In Our Own Words

"In Our Own Words" is an after school poetry and art club hosted by Clark University undergraduate students for Claremont Academy youth in Worcester, Massachusetts. I was contacted by professor Sarah Michaels to shoot and edit a short documentary following the club throughout the Spring 2017 semester. This documentary is the result of a directed study sponsored by my faculty advisor, Soren Sorensen of the Screen Studies department at Clark University.

  • Mitchell Gamache
    Director
  • Mitchell Gamache
    Director of Photography
  • Mitchell Gamache
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Education, Human Documentary
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 58 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 9, 2017
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Mitchell Gamache

Mitchell Gamache is a cinematographer, video editor, and photographer based in Massachusetts. He graduated from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Screen Studies with a minor in Cultural Studies & Communication this spring. His film work consists of short narrative film, music video, and commercial videography. You can visit his website here: www.mitchgfilms.com

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Entering my last semester as an undergrad, I was approached by one of my film advisers informing me that another professor on campus wanted a short documentary made about an education course that mentors youth in the city of Worcester. At this point all of my requirements for graduation had been fulfilled and I needed to find 4 classes to take to earn the rest of my credits. I asked if I could make this film in place of taking a course and agreed immediately to make this film when that was the case. I ended up finishing up my senior year taking 3 courses and making this film.

At first, I was making this film purely because I could make a film and have it count for a class credit, but this film became so much more once I started. The undergraduate students held their after school program every week on Thursdays from 3PM to 6PM and I started documenting the students and youth for the sake of documenting. It became more routine and I found myself taking part in their activities on top of filming. I was not able to attend all of their sessions, but I did stay for the majority of them and when I wasn't able to go, the youth would ask about where I was and said they missed me. I didn't actively interact with the youth as much as I would have liked to during this semester, but I was known as the camera guy to them and a friendly face. Soon, the environment of the club became so natural and organic it was great to capture them creating poetry and art throughout the past few months.

In Our Own Words is my first documentary to date and would not mind exploring the genre even more! This film was a lot of work to construct and piece together, but the experience I got from it I will remember for a long time.