School project is coming together nicely.

I've often felt that there's such an education crisis in this country. It's been so great being able to give something back and help kids and faculty alike have fun with the learning process.

I've now got three segments completed, two of which I'll have links to at the end of this post. Note that the cuts that I'll provide the links to are still rough, but they'll give you an idea of how things are looking.

I have to say that I've underestimated these kids a bit. The process basically was that they'd research a person or event between the years 1812 and 1860, then "produce" a segment. By this I mean that they'd be soley responsible for developing the content of the segment - I'd shoot, direct and edit it. The assignment called for them to be "interviewed" or appear as experts in their respective segments and tell something about the topic that they were responsible for in their own words. They also had the option of having a narrator provide a lead in and a conclusion/lead out of their segments as well. For some of them, the narrative fell right out of the interviews and the on-camera information that they'd provided, so no narration was really necessary.

Initially, some of the others seemed a bit weak, mostly because for whatever reason, I hadn't been given copies of their lead in/lead out narrations, and wasn't sure if there were enough information in them to help round out the piece. Yesterday, I went in to record voice overs with the English teacher, Adam Brown, on the team for this group of students. Since I wanted the project to be about the kids and the faculty and give them their chance in the spot light - I wanted a faculty member doing the narrations. Ralph talked to Adam and he agreed to do them for us. Adam's voice was so perfect, I can't really believe it. He sounded like someone that could actually have a future in voice over work. He had such a warm, well rounded tone and wonderful enunciation and was great to work with.

Anyway, what I think I was most blown away by was the quality of the writing the kids had done in these narrations. Very well done. This one segment that I'd finished last night wasn't looking like much at first, but with the addition of their well crafted narrations, the piece came together wonderfully. For a group of kids who'd never done anything like this before, I have to say that I'm damn impressed with the results thus far. Overall, I'd really have to say that this has far exceeded my expectations. It's not perfect, and there are things yet to fix, however, it's coming along so nicely, and I find myself so energized by the work these kids have put into it, that I find it difficult to know when to quit at night. Last night I was up until 2:00 AM working on a segment.

Yesterday, I went into their class with the two nearly completed segments I'd been working on(attached below). I popped the DVD in and the kids started just cheering, ooing and ahhing... Afterward, they were all asking me, "Mr. Bennett, when will I get to see mine?" it was such a great experience. So rewarding and uplifting to see them all so excited and responding so positively to the project.

For me, it was validation of the value of arts in education. This exercise taught them not just about having fun with a filmmaking project, but it taught them the importance of research and knowing and understanding a topic. It taught them about presentation, story and structure. For many of them, despite the fact that they were so terribly nervous about being on camera, it also helped give them some confidence as well. I can't remember a more rewarding experience in my life than seeing these kids so engaged and excited about something that can be as mundane and boring as a history class.

Below are links to two clips.

Please note: I've had to remove the following links. I've been given very specific rights to use the music contained in them and do not wish to violate that agreement.

"Star Spangled Banner" This clip features the history teacher, Ralph Sommers. Teachers have a tough life. They work their asses off, are often under paid, unappreciated and really don't seem to have much fun these days. And after having to endure a gut wrenching round of budget cuts, Ralph and his team (not to mention the rest of the staff at the school) were feeling a bit beaten down. Since I wanted this piece to be about the kids and their teachers, I wanted to make sure that Ralph had a chance to have fun with it too. The student that was responsible for this particular topic was so painfully shy, there was no way we could ask her to appear on camera. Her research was flawless and the piece that she prepared was wonderful. So based on her outline, I asked Ralph to tell the story of the Star Spangled Banner. This was done in one take - he did such a nice job. It's a little dark at the moment, but I've fixed that in a new cut - just haven't had time to render and upload.

"The Abolishionist Movement" This clip features my son Travis (the one talking about the anti slavery society) and his partner Josh. While they did have narrations prepared that lead into and out of the piece, I consulted with them after editing and thought that it stood so well on its own that perhaps it didn't need them. We're still deciding, so they may appear in the final cut. Josh did a fine job with the presentation of his materials, but we may rerecord the final two voiceovers for the final cut.

And yes, in case the style of the film left any doubt in your minds, I am a _huge_ Ken Burns fan... :)