work that has gone on.
Film Learn!
We spend some time teaching participants about key film elements of film, such as mise-en-scene, lighting, sound, cinematography and editing. Once students get a flavour of how to make a film then we let them loose with a camera (phone) and the result is a mish-mash of mistakes and errors. These are called First Day Films
Film using digital skills!
Kids love coming to us because we give them a technical role to focus on during the week. They can learn how to operate a DSLR/digital movie camera, or maybe they want to learn about recording sound/voice or being a script superviser and producer! Young people love these roles and really thrive once they are trained and given some real responsibility.
Film screenplay ready? Let’s make a film!
And here’s the thing…we spend four wonderful, jam-packed days shooting a film. We film in the ‘hub’ that is hosting us; we film in and around the community and we take in landmarks and iconic scenes. We sometimes film in people’s houses – with their permission, of course – all with one job in mind: to get the film shot and finished. We’ve got dozens of wonderful ‘short’ (well, 30-40 minutes!) movies that you can look at. We hope you love them as much as we do.
Sounds like a dream! Erm, any mistakes made?
Plenty! And we have a team hovering to make sure every blooper, forgotten line, tongue-twisting dialogue, silliness and terrible interview, is all thrown together in a quite frankly daft ‘reality’ piece, called The Making Of…
Oh no, the week’s over? CreaTech, I’m missing you already!
This isn’t that rare a comment. The kids love the week so much that they really do miss the great time they’ve had. But fear not, as we bring the film premiere just a few months after the filming week has WRAPped. CreaTech (and their back-room operations team) weave together the raw footage and make movie magic from all the hard work. We bring you a glorious Mannequin Challenge, First Day Films, The Making Of…, and The Main Feature!
Was I really there? Was it a dream?
No, you really were there and you really took part. Just to prove that you weren’t part of a time-space-continuum type of thing, we give you a certificate and an engraved trophy which not only says “you were there” but also tells the world about all the wonderful skills you mastered during the week. (can you show the image with the certificates and trophies, seen on https://createch.org.uk/workshops/ages-11-18-years-7-13/ )
And finally…
Please do have a look at the very real parents who have taken the time to tell us how what an impression the week had on their child in the comments section of the website. There’s only a few but they are the ones that really stand out. So, don’t just take our word for it…click here to reveal just how much we are adored!
