Georgia youth learn video camera skills at library

by COURTNEY LAMDIN | Staff Writer
mireporter@mac.com

Photo by Courtney Lamdin. Phoebe Martell-Crawford, 13, and her friend Jessica Hilt, 12, listen to a lecture on basic camera operations during the first meeting of the Georgia Public Library’s student video club Wednesday, Oct. 21, funded by a grant from Lake Champlain Access Television. Jessica’s father, Neil Hilt, a producer at Vermont Public Television, taught the class.

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Phoebe Martell-Crawford, 13, loves the Georgia Public Library.

At least that’s what she told the camera during a 30-second promotional spot directed by her friend, Jessica Hilt, 12, during the first meeting of the library’s student video club Wednesday, Oct. 21.

A $10,000 grant from Lake Champlain Access Television provides the class with a Sony digital camera and tripod, top-of-the-line editing software and other equipment that students will use to create documentaries on Georgia people, places and events. The shows will broadcast on the cable access channel.

Neil Hilt, Jessica’s father, is the teacher. A graduate of film school at New York University, Hilt has worked for Vermont Public Television since 1987, minus a three-year hiatus at a Burlington production company that worked with A&E and the Discovery Channel. He’s currently the producer of “Outdoor Journal,” a half-hour newsmagazine that celebrates the environment.

Hilt, a self-described poor student, had no idea what to do after high school until he took a video production class. Then a light bulb went on, he said.

“This is a similar way to see if we can turn on any light bulbs for kids who might be interested in doing this,” Hilt said of his class.

During the first lesson, Hilt showed Phoebe and Jessica basic camera operations and then got right into shooting.

“If I said we’re doing an hour and a half lecture on how to operate a camera, that would be it,” Hilt said.

The girls shot an ad for the library in which Phoebe sat in a large armchair surrounded by books. Jessica envisioned creating an animation effect by shooting many shots, each time adding more books to Phoebe’s growing pile.

The final frame showed Phoebe, barely visible behind a sizeable “Birds of Prey” volume. Here she delivered the tagline: “Come visit us –,” she said, interrupting herself with laughter. “How am I supposed to do this? How come I can’t do it without cracking up?”

At home, Jessica uses her handheld video camera to create faux-newscasts with Phoebe. She also took a video class at Georgia Middle School where she conducted interviews about Barack Obama, her pick as someone who’s changed the world.

“I think it’s really fun just being able to make up your own stuff, and you can just express your opinions through video,” she said.

Hilt enjoys the new technology and how it makes storytelling easier, he said.

“When I was a kid, my dad had an 8mm film camera, but every shot only lasted like 10 seconds, because it was so expensive to process the film,” he said. “There was no making stories.”

Hilt envisions his students creating a magazine-style show with different segments, like a profile on a Georgia resident and a historical fact.

One idea is about a former turkey farm in Georgia. The people who owned it are still around, and Hilt thinks his students could learn from them and other residents about how Georgia has changed.

“Hopefully in producing segments on the community, they’ll learn more about their community,” Hilt said. “They’ll be learning a lot, hopefully.”
Hilt wants his students to create their own story ideas, as long as they’re about Georgia, he said.

“If they have a friend that’s in a band, and they want to do a little story on their friend in a band – great,” he said. “I think everybody’s going to have a different interest level in what they want to cover.”

Once his students become familiar with the equipment, he’ll send them into the community. This is his favorite way to produce stories, he said.

“If I had it my way, I would never work on a studio show again,” Hilt said. “I love going out into the field, shooting a bunch of video and then coming back and condensing it and telling a story that way and showcasing what’s out there in Vermont.”

Although he admits video production isn’t for everyone, Hilt hopes his class could expose students to a potential career path down the road – just like his high school self.

So many people go to college these days, and they’re paying $20,000 or more a year and they still don’t know what they want to do,” he said, “whereas if they get a taste of some of these professions, they will learn a skill that they can use, but they’ll also learn a little about their community as they go.”