Sean and Lee working in class
Students at Austin High, and even members of the “K-AHS class” itself, often seem to forget that there is more than one side to our curriculum. It is, in fact, formally referred to as Media Tech, a course whose purpose is, from a purely educational standpoint, to confer upon its students a familiarity with the media arts and the means of their production, information which would certainly be useful should someone intend to follow a career in the entertainment industry in the years following high school graduation.
Trinity and Lee prepare to tape the announcements
Although the majority of our time is spent filming the Austin High morning announcements, B-roll for the Austin High morning announcements, or introductory shorts for the Austin High morning announcements, we do occassionally receive opportunities to work on other projects. Examples include Spence Howden's “SportsCenter,” short “extended announcements” advertising international tours, and news packages that we are assigned semi-regularly. Last semester, students in both advanced Media Tech class were also given the opportunity to participate in the Travis County Teen Dating Violence PSA competition, wherein they were asked to film 24-second public service announcements concerning dating violence. The contest is sponsored by the Austin Film Festival and is the biggest competition during the year.
With this in mind, I, Sean Haugh, and my good friend, Lee Mendez, began brainstorming ideas for a short which would demand the attention that dating abuse so rightfully deserves. Frequently this topic is swept hastily under the rug, and rarely do its victims, who are already so fragile in their formative years, speak out against it. It is often months or years before a person is willing to admit that they have been raped or abused, and after such a great length of time it is nearly impossible to hold anyone responsible for what can ultimately lead to fundamental change in a person's demeanor and personality.
Lee presented me with a simple idea – the image of a single girl, standing alone in a hallway, with no distinguishing characteristics or features that would elicit curiosity of relationship abuse. And, as she stood there, looking perfectly like any other girl one might find at our pleasant little school, if not slightly more depressed, hundreds of student would pass by, indifferent or unaware of her trauma. Our service announcement, aptly titled “Recognize the Signs,” would target this group of people; the passersby, the unaware or unconcerned.
As we began our work, we first outlined scenes that would be ideal in maximizing the impact of our piece. Vignettes would create an unsettling ambience, further abetted by erratic, often dizzying, shifts in the speed of the students in the background. These two elements would combine to generate a sort of visual “white noise,” in order to elicit a disconcerted response. To create the time shifting effect, we had to first film our actress, Emily McGee, in front of a green screen, so that she would not also be subject to sudden changes in the perception of her movement. Having filmed and edited these two elements, our piece needed only to be resolved by a simple voiceover and a series of “signs to recognize.”
As recently as our first week back at Austin High, Lee and I were informed that our public service announcement received first place. I was extremely pleased, and presumably so was Lee. This experience – to see the work that is necessary in producing industry-level work – has been both extremely educational and extremely humbling to me. Ultimately, I am both proud of our work and proud to represent Austin High as one of the creative minds selected to receive this award.
see the PSA here
Sean Haugh, Junior - Advanced Field Production
No comments:
Post a Comment