Artists-in-Residence Site:  Southwest High School / Intermedia Arts

3414 West 47th Street, Minneapolis (Con. Dist. 5)

Collaborating Teacher: Katie Lipe

Teaching Artists: Jessie Roelofs; Tessa Gudmestad, assistant, IntermediaArts

Art Form: Media Arts

Project Overview

Students learned the skills necessary to create a short film using the medium of Digital Video.  Students worked in small groups to write, direct, film, act in, and edit an original movie.  Activities included storytelling and writing exercises, exploring technical and artistic process of translating their story into visual images, participate in drama based cooperation exercises, work on character development and acting, learn basic operation of the equipment in order to film scenes and learn how to use I-movie to editing their film. There was a screening of final work created at Intermedia Arts on Saturday, June 2.

Project Highlights

 “I was very pleased to see the students excited and engaged each day. One student would always ask "What's the plan today?" and everyone seemed excited to engage with the process each day. Every student seemed motivated to create the film (no one refused to work or even complained about having to work on the film each day). One student in particular didn't attend the class for the first three sessions, finally attending on the last day of writing. He volunteered to play the lead and actually ended up coming on time - and even early - every day we were shooting. I also saw students who, at the beginning of the process, seemed apathetic or even adversarial about the prospect of creating a film; really engage with writing and shooting, specifically taking on in-depth roles such as directing, writing, and acting.” – Jessie Roelofs, Artist

This program has been made possible in part by the Department of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Minnesota Department of Education and support funds from residency sites.