Sometimes the thrill of storytelling through film comes from firsthand experience and a glimpse into another director’s vision.
Madelin Crawford, a rising junior studying film and media arts, discovered this aspect of learning when she spent time with the cast and crew of “The Chosen” television series at Camp Hoblitzelle in Midlothian, Texas.
From July 22 to 31, she attended classes, listened to guest speakers and worked on a project that was shown at the end of the workshop.
Guest speakers included Alaa Safi, who played Simon the Zealot; Yasmine Al-Bustami as Ramah; Abe Bueno-Jallad as Big James and a female producer panel.
Campers were surprised by George Xanthis, who played the character John, while they were touring the set.
“They had us come and take a picture altogether, and the way they situated us was that we couldn't see what was behind us,” she said. “And then the photographer goes, ‘turn around’, and he was in the picture with us.”
Kathy Bruner, co-chair of the art, film and media department and professor of film & media arts, first became connected to Camp Hoblitzelle through Taylor ‘00 alum Jeniffer Drake.
After contacting Camp Hoblitzelle’s director, Bruner said she received a warm welcome towards any Taylor students interested in joining the fine arts camp in the last week of July.
After initially being unsure if the opportunity would work for her, Crawford found out that scholarships were available the week before the camp started.
“I was like, that's crazy, that's kind of cool,” she said. “I have been a longtime fan of ‘The Chosen’—this will be an absolute dream come true.”
Crawford arrived at Camp Hoblitzelle one day late, on July 22, as her journey took place around the time of the global tech outage on July 19. She ended up driving 14 hours of the trip with her dad after multiple flight cancellations.
Getting there, she found out the whole camp was experiencing electricity problems. During this time, the campers gathered in the chapel. Guest speaker Abe Bueno-Jallad, the actor playing the role of Big James, shared his methods for acting and experiences with “The Chosen” crew.
Campers participating in the theater section practiced for a live musical performance that incorporated movie clips the film section had worked on, filmed in the style of “The Office” television sitcom.
Crawford said the film section was split into two crews; one would shoot in the morning and the other one would shoot in the evening. She added that she would swap back and forth between those and be assigned different roles each time. Four instructors led the film side, lending their expertise in directing, audio production, set production and filming.
Crawford said that she was challenged during these shoots when she was assigned the role of assistant director, shadowing the instructor. During that time, she learned more about how a professional set should function and the language terms that are used to make filming a smoother process.
“The Chosen” was in the process of finishing filming season five while Crawford was there. While she was often separate from the filming process, she said they shot the Last Supper and Jesus’s arrest during that time.
On July 30, students were taken out to see one of the last film shoots of the season during the evening.
Crawford said that the cast and crew of “The Chosen” did an exterior scene because the camp was so big. Half of the students were able to tour the set and stages, while the others watched the crew film the scenes before swapping.
“We were kind of tucked back in the woods, a little ways away from where they were shooting, and we got to watch the actors,” she said.
She added that the scene they watched was a pickup shot of a flashback in the story. It featured Jonathan Roumie as Jesus, Giavani Cairo as Thaddeus and Jordan Walker Ross as Little James.
As Crawford has reflected on the time spent at that camp, she said that she now wants to participate and get on more filming sets. She was able to make connections with not only instructors but also young adult-aged filmmakers who were passionate Christians.
“For me, it solidified that this is the industry that I want to go into,” Crawford said. “Just getting to be on set—even that one time that we got to be on set for the actual shooting of ‘The Chosen’—yeah, it was incredible. It was an amazing experience, and I want to go back.”
