10,080 Minutes Later- the week to week happenings

Unofficial Meeting #1: September 16, 2003
Old members and a few new junior members met for the first time unofficially to form committees, make plans for the club fair (Sept. 24) and to talk about upcoming projects. We met our new advisor, Ms. Kim and started talking about issues we wanted to cover. First official meeting is Sept. 30! An online board has been created for students to voice their opinion. Topic to come when we vote on it.

Meeting #1: September 30, 2003- Intro to Media Activism
We were all so excited to see so many new members on our first meeting. We started off with a game. All members stood in the middle of the room. When they heard a statement they agreed with, they moved to one side of the room. If they disagreed, they moved to the other side of the room. Statements included;

I consider myself a youth
I have very little effect on what happens at school
When I watch TV, I see youth similar to me and my friends portrayed on the screen
I feel any emotion when I watch or read the news
I feel satisfied when I watch or read the news
I feel upset, frustrated or angry when I watch or read the news sometimes
I've done something in reaction to the emotions I feel when I watch or read the news

Members then discussed what media activism actually is, what it means to be literate in the media, and why media democracy is so important. Committee members explained their committees, we discussed ideas for things to do on Media Democracy Day (October 17), the idea of creating a free speech board, Media Activism taked over you homeroom, dues, project ideas and introduced the general ideas of our club to the new members.

Meeting #2: October 7, 2003- Advertising and Persuasive Techniques
Today, all of the members introduced themselves so we could know everyone's names. Then, we viewed several commercials and public service announcements from different programs. We discussed what it means to focus in on an audience, a message, and talked about the type of imagery, audio and editting used in a commercial. We analyzed them according to persuasive techniques. We tried to guess the type of programming which the commercials were shown during. Commercials were taped off of "Meet the Press", a political talk show and "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica". We also watched a whole bunch of "The more you know" public service announcements. We picked groups and started creating topics for PSAs that we're making this coming Tuesday. There are limitations on these projects. The projects are not large scale, so we won't be editing them or adding graphics. They have to be under a minute and have to be one continuous shot -- no cuts. There is also an option to make a second one without sound.

Meeting #3: October 14, 2003- PSA taping and viewing
Before we started taping our PSAs, we went over the exact requirements of the project. The PSAs should be of course, under one minute. They have to be comprised of one continuous shot, with no cuts. Each group member should be given a role in the PSA's production. There should be a director, a cameraperson and the talent (on camera actors). The groups finished creating their storylines and made sure they answered the questions:
How is the cameraperson going to move to accomplish the entire PSA in one shot?
What sounds are going to be heard?
Where will it be shot?
Is this project doable in 20 min?
The groups went out to shoot their PSA. Here's an outline of what we came up with:

These projects served as a first step to learning how to work with a group with cameras, limits, deadlines and equiptment. We viewed everyone's projects and talked about what made them work, what could have been improved and whether or not they accurately portray an intended message. We created 5 projects.... maybe we'll get them streaming at some point.

Meeting #4: October 21, 2003- Advertising and Bias
Today we revisited a game we played last year called grab bag products. Members were given a product and had to design a commercial which sold a randomly chosen product to a randomly chosen audience using the technique they were given. The results were pretty funny, and a bit twisted. We also read some articles about bias in the media and had a discussion about the big 10 corporations which control most of the mainstream media. We also talked about what it means to be a youth in terms of the media. Special thanks to Mr. Liu.

Meeting #5: October 28, 2003- The News Media
We had a huge turn out at this meeting, where we watched a few examples of different types of documentary. We saw an independent documentary by Paper Tiger about the World Trade Organization's World Bank meeting and the protests surrounding the convention and screened our projects from last year. We talked about the compoents of a national and local news program and how independent media fits into all of this. We also brainstormed possible topics for our video projects, but need time to refine our ideas.

Meeting #6: November 18, 2003- Camera Tutorial
Today, we finally got to practice using the cameras and equipment. We learned what makes up the camera bag and modeled camera crews. We learned the "Seven Deadly Camera Sins" and learned about diferent types of shots, pans and zooms. We split up into groups and played the circle game, recording parts of the stories, and then critiquing how well we took the footage. Then, we wrote the ideas from last time on the board, and brainstormed new ideas. Some possibilities... "Behind the scenes at the musical" "The REAL Bronx Science", "Rednecks vs Yuppies", "The relationship between bronx science and stuy","Hari Krishna: Cult vs. Religion","The Great Chalk Experiment" (providing chalk to students for use on campus for free expression), "PDA in the Hallways"

Meeting #7: November 25, 2003- Choosing a Project
Today we chose our production groups and began to assign roles to all group members. Members made a last minute effort to propose their ideas, and then we formed groups based on the issues that people wanted to cover. Our project groups are detailed on the current projects page. We all recieved resource packets specific to our jobs, as well as proposal sheets to help us organize our ideas. Take a look...
Production Roles
Production Proposal

Meeting #8: December 2, 2003- Project Development
Today, we developed our project ideas, learned more about our production roles, and began to plan taping days and interview subjects. We filled out our interview wish lists and made webs, charts and lists to plan our projects. We recorded what we know about our subjects, what we want to know and how we will learn it. We talked about deadlines and the screening we want to have at the end.

Meeting #9: December 9, 2003- Production Roles Workshops
Everyone got to be creative today as we had workshops for each production role. Instead of breaking into our project groups, like producers worked together to accomplish a task. Interviewers created questions about the perception of youth in the media and then went out into the school to look for subjects, who they brought back to the club and interviewed on the spot. Directors pieced together seemingly unrelated pieces of footage, interview and narration into a coherant story. Editors tried (in vain) to take the Pinnacle Studio tutorial... we'll figure it out eventually... Technical coordinators made a video about what NOT to do when taping and Production Coordinators got a chance to sit in on any workshop they wanted. Special thanks to all the workshop leaders!
Click here for our workshop plans...

FOOD FAIR, DECEMBER 16, 2003- Special thanks to Layla and Amy for putting it all together and to everyone who brought in food. We raised 30 whole dollars!

Meeting #10: January 6, 2004- Documentary planning
Today, we assembled into our groups to continue planning our projects. There was, however an interesting SPLIT in the groups. Ben and Adam staged a mutiny and over threw Shari's idea which they "didn't like in the first place", possibly bringing Jessie with them. They were joined in their new "untitled" group by Margalit and Sarah, both of whom know little about what the project will actually be. We'll have to see how this plays out, and will have to see how Shari feels about all this. Other groups planning went smoothly. Sara tried to get the club to prepare for our guest speaker by posting on the webgroup.

Meeting #11: January 13, 2004- Guest Speaker Carrie McLaren of StayFree! magazine
Carrie McLaren of StayFree! magazine paid a special visit to our club today. We looked at advertising, specifically the ads which appear in Ad magazines. We learned a lot about the advertising process, and about looking at commercials and ads critically. We learned a little about the magazine she publishes, had really a interesting discussion, and all took home anti-SUV post-cards and copies of StayFree! She was an inspiration for our documentary projects. We would love to work with her in the future.

Meeting #12: February 3, 2004- Superbowl commercials and project planning
Club members met in groups today to fill out project progress reports. Members were able to discuss their plans for shooting footage, taping interviews and editing. We also talked about superbowl commercials, and the different techniques used to make them so effective. There is a site where you can watch superbowl commercials online-- google it! We talked about why superbowl commercials tend to stay with you, and why MoveOn.org's commercial might have been rejected by CBS.

Meeting #13: February 10, 2004- More Project Planning

Meeting #14: February 24, 2004- More Project Planning

Meeting #15: March 2, 2004- What is cool?
We talked a lot about the meaning of "cool" today and created collages based on our thoughts, as a public art installment. This meeting was inspired by Adbuster's "Rethink the cool" campaign. We asked ourselves; What is cool? What is not cool? Who decides what is cool? What are the costs- physical, emotional, economic- of cool? We made a web on the black board and then got to work with our scissors and glue. We also made captions discussing "what is cool" to us, and why. Check out our projects! They are in the english wing!

Meeting #16: March 9, 2004- Finishing posters, taping with the Hare Krishna group
Today, the Hare Krishna group went to JCS to tape, while other club members finished their posters about what is cool.

Meeting #17: March 16, 2004- The RNC in NYC
We explored both sides of an issue today as club members split into two groups- those who were Pro-RNC in NYC and those who were Anti-RNC in NYC. Click here for more details on what we did this week.

Meeting #18: March 23, 2004- Textbook Censorship
Club members examined three different sources today to analyze the media that teenagers are the largest audience for-- textbooks. We looked at a home economics textbook from 1961, an article about how textbooks are regulated and censored from the left and the right, and an article about the history of textbooks and textbook evolution. Each group received a different "artifact" and created short skits to express the information in their "artifact". We asked the question, why do we have to think critically about textbooks, and saw the many inaccuracies in the american history textbook currently used by many of our juniors!

Meeting #19: March 30, 2004- Propaganda
We defined propaganda, and then looked at different types of propaganda, including Maoist propaganda from the cultural revolution in China and Nazi propaganda. We asked whether or not propaganda is dangerous, and why it may be so, and also looked into whether or not propaganda has any positive uses. Then, we split up into groups and created our own propaganda-- childrens' stories, attempting to sell children concepts ranging from democratic candidates, to the McDonald's ideology and not attempting what one sees on TV. We modeled our books after German propaganda from fifth grade biology textbooks.

Meeting #20: April 20, 2004- Scavenger Hunt!
Today, Aliza took over as president, spliting the club into two groups to compete in a media activism scavenger hunt. Students searched around the school, across the campus and up the hill for signatures, and pictures of objects, people and things related to consumerism, propaganda, media literacy activities, and media activism activities. It was really competitive! Results still not in yet! We also talked about Sara and Kate from GSA's plans to create the Social Action Network, and got to know what club members are willing to submit to the project. Check out the preliminary website...

Meeting #21: April 27, 2004- AIDS day PSA or MTV matters
Today, club members got to choose which workshop they would like to join. Members could work together to come up with a concept for an AIDS PSA, which was taped the wednesday after club, edited the thursday after, and then screened in several history and health classes on friday-- AIDS awareness day. Members could also look at several packets of information about MTV and teenagers and have a discussion about how MTV has affected society. Click here for more info.

Meeting #22: May 4, 2004- Evaluation Day
Members evaluated the club's activities for the year, and had a discussion about what can be done next year to make the club even better! Click here for the evaluation form.

Meeting #23: May 11, 2004- Video Rants
We got to complain constructively today. After watching Ben Stein's video rant about bottled water and cell phones, we talked about what makes a rant persuasive and then got to work creating our own rants and taping them. One rant was about starbucks, another about hypocrites, one about the end slices of bread, and one about science fiction. Hopefully, we will use these rants as introductions for our screening.

Meeting #24: May 18, 2004- Leaving BxSci 2004 with a BANG!
The next few weeks are going to be intense for all members of the Media Activism Club. We are in the final stages of our documentaries, but still have tons and tons of editing to do for our screening, Tues JUNE 1! Today, we planned for the screening, but also talked about our final project of the year-helping Seniors register to vote. Starting Friday, May 21 and continuing on until Thursday, May 27, club members will stand outside of the front entrance after 9th period, with signs, clipboards and registration forms calling out to seniors exiting the school, encouraging them to register to vote right there and then. The Media Activism Club will even mail the forms in to the board of elections! We spent most of this meeting making eye catching signs and writing the PA announcement for the upcoming week.

Meeting #25: May 25, 2004- Registering Seniors and Ranting... again...
Everyone in the club met outside of the front entrance today, banding together to help seniors to register to vote. We yelled, we waved our signs, we hunted those eighteen-year-olds down! In total, we registered 29 seniors! Congratulations everyone! Today, we also went to re-tape some of the rants which were erased by accident. They were better the second time around. Now, we look forward to lots and lots of editing this weekend for the screening next tuesday!

Meeting #26: June 1, 2004- SCREENING 04!
Despite the technical difficulties we experienced in trying to attach the projector to the television speakers, the screening was a huge success. 35-40 students came to watch their own works and the works of their friends and peers. Students huddled in the corner of the library to watch The Hare Krishna Project, Sci vs. Stuy and Rants 2004. We also got a sneak preview of two scenes of The Great Social Equation, Adam and Ben's production. Students asked great questions of the project's producers, and got to see how much work actually goes into making a short documentary film. We are all really proud of the work we did this year. We have so many ideas for next year-- expanding the Social Action Network, getting more students to Rant about topics they care about, and involving more of the student body in future projects. Thanks for an absolutely stimulating, productive and exciting year everyone!

[Back to Archives home]