I connected with Cabrini Connections via 'United We Serve' hoping to assist in the process of grant writing.
After my first visit with Dan at their facility, I met Bradley and inquired about how he came to vounteer with the organization. He discussed the variety of afterschool clubs and mentioned I might be interested in sitting in on Film Club later that evening, as my degree and much of my post-degree work experience involved camera and talent assisting while working in the Texas and Louisiana film industry.
Since that time I've had the pleasure of joining the Film Club on three occasions.
It's evident that the kids in the club have come to love and trust Michael as their mentor but
the downside of this is that Michael's eco-conscious production company is incredibly demanding, often taking him out of town to film special presentations.
It's clear that he needs a partner to help man the ship and keep the kids engaged and committed to filming their Cabrini Connections short horror film.
When he phoned last Saturday to say that he had to leave for Nashville on Monday, I knew he was calling to ask if I could sub for him.
My initial reaction of terror would have made a great close-up clip for the Film Club project as I must admit the thought was intimidating.
I'd never taught anything in my life, aside from managing and training a host of renegade children while working as a traveling store manager for American Apparel.
As a retail manager you are trained to know company policy and proceedure inside and out; in other words, the manual comes with the job - you supply the confidence.
Leading Film Club, there is no manual. You have to dive in head first.
Despite Michael's absence, this week's meeting accomplished the goal of storyboarding Scene Two and was full of energy thanks to the latest club addition - smart and sassy 6th grader Narae.
We stumbled a bit in the beginning as there was some confusion as to whether or not we'd need to start the storyboarding process over and due to missing dialogue and storyboards due from the previous meeting.
With Melissa and Sean's help we worked around this and resumed tbe process of storyboarding from Scene Two Shot Two.
Melissa was assigned to direct this particular scene and using the shot list crafted over the month of October, we worked on visualizing each shot under her guidance.
For the storyboarding of Scene One, Sean and Reggie had volunteered to sketch the shots out.
Unfortunately Sean was called away from the meeting for family reasons and it seemed the brunt of the illustration would fall to Reggie alone this week.
When it came time to sketch Scene Two, to our surprise Narae and Marquis both enthusiastically volunteered to do a shot a piece.
Then suddenly
everyone wanted a shot a crafting a panel on the storyboard - except Kierre and Cantrell . Both asserted they did not know how to draw.
I assured them there is no right or wrong when it comes to drawing and encouraged them to each map a shot.
Kierre contributed Shot Four and learned that he could draw afterall.
Towards the end of the meeting, Cantrell shied away...anxious to begin shooting and using equipment rather than dealing with the hassel of pre-production.
Bradley joined the group after snack time and, sensing the restlessness, promised that next week we'd take a break from pre-production to film the Art Club.
Next week is certain to be just as action packed.
