Experienced Filmmakers mentoring Aspiring Crew Members while serving Philadelphia.

• Crews Control: Teaching the skills
• Lights/Camera/Interaction: Production
• Direction Philadelphia: Projects that serve the Community

The Tripod Initiative is a program that matches professional filmmakers with students to produce projects that serve our community. By the creation of these videos and interaction with the mentors, the students learn more about jobs in film and video production, while strengthening their production skills.

Joan Bressler, Director of Greater Philadelphia Filmmakers, supervises the program and Rob Kates, of Kates Media, is the Program Producer.

Background

We piloted this program in the spring of 2004, with the support of the Commonwealth of PA Department of Community and Economic Development, The Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center and The Brownstein Foundation. The focus was on career awareness as student teams explored Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, Information Technology and Health Services in our region.

In phase 2 of the program, from fall 2005-spring 2006, Tripod reached out into the non-profit community. We put a call out for proposals from companies that need video projects for training or fundraising and were delighted when our efforts yielded almost 100 worthy non-profits, all wanting to participate in the program. Students chose from appropriate companies, and these served as the “clients” for the program. The client defined the videos in terms of goal and content. This was the foundation of things to come.

Tripod has continued to produce projects for non-profits and added an “emerging filmmakers” team as well. This team was comprised of recently graduated filmmaking students who had not yet found their way successfully into the workplace. In the summer of ’09, we also launched a team for out-of- school youth.

These teams joined the Tripod family along with student teams from the following colleges:

Arcadia University
The Art Institute of Philadelphia
Drexel University
Girard College
St. Joseph’s University
Temple University
University of the Arts
Widener University

Recent clients have included:

·        Access Sports, which provides clinics to social service agencies and schools serving underprivileged children and youth groups, and individuals with physical and/or mental health disabilities

·        Conservatory of Music, a non-profit that offers opportunities in music, art and drama to everyone

·        Education Works, which supports free academic and recreational programming for public school students

·        Open Arms Adoption Network of Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia, which nurtures and supports children, youth, families and adults in the five-county Greater Philadelphia region through a variety of individual and group services

·        Pegasus Riding Academy, which provides disabled individuals with therapeutic activity through riding therapy

·        Philadelphia Futures, which helps low-income students attending Philadelphia's neighborhood high schools achieve the dream of a college education

·        Philabundance, whose mission is to fight hunger and malnutrition in the Delaware Valley by collecting food and distributing it to local nonprofit agencies serving people in need

Sample several videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZlaHBJt660

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUA75ZGvjnU

Clients from past years include: The Clay Studio, Fellowship Farm, Smith Playground and Playhouse, Center for Human Integration, Architecture in Education and October Gallery.

The “clients” throughout the program have been diverse and while the focus is on learning the craft of film production and managing a business project, students have benefited greatly from the brief visits into these worlds.

The Plan

Now in our seventh year, we are working with the Community College of Philadelphia and University of the Arts to include Tripod in this year’s curriculum, hosting several at-risk youth as part of the production team.  Videos are being produced for the Boys & Girls' Clubs of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Sustainable Community Initiative, both of which provide positive alternatives for under-served youth. We are also working with Girard College this year to produce a unique video for Girard College by Girard students.

To date, we have successfully matched professionals with beginning filmmakers, facilitating production of 19 videos for “clients” which provide educational and social services to our region.  We have done our best to grow the program and its impact, even in these challenging times. We are proud of what we have accomplished with very limited funds. We would like to do much more. With adequate funding, Tripod can be a comprehensive program designed to train a large film workforce, ready to step into the production jobs created by economic development agencies like the Greater Philadelphia Film Office and available to produce videos for worthy causes between commercial productions.

The Goal

Ultimately, we envision a database that includes student filmmakers and professional mentors who team together on an on-going basis to produce work at a reduced rate for non-profits and other companies that could not otherwise afford it.

The Impact

The Tripod Initiative fills many needs. It helps the community by producing a product for which there is a real need. And, it gives student filmmakers the experience of creating their videos and exposes them to the "real life" practice of producing a project for a client with specific requirements and a real budget. It also gives professional film/video makers an opportunity to give back to the community by working at a reduced rate on these projects.

Projects have been funded in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency, Girard College, the Commonwealth of PA Department of Community and Economic Development, The Brook J. Lenfest Foundation and Drexel University, Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.