That's So Gay

Here's a clever piece created by the Choate school about a common, thoughtless expression - that gets under the skin of the Choate Community.

Columbia Journalism School at 100

We call it the J school.... we being those of us who graduated from Columbia University's Journalism School.  It's turning 100 years old this year, at a critical time in the history of journalism, when journalism as we have known it over the past 100 years has started to turn a corner, away from the printed material of newspapers and magazines to an even more concentrated digital age of video and, computers, readers, phones, etc.  It's a confusing time, yet the funadementals of journalism as it has been practiced still live on.  Here's a world class assembly of J School grads talking about the craft of journalism.  Steve Kroft, Tom Brokaw and Christianne Amanpour are just some of the practitioners interviewed in this peice promoting journalism.

Where it goes next is anybody's guess.  The craft is changing, and I am following it carefully here on this blog along with all the other journalists out there who are worried about the tilt towards highly opionionated journalism that violates some of the most fundamental tennets of practicing the art well. 

Phillips Andover Song - Student Rap Video - Not Just a Stepping Stone

Here's a music video written & created by the senior Class of 2012 at Phillips Andover School (PAS).  School administration did not sanction the project.  According to one former grad, there was some concern amongst the administration that the video might not be well received, but it has been out there for over eight months with no backdrafts (the video was posted on YouTube on 7/28/11)

Overall the students the students did a bang up job writing a catchy, contemporary rap song and shooting some with solid, steady camera shots, but I am not so sure about the authenticity of some of the teachers 'rapping' - still kudos to those teachers for giving it the old college try. As of March 28, 2012 the song had 175k+ hits on YouTube.  Pretty good. 

The song says, "Some say PA, is only for diploma day," but that's not the story the song the song goes on to tell us.  It's about a whole lot more.

Could this work as an admissions video?  Probably.  The kids are being honest.  Does it hurt the school?  I don't see it unless you think the teachers are not as professorial as you might expect at a top drawer school like Phillips Andover.   Still, it's fun, creative, positive and it offers a different approach to talking about a school, from the kids POV.  It also shows how talented the PAS grads are.   It's the students POV and isn't that what we all seek when we are trying to tell a story?

Please contact us, the deweymedia team, if you need help with a story you want to tell.  We have video producers with the journalism chops to tell your story in a powerful, creative way.

Cancel

Bob: An Animated Gerbil

Bob's adventure is a big one for such a short animated film.  He covers a lot of ground.  Take a look at his adventures.  Fun little story.

Animation is challenging video production.  It's not the kind of thing you can do in a week as it takes a good deal of preparation and a number of steps depending on the kind of animation you want to create.  Computer animation, like the stuff you see in Bob, usually employes some modeling, and a good amount of time on a powerful computer to crunch out the frames.  Our work for MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies used animation to explain a story that ranged from the nano schedule to the scale in our world.  Moving back and forth between those worlds, while envisioning how technology might enhance the gear belonging to future soldiers was well suited to animation.    Sorry, the sounds of the live interviews is a little out of sync.  The MIT ISN video is three up from the bottom of the page linked here.  deweymedia Executive Producer Paul Dewey has produced a range of animated projects, from animated logos for GE and Pepsi, to his simple animation work for Pubget.