The Tripod Initiative

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.

The Tripod Initiative for 2007-08 is underway. Projects will be completed by the spring, and Tripod will be open once again for company submissions in the fall of 2008.

Exciting News: This year we are piloting a team of Emerging Filmmakers, the first independent Tripod team (not been affiliated with a school). This takes us one step closer to bringing this program to students of all ages. The Emerging Team, being mentored by J. Palmer Enfield: Shawn McMullen, Producer; Andrew Harmon, Co-Director; Steve McCann, Co-Director; Francesco Pinna, Director of Photography; Maria Briones, Assistant Camera; Melissa Pastras, Location/Post Audio; Bill Garvey, Editor; Joe Moser, Composer/Audio Post. The Emerging Team is producing two videos for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office which will be rolled out in the spring!

The 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 and student teams explored Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, Information Technology and Health Services in our region. But that was just the beginning.

Phase 2 of the program, from fall 2005-spring 2006, reached out into the business and on-profit communities. Students were assigned companies which have real audio visual needs and 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.

The Plan

Our 2007-2008 focus continues in the non profit world. We reached out to this community and had an enormous response, with over 100 organizations responding with projects to consider. Student teams from Arcadia University, Drexel University, St. Joe's and Widener University will deliver projects to their "clients" next spring. Arcadia University, with mentor Leslie Birch, is producing a video for the Education Works, which supports free academic and recreational programming for public school students. Drexel University, with mentor Brian Gannon, is producing a video for 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. St. Joe's University, with mentor Bill Nicoletti, is producing a video for Philadelphia Futures. which helps low-income students attending Philadelphia's neighborhood high schools achieve the dream of a college education. Widener University, with mentor Mark Forker, is producing a video for Philabundance, whose mission is to 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. We were delighted with the results and focus of Tripod 07-08, and will continue working with non-profit organizations in the coming year. Projects from past years include: The Clay Studio, Fellowship Farm, Smith Playground and Playhouse, Center for Human Integration, Architecture in Education and October Gallery.

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 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.

This project is financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of PA Department of Community and Economic Development and Drexel University, Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. This project was made possible through the 5-County Arts Fund, a Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts program of the Pensylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. It is funded by the citizens of Pennsylvania through an annual legislative appropriation, and administered by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. The Pennsylvania Countil on the Arts is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. The 5-County Arts Fund is also supported by PECO, An Exelon Company. Some Montgomery County projects are also funded, in part, by an appropriation from Montgomery County. For additional information about these grants, visit the Cultural Alliance online.