Final Film Thug Life To Education

Hey guys we finally finished our short film Thug Life to Education. My team and I came really far in making this film. We only started out with two clips that wasn't very useful however with the help from my team we were able to make this short film. We started very small with only a little bit of footage. Months later we were able to expanded more and was able to edit the film more efficiently.

What worked the most was when my team and I interviewed Taliek on the roof. The scenery was perfect for me to easily edit. What should have worked was the interview with Taliek's mom. If we only checked the camera before we left his house our film could have been more stronger. What was very challenging was making sure Taliek was here so we can film him. Most of the time he was absent which made it ten times more harder for us to finish the short film.

Overall I thought the film was fantastic. I think everyone got to see another side of Taliek that no one has ever seen before. I'm really proud that I had an opportunity like this. Maybe one day I will get to edit another short film.

Editing of Change

So by a miracle I was finally able to incorporate Taliek's poem into the film. As I edited the clip I was thinking over and over again if it was going to work or not. I was looking at some other footage that we shot in the past and I came across a B-roll clip of pictures in Taliek's house in Brooklyn of his little brother and sisters. I was thinking and I had a brilliant idea of playing both clips at the same time.

In the clips of Taliek reading his poem while doing his hand movements, I will cut out some of his audio and put the B-roll clip and have the film move more smoothly. When editing I made a pretty risky move by adding text to the poem and the B-roll, but it turned out to be an excellent decision and it was well in sync.

For the next step in this project I will just try to make the film run smoothly and make sure that the film is doing a good job of telling his story about him getting out of the gang. The class is having a film viewing of all the final projects so I have to have it ready by next week. I'm very nervous.

My video editing update

Currently I have been on "video editing block" after I got kicked out of my old studio, Candy Star Studios (CSS).  Candy Star Studios is a studio on youtube where editors from the world make a mep ( multi editor project) from all over the world with different songs. I've been kicked out of the studios because I haven't been improving and they just basically told me I need to make better videos. When that happend, I was so sad because that was the first studio I was in. I'm only a sophomore and I still have time to improve.

Liza, the leader of CSS, wasn't lying to me when she told me to improve my videos, she was actually giving me some advice. So, I took a break from editing my videos to work on small projects for other mep's. I thought if I work on my mep parts, I will improve on my videos. This one video, "Supernatural" by Kesha (which is in the above video part 2), I had to hand in to my own studio. I tried using new effects and just testing my ability. I know I can do much much better if I keep on practicing. I will start working with the studios I'm already in, including my own and just keep going from there.

What I'm going to do next is to just keep on moving forward. I'll start making more videos in the summer and then work my way up to edit more professionally after I finish up my school work. Of course, I also have to work on my video for media storm. Were still getting close to finalize the editing.

Change

Taliek's poem "Change" (which he reads in the film) is dedicated to his little brother and sisters. "Change" tells how Taliek is trying to make himself into a new man - throwing out the gang and starting all over with a clean slate. Taliek is also explaining how he is not going to let his brothers and sisters be in this gang to protect their lives after his best friend Gino experienced a tragic death.

I thought we were going to have to re-film Taliek reading his poem, but we didn't have to because  I just found some footage that I haven't seen before. I found out that the poem he presented to us was in fact a great clip. Our members of the group watched the footage after I told them that I had an idea on how we could incorporate this clip at the end of the film. The reason why I originally wanted to re-film him reciting his poem  is that I felt like it didn't mean anything if he was just sitting down reciting the poem, but I found hand movements and with my editing skills, I made it fit more perfectly into the film.

The next step I'm going to take is editing this poem clip to see if I can actually incorporate it into the film. I hope we don't have to re-film it again, but if we do, then I guess that's another step that the group will have to make to get his film to perfection. Stay tuned for our final film! - Watch here next week.

Editing and directing the film

What my group and I have been working on for the past week is filming more shots of Taliek in his neiborhood and being able to interview his mom. We also have been editing the short film to make it more presentable.

What we have to finish this 4th quarter is to work on our blogs and group blogs about the progress of the film, film Taliek a few more times so we can have enough clips, re-film his mom's interview again, and finish our short film.  Recently I have been doing a lot of editing on the film and adding soundtracks to the film. Rosa and Isaiah are going to go to Brownsville, Brooklyn to re-film his mom's interview about Taliek because the last time we went to film her there was no sound in the footage.

What I have to work on personally is just to edit this whole film and make it heart felt and have people say that his story was amazing.

My New Video :)

I have uploaded a new video on you tube. This is a sad video I made (Diary of Jane) for someone special. I wanted to try to edit more sad type and more anger/violent videos to get a feel on what Taliek went trough when he lost his best friend Gino. This video is about 2 guys who lost their girlfriends by not being with them as much as they should be and their trying to find a place back in there lives. This relates with Taliek because since he lost Gino he missed him a lot and he wanted him to come back. Taliek still stands strong just like the guys in the video.

The process of this video took me a month to finish. I had to think about what anime's to put in the video, what type of style to put in it, and how I should put the words in it. Before I even start editing I listen to the song multiple times and sing to it then I just hear it for awhile to understand what the song is talking about. When I listen to the song for like a few days I get a clear picture of what I have to do and I look it over multiple times to make sure it's perfect. When it's just the way I want it I just render it then upload it on you tube.

I'm currently working on my video for Taliek. It's still gonna take some time, so stay tuned for the video - Thug Life to Education.

On Deck Boys

Rosa and I are going to do more interviews about Taliek what he did in the gang, and how he got out. I did research on Taliek's gang group, the ODB (On Deck Boys), which is one of the sets from the gang the Bloods. I did my research about the Bloods from an article, "Bloods," and it told me a little more about how the gang started,  where the gang is, and how they form sets. 

The Bloods originally formed in Los Angelas, California. They had their rivalry with the Crips, and then had more rivalries with other gangs such as Folk Nation & the Surenos. The Bloods spread their territory all around the east cost creating more allies such as People Nation, Nortenos, Latin Kings, United Blood Nation, & Juggalos. Most gangs originated in NYC jails and then got brought out throughout the streets. The Bloods and allies of the bloods are very violent- causing murders, drug trafficking & robberies.

By learning about the information on these gangs, I kind of understood what Taliek went through. Most teens join these gangs and sometimes are never able to make it out, but now I think Taliek is a hero for having the courage to leave ODB to get a higher education than being on the streets. I hope his courage inspires other teens to drop the gang and just go to school and take action like he did.