Hokie Filmmaker's Hard Work Pays Off Tim Leaton does not seem like the kind of student who could just use his summer to recuperate from a long and stressful school year. Drive seems to be a characteristic that Tim takes very seriously. A senior from Midlothian, Va., Leaton is striving toward a double major in Communication and Business Management while also being an ambassador for the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Along with his responsibilities at school, Leaton has worked at VTTV, has produced and helped out on many different kinds of film projects, and made several award-winning films. Leaton's most recent accomplishment is certainly his biggest to date. He entered a nation-wide contest for people 18 to 26. The contest, called 'Film Your Issue', asked participants to submit movies between 30 and 60 seconds in length about something that "elicits passion" from them. His video was 'Orphans in Africa', a film about an orphanage that he condensed down to 60 seconds from the 27-minute original film that he made. 'Orphans in Africa' went through several stages in which it made it to the list of 35 semi-finalists where it was then looked at by VIP judges like George Clooney and the Dalai Lama. Combining online voting with the VIP judging, 'Film Your Issue' announced the film as one of the five winners of the contest. Tim has gotten much deserved attention for this film and will be showing it at the Sundance Film Festival. Fresh off his big win, Tim was able to give an interview by email. Below is a selection of questions and answers from that interview. Q: With all of the issues out there, what made you choose 'Orphans in Africa' as your topic? Leaton: Three years ago, I had edited someone else's footage from The Canaan Orphanage and produced a video for them, although never setting foot in Africa myself. Working so intensely with the home-video footage from this orphanage for countless hours was the inspiration for me to join the team and become a part of their annual trip during the summer of 2005.
Q: 'Orphans in Africa' was quite an achievement for you, what other stories do you think need to be told? Leaton: In addition to global stories such as Orphans in Africa, we have many stories right here in our own country. There are big ones like Hurricane Katrina, and millions of smaller stories in every city if people just look for them. Sometimes it's more eye-catching to film other cultures, but we can't overlook the problems in our own backyards as well. Q: Was there any footage you wish you could have added to 'Orphans in Africa'? Was it hard for you to tell their story in just a minute? Leaton: The one-minute constraint was actually the hardest part about entering this contest. A two-minute constraint would have made it infinitely easier for me. When condensing my original 27-minute piece down to one minute, one important scene that I had to leave out was the safe return of our team leader after rescuing three children from the war zone up North. Q: How do you approach a new project? Leaton: I approach any new project the same way I approach an assignment or exam for my classes. I know that it will take countless hours of hard work, but if I put in the time, then it's usually worth it in the end. Q: What process do you go through when working on a project? Leaton: Editing is the hardest part of the process by far. Good editing can turn mediocre footage into a good video, or vice versa. To give you an idea of the kind of time involved, it probably took me several hundred hours to edit all of my footage from Africa down to the 27-minute movie I made. Q: Are there any sacrifices you have to make to live your life the way you do? What are the drawbacks and rewards of being so passionate about filmmaking? Leaton: Elementary school was pretty normal for me with tennis, karate, and piano lessons. But I missed much of middle school with a chronic illness. It was during that time that I realized I could still have fun in a different way by making movies with my brother and sister at home. I work myself hard with everything I do, both in school and in my movies. But sometimes, I probably work myself too hard. Sometimes I don't have time to do things with my friends when I'm so stressed out with everything else. I stay pretty busy between my movies, my two degrees, and all of my other extracurriculars. I think it's important for all of us to relax sometimes. Q: With all of your success, and especially winning such a highly publicized competition, how has it affected your confidence and what prospects do you hope to see in the future? Leaton: I'm not exactly sure yet what the future has in store for me. It's all in Gods hands. But as far as the success goes, I think it's proof to me that hard work does pay off in the end. There were many times when I found myself spending hours upon hours upon hours editing volunteer projects for people, and I often wondered if people realized the great amount of time it takes to edit even a very short piece. But now I know that everything that I did was all a learning experience for me. Every volunteer video I ever made helped me learn more. And there's still an infinite amount that I'm hoping to learn in the future. Q: Many years from now, looking back on your life, what would you want to be able to say you accomplished? Leaton: Through this contest, I saw the power of media and it reinforced my desire to have a positive effect on the world doing something I love, filmmaking. |