Story

We discussed the story structure, story basics by using SCMMA: what is the Story, what is the Conflict, what is the Message, who is the Audience and what are the Aesthetic choices of the maker? We started by simply listening to the first few minutes of Slip of the Tongue by Karen Lum and then talking about what we heard/saw in our mind's eye. Then, we watched the entire video and discussed it using SCMMA and the Story Arc (Set Up, Conflict, Resolution). We watched Nigger by Jermaine Williams, The Apollos by Jazmin Jones and Nick Parker, 4 My Fellow Beloved by Narissa Lee, A Boy's Mouth by PJ Raval, I Promise Africa by Jerry Henry. I led a class discussion using varying parts of SCMMA to explain and analyze the pieces. 4 My Fellow Beloved was engaging for students who were not as interested in the earlier videos. They seemed touched by the story about alzheimer's and how a person's life starts to deteriorate. There was a strong reaction to A Boy's Mouth, it was the only piece a couple of students said they didn't like because it was only text and it didn't include 'images'. This led us into a discussion about the challenges when taking aesthetic risks.

It was a little difficult at first to get audience participation, but Krystal suggested that I call on people and that worked well. Once a person started sharing their opinion someone else felt compelled to share theirs. I asked them to start keeping a video journal so after every viewing we took a couple of minutes to allow them to write down their initial reactions to each piece. This also helped them gather their thoughts so they could participate in the class discussion.

We didn't get to their stories just yet. It sounds like a couple of them already know what they want to do for their first project. I did a lot of talking so it has been suggested that I let them handle the cameras next session to keep them engaged.