Camp Details:
June 22-26, 2026
9:00am-12:00pm
Grades: 9th-12th + Class of 2026
Cost: $400 ($350 for SLS families)
Camp Description:
For students who love movies and want to explore how films build tension, shape perspective, and construct meaning, this half-day camp is designed for movie fans who want to explore how filmmakers use film form to craft story, shape perspective, and generate cinematic suspense. See below for a daily schedule of movies and topics.
Day 1: Anatomy of a Heist
Topic: What makes a heist movie?
Focus: Genre conventions, ensemble dynamics, planning structure, and the logic of the “perfect plan”
Activities:
- Identify the five classic phases of a heist (recruit → plan → obstacles → execution → fallout)
- Examine how filmmakers introduce teams, skills, risks, and motivations
- Compare story structures from multiple heist films to explore how filmmakers use genre conventions to guide audience expectations and build suspense.
Film: Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Day 2: Action, Space, and Momentum
Topic: How cinematography builds intensity
Focus: Camera movement, spatial geography, chase structure, and the blend of action and storytelling
Activities:
- Shot-by-shot analysis of key sequences
- Explore how filmmakers use cinematography and editing to generate tension.
- Discuss how character goals and moral tension drive action
Film: Point Break (1991)
Day 3: Restricted Narration and the Art of Misdirection
Topic: How films control what the audience knows
Focus: Restricted vs. unrestricted narration, information withholding, cross-cutting, and point-of-view framing
Activities:
- Map who knows what, when — and how the film controls access to information
- Study how narration creates suspense by aligning the viewer with particular characters
- Compare restricted narration in heist, con, and crime films
Film: The Sting (1973)
Day 4: Point of View, Performance, and the Slow-Burn Heist
Topic: Character-centered storytelling
Focus: POV shifts, repeated events, pacing, performance, and how subtle formal choices build tension
Activities:
- Analyze how Jackie Brown restages the same event from different angles
- Track how perspective shapes audience expectations and emotional alignment
- Examine Tarantino’s use of music, silence, and rhythm to build tension in a character-driven heist
Film: Jackie Brown (1997)
Day 5: Precision, Tension, and the Heist at its Peak
Topic: Film form as a unified system
Focus: High-stakes realism, cross-cutting, ensemble conflict, pacing, procedural detail, and spatial logic
Activities:
- Break down the structure of tension across key sequences
- Study how cinematography, sound, editing, and performance work together to create immersion
- Synthesize the week’s concepts to understand how the heist genre pushes film form and narrative structure to their limits
Film: Heat (1995)