TVHS's blog

All the edits look great so far!  The students reviewed scenes and discussed as a workshop together on what will come in future edits and scenes.  A lot is happening for the projects at hand and things are really coming together with the help of professional filmmakers hailing from the Sanctuary, Tech Valley High School, and WMHT. (Timothy)

This past week marked the last days of shooting on campus. From now on, until the end of the session, classes will be dedicated to post-production, editing, and after effects. Though there still may be shots that must be picked up if needed as the young filmmakers find that they are missing vital images that may help in driving the story forward. This often times is the case in Documentaries. When reviewing the rough cut, directors will find scenes that can be cut as well as scenes that were not shot and very much needed. (Timothy)

Today's Class was exciting- lots of activity, very productive. The highlight of the class for me was when Corey's group shot their special effects- the smashed bowl was fantastic! The students definitely enjoyed creating the artistic and symbolic aspects of their video. (Coolidge)

Today was another shooting day- few problems today, as kids are comforatble with the equipment and finding places to shoot. Grant set a cool photoshop background for a spoof newscast with a video projector- it actually looked much more authentic than I expected! We continued shooting videos in the tech support lab, in the hallways, and outside.

I haven't seen much of the footage from the last few classes- I look forward to seeing what we have to work with as we transition to post production next week! (Coolidge)

Today was a great day of watching clips and giving feedback. We had some great discussions. Branda really helped our kids today with a wide array of production tips... We talked about camera moves, sound, Lighting, costumes, and cutaways. Some of our kids have already incorporated text- I was impressed and moved by their maturity- they didn't feel the need to "wow" us with special effects, they used the text in an understated and effective way to communicate the mood for their film. (Coolidge)

Watching the Student Videos this morning gave all of us the opportunity to learn about production while reviewing each other's work. The Students have done an amazing amount of work in a short time. Now, they really will have to sculpt their idea with camera and sound. I am looking forward to seeing the next versions. (Jetter)

Reviewing footage periodically in front of peers can be a great change of perspective for the filmmaker. To watch your own edits and frames on the 'big screen' could encourage you to reconsider filming techniques and explore new ones that you might not have thought of prior. It goes without saying, that this practice is also a great way to hear feedback and early critique, which always helps in the developmental phases. (Timothy)

Today was a crazy shooting day! Our kids are self-directed, they scattered in all directions to make their videos, finding each empty office, every nook and cranny of our school where we might use for interviews or B-roll shots. It was Chaotic and productive again. Only problem was, we do not have enough cameras that have external Mic in- that is our current bottleneck. The kids are getting some great footage, however....
(Coolidge)

Today we recorded two scenes, one scene where the MC is in the bathroom doing a monologue about his denying the fact that he might be gay. The second scene of the day, we shot the scene where the MC and his friend, Nick, miss the bus and end up walking home together. There were times where we had difficulty doing scenes because of how certain individuals wanted them to be shot. This may or may not be an issue because I think I get along with my group enough for this not to blow up into a huge conflict. It seems my group in progressing smoothly, taking at lest 2 scenes a class and at lest one out of class every class day.
(Student)

“Today was a chaotic and awesome productive shooting day. Keeping track of the class as a teacher is like herding cats! It was a fun, energy filled talkative day, with logistical and tech problems encountered and solved, lots of successful interviews!” –Edward Coolidge, Art Instructor, Tech Valley High School

“Focus. Great Focus.  It was light and tight in the Tech Support Room, where some groups were using it for a recording studio.  We passed on the Boom mic and the make shift studio from the Over-reactive Tendencies project group to the Oblivious project group.  Nice to see the students owning their projects!” –Adam Haberstro, Peer Counselor, Boys and Girls Club, South Rensselaer Branch

“When engaged in a project, one generally finds that the technical issues vary from bad signals due to bend wires, to finding that there are no batteries to power the equipment.  Overcoming these issues and stabilizing the production process over time is what makes a great filmmaker.  The fact that we’re faced with creating 5 separate projects literally means 5 times the technical issues.

"Today we started with a quick sound workshop, than moved on to start shooting or creating a shooting script. We hit the wall of logistics today- (which spaces are available, where should the lights be, which group gets which equipment, etc) but made it through OK- all groups made progress.  the reality of shooting is helping some groups simplify their projects a bit."

“Any filmmaker from novice to pro might agree that proper audio recording practice is essential to filmmaking and thus the basis for today’s audio recording workshop.  A 5-minute tutorial on basic practices and rules of thumb could improve the quality output of any beginning project.  This point was driven home while I engaged the students in a lecture style workshop.”