Thursday, July 26, 2007

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

Sunday, July 22, 2007

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.