Elk Grove High club turns iPads into movie cameras

There's a new club at Elk Grove High School and they want to turn the iPads that most students have into movie making machines.

The Elk Grove Film Club, sponsored by social science teacher and filmmaker Bruce Janu, has a list of activities planned for the year, including community film screenings, film production and editing workshops, and hosting CinéStudent, a large student film festival in the spring.

However, they don't necessarily have the cameras and other equipment needed to complete these tasks.

Since nearly all of the students have iPads, Janu hit on an idea - have the students use the iPads to make films. The problem is that the iPad is not the ideal filmmaking device. But with a few equipment add-ons, it can be transformed from a classroom device to a real-world digital filmmaking platform.

Turning to the Internet, Janu set up a project with DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit fundraising organization specifically for teachers. Through that organization, the club hopes to raise enough money to buy the equipment necessary to start making films for several groups of students.

Equipment includes tripods, lights, microphones and an iPad mount that attaches the device to the equipment.

With the addition of a simple $5 camera app, the iPad can be used to make and edit films, just in time to start thinking about the CinéStudent Film Festival held at the school in May.

The film festival will not only be a celebration of student films, but also give students in the area who are interested in the visual arts a means by which to interact with industry professionals.

Currently, Janu is courting potential sponsors for the festival, which is open to more than 10,000 students in suburban Chicago.

In preparation for the club and festival, Janu will offer "Filmmaking Bootcamps" to teach the kids those basics. As a documentarian whose film "Facing Sudan" won several awards back in 2008, he hopes to inspire kids to turn their cameras on their own communities and lives.

"When I was in school," says Janu, "we didn't have the ability to make films like this. The technology has changed so much that kids can begin to learn the basics of film production on technology they carry around everyday."

For details about the EG Film Club and the donation fundraiser, visit www.eghsfilmclub.org/2014/09/egfc-technology-boost-fundraising-drive.html.

More information about the festival can be found at www.cinestudentfilmfest.org.