| KEY |
Date |
|
|
|
P
e
r
s
o
n
a
l
A
t
t
e
n
t
i
o
n
|
M
o
n
e
t
a
r
y
V
a
l
u
e
|
Comments
|
|
|
11/21/18 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
Creating a film camp for kids is a crazy idea. Let's see, we will put real, expensive and complex film equipment in the hands of 11-18 year olds. Yet, we believed in experiential learning, especially for kids who are creative. It is not without its faults, but as it has evolved, we have tightened the curriculum, attracted better staff and have tried to keep the price down. We are one third the cost of programs like New York Film Academy, yet kids who have done both have told us that they hands down learned so much more from us. We strive to give value, care, instruction to all kids who express an interest in making films. And we have written the recommendations for many to attend film schools. Others work today in the industry. Kids who get this real-world experience and who learn the process of filmmaking will become the future of the industry. We try to improve and learn too. In 17 years, over 900 kids graduated and 110 staff have worked here and most love it.
|
|
|
|
8/16/17 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
When I rate staff with one star, I'm talking about Patty and Lee. Not only are staff wildly underpaid, they have to BEG and essentially harass Lee in order to get paid. She will repeatedly lie about "how your paycheck is in the mail." Some staff don't get paid until almost a year later. They thrive on taking advantage of people. They also get mad at the staff if they don't thank and celebrate them at the film premiere.
|
|
|
|
1/9/17 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
They misrepresent what they do. I was very specific when I called to sign up. They ignore you when you show up for 30 minutes. Hands on for a few, the rest sit there. THIS IS THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL PEOPLE I HAVE EVER WORKED WITH. I asked for my money back and she gave me my check from that day and said she would refund the rest. Not so and awful to talk to--rude and abusive. If you want to park your kids this is all you are doing.
|
|
|
|
8/14/16 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
I have worked at the camp as a staff and its really a great program, but its not without faults. There is a lot of downtime for the campers, but its usually for good reason. Kids are asked to create,write,shoot, and edit a film within five days. Its a crazy short amount of time and kids aren't always interested in each step of the filmmaking process, so they aren't involved 100% when they don't want to. When it comes to editing the films, the kids are usually just shown how to edit and might get a little bit of hands on time, but the kids aren't doing the heavy lifting of the editing because the software used is professional grade, stuff that cannot be learned in a day, not iMovie. The important part is that the kids love their time there, I haven't seen a kid who has hated it.
|
|
|
|
8/6/15 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
This film camp is very poorly run. I attended as a kid and then returned as a staff member. What I liked as a kid, I found extremely frustrating as a staff member. As a kid, I liked the freedom. My friends and I could go wherever we wanted. As a staff member, I understood why-the office is disorganized and the supervision is terrible. The director, Lee Anderson gets easily frustrated with the campers and staff. She is rude and disrespectful to campers, parents and staff and talks behind everyones back. There is no structure--campers are constantly complaining because the are bored.There is a lot of downtime when they are not working and there is nothing for them to do. Half the campers are on their phones all day and disengaged, others will simply disappear. The timeline to make these films is unrealistic. When I was on staff, friends of mine had to work until after midnight to put together films for the student film festival in order to have them done in time.
|
|
|
|
4/21/14 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
First let me say that my daughter loved this camp. However, I had some real problem with the way it was run specifically the lack of supervision and the amount of down time the kids had. The kids pretty much had free range of the Key School campus without an instructor. When they were working on their films they were usually with a staff leader, however, when they were not working (which was a lot) there was no supervised activities or supervision at all. Some kids love that but as a parent it really concerned me. Also, the beginner and intermediate kids did not get a lot of hands on experience. My child's group was literally locked out of the edit room so the staff could finish up the film they were working on in order to have it ready for the student film festival on Friday. In my opinion, Filmsters is too expensive and poorly run. Lastly, Filmsters claims to be a 501c(3) organization but I checked and it is not. Just beware if they ask you to sponsor anything...
|
|
Rate this summer camp
|
|
