The past two summers I've had the joy of working at Quaker Haven Camp as the videographer. Children from elementary through high school come to the camp each summer to experience a time of amazing spiritual and emotional growth, crazy games, and building friendships. It's my job to document their experiences by running around campus filming many of their activities, and then editing the footage into an exciting 20 minute video. I show the campers the video on the last day of camp, and then send home a DVD with everyone. For each week of camp, I get about 4.5 days to film and edit the video.

This is my highlight video of some of my favorite footage for the summer of 2013. Enjoy!

This is the first time my work will be aired on television, and I am very excited! The documentary will also be sold on DVD during the 55th annual Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg Festival at the ACD Museum in Auburn, IN. I was the Post-Production Supervisor on this project, and also worked as a Primary Videographer, Screenwriter,  Colorist, and Editor.

Creating this documentary was the most intense and valuable learning experience of my life.  I spent four months working with twelve amazing Ball State University students to create this documentary through an Immersive Learning Program at the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry. There were many different academic majors among the thirteen of us - Video Production majors (like me), Writing majors, History majors, Graphic Design majors, Public Relations majors, and several others. We created this film just like we would in a "real-world" project. Instead of taking classes, we got all of our credits for the semester through creating this film. This meant that we spent all of our time on the project instead of in classes. We spent a good 60 hours+ per week on the project for most of the semester, and took several week-long trips to places like Auburn, IN and Missouri to film interviews and other footage.  We were able to create this project from pre-production through to the premiere screenings just as a professional film crew would. 

I poured my heart and soul into this documentary. During the last few weeks I was working nearly 24/7 in the Editing Suite with the other editors. I am incredibly proud of my team, and incredibly proud of how the film turned out. I made life-long friends and learned what it meant to be on a real film crew. 

I've always loved watching the Behind-the-Scenes features on every film and television show I can get my hands on, and the number one thing I hear from filmmakers and actors is how much they love their co-workers, and how they become like a family during production. I was finally able to understand how that felt through this experience. This documentary confirmed for me once again that I am meant to be a filmmaker. For me, there is no greater feeling than sitting at the premiere with your beloved film crew and watching several hundred people react to the film you've slaved over for months. I cannot wait to experience that again with future projects.

If you would like to find out more about this project you can visit our Official Website, Youtube Channel, Facebook Page, and Twitter!

I hope you have a chance to watch it soon! Let me know what you think!