Meet the Filmmaker: Christina Guerra

07 Mar 2010, 12:55 PM by Elizabeth Rodd

An Educator's Perspective on Ghetto Talks

06 Mar 2010, 7:09 PM by Elizabeth Rodd

By Joshua Davis, Co-Director, Ghetto Talks II

Today the Urban Arts Partnership Media Lab Team interviewed Mr. Matt Brown, principal of the Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School in East Flatbush inside the Tilden Campus.  We booked the interview because we felt that speaking to a person who has traveled around the United States and the world to places that may experience the word ghetto differently was essential to our documentary.  We were curious about Mr. Brown’s experiences before coming to New York City and about why he chose to help found a new high school in Brooklyn.  The stories he shared with us about working in Africa, Los Angeles and for the Outward Bound program were interesting, especially the connections he made to our film Ghetto Talks.  

Mr. Brown stated that he had no real association with the word ghetto until he watched our film.  He said we pushed him to think more deeply about how the word was used in the past versus how it’s used today.  His call to action is to stress to his family, students and staff the importance of using the word in a positive sense instead of a negative one.

After we interviewed Mr. Brown we captured some b-roll of the school setting and everyday life at Kurt Hahn.  We’ll combine this footage with the b-roll we shot at our first in-school screening.

This was my first time directing an interview so I learned a lot about the director’s responsibilities on this shoot.  Basically, the director makes the final decisions and keeps the project running efficiently.  I think I did a great job.  In the words of Mr. Brown: “Ya’ll really are professionals.”

Thanks for reading the Ghetto Talks blog, and keep checking back.  We’d love to read your comments.

Meet the Filmmaker: Sotonye Douglas

06 Mar 2010, 11:01 AM by Elizabeth Rodd

By Daniel Familia, Producer, Ghetto Talks II

 

Ghetto Talks: First In-school Screening!

02 Mar 2010, 11:49 AM by Elizabeth Rodd

By Omar Cyrille, Assistant Cinematographer, Ghetto Talks II

Ghetto Talks, an original documentary by Advanced Media Lab students at Urban Arts Partnership, had its first in-school screening at Kurt Hahn High School in Brooklyn tonight.  Current students, teachers and parents attended the screening.  Personally, I was extremely nervous to present our project.  As the lights went down the audience became very attentive.  I expected some students to talk and joke around with the content of the film, but surprisingly they were on the edge of their seats.  Parents were nodding in agreement with the message of our film.

I’ve seen Ghetto Talks around six times and it still puts a smile on my face when I see the work our student crew put together.  Everyone put in countless hours over a three-month period to make this 16-minute documentary.  When the credits rolled, the lights turned on and I heard the massive claps from pleased peers and their parents, all I could do was think about how the hard work and long sessions had been worth it.

We also used the Kurt Hahn screening as an opportunity to get some b-roll and verité footage with Principal Matt Brown, who will be the subject of the next response piece in our Ghetto Talks II production.  I was assistant cinematographer tonight, so I captured footage of the Q&A while student presenters SoSo Douglas and Joshua Davis fielded questions and comments from the audience.

I was really surprised at their reactions. At first nobody was saying anything.  A teacher from Kurt Hahn opened the floor with his very entertaining comment.  He opened the door for parents to walk through and throw their insight in.  It reminded me of a classroom.  People agreed and disagreed respectfully.  The questions and answers could have gone on all night.  

I really appreciated when a parent explained the word ghetto as a mindset because I feel the same way.  She said that people have it set in their minds that they need to act and be a certain way.  Another woman said that some people aren’t poor but they don’t want to move out of the ghetto because they feel they need to be in the ghetto to feel like themselves.  They’re trapped in their own minds.

Our first screening left our audience with questions and awareness on the word ghetto.  I’m sure that people didn’t realize how much the word is used.  It was a great event.  Be sure to check back on our blog to find out when the next screening is!

Ghetto Brothers: The Ghetto as a Badge of Pride

22 Feb 2010, 1:21 PM by Elizabeth Rodd

By Shamrod Lockwood, Cinematographer, Ghetto Talks II

Today the Ghetto Talks production crew interviewed Robert Dominguez, Entertainment Editor for the Daily News and a former member of the Ghetto Brothers, a gang founded in New York City's South Bronx in the late 1960s.  The group had a positive reputation in the community and tried to use the word ghetto in a positive way. 

As we made our way to the Daily News headquarters in the freezing cold we realized that we had been walking in the wrong direction for at least three blocks since getting off the subway.  We had been towing our camera, a tripod and lighting equipment from the Urban Arts offices on Canal Street, so this was no small mistake. 

When we finally arrived, we discovered that the interior of the Daily News building was like something out of a futuristic movie.  After the security guard let us pass through the gate, we took the elevator to Robert Dominguez’s office.  Our film crew split into two groups: the first group filmed b-roll footage of Robert watching our original documentary Ghetto Talks; the second group quickly prepared for Robert’s interview.  I was the lead cameraman so I was in Group 2.

In less than fifteen minutes Group 2 had to do a sound check and staging.  We quickly discovered that one of our sound inputs wasn’t working.  Viewers are more forgiving of bad visuals than bad audio, so we had to make it work fast or else.  It turned out that one of the sound inputs on our camera was completely shot, so we were stuck with using just a lavalier. 

When Robert came back from the b-roll shoot Group 2 asked him to have a seat in the chair and provided him with some water.  Robert’s views on his life growing up in the South Bronx and on being part of the Ghetto Brothers were different than what we expected them to be.  We learned that Robert wasn’t in the Ghetto Brothers just for protection – along the way he found a family.  He also gave us a fresh perspective on using the word ghetto: he said that people take and use words in whatever way they want – positive or negative – but in the case of growing up in the ghetto, the word should be “worn as a badge of pride.”

After the interview Robert took us on a tour of the Daily News office.  There was a hallway that had countless cover stories from the newspaper dating as far back as the1950’s.  Student Director SoSo Douglas had me shoot lots of establishing and b-roll shots in the newsroom and hallway.  My favorite shot was of Robert walking down the hallway in between two walls of archival cover stories.

This production was an amazing experience!  I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out in our film.