Everybody loves Music Videos!

On the first day of Film Club for the summer, we (Shuling, Drew, and Jane) revealed to the kids that our big exciting project of the 8-week program is to create an original music video. Why a music video? Because they're AWESOME!

Good music videos can tell a story, can be a spectacle, or even both, but most importantly they enhance the music through visuals. With the producing of a music video, we'll learn about camera movements, set design, directing performers/actors, all the preparation that goes into planning before the shoot (pre-production), editing, and so much more.

This first week we went over some basic film concepts such as framing, storyboarding, director of photography...and the list goes on. Then after going through same basics of film concepts, we watched many cool examples of music videos to get our creative juices flowing. One of the main questions we asked the kids was: How in the world did they do that? The kids thought long and hard and were able to figure out some of the cool effects that were used in the music videos!

Here are some of the music videos we watched and you'll know what we mean:

OK GO's "End Love"-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2fpgpanZAw

MuteMath's "Typical"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XVWR-5fiG0

Sour's "Hibi no Neiro"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfBlUQguvyw&feature=related

After being amazed by the numerous crazy, mind-boggling videos, we took on the difficult task of choosing two songs as our music video inspirations for our two groups. With 14 potential songs, we finally narrowed it down to:

Lil Mama - Lipgloss

Air Gear Opening

If you listen to them, you'll find that they're completely different songs with their own very unique feels (one of them even has Japanese in it!). The three of us are super excited to see what creative ideas the kids come up with.

In the upcoming week, the kids will pitch their ideas for the music videos and we will decide which ideas to pursue. We're off to a great start! We've chosen two songs. We're excited. We're pumped. Now, we need to get prepared!

Video Showcase

The 2009-2010 Video & Filmmakers Club premiered their work at Cabrini Connections' annual Year-End Dinner on Thursday, June 10th, at Cornerstone Center. All four films, embedded below for you to view, were created entirely by students in middle and high school. Scripts, storyboards, audio, video, acting, editing... everything! And, each director introduced his or her piece at the Year-End Dinner. It was a beautiful segment in an overall incredible night. For more about the Year-End Dinner and all of our work at Cabrini Connections, visit http://www.cabriniconnections.net/. Thank You and Enjoy!

Learning a Craft

This week marked the final meeting of the Video and Filmmakers Club for this school year. I have only been working with these young filmmakers for about a month, but I feel like they are making gains every week, and I have even learned a thing or two myself. They have come a long way considering the program didn't even have a camera or computers to edit on until very recently.

The goal of Cabrini Connections is that every child who joins the program in 7th or 8th grade is starting a job and career of his or her choice by age 25, and if the youths continue at the pace they are going, I think they are on their way to that goal. Like Club Leader, Michael Alexander says, the students are learning a craft. Who knows, one of these kids might be the next Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) or Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker).

This week, we put the finishing touches on projects for the Year End Gala Dinner (I will post more on that later), handed out awards (Most Valuable Team Member, Best Writer, Best Actor, Most Improved Camera Operator, etc), and celebrated a successful year with pizza and treats. Then we watched the four short films that the students put together (with the student's permission, I hope to post links to their work soon), and had fun taking pictures. You can see a couple of the pictures above.

Although, the school year is over, the work doesn't stop. Shu-Ling is taking over as Club Leader (Michael, we will all miss you), we are putting together an exciting curriculum for a program for the summer that will start on June 21st, and we are bringing on Jane, a new volunteer. We are all excited for the summer.

Donations to Cabrini Connections, make programs like this possible. In addition, if anybody is looking for an editor, one of our students is looking for summer work. Let me know, and I will point her in your direction.