Stepping Up: Video in the Community

Amanda_Blog #8

2010-05-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

So this is it, the very last blog. There is so much to think about and reflect upon. This class has been a crazy ride for the semester and I'm very grateful to be a part of it.

Mahsa, Andy, Jeremy and I went to Stepping Up on Thursday to show our video to the whole organization and get the final a-ok as well as show them the final product (credits with names excluded). After some technical difficulties, we showed the DVD (which had the custom menu) and it was really great to watch everyone's faces as they watched the video. The kids would giggle when they would see themselves or their friends on the screen and the adults looked really impressed. All in all, it was great because we could promote the event on the 11th and get the approval. Hopefully the kids will come and have their parents attend too.

This whole experience has been amazing for me. It was great to be a part of something where I can create, give, and see something positive come out of the hard work. Yes, it was for a grade but it also made a difference in someone's life. It was great too because I was able to get real life prep for when I graduate which was nice. It showed me I can do this and showed me my strengths. I have a better understanding of what I excel in and what I can do to make things better. I had an amazing group and given the opportunity, I would work with all of them again in a heartbeat. I don't think this project would have turned out the way it did if it weren't for everyone. It tugs on my heartstrings to be done with everything because I really enjoyed working with the kids and everyone at Stepping Up as well as my fantastic group. I'm sad to be done, but thrilled with what was made. I hope to do something similar in the future.

Andy - Progress reports/blog #8

2010-05-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

In my opinion this is one of the best video projects I’ve been a part of. I got to work with a GREAT team. I was able to contribute a significant amount of work. This is my first time making a video that will be used by the public. The expressions on the students faces was rewarding to me as they watch the video. It made me feel good about all the work we put in to the project. I’ve learned a significant amount in the process of video production. I have to say, I really enjoy going out to the Worship Center and video tape everything. I actually enjoyed it and learned a lot more than I would sitting in class.

I agree with what Mahsa said, this video of ours will “live on” unlike most of my other art projects that goes somewhere in the corner my garage. This project will make an impact on peoples life in the future. I am proud to be a part of this project. This project is considered my contribution to our future generation.

Mahsa - Progress Report #8

2010-05-03T17:43:00.001-07:00

I’m really happy about my project in this class; at first, I wasn’t too excited about working on one major project with a group, especially because group work can usually end up on one or two people making all the effort while others slack off. But that wasn’t the case here, and although we had ups and downs, in the end this was a great group on a wonderful project.

Never before have I done anything for a class that would, in a way, ‘live on’ long after I was finished with it. To know that this video will be used, seen, and perhaps help others long after this class is over is an interesting reward on it’s own. In other classes, final projects are looked over, criticized and then are usually thrown into the back of my closet or the trash! That’s obviously not the case here! Art-wise, this project has really helped me with my composition with my drawings after experimenting so much the camerawork.

Andy - Progress Report #7

2010-05-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

Our project is essentially done and we included the credits in class last Tuesday. We also have a DVD menu created in Photoshop using the photos I took earlier in the semester. We decided to burn a DVD and watch it together in computer lab just to see how things appear on different screens.

I will check out another Digital SLR to go and take more photos at the center. This way we can have more photos to work with. I am very happy to be a part of such great event and to be in a team that created such a great video. I am also proud of the video we made and can't wait to see the May 7th screening on campus.

Stepping Up Finished Rough Cut 02

2010-04-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

Mahsa - Progress Report #7

2010-04-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

Our editing is crawling to an end, and after many weeks of hard work it seems we’re practically done with the project. It feels great to have participated in such a wonderful event, and to have had a hand in a great creation! I think all we need to do now is add credits and we’ll be set.

Right now I’m working on the poster for the end of the semester showing for all the video projects. Andy will be taking care of the flyers and Jeremy is going to help with pamphlets. I’ll have to gather more pictures from the other groups of their work-in-progress, to create a visually appealing poster, and play with color. I’m not sure about the final design as of yet, though.

Stepping Up Finished Rough Cut

2010-04-13T23:52:00.000-07:00

Amanda_Blog #6

2010-04-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

I couldn't be happier with how things are going! I met up with Mahsa and Jeremy yesterday to oversee what was going on as far as editing. I haven't had to do much in the way of editing but I have been giving some music recommendations. I made a folder with at least 15 possible songs that we could use for the video and let the group pick what they thought would work for the video. I didn't have to stay because they were busy editing and I wasn't needed.

As I type this, Jeremy is doing some cleaning up of the rough cut but it is basically complete. I plan on having this posted to our blog and have Jo review it so I can get feedback and figure out if we need to change anything. I'm really happy with how this turned out!!

Also, I have to say, I'm really glad we were able to get an interview with Robin. The first two times we had tried, she was unavailable and we had to schedule it for sometime after spring break. We interviewed her on Thursday last week and it was great! We got a lot of great footage from her and it looks great in the video.

Mahsa - Progress Report #6

2010-03-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was supposed to be our last day for shooting, but sadly one of our interviews was spoiled due to miscommunication. We'll have to reschedule for Tuesday, even though we didn't plan on shooting that day. Thankfully the one we successfully finished went very well, and we got plenty of material we could use. I think at this point the worst problem we might encounter is having too much good footage, and therefore fighting to keep our favorites. Five minutes doesn't seem like a lot when we have over 8 hours of footage! Though I'm sure when we get down to cutting and cropping, it'll help everything go smoothly.

Today, Jeremy, Andy and I are meeting to do some editing on the footage we already have. We're hoping to get a decent starting point, a good opening, and hopefully a helpful skeleton for the rest of the project. We already have a great idea for how to end it, but that might change as we rifle back through the footage we have!

Andy_Blog#6

2010-03-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today we all met up at the church to shoot 2 interviews but we were only able to get 1, due to some mis-communication. Although, we will return next week and capture what we need. Therefore improvised, and have the kids tell us tell us what each of there "bigger dream" was on camera. We thought it would come in handy while we edit the footage.

Since I checked out a Canon Rebel T1i for the weekend I might as well use it at the church and take some photos of the place, kids, mentors, and the team at work.

JBlog

2010-03-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Monday the 15th of March, Andy and I went to the church and shot a B-roll day. We challenged ourselves with camera angles and shots that would raise the production value of the video. I also wanted specific shots that I had a couple of the children do for me. i.e. foot tapping, and pencil tapping (close up). We also reviewed the interview footage to dictate shots we need to have like John (mentor) working with some of the kids. We only shot 1 tape but we chose all of our shots very carefully which gives us a lot of options during the editing process.

We were also able to shoot the kids during their recess in which we hadn't been able to do in previous visits because of time restraints. I decided to shoot at a higher shutter speed (250) because of the sunny day which gave us very crisp images.

Blog #5 Amanda

2010-03-16T12:34:00.001-07:00

Everything is right on schedule! We are almost done shooting everything we need which I'm excited for. Thursday marks our last day of shooting. We will finish up with interviewing Robin and Carlin as well as any students/mentors we missed before. Jeremy and Andy shot a bunch of b-roll yesterday and we interviewed Jo last Thursday. We got a lot of footage, covered all our bases and have a lot of great soundbites to pull. I'm almost worried we have too much footage! I am excited to start editing it down though. I think its going to look great once we are done!

~Amanda

Mahsa - Progress Report #5

2010-03-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

Our last shoot was on Thursday, where we spent a good two hours interviewing Jo. As expected, we got great material from her for narrating purposes as well as interview footage. She did a great job of answering the questions, and even expanding on them, which allowed for great stories about the mentors and kids that we didn’t expect. We did initially encounter problems with the equipment, and figuring out how to set up the cameras and the lights in Jo’s office to get the best image and composition, but we pulled through in the end! At this point our group is fairly comfortable as far as communicating with each other, so we have no problem suggesting different takes or ways of going about the shooting/interviewing and that makes for a great work environment.

Our next step is to get footage of two more staff members at Stepping Up, perhaps a few more interviews, but we seem to be pretty much done with shooting. We’ll be off to the editing soon! At this point we’re ready to get cracking after Spring Break. I’m really excited about how smoothly the gears seem to be rolling, and I hope I didn’t just jinx our group by saying that!

Andy_Interviewed Jo & B-Roll...#5

2010-03-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

>Thursday, March 11, 2010
Last week we were able to interview Jo inside her office. We started setting up our equipment right away, like Jeremy mentioned it took us a good 30-40 minutes to set everything correctly. The reason why we spend so much time setting up is because, we want good if not great outcome. In comparison to the classroom we usually interviewed in, Jo's office was a little bit smaller. Therefore, we had to make minor adjustments with our lighting.

>Today...Monday, March 15, 2010
On our furlough day, Jeremy and I met at the Worship Center today and got a lot of good shots. Our shots consist of "dutch angles, pans, rack focuses, b-roll, and more." One of our main goals were to get some footage of John mentoring a student. We wanted to get some footage of Robyn and a student too, but she left before we got the chance to do so.

With the way things are going and everyone's collaboration in the group. I feel confident about our project. Everyone in the group is very understanding and gets a long fine.

Lights, Camera, Action

2010-03-11T23:25:00.000-08:00

Today our group had the privilege of interviewing Jo in her office at the Escondido library. To be honest, I am glad we did this interview toward the end of our shooting because I feel that our group is really becoming comfortable with everything associated with preparing and executing a good looking shot/scene. We spent about 30-40 minutes tweaking lights and framing, but it was time well spent because the interview turned out great in my opinion. To date we have between 6-8 hours of footage (mostly interviews) that we will dig through to find the best sound bytes that contribute to the main theme of the video.

I feel we could be almost done shooting by spring break and can start rough edits as soon as next week (depending on schedules).

Im posting a smidgen so yall can see :) There is a 2nd camera but its not captured yet.

-Jeremy

Mahsa - Progress Report #4

2010-03-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

We were able to shoot Tuesday and Thursday last week, so we got a lot of footage of the kids as well as the mentors. We got some footage of a Taekwondo instructor that came in on Thursday, which is the program's slow day, to give the kids exercise as well as help build good values (the instructor really emphasized respect). The children really seemed to enjoy it, and we got some great interviews afterward with the kids telling us about it.

A big brick wall we seem to be hitting, for both the kids and the mentors, is getting everyone to respond in complete sentences. The mentors need to be reminded now and then, but the kids don't always seem to understand what we're asking of them. We tried suggesting the fill-in-the-blank method, repeat-after-me method, and answer-the-question-in-your-own-words... Every kid responded differently, so we had a round robin of methods. They're also all understandably nervous, so we've tried different ways of getting them accustomed to the cameras and lights. We might need to bring a few kids/mentors back for second interviews! Nevertheless, we did get awesome material that just needs to be put through the editing-machine. Our equipment is working great though, I'm ecstatic that we're not having any issues as far as that part goes!

Amanda_Blog #4

2010-03-09T13:08:00.001-08:00

So far everything is going great! We have a real rhythm going. We only have Carlin, Robin and Jo left to shoot which we plan on doing on Thursday this week. Jo said we could shoot in her office which is really cool. We also want to shoot Robin and Carlin with some of the kids to break up the feeling of it being just an "interview." Plus, I think it will greatly add to the feel we want. I look forward to seeing what comes of it. I know last week we got some great stuff from the kids and from John too. I can't wait to see how that turns out. So far so good. I have a great team :)

Andy_Shooting: Day 1...#4

2010-03-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

The first day of shooting went well. We were able to set up our equipment in the second room "#11". There were no technical difficulties or anything. The only problem I remember was, we had a hard time getting the kids to respond in complete sentences. We brought in 1 mentor and 2 kids at a time. Some of the kids and even mentors were either too nervous or shy. We try to come up with solutions such as letting the mentors get interviewed first while the kids were observing. This helped a tiny bit. We also tried other interviewing methods.

Vlog01

2010-03-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Success!

-Jeremy

Shooting: Day 1

2010-03-03T01:45:00.001-08:00

So far, so good. We will review the footage and discuss what needs to be addressed in terms of shots and interview Q/A. I was able to capture one of the interviews with one of the mentors. I notice that we might need a bit more emotion or enthusiasm from our interviewees. I haven't reviewed all of the footage but at our next team meeting we will go over it and tighten any loose ends. I did a quick edit of the interview I captured so we can see as a team if what we are doing is working. All editing concepts will be done as a team. -Jeremy

ps. video would not upload. tried mpeg4(h.264), mov(h.264)

Blog #3

2010-03-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

I realize I am late to post this but I wanted to wait until after our day of shooting to post. It might have been better to do it beforehand (note to self).

Anyways, today was our first day of shooting and we learned a lot on the spot. It took us a little bit of time to get the lighting right (after the first two subjects we interviewed) but I like to consider today as a test run. We got some really good morsels but there is still much to be done. I did the interviewing and learned how to ask the kids questions in a way to get a complete sentence. It took some practice and not every kid is the same (which would make it easier but far less fun!). We are going to shoot again on Thursday and focus on interviews. We got some good b-roll footage of the area and the kids working (but we still need more).

Our project is addressing the need to invest in our future. It goes so far beyond giving back because its a good thing to do but giving back because the youth of today are going to be the leaders of tomorrow and we are dependent on them to be the best they can be in every area. One of the things I really liked today was interviewing Brian who is 7 and doing fractions and multiplication! I didn't learn that stuff until 3rd grade!!! I think people need to see the difference that this program makes and what a great tool it is for the kids. I think as a side note, a website would be really great for this program. Its hard to look up Stepping Up online and know what its about because there isn't much literature (or video) and I'm glad to be a part of helping it grow.

~Amanda

Mahsa - Progress Report #3

2010-03-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

According to my teammates (I couldn't make the last meeting we had), we might be rethinking the documentary kid-focused feel of the project. The problem at the moment, if it could be called one, is settling on the outline of what we actually want to do. Even after several meetings, we're a bit uneasy about the end look. Today we'll be shooting at the Church, getting some B-roll of the kids and hopefully some interviews. I think the plan at this point is to get neutral footage we could use in any way we wanted, whether it's the documentary feel or more of a scripted setting.

Andy_Meeting inside "Holy Grounds"...#3

2010-03-01T23:17:00.000-08:00

We met up with Jo at the Church inside the "Holy Grounds", and we agreed to steer the video to focus more on mentors than kids this time around. The group and I are all excited to start shooting already. We already told Jo that we will be coming in Tuesday, March 2nd to conduct interviews and capture other shots as well. By the way, Holy Grounds is a cafe within the Worship Center.

I called VPA 239 Checkout last Friday to reserve for myself to check out equipment today. I was able to get all the equipment I thought we needed, such as the DVX 100B, tripod, Shotgun mic, wireless lav mic, and the light kit. Jeremy, Mahsa, and I will be there early at 2pm to set up the equipment before the kids arrive. Amanda will join us a little after 2pm.

I have tapes laying around at home and some batteries. I will go ahead and take them with me tomorrow, because we have to be prepared. Again we are all excited to start filming and have some footage to start editing.

-Andy Phonhsongkham

Mahsa - Progress Report #2

2010-02-23T15:09:00.001-08:00

We recently made progress on our schedule, stamping down how much we plan on finishing by certain dates. With our shoots set up and our interviews under development, I feel much better as far as preparation goes for the project. In our last meeting with Jo, we agreed on a documentary sort of feel for the video, with interviews focusing on the kids while still highlighting the mentors. We’re all very excited to get started on the shooting, which will lead quickly to editing!

I’m not sure what unique contribution I’ve brought to the group, but I do try to implement new ideas and different views on the process of our video. We all have a shared vision for this video, so I think it’ll be a very successful project!

Meeting the Client (Blog #2)

2010-02-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

As I had said before; Andy, Mahsa, Jeremy and myself met to discuss some concepts to present to Jo the following day. We met with Jo last Tuesday and started talking to see what ideas she had (if any) and talk about what we saw. We presented her with the idea of needing some core footage of the kids and wanting some interviews with her as well as the mentors. We also discussed the idea of talking to some of the teachers who saw an improvement as well as the parents. Further on in the discussion, Jo talked about wanting to incorporate some other ideas but she wasn't sure if they were feasible for the length of the video.

At the end, we all agreed on a core idea for the video; emphasizing the kids and the mentors as well as being a positive, fun, and uplifting video. The goal is to show the return a person gets from being involved and contributing to this program. We will be getting logos and graphics from Jo. I need to send her an email reminder but all in all this is running very smoothly. I love my group and am very excited to start shooting.

As production manager, I've been the one organizing the meetings and setting up schedules. I also offer ideas since we are a very collaborative group but for this project, I'm mostly doing "paper work." I've come to discover that I really enjoy doing this. I always knew that I am good at scheduling (especially since I'm the one who always schedules events and hang outs between my friends and myself) I just didn't know that I could translate that to something like this. It's odd because I like doing the dirty work but I feel more comfortable doing this. So far, I like it.

~Amanda

Scouting

2010-02-23T13:43:00.001-08:00

Andy and I went back to the church so we could get some ideas about shots and stories. We found many interesting directions we could take with shot lists and met more of the mentors to see what kind of background they had. I am very excited to start shooting and we should have interviews scheduled as soon as next week. Andy and I went to the second classroom where the kids take their tests and realized that it would be a great room to conduct interviews with staff because of the acoustics and background

Andy_Scouting...#2

2010-02-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Jeremy and I met at the church. We just wanted to show our faces once more before we start to bring in the cameras. Once I stepped in the "classroom", a nostalgic feeling came back to me. Everything reminded me of when I used to be an Activity Leader for SAY San Diego. An Activity Leader is somewhat similar to a Mentor in this case. I noticed there were at least 6 mentors. The set up yesterday was, there were 1 mentor for every 2 kids. We asked the kids and the mentors some questions about the program and how things ran each day.

Andy_Met and Brainstorm...#1

2010-02-16T21:44:00.001-08:00

Last night the group and I met at Starbucks near school. We discussed different ideas on which direction we would like to take. The first idea was to have the project be documentary style. The second idea was to have a scripted like style of video where we would have dialogues for the kids and staff to read. We agreed that one would be a bit corny. Another approach we thought about was to have a sad video for mentors and entrepreneurs to feel sorry for the kids and would feel obligated to lend time and money.

We figured we should have at least two cameras when we shoot in order to have multiple angles. According to what my partners told me about the setting location of the site, we agreed to take some b-roll footage of the parameters. We also thought we should interview 1 mentor from each age group, for instance 1 mentor from high school and college.

Mahsa - First Meeting

2010-02-16T12:44:00.001-08:00

Our first meeting at the Emmanuel Faith Community Church went very smoothly. Not only did we get a chance to meet most of the staff, we had a chance to converse with some of the kids. They were very cute, and confident, which is perfect for when we get a chance to put them on camera. Some of the girls described their days, mentioning how they have fun at Stepping Up and learn at the same time. They admitted that they still didn’t like some activities, like math or reading, but that they were getting better at it nonetheless. One of the girls proudly mentioned that she wanted to be an astrophysicist, describing how she wanted to ‘study the stars’. Another girl shared that her favorite part of the day was coming to Stepping Up after school, where she got a lot of homework done and had fun at the same time.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to any of the mentors, but just talking to the kids I have a good feeling about this project. They’re very confident, smart, articulate and energetic. It’s going to be fun working with them!

Initiate Blogging Sequence...

2010-02-16T11:07:00.000-08:00

Our group met at Starbucks and went over a few possible directions for the video. We all liked one specific direction but still worked our options so Jo can have some different ideas to choose from. So from here we started drawing out a possible structure to how the video would flow. We talked about having a cool intro using Flash and a possible ending using time-lapse. The group and I also wrote specific questions to ask Jo, the mentors, and the children so we can structure our video around their answers.

We also talked about the types of shots we would like to see in the video. We also talked about the music, realizing that the music would be playing a larger role in the feel of this video than we thought.

To be continued...

Jeremy York

Meet at greet

2010-02-15T20:53:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday Mahsa, Jeremy, and myself went to Emmanuel Faith Community Church to meet with Jo Jones and see the Stepping Up program in action. I had such a blast meeting all the kids that were there. Jo introduced us to everyone and right away this little girl came up and introduced herself to each of us individually. It was so adorable. Each of the mentors were at a different table working with different group of kids. Jo explained to us that we had come on a quiet day when they have all the kids together and generally there are more kids around. Jeremy, Mahsa and I went around to each table and talked with some kids individually as well as the mentors. It was a nice introduction into the program and a way to wet our appetites. It's really apparent these kids like being there and I'm happy to be a part of this.

Tomorrow we meet with Jo and present our ideas to her to see which direction she would like to go. After that, Jeremy, Andy and Mahsa will go on Wednesday to do some scouting. I'm so excited!

~Amanda