DLP Screening and Q&A

DLP Screening and Q&A
Originally uploaded by msradden

Screening at FHAO and Q&A

Q&A
Originally uploaded by msradden

The Facing History and Ourselves audience in Brookline were shown the four student-produced films for the first time! Afterwards, Arva, Sophia, Jessica and Sevon fielded questions from the audience. They ranged from “what was the most challenging part of the project?” to which a collective groan was given about logging, to the “heavy” question of whether after all this any of them wanted to be an activist. The audience gained a perspective on the amount of work and literal sweat (it WAS hot in there!) that was put into this pilot program by the planning team, the teaching crew, the DLP staff, and the students. And what was clearly apparent was the pride and accomplishment each student felt about not only their piece, but the process they went through to produce it. And in fact their films will be used, for the first time ever, as actual curriculum assets within the 10th grade History of Civil Rights curriculum for Facing History and the Boston Public Schools. WOW!!

UPDATE : Screening and Q&A

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

It’s hard to believe that fall is already here! But to celebrate the arrival of cooler weather and the beginning of a busy academic year at Facing History, we wanted to invite you to a special screening. During the month of July, ten Boston Public School students attended Facing History and Ourselves’ Digital Legacies Project—a four-week digital filmmaking program focusing on the Civil Rights Movement in Boston.

On Thursday October 11th at 4:30 pm we will hold a screening of the short documentaries that were produced and a Q&A with the student filmmakers at the Facing History office (see address below.)

During the Digital Legacies Project, the students received training in research, writing, interviewing, and video production as they developed short documentaries about Boston residents who have been champions for civil rights. The student-produced films include interviews with local civil rights activists, exploring their involvement in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's as they struggled for equal access to education, housing, and fair representation in the media. Throughout the videos the student producers also reflect on the legacies of the Civil Rights Movement in their lives today.

We would be delighted if you would join us for this event! Please RSVP to :

Julie Johnson
Program Specialist & Assistant Director,
Grants Program
Facing History and Ourselves
16 Hurd RoadBrookline, MA 02445-6919
617.735.1698
www.facinghistory.org

Summary of the day : Production

What does a stuffy computer lab NOT need? More body heat!

Yesterday, Digital Arts Alliance (DAA) and 10 BPS teachers joined our program. The teachers were given laptops and introduced to Premiere Elements. They are being taught by DAA how to build video projects into their curriculum.

We welcomed Nancy (pictured above) from DAA to our lab, who has guided us over the past 2 days through the production process. The students recorded their voice overs based on their polished narratives, and then imported their assets into Premiere. The crews have been doing a great job of managing their files correctly and following the production process. Time management has been critical and Nancy has intervened often to keep us all on track.

By lunch time on Tuesday, each crew has been able to check off the first 6 steps :

1. write the narrative



2. create a storyboard



3. record the voice over



4. edit the voiceover in the timeline



5. import stills into the folder in your project panel



6. create subclips of camera A, B, C and extra footage

After a hearty lunch from Finale (I love pickles!), each crew will spend the rest of the afternoon dragging subclips and stills into their timeline in sync with their narrative.

Shout outs & summary of the day : Narratives & Storyboarding

Over the last 2 days, the crews have been intensely writing their scripts and so asking them to write ONE more time at the end of the day in this blog was a bit much!! So I thought I'd record a summary and reflection of the work we've been doing here.

And oh boy have we worked! No blood (we're like a family here), and no tears (we support each other when it's tough), but we sure did sweat it out! It was nearly 90 degrees in Boston this afternoon, and the AC doesn't work here at TechBoston Academy! (But it DOES blast plenty of cold air in the winter! Go figure.)

Wednesday morning, Julie lead the crews through a lesson about the structure of a narrative - the thesis, introduction, body, and conclusion. The crews went to work combing through their transcipts to pull out key points and quotes, and annotated it with post-its and highlighters in order to form a thesis statement everyone in the group could connect with. Previously, the students had been individually finding personal connections with their interviewee. Now, the challenge was coming together as a group, and finding an overarching statement or question that was meaningful to EVERYone in the crew!

Script writing began in the afternoon, while I was logging and capturing, and feverishly re-organising the files and folders into a way that made the most sense to the students. Paulina, Juan and Julie floated from crew to crew, giving valuable feedback, listening to the ideas that were forming, and guiding them through the writing process.

Today, Paulina and I, after reviewing the first drafts of their scripts, met with each crew, and showed them how to storyboard as a visual connection to their scripts. They looked through the assets loaded onto the computer and thought about what additional footage and/or photos they would need to gather by the end of Monday.

I was so impressed by the professionalism, creativity, and determination of EVERY team! They were receptive to our feedback and each other's comments "You need to be clearer who is saying what here...", collaborative in the brainstorming "Maybe you should have a voiceover here instead...", critical of suggestions "I'm not feeling that...", respectful of new ideas..."I think we'll decide on that once we get into the editing process...", and enthusiastic about their project despite the heat "I love that quote! Where did you get that?"

I think I can speak for Juan, Julie, and Paulina in saying that we sooo appreciate your efforts and are excited about the ideas you have!! You all have strong foundations for your stories. FINISH STRONG!! Nothing feels better than taking an idea from planning all the way through production into a piece that YOU are proud of and Facing History will be proud to show off!!

See you all on Monday...Keep cool.

- lisa

I am from poem-Kevin J

I am from a place where you can see the moon
Shining its elegant light to the streets.
I am from a culture that eats fried chicken.
I am from a place where you could see countless houses

No matter where you turn.
I am from a place where you can see the sun rising from the sky
Showing its orange-colored light almost like its on fire
Shining its light to the streets, then to the sky
Till everything glows.

I am from a house that smells like food everyday
Where you can almost taste it.
Day after Day I look at the full moon
Shining its elegant light to the streets.

If you did your research on my family,
Everyone will find my cousins, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and parents.
They are my family
This is where I'm from.

Summary of The Day :Intro to Premiere

Like my picture?!? I know i love it too :) So, it's Jessica's turn to do the summary of the day. Basically, today was a fast paced day! In the morning, my crew had to do what eveyone else did yesterday and learn the basic usage of Adobe Premiere. It was fun. Other groups just continued using what they learned yesterday with Premiere. Then Sophia and Teeyana came back and taked a lil about their interviewing experience. Then we all had to do our blogging stuff again. It's almost lunch time and we are going to have an early release! Good luck to the last group interviewing!!!!!!