Get Schooled: Student Film Captures Life in Williamsburg

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, February 16, 2012

The first time I saw the opening scene of Woody Allen’s “Manhattan,” I was so moved I found myself crying.

The scenes feature no dialogue. No tragic deaths or emotional births or disappointing break-ups. They don’t even show any of the movie’s characters. The opening montage is, quite simply, a love letter to New York.

It’s comprised of shots showing the rhythm and character of the city: construction workers eying attractive women, boats pulling up to docks at South Street Seaport, fish markets, pick-up basketball games and fireworks over the Empire State Building – all set to George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” It so perfectly captures the spirit of the city, both real and idealized, that it just moved me to tears. That’s a powerful three minutes and 44 seconds of celluloid.  You can watch it here.

The scene was the first thing I thought of when I heard about the city symphony created by students at The College of William and Mary. Their 15-minute film, like Allen’s, features scenes that aim to capture the essence of Williamsburg. It premieres tonight as the kick-off to the four-day Global Film Festival, starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Kimball Theatre.

This year, the film festival is themed “Film and the City,” inviting filmmakers around the world to interpret city life. Visiting professor Tim Barnard’s documentary production class focused on producing two “city symphonies,” a genre of documentary filmmaking that originated in the silent film era. The avant-garde movement aimed to portray the rhythms of cities, with each clip playing like a note in a song, according to Jes Therkelsen, a professor who co-taught the class.

The class produced two city symphonies – one global, one local. The global one pieced together footage filmed by William and Mary students studying abroad. The local one focused on Williamsburg, and offered an opportunity for the students to travel well off the beaten brick paths of campus.

Sophomore Lizzy Pelletier said the students began by studying famous films of the genre, including “À propos de Nice,” a 1930 film showing life in Nice, France, a locale that, like Williamsburg, has a tourist-driven economy. The students entered the project with the acknowledgment that by the nature of being students, there might be aspects of city life they wouldn’t capture, simply because they are unaware. But they were determined to make a good-faith effort to document life in their adopted home.

The class divided into teams of two-to-three students and chose different aspects of city life to address, such as tourism, the retired population and Colonial Williamsburg. They tried to document some of the surreal and unique aspects of living in the city, from the costumed interpreters roaming the streets to the pancake house phenomenon.

To address what life is like for residents of all ages, the students filmed children at a daycare “shaking their sillies out,” a concert at The Meridian coffee shop on campus and a bluegrass show at the now-defunct J.M. Randall’s. The scenes were intercut, creating juxtapositions showing crowd-surfers “shaking their sillies out.” The rest of the film was set to a score composed by music student Erik DeLong.

In their effort to see new angles of the city, the students even paid private pilots to fly them over Williamsburg, capturing aerial shots that show how the triangular shape of the campus is mirrored in the shape of the city, and of the region.

The students decided to break with the strictly non-narrative, no-characters approach and finish the film with a series of shots showing residents looking directly into the camera. Approaching people willing to participate was the hardest part of the shoot, Pelletier said.

She estimates the students collected more than 100 hours of footage, which they incredibly edited down to 15 minutes working as a committee, with three to four editors sharing the workload. “It’s not a project we had time to do during a semester,” she admits, but it seems the students’ dedication to the project carried well past the duration of the course.

Pelletier believes the project forced the students to think deeply about what life is like in Williamsburg, who lives here and how their presence affects the residents. “I think we definitely thought about it more,” she said. “We came in with really strong preconceptions about Williamsburg, but through visiting the daycare and filming construction workers and talking to the mayor, we think of it as a real municipality.”

She agrees with Mayor Clyde Haulman’s thoughts on the city: “Williamsburg is a like a small town with big city resources.”

The film is not yet available for viewing online, but William and Mary News interviewed the students about the project and you can see clips from the symphony here:

Walsingham Supports Fan Favorite for Dance Competition

Johnston joins her students who supported her as their "fan favorite." Her costume is displayed beside her.

The event, which benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Virginia Peninsula and Literacy for Life, is raising money in advance of the performance by inviting the community to choose its “fan favorite.” Voters must donate to select a fan favorite, and Walsingham’s students and staff decided to show their love for Johnston by raising $662 for the cause.

The lower and upper schools charged students $2 to participate in a special dress-down day, called “Red, Pink or Purple Day for A Cause.” Johnston wowed the students by showing off her costume for the event – a red sequined gown and dancing shoes.

To choose a fan favorite or learn more about the event, click here.

PTA Council to Host Dialogue with WJCC Leadership

Williamsburg-James City County’s PTA Council will host a community dialogue with Superintendent Steven Constantino and several school board members at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 in the Berkeley Middle School auditorium.

Constantino will share an update on the budget for 2013 and the ongoing strategic planning process. The public will have opportunities to participate in informal break-out sessions with school board members.

WJCC Spring Musicals Start in March

The dates have been announced for spring musicals in Williamsburg-James City County schools.

Jamestown High School will present “Legally Blonde” from March 22 to 24; Lafayette High will perform “Anything Goes” from March 8 to 10; Warhill presents “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum” from March 22 to 23; Berkeley Middle School will perform “The Wiz” from March 9 to 10; and Toano Middle will present “The Adventures of Flat Stanley, Jr.” from April 20-21.

Find ticket and show time details here.