Story by Jemima Osea-Asante.  Photographs by Craig Wallace.

 

In less than three weeks Type Cast is set to air at the Tribeca Film Institute’s Our City, My Story showcase, and while I feel the excitement in the Urban Arts offices I also see a sense of accomplishment among the members of the MediaLab Team. Today was all about preparing for the event, and while I always knew my MediaLab peers were capable of being proficient, I was really impressed with the leadership skills everybody demonstrated.
 
Our producers worked on making phone calls to other MediaLabbers who were not able to make it to class this week. We confirmed that all filmmakers had turned in their permission slips and booked each one to represent at an afternoon or evening screening.  We are not playing games and are determined to see our documentary on the big screen!
 
MediaLab Producers calling out the troops.  We mean business, people!
 
Every filmmaker also prepared his or her “elevator pitch.”  An elevator pitch is a speech one makes in a short amount of time, usually 30 seconds, during which one shares his or her ideas with a superior, in our case, the producers at Tribeca.  Picture yourself stepping into an elevator on the first floor to find your boss coincidentally on his way to the 40th floor.  You have a short amount of time—the length of the ride—to pitch him your idea.  We have been practicing different ways to make those 30 seconds count.  During our role play, my two personalities were “Roberta De Niro” and “Aunt Jemima Jolie.”
 
Entourage meets entourage.  That's Aunt Jemima Jolie and Robert De Niro on the left, with emerging filmmakers delivering their pitch on the right.  A complicated web of handshakes ensues.
 
We hope to see you on April 29th at the Tribeca Film Institute, where hopefully you will get to see a preview of our elevator pitches!

 

 

PS 90 Animation Studio

07 Apr 2011, 2:49 PM by kaya, Elementary School

Over the course of this school year the students have been building their visual arts and storytelling skills through comics, animation and character design. Thus far we have done everything from gesture drawings, character personality drawing, comic strips, flip books, stop motion, and cut-out animation. Now we are embarking on our biggest project yet. We have been viewing master works of claymation and puppet animation including Coroline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Muppet Babies. Over the next few weeks we will be constructing a set and puppets to shoot our most vigorous animation. Here are some shots of our set building!

This is the house we're building-

Here are parts of the set- it's really small, so we have to paint carefully-

And this is Abigail, showing how a doodling game during our break can become a neat project once you develop and refine it!

 

Comedic Theater Performance at IS 62

05 Apr 2011, 11:16 AM by keith, Middle School

The students in IS 62's "Laughter's Cool" after school theater program have been exploring comedy this year with teaching artist Jesse Myerson.  They recently performed their original horror parody play entitled "The President's Adventures in Bizarre-o World" in the school for their peers and families.  The play tells the story of a fictional American president who falls alseep one night only to be awakened by a ghost who leads him through a portal to a mysterious mirror world where everything has an eerie twist.  The president must find a way to overcome the obstacles of this 'Bizarre-O World" and return back to reality, where everything is once again as it should be. (OR is it?!....)   After the performance, the cast and writers took questions from the audience and received feedback for improving the play for their next performance.  Later in the spring, students will be writing and performing their own stand up comedy material.  Students are well on their way to becoming future kings and queens of comedy! 

"I thought it was awesome because this was my first time on stage.  My favorite part was when we were rehearsing and we got to fix our mistakes.” – Umar, 6th grade

“I was kind of nervous, but it was really fun.  I like performing because it shows people I have talent, and shows who I really am.” – Taylor, 6th grade

“I think we did great.  I am good at saying my lines and helping write the play.  I want to work on my voice so I can be louder.” – Kiara, 6th grade

“I was nervous and excited.  I had fun making people laugh and I feel happy when I can make the audience happy.” – Keria, 6th grade

PS 48Q Production Stills

04 Apr 2011, 12:22 PM by kaya, Elementary School

Students  48Q's film program are hard at work making their spring film. Based on the song they wrote in a master class called Zombie Blues, this silent film (and musical!) is shaping up to be a great work of art. Stay tuned for movie posters!

The crew in charge of the night sky deciding how many moons:

 

The crew in charge of the earth's design enjoyed making snakes with moustaches:

 

Mounting the set:

trying it out:

 

This week two high school students from Life Stories (UAP's advanced theater program) visited the after school drama club at MS 286 in Harlem.  They performed a scene they recently performed as part of the Rebel Verses Festival, and talked to students about their acting techniques and how they became interested in theater.  The group analyzed and discussed the scene, and then the Life Stories students led the drama club through some of their favorite theater warm-up exercises. 

“It felt good to work with younger actors, and I want to do it more.  I want to help them become better actors.  The advice I would give to younger actors is to try to really believe that you’re the character you’re playing and to watch TV and movies with good acting to analyze what the actors do and try to figure out how they did it.” – Wilmar, 12th grade, Life Stories  

“I thought it was pretty cool for high school students to come to talk to us about acting.  I thought their scene was well-written and well-played.” – Janell, 7th grade, MS 286

“It was fun and made me smile to see how young they’re starting.  That’s how it was for me.  I knew it was what I wanted to do when I was their age.  They were mature in handling our scene.  They analyzed the scene and they understood it.  I loved it.” – Mercedes, 12th grade, Life Stories

Led by teaching artist Brendan Boland, the drama club students have been working on an original adaptation of Euripedes' classical Greek Tragedy Iphigenia in Aulis.  They analyzed and discussed the characters and plot of the play, and then wrote their own original scenes re-telling the story in their own langauge.  From there, the project has morphed into a video "mockumentary" where students will portray reporters broadcasting the events of the play.  

“We have been working on a play based on a Greek play that’s going to be a movie.  We revised our lines and we get to write our own words to make a new script.” – Sapphire, 6th grade, MS 286

“I like to express myself in every way I can.  I feel free when I act.” – Mikaela, 6th grade, MS 286

“I like how when you act you can express yourself how you want to and you can be someone else.” – Imani, 6th grade, MS 286

“Acting is fun because you don’t have to write a lot and you can focus on what you’re doing in the moment.  I want to get better at learning to appreciate what other actors are doing.” – Shirley, 6th grade, MS 286

On Sat, Apr 09, 2011 at 4:37 PM, Mr. Cross wrote:
great job! Mr. Bland is doing an amazing job with them. keep up the good work 6th and 7th grade and pursue your talents.
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