3 Literacy: OMG! Cameras Everywhere

In August 2011, the cramped quarters of a central Los Angeles office had been converted, for one week, into a mini–movie studio. This was the fourth day of OMG! Cameras Everywhere, a nonprofit summer camp set up and run with as much improvisation as earnestness, conceived by a small, loose collective of young music video directors and realized by late August. The campers attended at no cost, and the counselors donated their time and equipment. Raised among friends, family, and industry acquaintances on Kickstarter, $4,500 provided food, a passenger van for outings and location shoots, and insurance. Hiro Murai was there, helping the actresses and instructing the young camera operator; also Benjamin Kutsko, a music video director who is part of the music video collective the Masses. As well as, Alex Pelly, another Masses director who, in addition to her technical role as a marshmallow wrangler, had been cast as the girls’ mother. Over the course of the week, the campers conceived,...