Media Arts: The bully interviews

This week we had the opportunity to talk with a few celebrities about their careers, advice on the industry, and most importantly bullying.  Here's the first edited clip from the interview with Brock Ciarlelli (from ABC's The Middle) with a good question from Sabrina.  Additional clips will be posted next week.

Media Art: Bully

October is National Bullying Prevention Month and we'll be creating a short film about the subject in partnership with classes in Japan and Pakistan through the Japan Society Going Global project.  We'll begin by taking a look at a few clips from the film Bully and discussing them and explore what has come from the film in the Bully Project.  Below is the short PSA the media class created last year in conjunction with the School Improvement Team for reference.

Media Art: Public Service Announcement

Last month all of Mr.Needles classes joined together and contributed to creating a public service announcement for the school addressing the greater awareness of the language we use in school.  Here's the final PSA, there are still a few qwerks to work out but it makes a strong message.  Thanks to all the students who helped take photos, edit, and brainstorm- well done!

Media Art: Children's Films

Our next film project is creating a short children's film for the "Young Filmmaker" category of the Chicago International Children's Film Festival.  The films should follow the criteria bulleted below and the film will be due in class in May 8 (the festival entry deadline is May 31st). 

The action of the film should be child-driven.

The stories should be culturally authentic, timely, and of universal appeal.

Films submitted to CICFF should be made for, rather than about, children.

Film content should be creative, highly original, and demonstrate artistic and technical mastery.

Content should speak positively to children of diverse backgrounds and cultures & should provide strong role models for both boys and girls.

We'll discuss the details in class and look at some examples but below is a great example of short PSA produced and created by Smithtown East's own Rich Vernillo a few years ago.  He created this impressive short about bullying in high school and it went on to gain a huge number of views and acknowledgement.