Not Back to School Camp: A Glance Within on Vimeo

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Not Back to School Camp is a week-long camp for teenage unschoolers, which occurs annually in Oregon and Vermont. At this camp, both teens and staff gather to learn from, grow with, and inspire each other by sharing their talents, interests, and skills in true unschooler fashion.

I was a camper for six years in this community until I "graduated" at age eighteen. In 2009—two years later—I returned to document as many of the events as I could to bring the world an inside look at this incredible camp.

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scott bonner 2 years ago

nice work mate! :)
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks!
Ryan Mosquera Laib 2 years ago

Loving your work Allen! I would love to talk to you about doing art and documenting. I am thinking of majoring in Film/Photography.
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Fantastic, yeah e-mail me or find me on Facebook (facebook.com/allenellis). I'm completely self-taught with the help of several mentors and internships (the unschooling philosophy at work) and given that I already have lots of video work I will probably get my degree in a supplementary subject I don't yet know, like communications, psychology, business, etc. I find more and more people in the creative industry who don't even have film degrees.
Toni moslemi 2 years ago

I registered, but this video still doesn't run?
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Are any other videos on Vimeo playing for you?
Aria Stewart 2 years ago

Awesome! It's great to see camp captured so well. It's been a while, but camp hasn't changed much.
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Agreed - I noticed that even though many traditions, favorite songs and even the people change totally every few years, that the atmosphere was unmistakable from my first year in 2002. I find that incredible.
Aria Stewart 1 year ago

And to my first year in 1998, and to the stories I've heard from friends who were there in 1996 and 1997.

It makes me really happy that such a culture can survive so easily. I try to bring as much as I can from there to my life now, too.
Nick Girard 2 years ago

WONDERFUL Job Allen!
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks Nick! And thanks for helping me out a bit on the shoot, too :)
Cameron A Pickerill-Trinitapoli 2 years ago

Dude, I cried 2 and 1/2 times watching this, and felt like an awesome person for doing so.
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Haha, glad to hear it! Thanks for the feedback :)
Dylan Buxbaum 2 years ago

fantastic! I forgot to do an interview but I felt really well represented. Wonderful job Allen!
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks Dylan!
rachel Allard 2 years ago

This is a beautifully filmed and directed documentary. The interviews, the pacing, the music. It captures what I have only dreamed NBTSC is like. My unschooled kids are only 5 and 8, but we love that there is something like this to look forward to for them. Thank you so much for making it and sharing it. I eagerly await more film projects from you!
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thank you Rachel :). I'm glad it conveyed camp to you - I always struggle to explain camp to people when I'm asked, so I'm glad you've found this helpful :)
india nelson 1 year ago

this is beautiful you did a wonderful job I thought the way you spliced it together was perfect and the fade out on the music project really worked and the interviews with campers and staff brought it out in a cool way not to mention all the fantastic video clips and photos this is brilliant Allen (=
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks India!
Emrys Roberts 1 year ago

Really well structured Allen, great job. One comment I would have is that it runs a bit long, so you could possibly tighten it up a bit, but otherwise well done. Keep up the good work. :)
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks Emrys,

I agree, after watching it through several screenings I'm slowly identifying more and more clips that could go, plus it runs over my original goal of 8-14 minutes. (my rough cut was 45 minutes!)

I'm glad you liked the structure, I filmed it without any kind of script so I had to create my outline after watching the interviews at home. I'm pleasantly surprised how well the structure worked out.
Mike Hedge 1 year ago

great project. and great work!
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks! :)
Swaroop Patil 1 year ago

Nice Video..!! Love it... Whats the name of that place?
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Hi, thanks. It's actually named Not Back To School Camp - you can find their website with a Google search for that :)
rajkumar 1 year ago

allen, did you use any adapters? how did you capture the sound?
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Hi,

I used a wireless microphone for the interviews. 90% of them were recorded with the Sennheisher Evolution G2, and a few (the group interviews) used my Azden SGM-Pro lavelier. If you listen closely you can hear the differences.

I'm not sure what adapters you are referring to, but my only gear was the microphone, tripod and camera. I had a portable light that I actually didn't end up using for any of the interview shots.

Thanks for watching :)
Sean D.Brown 1 year ago

Hey great job! I have been with Unschooling for years and teach filmmaking and you are doing a great job!
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks for the feedback Sean. I'd love a T2i, it looks like you're making great use of yours. Good luck with the filmmaking, and of course, the Unschooling!
Nahele Adams 1 year ago

Hey man, AWESOME VIDEO!! You really captured how exceptional unschoolers are and how great NBTSC is.
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks, Nahele - I'll admit it was a little daunting, but I'm happy to hear all the support this has gotten :).
Melissa Grimes 1 year ago

This looks so cool. It would be great if we lived a little closer to one of those camps to my kids could go.
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Thanks. You're right - transportation has always been a bit complicated to/from camp. However lots of campers carpool, so if you're interested, you can look to see if there is another family near you you can carpool with. That's how our family traveled almost every year.
Jonathan Thorpe 1 year ago

Right on! Good job on capturing the vibe and sentiments of the camp. They need a place like this for 25-30 yr olds.

I actually found this video through one of your posts on a DVXUser thread:

"Pretty sure the flip button is right behind the LCD. There's a menu setting to adjust how it flips it. BTW this is also explained in the manual."

Lmao... What mic(s) did you use for this shoot?
Allen Ellis 1 year ago

Hi Jonathan, thanks for the feedback. I remember writing that post, too ;).

For most of the interviews I used a Sennheiser Evolution G2. For any group interviews I also used an Azden SGM-Pro microphone - you can tell because these sound less crisp. I bought the Sennheiser just for this project, and I'm really glad that I did.
Melissa Dunn 6 months ago

I can only hope this camp still exists when my young children are teenagers! Beautiful video. Thanks!