Funnery Camp

I've always enjoyed acting, but never explored it as much as I did this summer. Since the age of 6 I've regularly been apart of The Greenbelt Art Center's musical productions, through Creative Kids Camp, Camp Encore, or the Winter Youth Musical, which I'll be posting about in the future I do enjoy musical theater, but my passion is definitely acting. During august of summer 2012 I traveled to Vermont to stay with one of my best friends, Barbara, and do Shakespeare camp. Get Thee to the Funnery was an amazing camp and although it sounds cliche, really changed my life. The camp is unique in many ways, like helping the campers with voice and face warmups as well as things like yoga and meditation. We were a tight knit community, and I'm still in tough with many of the campers and counselors.

It's really strange to be able to say I have over 40 people that I love and care about in Vermont, but it's true. I've also made connections to people in England and Ireland Through camp. My family who are traveling to Ireland for 2 weeks in June, will be visiting my friend from camp there, which just goes to show how small this world is.

Since I've returned home I've been pursuing acting even more(not to successfully yet), and practicing both yoga and meditation on my own. The play I acted in, Much Ado About Nothing, actually helps me recognize references to Shakespeare in modern literature, which has been very interesting. During our production, which was the farthest thing from traditional, we divided up the script into scenes. I got to act as Benedick, Friar Francis, Balthazar, and a messenger. The camp was a great experience and worth going to again.

Little Friends For Peace

I've been involved with the organization Little Friends For Peace(LFFP), since I was 3 years old. I've learned so much about different issues in the world from this camp,which have resided with me, even from that young age. I was taught about peace makers such as Wangari Maathai who planted trees of peace, Sadako Sasaki and her thousand paper cranes, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and many more.

For the past 4 summers I've been a junior counselor at camp. Being a counselor gives me the opportunity to help kids learn the values of a peaceful lifestyle, and problem solving-which will stay with many of these kids throughout their lives. This camp is amazing for so many reasons. The founders of LFFP MJ and Jerry Park have been prominent role models in my life. They are always there for me and my family, and more importantly- have touched the lives of thousands of kids and adults. Being apart of this camp with my brother  and some of my best friends, is my favorite part of the summer. 

I hope to stay with this organization throughout my teen and adult years. Something as rare and valuable as this camp is worth sustaining and expanding. 

http://www.lffp.org/

My passion, Half The Sky

For our journalism class we were told to write about something that appeals to us personally. Something we're truly passionate about. From the moment this was assigned, I thought of the Half The Sky Movement.


I watched the 4 hour documentary last Tuesday and Wednesday, and was truly inspired. It started out as just another PBS documentary my mom wanted me to watch (not that they're not good). But Half The Sky is about issues that effect women everywhere. The documentary, based off a 2009 novel by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, depicts the terrible oppression women are under world wide. It focuses on issues such as: gender discrimination,  prostitution, sex trafficking, women's education, violence and genital mutilation. The purpose is not solely to draw attention to these issues, it's to show support and recognize thee amazing ways many of these women have turned their oppression into opportunity.


What I admire so much about this documentary, is the call to action. The examples of abused women really appeal to the viewers ethics. The documentary also shows how people have already risen up to the occasion to help. Celebrities such as America Ferrera, Eva Mendez, and several others volunteered to help draw attention to these women, who have turned their oppression into opportunity.

I work for a peace organization during the summer, which i'll probably blog about in the future. My experiences with this organization, Little Friends For Peace, my church, my girl scout troop, and other service projects i've been involved in, have helped me to learn empathy and compassion. It is a dream mof mine to work in impoverished areas and countries in order to teach newer generations the values of peace, and gain hope for a more loving, and accepting future. Half the sky has contributed to this dream of mine, and has allowed me to become more interested and informed.

For those reading this who haven't read the book, which i'm currently reading, or watched the documentary Half The Sky, I strongly recommend it. Highly ignored topics such as women's oppression deserve more attention and change.



http://www.halftheskymovement.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_the_Sky:_Turning_Oppression_into_Opportunity_for_Women_Worldwide

Exploring the web

Through stumbleupon.com, I found an interesting website which gives direct links to Behind the scenes  websites.
These websites are interesting, and could potentially be helpful to my dystopian trailer project or future assignments. There is a movie script archive, which could be useful for finding good ideas, but still having a lot of creativity.

Here's the website: Behind the Scenes

Music effects

My groups trailer is about a totalitarian society. THe main character needs to escape after her and her boyfriend are caught looking at confidential files. Much of this trailer will be dramatic.

• This sound effect could build up to the chase scene: http://www.freesound.org/people/BristolStories/sounds/65915/
• This music could work for either when she is being chased by the cops, or when she emerges into the field: http://soundcloud.com/garywolkproductions/terror-eyes
• This clip works for when Leia and Cade tell eachother they love eachother: http://soundcloud.com/alexpaton/intense-love-scene-village

There are many other possibilities for music for our trailer, and i'm looking forward to more exploration! 

Music/ sound effects are something i am most looking forward to learning more about through this assignment. As I said previously I'm interested in behind the scenes aspects of film. 

5x5 Project

My 5x5 depicted Ed Sheeran's September 22nd concert, at the 9:30 Club in DC. Here's my video:5x5 Clip 1: Shows Ed Sheeran interacting with the audience, and taking a picture of them. Clip 2: Ed performing the song "Kiss Me". Clip 3: Ed Performing his number one song, "A Team" Clip 4: Ed's opening act, Mike Passenger, playing a guitar solo. Clip 5: Ed's rap in the song "You need me, I don't need you". I had a lot of fun creating my 5x5. I got to see my favorite artist perform, as well as learn more basic editing techniques which will be very useful throughout high school, and most likely later life. I used a Pure Digital Flip Camera, lent to me by my film teacher. I edited my clips on WeVideo.com, which proved to be easy and fun to use. I had few problems with this project. At one point I had trouble exporting, but that problem resolved itself. I like the way my project turned out. However, I think having longer clips would've been better. Without being able to add any graphics or transitions, i think some of the clips end rather abruptly. I think that the clips came out pretty well despite this, and that they truly portray Ed Sheeran and his style, even though it's a short video. For the next video challenge, i think we should have to do a sequence video, of like events or things. I like these videos because making short stories can often be cliche. Sequences, similar to what i decided to do for this project, can be really interesting and fun to put together, as well as entertaining to watch.

Dystopian Trailer Assignment

The 2008 film Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles, was based off the dystopian novel of the same title, by José Saramago. The movie portrays a society where blindness has become a mass epidemic. The first victim who's lost sight, is brought to a local doctor(Mark Ruffalo), who then in turn looses his sight also. When all those afflicted with blindness are sent into isolation, the doctor's wife(Julianne Moore) pretends to be blind in order to accompany him. This trailer is truly effective, and depicts a dystopian society through film techniques, and the heroine. The trailer is effective, as it shows a scenario so bizarre, that those watching want to see more. The Doctor's wife, is clearly defined as the heroine. She is empowering and attempts to make a change, which is typical of a dystopian protagonist. By using an unrecognizable location, the audience is compelled to see the full movie. This is partly because it gives the movie an aura of mystery, but also because viewers will want to see if the epidemic occurs in a similar or relatable setting to where they live. Like many dystopian films, (excluding 1984), a specific mentioning of time is avoided. From the movie clips included in the trailer, we can tell the Doctor's Wife, is very loving and compassionate towards her husband, which makes her likeable. The transition from darker lighting during the depiction of the epidemic and the mistreatment of the blind, to the lighter shots when there's hope, provokes hope in the viewers as well as the characters. For my group's dystopian trailer, we'll use some similar techniques to the Blindness Trailer. Like Blindness, I would like our heroine to be clearly defined, and relatable. I also want my location to be unrecognizable, so that even if we end up filming in school, our trailer will look unique. I would like our lighting and music to be exemplary of the changes in our plot. By using these techniques in our trailer, i think it could be great!