Not In Our Town, Story Arc, Brainstorming

As a youth media maker you have the tools to create videos that create a positive impact in your community and reach audiences beyond your Digital Pathways video class.

Not In Our Town is a local organization that works with the community response to hate crimes nationwide.

In continuation of our work with SCMAA: Story, Conflict, Message, Audience, Aesthetic. We reviewed the elements of the Story Arc using the Story Arc Handout.

The beginning of a story is usually the Set up. In this section you answer what the story is about. You introduce the Who, What, Why, Where, When, How. Then there is a Conflict or tension in the story which can be obstacles, oppositions, loss, creating change. The conflict could be between feelings, ideas, places or people. Then there is a Resolution towards the end of your story. It is the conclusion to your story. The conflict that arose may end, new ideas may be introduced, your story may raise more questions. Remember that your stories don't have to have all the answers. You can leave it open ended.

We watched a couple of video examples from N.I.O.T. and analyzed them using the story arc. What About Walter is an example of a character based documentary. Students Teach Students to Stand Up to Bullying is a youth driven response to bullying in their school. A couple of local San Francisco community responses to hate are Lowell Students Dance Away Hate and Reversing Vandalism.















Students met up in their respective teams to continue brainstorming their topic and mapping out their story in a story arc. Through the course of the session the team that was working on Muni Fare Increases decided to work on Youth in Foster Care instead and the team working on Gentrification decided they were more passionate about Muni Fare Increases. The Sexting team is already going to start production next week!

"Sexting" - Andrea, Ricardo and Amy (absent)
"Youth in Foster Care" - Moe Moe, Thuy, Monjaro
"Muni Fare Increase" - Ruby, Jonathan and Trina (absent)

Krystal is going to lead a MANDATORY camera basics review on Saturday, February 6 at 12noon to 2 pm.

Common Sense Media is going to interview the following students on Wednesday, February 3. Monjaro and Ruby at 4 pm, Ricardo and Andrea at 4:30 pm.