Dwight was one of dozens of junior high and high school students who gathered Tuesday at the club for an introduction to filmmaking class led by Red 42, a local nonprofit media-arts education and film-production organization. "(But) I'm more into the technology," said Dwight, now an eighth grader at Lincoln Junior High School. Starting this semester, the nonprofit will offer a free once-a-week filmmaking course for junior high and high school students at the Boys Girls Clubs of Larimer County, Fort Collins unit, 1608 Lancer Drive.
Youth ages 6 to 18 can join the club for $5 per year. On the weekends, Red 42 will also lead higher-level, tuition-based courses for high school and college students and adults in screenwriting, acting, directing, editing, and music and film production. Some scholarships will be available.
In an indirect way, the kids have actor Matt Wood to thank for the free course at the Boys Girls club. In October, Cosmopolitan Magazine named the 26-year-old consultant at Hewlett Packard Co. Bachelor of the Year for 2006.
Wood vowed to use his Cosmo prize of $15,000 in equipment from LP Electronics to equip a local media-arts education program. A Coloradoan article about Wood brought Red 42 to the attention of Sam Jack, operations director of the Boys Girls Clubs of Larimer County. The club recently built a $15,000 state-of-the-art music recording studio called the Eagle's Nest at the Fort Collins unit but had been struggling to get the word out about the studio, especially to teens.
At the same time, Red 42 had been looking for a venue to hold its courses. "It's a win-win scenario. The Boys Girls Clubs are trying to reach more kids," Jack said.
"All Boys Girls Clubs have been seeing teen populations declining. It's a turning point for kids when they can get into trouble. We are looking for programs that might provide them with career skills and give them fun things to do.
"We've got a comprehensive audio program at the Boys Girls Clubs. The next logical step from audio is video." "We have a chance to reach a whole range of kids at different income levels and from different demographics," Wood said.
Other young professionals who will teach courses at Red 42 include screenwriter Brian Sky; Ashley Scott, owner of the local film production studio Iniosante; local singer/songwriter Clayton Risner and Erin Foster, a youth pastor who has taught drama to youth. Jason Van Vleet, co-owner of the film production company MGA Studios, which has projects in Fort Collins, Denver and Los Angeles, also will teach on occasion. "Kids identify with the younger folks.
It's going to be a good bridge," Jack said. "They'll think, 'Matt is not much older than I am. Look what he has done so far.
' Seeing is believing." "If I had all of those resources, I would have been in hog heaven," he said. While teaching film skills, instructors also hope to teach kids an important message about knowing who they are and keeping their integrity and identity while working in the industry.
"The idea is to grow the individual and not just raise kids," Wood said. And they're hoping Red 42 will be part of a burgeoning independent film and music scene in the area, said Sky, executive producer of Red 42. "I think you'll see a lot of independent filmmaking coming out of Northern Colorado," Sky said.
Chances are some of those films will be made by students, such as Qwalon Tabb, 14, an eighth-grader at Lincoln Junior High School. "When I get older I may be able to make a movie," he said.
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