We recently sat down with Lance Godard, one of the Heights Middle School Shorts Co-Founders, about the formation of HMSS, the three top skills that campers need, and more.
Who are you and why did you co-found a film camp?
Among other things, I’m a Cleveland Heights parent who’s been involved for a long time in efforts to give our CHUH students creative opportunities to learn and have fun. We started by providing after-school programming to RoxEl students, which led to us getting scholarships for a few students to attend University Circle’s summer camp. We then had an opportunity to start Heights Performing Arts Camp with Ensemble Theatre, a free three-week summer camp where campers would create theater productions: they would write plays, then act in and direct them.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we were forced to move Heights Performing Arts Camp to a virtual format where the campers made movies instead of plays to tell their stories. That worked out really well, so we decided to go all-in on films, and created Heights Middle School Shorts. The first year went great – I’d recommend everyone reading this watch the films made in 2021 – so we knew we were on to something.
What are the three essential characteristics of a successful HMSS filmmaker?
I think the three most important qualities of a successful camper at HMSS are creativity, resourcefulness, and patience. Creativity is necessary to come up with a story to tell in the first place, and to write dialogues and block out scenes that can be turned into an interesting film. Resourcefulness, because a lot of the time the campers have to find ways to make their scenes work with the things they’ve got: the props, the locations, the actors, etc. I was very impressed last year to see how our campers were able to convey ideas and feelings and moods with the very limited resources they had.
And finally, campers need patience. Filmmaking is hard – it can take a long time for everything to come together just right in a scene, there’s a lot of standing around time waiting for people and places to get ready, and there’s a lot of writing and rewriting and editing and reediting to make it perfect.
What advice would you give to campers on the first day of camp?
Get to know your fellow campers. They will be your teammates on the HMSS adventure – they’ll help you come up with new ideas, solve problems in your stories, work out the ways to best communicate, and more. Plus, they’re the ones who will be the actors and crew for your movie, so you want to know how their strengths and how to easily communicate with them.
What was your favorite HMSS 2021 production?
That’s a tough question! They were all great – it’s hard to pick a favorite. I really liked the action films – Shane Hido’s Vanisher, Brookelynn Peacock’s Never Again, and Butch Hido’s Suicide Mission. But all of the films were creative, engaging, and a pleasure to watch!
What’s your favorite movie and why?
That question is really hard, too – there are probably a hundred films I could name as a favorite movie! A few that come to mind: 12 Angry Men, North by Northwest, Modern Times, Blade Runner, and Star Wars. I can rewatch those movies any time. The ‘why’ is different for each movie, but at the same time it’s the same: they’re great films that tell a great story.