do something BIG!
Meet James
James is a long-time iD Tech Camps student and an aspiring Independent Filmmaker. Getting ready for his 6th straight summer season with iD, James has taken enough courses to fuel his passion for video games, while also learning new skills that have pushed him towards a career in the film industry. He goes into detail on recently winning his first film award, and what it is about iD Tech Camps that keeps him coming back year after year.
iD: How many seasons have you attended iD Tech Camps?
James: I attended your Southern California summer camps at Cal Lutheran between 2005 and 2008 and then at both Cal Lutheran and UCLA in 2009. I’m ready to attend your Stanford summer camp this season.
iD: Your hometown and state?
J: I come from the small town of Camarillo, California.
iD: What course(s) have you enrolled in over the years?
J: Before iD Tech Camps, I had the desire to make my own video games because I loved playing them so much. So, I enrolled in Adventures in Game Design and a few other game creator courses such as FPS Game Design and 3D Game Design, with each course being more challenging than the last. My experience in these courses definitely took my interests to the next level.
Over the years, I’ve become more fascinated with making movies, so I’ve taken courses in Video Editing as well. Plus, in between all of that, I completed Web Design and Flash Animation as well! The variety in opportunities at iD Tech Camps has allowed me to explore all of my interests, which is great.
iD: What do you do for fun when you aren’t at our computer camp?
J: Because I cannot be at iD Tech Camps all of the time, I enjoy watching and making more movies, surfing the internet and occasionally making a game with Multimedia Fusion 2 Developer®. I also like music, and play electric guitar, bass, piano and accordion. At school, I am ASB President, and I recently began training as an Autism Ambassador.
iD: What are your favorite things about our summer camp?
J: iD Tech Camps is so wonderful…I look forward to meeting new friends, instructors and artists like myself, and of course, creating my next project. It’s an all around good time!
iD: Does coming to iD Tech Camps help you improve in other aspects of your life besides technology? Can you explain?
J:Other than technology, iD Tech Camps has helped me by strengthening my communication skills. At camp, it’s easy to go up and just talk to people who share my same interests–and it’s not just the students. The instructors are great friends too!
iD: What are your future goals? Will you be attending college?
J: I hope to attend the Academy of Art In San Francisco. I LOVE San Francisco! The wharf, the city, the people…it’s all great! I want to get a degree in film and become an independent Filmmaker. It’s a natural passion of mine that I’ve had for a few years now.
iD: What’s your favorite tech gadget?
J:No matter what I do, I have to have my trusty iPod Touch® with me!
iD: Why do you keep coming back to iD Tech Camps?
J: I want to keep coming back every year until I’m old enough to be one of the instructors for a year or two. It’s just such a wonderful experience to meet up with others who love to create with their hands, their minds and technology.
iD: Any advice for future iD Tech campers?
J: I mainly want to say to ANYONE who is even considering coming to iD Tech Camp that you will have a BLAST…and I can GUARANTEE that. You will have a fun and worthwhile experience.
iD: Tell us about your film award!
J: Well, it all started on a regular school day when I received a form to enter in the PTA Reflections program, where they were having an art contest based upon the theme, “Beauty is….”
Being an artist, I love entering contests like this. So I sat in my office for FOUR HOURS and shot a three minute long music video using some music from the group MGMT, and A LOT of random things. It turned into a stop motion collage of spontaneity. Another hour or two of editing and getting it prepped to be judged and I was finally done.
After a month or two, my film jumped up from school level to county, and just recently I won top prize at the California State level. I will never forget the look on my Dad’s face when he got the news that I won…it was definitely something special.
So my parents and I drove up to Sacramento on Friday, April 29th to receive my award for reaching state. While in Sacramento, I had the BEST STEAK EVER, and before we decided to drive back home, we went to San Francisco to meet up with some family members to have a little fun. It was such a great day. After coming home late Sunday night, I was SO tired and unfortunately, had school the next day. But, it was definitely all worth it.
Check out some of the cool courses James mentioned. Register early and do something BIG this summer!
