Despite the low number of participants, the hopeful La Grande Summer Film Project brought together a few dedicated individuals around a common idea and the goal of making a movie about it.

The project was designed as a way to teach movie-making within a short timeframe (think of a 48-hour film festival, but extended to accommodate more opportunities) and to strengthen a network of creators, movie lovers, students, and makers.

When only three individuals showed up, ready and willing to participate, the scope pivoted to a single collaboration among them. Together, they worked to deliver a final presentation, which will be screened at HQ, 112 Depot Street, on Friday, August 16, at 8 p.m., followed by a discussion about the collaborative process, lessons learned, and how the project might grow over time.

The team decided to focus on the topical issue of wildfires after a long discussion about how hot and smoky the summer had been. With tools, talents, schedules, and ideas in hand, the group set off to gather content, consider scripts, plot twists, forms, and figures, and then reconvene to see what had been collected.

A few days later, the crew came back together to sort through the content and ideas, shaping them into a ten-minute finished piece. More shooting, collecting, and a couple of collaborative (speed editing) sessions followed—each team member taking turns to apply the next cut and then passing it to the next person.

Outreach efforts yielded multiple interviews, some behind-the-lines footage from friends in the field, and plenty of haunting and beautiful B-roll of burned-up Eastern Oregon landscapes to mesmerize the audience.

A big thanks to Oregon Film, Oregon Creative Foundation, Roundhouse Foundation, Soroptimist International – La Grande, and Blue Summit Realty for supporting the project and helping to set the seed.