Day 30: Finishing Touches!

By: Destiny Mills, VFC Participant

Today eight of us came to Swathmore to do the finishing touches on the movie. Some parts was a little frustrating, but others were fun. When we first came in we found Joslyn trying to fix all the computers because something went wrong. I got a little nervous because I didnt want anything to be messed up but sadly it was. We had to wait for about 40 minutes to get started but we finally got it.

TTRRAAVVIISS…LOL…HE CAME IN SUPRSINGLY! Anyways we are all working hard and trying to make this movie the best that we can and we are all getting excited about the final project. Hopefully it’ll come out the way we hoped or even better.

Day 29: Getting Down To The Wire

By: Christian Mills, Chester VFC Participant

Today I really felt like we were getting down to the wire!! This morning everyone was at their particular computers, and working with their teammates. We are on edge as we finish and put the finishing touches on the different scenes.

A lot of work was completed and we even laughed and reminisced about the program. We had some crazy memories…I  mean six weeks is a lot of time for a group of teens to have to be with each other everyday. We brought out the best and worst in each other at times, but it was an enjoyable experience with knowledge gained, I think I can speak for everyone when I say that!

This afternoon we got to watch the “movie” in scene by scene form, and it was really exciting to see both my acting and my work from behind the scenes with filming and editing. It was like a rush, and everyone got empowered and just wanted to fix what needed to be fixed as well as even make some things better.

It is a bittersweet feeling that the program is almost over. I feel like I have learned a lot, had valuable experiences, gained knowledge that I wouldn’t have, met unique people, of whom I will keep in contact with and some who I will miss dearly.  I am happy because I get to enjoy my two weeks left before I start school, and get to sleep in as well as enjoy my check.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

-JOSLYN, BRIAN, LEVI, LAUREN, TRAVIS AND ALVIN FOR BEING WITH US AND KEEPING US FOCUSED EVEN WHEN IT WAS  HARD & ESPECIALLY JOSLYN FOR COMING UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THIS PROGRAM AND MAKING IT A REALITY!!

-CHESTER PAL, MR. BRIAN, MR, CORY “DJ CORY AK” LONG FOR LETTING US USE YOUR FACILITIES, DRIVING US TO AND FROM, AD FOR RADIO TIME AS WELL AS OUR TALKS WITH MR. CORY ON DIFFERENT OCCASIONS.

-MY FELLOW VFC PARTICIPANTS!! MARCUS, TEDDY, NEIA, KIRA, DESTINY, JOE, AYANAH, DWAYNE AND JASMINE. Y’ALL MADE THIS PROGRAM FUN & ALL OF YOU CAN EASILY MAKE YOUR DREAMS REALITY TOO. IT’S BEEN A JOURNEY, AND WE MADE IT TO THE END 🙂

Day 28: Another day, Another $ Dollar

By: Neia Hicks, VFC Participant

Today when we first came in the computer lab our directors talked to us about different things, reflecting on the program and stuff like that. Then, after that, we stared to do the project again (working on the movie)-we are almost finished. Around 11:00 the power went off. I guess yesterday I should of not said that it probably would go out. 😉 We did not do to much stuff today but edit the movie. We had lunch, then came back and worked on the movie movie some more.               I will write back later.

Sincerely,

Neia

Day 27: When the editing gets tough, the movie gets going

By: Neia Hicks, VFC Participant

Today we did our usual editing process. Some scenes were so crazy. We had to cut parts here and there and everywhere. It gets confusing at times, finding music for different scenes, and everything.

I was watching one of our scenes from the movie, and I was so proud of us because we put so much hard work into this movie, and it’s going to be perfect, but you know I’m not going to say perfect because something crazy might  happen like the power going to go out or something might delete on accident unexpectedly. How crazy that might be, and after today we went to lunch and had laughs and giggles. Then off to our internships. It’s so sad that we won’t see them until next week, but I had a lot of fun. Well that’s all for now.               Bye

Sincerely,

Neia

Day 26: Hot, Humid, and Hard-Working

By: Joslyn Young, Director & Founder

Today was another day of editing. I think we’ll probably be able to get the whole thing put together by Wednesday afternoon–knocking on wood for no hard drive failure or anything of that nature. All the groups are working hard, and getting frustrated with computers as I expected at this point in the editing process, but things are going pretty well. We’re lucky to be in the Language Resource Center at Swarthmore because it has just the right amount of air conditioning, but when we went outside for lunch and to go home–whoa, was it hot!

We’re also getting ready for our closing ceremony, which should be nice-and hopefully not as hot. It’ll be a nice celebration of the summer I think, but I also think that most of us want the program to be able to continue in the future, so we’ve got to work on that as well. I’ll be recruiting for volunteers at Swarthmore and Widener to get some help for running an afterschool program, and hopefully everything will go well. I just need to find some funding…

Days 23-25: As the Days Go By

By: Kira Vick, Participant

A summary of what we have been doing for the past three days:

On Wednesday August 5, Chester Voices Change headed down to Swarthmore College to continue editing on our movie. We had a few technical difficulties, but we figured it all out.

The next day, Thursday August 6, we continued to edit our movie, but our time was cut short, due to a web chat between us, Chester Voices For Change, and Green Relay, an environmental justice  group in LA. During the chat we learned a little bit more about what they do, and at the same time they learned about what we  do.

After the chat we left Swarthmore and headed off to our internships, there Dwayne and I  recorded our own commercials for our 3 musketeers bars, the two videos will be up on my website soon.  😀

Today we’re just continuing on our movie, which will be out soon. We’re also selling candy, so if your in  the Swarthmore or Chester area, be sure to look out for us selling candy!!!!!!!

Press Release on Swarthmore’s Website

Check out our press release on the Swarthmore Homepage:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/x26447.xml

Day 22: Work and Play

By: Christian Mills, Chester VFC Participant

After successfully shooting our movie in one week, we began the process of editing it yesterday. We plan to edit all week, and with today being the second day, it came with with different obstacles than the first.

This morning, my group embarked upon editing the one scene that we had to be done by lunch. Things started off pretty smoothly, but before we knew it, we came upon the realization that we now need to go re-shoot that scene. This realization was not negative, but bittersweet. You see, had we just imported the scenes, when we put the movie together, we would not have the time to go back and re-shoot the scene.

Moving on from that scene to a different one, the rest of the morning went well. We are pretty much finished the second scene we began on and it looks like a real movie. (It is but you know how you don’t understand something until you are apart of it? It’s like that.)

The editing process requires focus and determination to finish what you have started. I might get a little sidetracked sometimes, or be off in my own world in my mind, but I do enjoy the whole movie making process. Seeing the scene that we had almost completed today helped me to realize that in every good thing there is hard work.

For the fun of it, I’ll write about our lunch. Today we spent our lunch watching Maury and just being awed at the different situations, we had some good laughs. I don’t want you (the reader) thinking that its all work, no play so to speak.

I enjoy the other teens. We have fun, laugh, and even get on each other’s nerves but we always have fun.

Day 21: A Hard Day of Work and Teamwork

By: Neia Hicks, Participant

Today we got pick up from the Unity Center (which is our regular spot ) to go to Swarthmore College to do some importing and editing for the moive entitled ”Through Our Eyes.” There were a lot of things that had to be done.

We spent the day importing. There was so much importing that had to be done. We didn’t have enough time to edit; guess we have to do that tomorrow. After we got to work for about 45 minutes to a hour, our mentors took 3 of us at a time around the campus to sell candy for our H.Y.P.E. campaign to raise money for our T-shirts. It was fun, a lot of people help us out by donating money.

Then it was time for lunch so we save our projects on the computer, then went to lunch. After lunch we went to shot one more scene for the movie. Then, we went back to the computer lab to do more importing. Then our mentors took some of us back out to sell more candy. Then after that it was about 3:26 so we had to pack up because Mr. Cory came to pick us up and take us back to the Unity Center. Then we went home.

Day 20: Finished Filming-Almost

By: Joslyn Young, Director & Founder

Friday was a long day to finish off a long week. Everyone was hot and tired from filming late on Thursday night, and we had a lot to get done. However, we did almost finish with filming all the scenes for Through Our Eyes. We still have a few of Rashad’s scenes (Joe’s scenes) to do next week, but they should be pretty easy to get through.

The group has all been trying to raise money for their H.Y.P.E. campaign t-shirts. Their goal is to have 100 or more t-shirts for the “Helping Youth Positively Excel” campaign by August 19 when there is a Mario concert in Chester. The teens plus about 90 other people will wear the shirts, which will sort of be a teen resource guide, with phone numbers and contact information for local teen resources on the back. They’ve been selling candy all week and feeling the joy of making some profit to donate towards this cause. They’ve still got a bit more to raise, but they’ll get there, I’m sure.

I can’t believe we’re 2/3 of the way done with the program. We’ve got two weeks left to edit EVERYTHING, which will be tight, but I think that the teens will be able to get it done. They took quickly to Final Cut Express the last time we worked with it, so I think it should be ok. Plus, we’ll be in the air-conditioned Language Resource Center at Swarthmore, so we won’t be competing with the heat when filming, which is always good in my book.