Make Something Beautiful

I had been thinking about creating a unique promotional video for the center where I teach for quite some time, but I didn’t have a concrete idea in mind. While I wasn’t sure about the specifics, I just knew how I wanted it to feel. I knew I wanted to do something with the song “Make Something Beautiful” by Ben Rector, but the busyness of teaching causes each school year to slip by. I felt I had the right group of students, and decided to add a touch of the holidays to it. We made quite a few promotional videos that explained what we do and who we are, I wanted one that just showed the elements and demonstrated how it felt.

The idea came together just before Thanksgiving break. I pulled some multimedia students together and explained the idea. They liked it a lot, so we began organizing and planning. We started filming when we came back from break. Our first day of filming was the same day that the Oxford High School shootings happened, just 30 miles away. Over the next weeks, there was a lot of anxiety as copycat threats were made in surrounding schools. Many students were rightfully worried about being back in such an unsettling time. Still, through the anxiety of school threats and the feeling that school is a safe place being shattered once again, our students still pushed through because they knew the message was important. Good things were still happening in schools, and people were craving a positive message.

I was thrilled that Ben Rector and Musicbed provided permission to use the music legally. We were able to get the video out before we left for Christmas break, and Ben Rector responded to the video himself!

After looking at the techniques filmmakers use to create a long take, my students presented ideas for the subject of the film. After settling on the idea of the last pizza, each group designed a section of the film. It was a challenge to say the least, but resulted in a fun little film.

This is an example of a more traditional video I created that explains what the Utica Center for Science and Industry is using interviews with staff, students, and alumni.

In 2017, we were asked to participate in the MY World 360° film challenge with Digital Promise Global. The purpose was to shoot a film using 360° video technology to share your community, inspire action for change, and spur learning. The topic the students chose was to show the importance of art and creativity in education and how high stakes standardized testing doesn’t evaluate true intellect. “The Tour” shows a class of students about to take a standardized test when a politician comes in to explain the importance of it. A creative student instead takes him on a tour of what creativity does.

Out of 62 participating schools and youth organizations across the country, the CSI film won the “Make Waves Award” for inspiring action for positive change, the top prize for the competition. We also won the “Hack 360 Award” for an ingenious solution to achieve a special effect. We had worked with the Engineering pathway at CSI to design and 3D print a slim base to attach the 360° camera on the top of a pole to reduce the footprint of a bulky tripod. You can read the award announcement here.

The film went on to be showcased at many events, including the United Nations General Assembly.

Lip dubs are popular at the high schools in our district. They use very long, single takes with multiple songs and hundreds of participants. Being a smaller center, I wanted to try one with a single song, not very long, but well choreographed. We used a song by the Imagination Movers called “I Heard That.” We had one hour to rehearse the first half, one hour to rehearse the second half, then an hour and a half to try and get the full take all the way through. We finished just in time. The Imagination Movers themselves said how much they enjoyed the lip dub, and shared it on their platforms.