4 More Rough Cut Films Win Awards at 10-Day Film Fest!

Screen Shot 2015-05-05 at 10.57.28 PM
Screen Shot 2015-05-05 at 10.57.28 PM
Over 120 short films were submitted this year to the 10-Day Film Challenge in the Tri-Sate Area. Only 30 were selected as finalists and 4 from Rough Cut made it to the Awards round. All were nominated for multiple categories and each won at least 1 major award!!!

FULL STORY and Links to Films

I'm so very proud of all our amazing filmmakers for their achievements!


#roughcut4life






 

The Story of Us

​This video is dedicated to an important person in my life. Florentino, has been the greatest friend that I could ever have and lucky enough to say that he is mine. I wouldn't change it for the world from the memories that we gain together. I decided to make this video about Florentino because I thought our story would be interesting and agreed to share out. In this video, I did accomplished a storytelling that isn't simple and basic. I did reach my goal of sharing a love story and felt proud of the video, that I have created. I wish to hear some feed back from the audience and hopefully, they will get a sense of feeling to learn how to love someone and should always keep people close, knowing that anyone can impact their lives. 

​The Silver Linings of Manipulation: Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” to “Silver Linings Playbook”


In “The Taming of the Shrew”, honesty and deception play big roles in the relationships between the characters, especially Petruchio and Katherine, as well as Katherine and her father, Baptista.  In the 2012 movie “ Silver Linings Playbook,” honesty and deception are even more important — almost every important thing that happens is rooted in honesty or a lack thereof.  


Pat Solatano, Jr. is a diagnosed bipolar who has just been released from prison following his beating of his wife’s lover.  Tiffany Maxwell is a recovering sex addict whose husband has recently died. While the relationship between Pat Solatano, Jr. and Tiffany Maxwell can be compared to Petruchio and Katherine’s, the genders should be reversed.  In “Shrew,” Petruchio uses very manipulative tactics to eventually end up with Katherine’s love.  Likewise, in “Silver Linings Playbook,” Tiffany manipulates Pat, making him think that her end goal is something completely different from what it is.  In contrast, Pat Solatano is not aware of Tiffany’s goals until almost the end of the movie, while Katherine most likely knows Petruchio’s plans from the beginning.  Both of these stories show that, while manipulation is not always moral, the results can be good for both the manipulator and the manipulated.


Petruchio: Come, come, you wasp, i’faith you are too angry.

Katherine: If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

Petruchio: My remedy is then to pluck it out.

Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find where it lies.

Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting?  In his tail.

Katherine: In his tongue.

Petruchio: Whose tongue?

Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell.

Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail?


(Act II, Scene I, 207-214)


In this scene, Petruchio and Katherine are first meeting.  While on the surface they are insulting and trying to intimidate each other, they are also hinting at the physical or sexual attraction between them using innuendos.  This represents deception and manipulation, because they are hiding their true meaning behind clever words.


Pat, Jr. and Tiffany also have a strange first conversation:Screen Shot 2015-04-17 at 1.04.11 PM.png

    In this scene, Pat and Tiffany are meeting for the first time at Pat’s friend Ronnie’s house.  Pat remarks that Tiffany looks nice, and soon after asks about her dead husband, which spurs an awkward and somewhat hostile conversation between the two.  However, during the conversation, they are both giving each other somewhat heated looks.  When Tiffany leaves the room, she gives Pat a sultry look, implying her unspoken intentions, just like Katherine and Petruchio.



Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented

That you shall be my wife, your dowry ‘greed on,

And will you, nill you, I will marry you…

Here comes your father.  Never make denial.

I must and will have Katherine to my wife.


(Act 2, Scene 1, 261-272)


In this scene, Petruchio has recently spoken to Baptista, Katherine’s father, and gotten his consent to marry her.  This was a very deceptive act, because Katherine thought that her father would at least talk to her before doing such a thing.  This is incredibly dishonest, of both Petruchio and Baptista.  


However, in the long run, this might have been good for Katherine; she ends up seemingly happy and “tamed” at the end of the story.








Screen Shot 2015-05-04 at 2.36.54 PM.png

In this scene, Tiffany shows Pat the envelope that supposedly has a response from Nikki in it, but says that he cannot read it until he nails the dance they are working on.  In the end of the movie, it comes out that Tiffany actually wrote the letter.  This was an incredibly dishonest and pretty manipulative thing to do, but in the end, seemingly caused Pat to fall in love with her.  


Both of these works prove that manipulation, dishonesty and deception can sometimes bring about good results and happy endings.  In Shrew, while Petruchio’s manipulation and deceit at first only bring about a difficult, forced marriage, in the end, Katherine seems to be a more happy and subdued wife that any of their friends.  In Silver Linings Playbook, Tiffany does something that in many cases would be appallingly manipulative and dishonest.  However, through the dishonesty that is part of her friendship with Pat, comes an honest relationship of love.   

The little things count

Tell us a bit about your digital story, what did you set out to do?

I set out to make people think about what they overlook.

How did you accomplish this goal?

I want to accomplish my goal by making this video and pointing out the things I noticed about myself.

What do you hope your audience gains for viewing/listening your piece?

I hope everyone takes a second to think about what they overlook.

​https://vimeo.com/126799545

Reconstruction Era Visuals Project Asher S.

Q4BenchmarkNewspaperOfficial
MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE IT ALL.

Artist Statement: 

Hello I am Asher Swartz, creator of the fictional "The Confederate Life" newspaper. This is a fictional newspaper set in the Reconstruction period following the American Civil War. A brief overview of the contents of this fictional newspaper (brief disclaimer: I do not inherently agree with the viewpoints expressed in these articles and this newspaper. They are merely fictional ideas I wished to express.): It is called The Confederate Life (as I'm sure you understand by now) and it features two main, one age long each articles. One is titled “Dirty Carpetbagger” (carpetbaggers were northerners who moved to the South after the American Civil War to benefit financially) and the other one is titled “Honorable Gentleman”. These are articles written by someone very mad about the American Civil War and Reconstruction in general and is venting their anger by writing newspaper articles promoting Southerners and bashing Northerner carpetbaggers. They each contain quotes from a main person. The Northerner is Marshall Harvey Twitchell, a Civil War veteran who lived in the South, a self proclaimed carpetbagger. The Southerner in question is Edwin H. McCaleb, a supporter of the Confederacy. The quotes are from an autobiography for Twitchell and a letter to a friend for McCaleb. The articles use these quotes, and the author rants on about this that and the other thing. End of summary. Now, there may be some points that cause some form of confusion for some readers, and I would like to clear these up. First, there are only two main articles. Everything else is for context. Secondly, once again, this is purely fictional. Everything besides the quotes themselves is completely made up. To finish up, I will tell you why this is important. Even though this is fictional, it is a representation of something that might have existed. Its just an example of how people might have thought.


​Here is the link to my source analysis. It also has the Artist Statement

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DRvBlaMc-1KMmq5xvXaicuLqmfky792F0dqJUAa1y2c/edit

Why I Hate Valentine's Day :)

Tell us a bit about your digital story, what did you set out to do?

The goal was to tell my viewers why I hated valentine's day so much. I wanted the story to be relatable and easy to connect to and understand. 

How did you accomplish this goal?

I told my story...my unique story. Hopefully one or two of my viewer's could relate. 

What do you hope your audience gains for viewing/listening your piece?

I don't want anyone to gain this new hatred for valentine's day but I do want people to think about how interesting it is for certain relationships to die off or have things die off on you in a short matter of time.  

https://youtu.be/VUEcnexOCSo

Reconstruction Era Visuals Project

ImportantPeopleDuringtheReconstruction
Artist's Statement:
My poster is about important African-Americans during the Reconstruction era.. This poster is about what each people did while they ran office and what they wanted to changed. For example, some people wanted to end slavery and how they can make people treat each other differently. In this poster it talks about 4 important African-Americas that wanted to make a change. The poster tells us what each person did in their past. I was amazed how some went to school and got education, and some people didn't. In this poster it talks about the how each person tired to fix the problem that was happening during the era. For example, Robert Delarge he wanted education for people who doesn't get education. Another person I researched about was Hiram Revels, he wanted everyone to be treated equally. In the poster, it's mainly about what each candidate did. I felt like a poster was a great idea because it gives the audience a better understanding of each person. In this poster, it shows 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nr9Je_20eJxpkn6pmN37tmmll5drv8NLtX40HIaCm1A/edit

Reconstruction Visual Project



This newspaper article is about the question: Was Abraham Lincoln an true abolitionist or was freeing enslaved apart of his strategy to use them as soldiers to increase the chances of the Union succeeding? In this assignment, I tried to recreate a news letter from Philadelphia in 1863. I collected several pieces of data from historical speeches, novels, articles and websites. I drew pictures of what photographs were probable to use in this case and were clear and simple. Including the style of what these newspapers used to look like aesthetically. Using research and making a similar design to old newspaper I attempted to make this article of information realistic to the time period. This piece of writing shows the North v.s the South's stance on Abraham Lincoln's belief and what felt was of importance to him and his society. 

Malachi : A 2015 View

The message that I attempted to get across was the idea that there will always be two opposing sides in EVERY situation. That being said, I also tried the emphasise the fact there can never be in any form a way of successful equality. In fact the closest thing that we have to being equal is fact that we are all mammals. Another lense that I attempted to look through was this idea on an “equalizer”. By this I mean leveling the central rights between both sides during the reconstruction era. And It may sound like a little much, but connect this topic to a more relatable instance in our modern society where something that is greater is being changed by an equalizer. The problem isn't whether or not it is unfair for the thing that is greater. The real issue is that fact that it's problematic on both sides because they are being equalized. So then what do we consider it? Is this really a reconstruction for the better? After doing this project I realized the radical perspectives in literally everything. In a sense it was almost troublesome looking at different situations and noticing the shift between good and bad (As cheesy as it sounds).

On top of that I’ve noticed that something that may appear to be confusing is the history behind my idea. The whole point of my magazine was to not only highlight the opposing side, but it was more of a thinking activity, and less of a learning experience if that makes sense?

Reconstruction Visual Project

RaisingTheNewsPaper
Artist's Statement:

My newspaper is a paper that was published exactly on the five year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. It follows the struggles that blacks had to endure after the Emancipation Proclamation. It begins with the actual meaning of the proclamation, followed by a quote from President Lincoln at the time, and concludes with quotes from former slaves. I wanted to include a quote from Lincoln that I thought was really important and was crucial to what was going down at the time and embodied what an intelligent, devoted president he was.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_DdWNBLWJaHd1cxi0jQn7GKxWEfH6ywFHfFbJ-E9ZE4/edit#

Reconstruction Era Visuals Project

amessagetoopressednegroes
My work is a letter to black people feeling oppressed during this time. The letter is written from the viewpoint of Isaiah Montgomery. Montgomery was one of the founders of Mound Bayou, an all black town. He also became mayor of the town. This letter is meant to be an advertisement from Montgomery urging blacks feeling oppressed to move to Mound Bayou since it has more opportunities than other places blacks could live in the South. An important point is this letter was not written from the viewpoint of myself if I was alive during this time. The letter is from Isaiah Montgomery, and should be treated as such. The letter is also not meant to be personal. This would be something that hundreds of would be printed and handed out to many people. The letter isn't really a letter as it is more of a flyer. You wouldn't get this in the mail. You'd be handed it by some sort of advertiser. As well as that, try to keep in mind as this is being read that you should pretend you are one of these people alive during this time. Try to role play a little and think like you were one of the people being asked to move to Mound Bayou, and see if this would have convinced you.

The College Process

For my digital story, I set out to find out how the tiring college process went for different people. I also wanted to aim this towards the junior who will soon be going through this same process. I know that a lot of people, including myself struggled with this and so I wanted to capture what it looked like. I did this by interviewing a few seniors and asked them about how it went and what they would suggest for the junior to do. I hope that the audience will be able to think back to the process and feel accomplished if they have successfully passed it and if they have not been through it yet, for them to have a sense of how much work it really is.
Q4- Digital story

Visual Project

Untitled-1
Untitled-1
In 1868, the KKK started to spread through out the United States of America. At this point of time in the nation, they were rebuilding to construct the government again. Also the buildings were already destroyed and the KKK did not help that. America did not need this kind of thing at this period of time. KKK makes the lives of all Americans in this year worse than it can be. Also they killed people they didn't like, it was bad.

Since all this, I thought I would make a poster about this situation. About how this nation needs to know about the terrible things the KKK have been doing that have to be stopped immediately. They are hurting the country and are not needed at this point in time. I mentioned that they should come to the towns meeting so we can discuss the problems. Since this was a while ago, there was no social media.  

So this is my visual project of reconstruction.

Reconstruction project Lincoln Newspaper

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n0cQ66UO49w0gPAxl2nNB_Ym3WR-VXtMKIIVSfkze8E/edit

Artist Statement:

This is a newspaper that was published on the day after Lincoln’s funeral. To be clear, Booth escaped and was tracked  down on a farm in Virginia, and that the police who were suppose to protect Lincoln was in a nearby saloon with Lincoln’s coachman.  This is suppose to be a newspaper that would teach people about what happened. This newspaper includes how Lincoln was killed, what are the elements of this tragedy, how people mourned the death of our great president Lincoln, and many more. It also talk about the problems Andrew Johnson faced as the president at the time of period. Lincoln was a great man, he had done a lot for Black peoples, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves, and he end the war of slaves too. He also start the reconstruction right after the war, giving every African American forty acres of land and a mule / 100 bucks to build a house. He affected the African American, and his death affected them even more. His death stopped reconstruction basically. Andrew Johnson was the president after Lincoln, he didn’t care about reconstruction as much as Lincoln did, and he have lots of stuff to deal with. Like the southerners protesting about the African Americans, African Americans in the congress and etc. Anything He done could have affect the African Americans’ position in society, not only in the late 1800s, but also in the 1900s, and now a day. If the issue was take care of even more properly, may be here won’t be as much case of white cop shooting or killing black peoples for basically no reason, like how it is now.


P.S. I forgot the title for every articles, so I have a chart for it below.
newspapermay2015AAHfinalthing
Screenshot 2015-05-01 at 2.45.45 PM
Screenshot 2015-05-01 at 2.45.45 PM

Reconstruction Era Visuals Projects

Final.jpg

The Reconstruction Era was the period of time after the Civil War it was a time of recovery and transformation in America. During the Reconstruction former slaves gained several rights and were on their way to becoming equal with the dominant white race. With the rise of black empowerment came the rise of many hate groups. Groups like the  Klu Klux Klan and the White League. Groups that spread used violence and intimidation to get what they wanted. These Hate groups terrorized cities with ravaging fires. Harming people of color and any of their supporters. Reconstruction ended with the assassination of Lincoln, and the people of colors lost most of the rights that they had only just been granted and were forced to regain them through years and years of civil rights movements, but many of the hate groups still survive today and even saying the names of them has become a kind of taboo. My map is meaningful to the study of the Reconstruction era because there were so many attacks on innocent people and my map is an easy way to see just how many reports of violence there were in the years of reconstruction. One thing that may not be very clear at first glance is that each of the flags on the map is a reported attack or the formation of a new group. Another thing about my map is that not every point on the map is super accurate, espescially since they cover a larger amount of space, so that is one thing you might want to keep in mind.


Source Analysis: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RrhQE_ggaqX4rSLJBmBQSYipCLhzopO4mELU_rWckOI/edit



Grants Re-Election :Reconstruction Era Visuals Project

SCREENSHOT THIS ONE.png


For my visual for my project, I decided to create a campaign poster for President Grant during his re-election run in 1872. A big influence was the appearance, at an initial site I wanted the poster to look relatively antique, and include the word re-elect very large, so the viewer knew immediately what I was showing to them. I also decided to use the Special Elite font to mimic the typewriter letters that were used in that time.   

I wanted to include a picture of the President himself, which is why I included his portrait from the whitehouse.gov website. However I really wanted the main focus to be the things that he did during his first term to show the states why he should continue to lead. A really big note of the first time was the ratification of the 15th Amendment. President Grant really pushed for this Amendment to pass, and was indeed successful. Granting the newly freed slaves their right to vote gained him much attention, good and bad, and definitely was one of the biggest highlights of his presidency.

A vital key to my poster is the stress on Grant protecting both blacks and whites. During his presidency the fate of a stable country lied in his hands. During reconstruction the states where bonded with very weak glue, and the president had to make sure everyone was pleased. Being that typically whites viewed themselves as more than blacks, he needed to find a common ground where the two races could not necessarily agree, but co-exist. A few examples which are summarized in the phrase “Protecting and preserving the welfare of the people of this great nation, no matter their color.” Include Grant sending troops to protect the newly freed slaves from hate groups.



Ultimately expressing President Grants accomplishments and milestones his first few years in office was my goal, and to do so in a small, yet eye catching and unique campaign styled poster. This is my Artist statement for my interpretation for Presidents Grants’ Re-Election Campaign.

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1x6WTywuJwnKU8_uyAFMCkHEZfalPvVvYyHY0Q3lV-yY/edit?usp=sharing link to Source Analysis document.



Menu


Plan one meal a day

Which meal: desayuno, almuerzo, cena

Comida

Bebida

lunes

desayuno

el gofre

el jugo de naranja


martes

almuerzo

la hamburguesa

el agua


miércoles

cena

chuletas de cerdo

el té


jueves

desayuno

huevos y tocino

el batido de frutas


viernes

almuerzo

ensalada

el té


sábado

cena

pollo el curry y arroz

el jugo de manzana


domingo

postre

tartas

leche

Menu


Plan one meal a day

Which meal: desayuno, almuerzo, cena

Comida

Bebida

lunes

desayuno

el gofre

el jugo de naranja


martes

almuerzo

la hamburguesa

el agua


miércoles

cena

chuletas de cerdo

el té


jueves

desayuno

huevos y tocino

el batido de frutas


viernes

almuerzo

ensalada

el té


sábado

cena

pollo el curry y arroz

el jugo de manzana


domingo

postre

tartas

leche

Script U6

Arielle: ¡Estoy emocionada por el prom!

Kay: Yo tambien.

Aissatou: Yo tambien!

Arielle: ¿Con quien vas?

Kay: Nadie me invito.

Aissatou: A mi tampoco.

Arielle: Tal vez pronto


*The next day*

Taytiana (Tim): *To Kay* ¿Te gustaría ir al prom conmigo?

Kay: ¡Claro que sí!


*later that day*

Taytiana: ¿Te gustaría ir al prom conmigo?

Arielle: ¡Claro que sí!


Taytiana: ¿Bonita, te gustaría ir al prom conmigo?

Aissatou: ¡Sí!

**later that day**


Kay: ¿Todavia vas al prom?

Arielle: Sí, con Tim

Aissatou: ¿Tim?

Kay: No, él va conmigo.

Arielle: ¡Él me invitò!

Aissatou: ¡Pero él mi invitò a mi!


*yells at each other*


Taytiana: Ay díos mio... calmanse niñas..  **shakes head**


Kay: Estúpido

Aissatou: payaso

Arielle: ¡pendejo!

Tim: Nenás nosotros ir prom comigo

Aissatou: Tu eres feo. Estupido

Tim: Nosotros deberíamos ir al prom juntos *points to all the girls*

Arielle: No, nosotros deberíamos ir al prom juntos *points to Aissatou and Kay*


We exit, then Tim does.


De Diablos Cafè (Aissatou, Yafang, Mackenzie, & Gavin



domingo

lunes

martes

miercoles

jueves

viernes

sabado

desayuno


panqueques

sándwich de desayuno

cereal con fruto

huevos fritos con tocino

pan tostado con mantequilla

pan tostado de frances

gofres con mantequilla

almuerzo


hamburguesa y papas fritas

pollo y papas fritas

sándwich

pan y mantequilla

pan ye pollo

en salasda

arroz y sopa de huevo con tomate

cena


arroz y sopa de huevo con tomate

pan y lechuga

fideos

hot dog

tomate y lechuga y pan

hamburguesa y papas fritas

sándwich

bocadillo


el té

el helado

la piña

la manzana

la naranja

la fresa

el pastel

bebidas


La leche

El jugo de naranja

el té

el café

el refresco

La leche

El jugo de naranja

el té

el café

el refresco

La leche

El jugo de naranja

el té

el café

el refresco

La leche

El jugo de naranja

el té

el café

el refresco

La leche

El jugo de naranja

el té

el café

el refresco

La leche

El jugo de naranja

el té

el café

el refresco

La leche

El jugo de naranja

el té

el café

el refresco



Reconstruction Era Visuals Project

BlackCongressNewspaper

My newspaper project comes right out of Oct. 15, 1883, the exact date when the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was voted unconstitutional by Congress. I wanted to talk about this specific moment because it shows that black people in Congress did try to affect things for the better. It also helped me create articles that corresponded with each other. For example, I talk about the Representative from South Carolina Richard H. Cain a lot in this article. That's because he was a big part in the debate of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and was an important figure around this time period. That way I could make another figure of that time period more widely known and create articles that would be actually “real” in this part of time. I also talked about the K.K.K. a little bit to show the negative effects colored people with authority had on the country. However, the K.K.K. article also shows how black people are responding to that negativity. The article tells how the K.K.K. is in a court case, seeing if their actions are unconstitutional. While the K.K.K. won the case, the fact that they were even in trial was a sign that the authority of black people was beginning to be respected, even by some white people. So I don't think there is anything else that is necessary to tell you about the project. Thanks for taking a look at my newspaper!



https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JdVorpwEVrFGsRRd8HhvPpwaZRRKJGRZYUaByLh5XSw/edit

Reconstruction Era Visuals Project (Saamir Baker)

Mound Bayou Looking For Residents
Two elements I decided to go with for this poster is a beige color with not alot of images because when people placed ads around this time very few if any contained ads and they used big letters for their openers so thats what i decided to go with. This matters because Mound Bayou was a big step for black people and proved to everyone who didn't think that they could run a town properly that they were wrong and that they could, and writing an ad for it showed that blacks could also read and write which is something else whites did not want them to do along wiith running a town.,,, So the visual I have created shows African American history because it marks one of the first black founded towns in America


https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1Cq6f6oVHLmHOPwvEUplX04OAuSZpfFZAY0H16kgx7EU/edit?usp=sharing