Weekly World News: September 27, 2004
Yes. I know it’s the Weekly World News, home of Batboy. But it is funny.
Category Archives: Video in the Classroom
Getting Back to School
It is always a trial to grab the attention of teenagers and to keep it once you have it. You would think that a guy who teaches television wouldn’t have much trouble. However, last November my lab was broken into and about $15,000 went out the window. It pretty much set us back 10 years. So now? Instead of working on newscasts we are podcasting. Podcasting is an audio program designed to share information, entertain and let people discuss whatever is on their minds. If podcasting sounds a lot like talk radio it is only because podcasting is exactly like talk radio. But it’s fun and the students seem to enjoy it.
If you want, you can listen to one right here. If you would like to see the last newscast we did, it’s here.
New Look.
I got to looking at the old web log and decided that I was VERY bored with the way it looked. Dark. Oppressive. Depressing.
The good people at WordPress.com have added some new Themes so I thought I would brighten things up a bit. Makes me want to start updating again. Next up? The Internet: Making America Totally Suck, One Comment at a Time.
Short Films: Day Two
Another great short film called Ascension. It is an experimental piece using what are basically After Effects Plug-Ins. But it is done so well and so seamlessly that I, at first glance, thought I was looking at something rendered in 3D on Maya or Blender.
Hope you enjoy it.
Short Films: Day One
I thought that I might look around at some of my favorite short films and share them. The first comes from Philip Bloom. I really like everything about this film. I have watched it several times and see something more to like each time.
The history of the Salton Sea fascinates me. I have NO idea why this part of America’s past, present and future isn’t taught in school.
Wow…Summer is Over Already?
OK…I’ve been meaning to do some updates here all summer but it seems as if the summer has just started and here we are already back at work.
Students are in place, new faces and new places are established and the fight for dominance has begun. I only hope the grown-ups win this year.
I’ll have more to say when I have more to say and there are some things that are bugging me. Here’s a taste. Someone forgot to tell our young girls that looking like whores might not be in their best interest. Health care reform is on the table, off the table and largely misunderstood. Just because I hate Michael Moore doesn’t mean that he is always wrong. Cash For Clunkers was a success. Or was it? And what are the long-term ramifications? What does any of this have to do with the media?
Well, right now I have no answers. But I will. If only I could get someone to pay for my answers…
I Are A Genius. Using Filmmaking to Give Students Their Voice…
Every so often a project drops in my lap that I just can’t say “No” to. In the past I have written about the relationship my video production class has had with a group of local artists and filmmakers. The Association for Visual Arts has been kind enough to team up with us to create a pilot project that brings students together with documentarians to learn more about movie making in a professional setting. We made one movie two years ago, “Golden Grillz & Satan Like Puppies: A documentary on rock, rap the individual and the group.” It was not a bad movie and, as I have written before, it was entirely created, produced, shot and directed by the students. It was shown at several venues in the city and the Mayor’s Office has a copy on file.
This year’s movie is called “I Are A Genius” It is a documentary film about students taking a look at their own education. Honestly, I am not too sure they liked wha
t they found. Most were surprised to find out that the education system is run like a business and that money matters as much, if not more, than the educational outcome. They were a bit taken aback to find that teachers and administrators and superintendents don’t all speak with a single voice. There is dissension in the ranks, sometimes vocal, sometimes not. They were also concerned about the number of educational professionals who were afraid to speak out against the system for fear of losing their jobs. We are in a down economy, the school system is making cuts and no one wants to make any waves…even if those waves help the students.
The students learned to set and keep appointments and how to talk to a professional without looking “like a kid.” They set up interviews with elected officials, teachers, administrators, students and even the Superintendent of Schools. They impressed me and they impressed themselves. They also impressed the people they interviewed. They shot and directed their own interviews, shadowed students for an entire day, invited their peers to a “round-table” discussion and even brainstormed some marketing ideas. Right now the group is working on a rough, off-line edit and I have noticed that the number of participants is diminishing. That doesn’t surprise me at all.
Editing video is an art and can be very exacting and very frustrating. It is also tedious and, to an outsider, incredibly boring. It also happens to be the part of film-making that I love the most. I can sit at the editor for hours and never even realize that time has gone by. But I can’t expect these novice directors to have my love of video editing. Nor can I expect them to sit for hours at a time doing anything at all. So the students will be a part of the rough edit helping to choose sound-bites and some B-Roll and to have some say in the direction and flow of the movie. Then one of our visiting artists will take the off-line edit and finish it to industry standard.
Anyway, this is just a little update and as soon as I can, I will post a trailer or excerpt from the movie. Until then, I have included a copy of the poster for the movie.
Adding Some Real World Experience. (With a little help from the community.)
Two years ago I was approached by a local artists group about making a documentary. The idea was to create a film using students and allowing them to control every aspect of the film. The group, The Association for Visual Arts (AVA), wanted to bring in several local filmmakers and let them work with the students to guide them through the creation process and, ultimately, to the first screening of their own movie.
Even the most well-intentioned group can’t just walk into a school and borrow some students. Since I have a series of media production classes and teach at a certain type of school, AVA called me to ask if I was interested. Of course I said, “Yes.” So we started with some meetings, had some more meetings and then, just as we were about to start, the whole thing fell apart. I can’t remember if it was funding or lack of interest from outside of the school or whatever. So a year later we started all over again. More meetings, more false starts and one more total shut-down. This time because the person at AVA who was heading up the project from their end changed jobs. I thought that would be the last I heard from AVA and, gladly, I was wrong.
Golden Grillz, The DVD. Cover Design: J. Colbert
The new person involved with the Education Outreach program at AVA had heard of the project and liked it. He decided to start all over again. And to shorten the story, we started pre-production with 13 students and two filmmakers. And me, the Project Coordinator. The kids worked on concept and decided to make a movie on “rap, rock, the individual and the group.” A movie about how the music we listen to impacts the way others see us and the way we see ourselves. It was called “Golden Grillz & Satan Likes Puppies.”
The movie was well received and was shown in several locations around town and a copy is on file at the Mayor’s office. Not a bad result for a group of first-timers. The results were actually far greater than we had hoped and it set the stage for what is happening today. The second documentary film is starting today. The first day is always the slowest but the AVA filmmakers know how to make it work and we have some good kids and I can’t wait to see what this year’s subject is going to be.
The best thing I see out of the students is a new sense of commitment and ownership. We are asking two days a week, two hours each time for almost four months. And the kids show up, they get excited about what they are doing and they take pride in the final project. It makes all the extra time worth it and it makes the whole thing fun.
So…nothing major here. No new educational processes, no major insights, nothing to change the world. Just ten or so kids making a movie and learning a little bit about going to work, dealing with adults and meeting deadlines. Stuff they need and stuff we neglect.
I’ll keep updating…
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