Collage-Making (NYU Scholars)

Our Syracuse Scholars did a great job learning how to use the computer and the internet to find images and save them. Here they are, working on their Career Collage.

College-Making (Syracuse Scholars)

In our last week, we made collages with our careers as the theme. The students learned how to use a search-engine (Google) and how to save images on to their computer. Then, we took those images of their chosen careers, along with other elements, and created beautiful collages. You can see them hard at work. All these photos were taken by NYU scholars!

Our College Choices!

Our amazing teachers taught the students about different careers and colleges. Many of the students already has an idea of where they wanted to go. For a collage project that we did, we looked up the college logos. Here are most of the colleges that our brilliant students picked.

Which ones have you heard of? Do you know someone who went there? If so, please post in the Comments section below.

Behind-The-Scenes #4 - Shooting Video!

Here's another gem, watching our students make movies like experts!

Field Trip! Hayden Planetarium!!

On our third Friday, we had another awesome field trip. This time we headed to the Hayden Planetarium, which is a part of the American Museum of Natural History. We waited outside for the museum to open and it felt so great to get in the air conditioning.

We saw a great show in the actual Planetarium, where we sat in a big round room with the screen above us, like looking at the inside of a globe! It was super great!! To learn more, click on Hayden Planetarium and American Museum of Natural History. And when you go back, don't miss the giant whale!!

Our Local Library - Mott Haven (New York Public Library)

With the summer program focused on careers, our great teachers scheduled a field trip to our local branch of the New York Public Library. The Mott Haven branch is only four blocks away, so we were there in no time. We met the Youth Librarian, named Lauren. When you go in, please say "hi!". She's a really nice person.

The students learned a lot about careers and how to use the public computers at the library to research more about the jobs they'd like to have when they grow up. The best part - those students who didn't have a library card, totally left with a brand-new one! Look how happy they all are in these photos, posing with their cards!!

To learn more, click on New York Public Library. There are so many resources available there, that it's too much to list them all. Some of our favorites are the free loans of books, videos and CDs, the free classes in everything from English to computers and the fact that we can use their computers when we make an easy appointment. And don't forget that your closest branch could be the Mott Haven branch, so click on the name to find out more about location, hours and programs.

Do YOU have a library card? If not, then go get one today. It's FREE!! Here's a list of the things you can do. Just click on them to go to that website:

Get A Library Card

Borrowing Materials

Visiting The Library

Field Trip! Liberty Science Center!!

It's another Friday, so that means another field trip. This time, we headed to New Jersey to visit the Liberty Science Center. Even though it was a little bit of a longer bus ride, the students were really excited when they got to see the Statue of Liberty, which they had studied as an "icon".

Just like with the New York Hall of Science, the Liberty Science Center has lots of great movies, interesting facts and interactive exhibits. Click on Liberty Science Center to learn more about this great destination.

Here are a few photos of the students, many of them taken by other students!

Behind-The-Scenes #17 - Shooting Video!

Here's a "behind-the-scenes" look at what it take to make a video. Here, they're shooting video for the Dialogue project. Don't they look professional?!

Video: Dialogues (Syracuse Scholars)

Here's the Dialogues video for the Syracuse Scholars. Aren't they great?!

Video: Dialogues (NYU Scholars)

For our third video of the program, we stayed focused on college and careers, but added dialogues as well. In these videos, we added a sound person (those air conditioners can be really loud) and we had TWO actors working together.

The students will tell you that it's not easy to remember what to do and when to do it. We had a least two takes for each scene. And that's nothing compared to Hollywood! This is our NYU Scholars and their awesome video!!

Video: "When I Grow Up..." (NYU Scholars)

For the second video, the NYU Scholars focused on college and careers. Aren't they getting good at this?!

Video: "Why I Want To Go To College, Part II" (Syracuse Scholars)

Part II of the Syracuse Scholars second video!

Video: "Why I Want To Go To College, Part I" (Syracuse Scholars)

For our second video, we talked about the main focus of the "Volar" summer program - careers and college! The Syracuse Scholars filmed each other talking about why they want to go to college. Listen to some of these excellent answers!!

Why do you think it's important to go to college? Write something in the comments below.

Field Trip! New York Hall of Science!!

For our first field trip, we headed out to the New York Hall of Science. It was a really hot day, as you can see, it didn't stop the students from playing in their

Click on New York Hall of Science to learn more about this great institution! And try to go back again to see the things we missed!!

Before you do that, though, look at the photos of these great students at a fun science museum.

The Camera Person - "Rolling..."

The camera person is very important! He or she has to listen to the director to know when to start and stop the camera. Also, they need to make sure that everything that the actor or actors are doing is in the "frame". Being in the "frame" means that you can see everything through the camera and then later on the video or the film.

In this example, the camera person is having an interesting time with their "actor".

The Director - "Large and In Charge"

The director is a very important person when making movies. He or she is in charge of making sure that everything runs in a certain way. In fact, there are four things that a director is in charge on when we make movies in "Volar". They are:

"Quiet on the Set, Please!"

The director checks and makes sure that the other people making the movie are ready and then says, in a loud voice, but not yelling, "Quiet On The Set, Please!". This tells everyone else in the room that the camera is going to start filming and to be quiet. Otherwise, you'll hear other people in the background!

"Rolling!"

This is to tell the camera person to start recording. They use the word "rolling", because back when films were first being made, the camera person had to crank the film with his or her hand to make sure that whatever was happening was being recorded.

Like this:

old movie camera with crank

"Action!"

This is to tell the actor (and the clapper and the sound person, but more about that later...) to start doing whatever it is that's being recorded. It's very important that these are done in order, because you want to make sure that the camera is recording (with a crank or just pressing a button) before the actors start to act.

"Cut!"

This is to tell everyone - the actor, the camera person, the sound person and the other people in the room - that the scene is over.

"Lights!", "Camera!", "Action!"

What does it take to make really good videos. Well you need a video camera, definitely!

It helps if you have a tripod, to make sure that everything's steady, right?!

But the most important thing you need are people! In fact, you need a "director", a "camera person" and an "actor" (or two or three).

Do you know what each person does? Which one do you think you'd like to be?

Photography: Taking a Great Picture!

Do you want to learn how to take a great picture? One of the first things you know to know is the Rule of Thirds. Have you ever heard of the Rule of Thirds?

Make believe that the photo you're going to take is like a Tic-Tac-Toe board. Two lines doing up and down and two lines going right and left - all equal distance. Then move the camera so that whatever you want to take a photo of is in one of the four spots where the up and down lines meet the right and left line. In other words:

 

not a "Volar" student

It's easy, right?! In the next post, we'll see how our students did. If you want, take a picture of your own and share it in the Comments box below, so we can see how you did!

Video: "Our Magic Names" (Syracuse Scholars)

As you can see, our older students, the Syracuse Scholars, are just as eager and talented as our younger ones.

For every scene, we had at least two takes, sometimes as many as five. It's not easy to remember the order of "rolling", "action" and "cut" and everything that goes in between. Plus to have the three positions of director, camera person and actor to coordinate everything is a challenge even for veterans. However, these young people did a fantastic job, don't you think?

Video: "Our Magic Names" (NYU Scholars)

On our very first day, the students learned about video and how to use the camera. They all learned how to be an "actor", a "camera person" and a "director" and every student got to perform every role. As you can see, they're naturals in front of the camera.

This first video is done by our younger class, the NYU Scholars!

What's a 'Magic Name"?!

On our first day together, the first day of "Volar", we all came up with Magic Names for ourselves. It's simple to do, really. Just take the first letter of your first name and come up with a word that starts with the same letter that describes you. Be sure to make it something positive and something that you're happy and proud to share with everyone.

For example, my name is Alan, so I have to find a word that I think describes me that starts with an "A". A few times, my friends have called me "amazing" and that's made me very happy. So I've decided that my Magic Name is "Amazing Alan"!

This is great for when people meet each other for the first time (like all the students in the "Volar" program, some of which hadn't met each other before) and for people who need help remembering names (like some "Amazing" teaching artists).

I hope you come up with your own Magic Name. Put it in the comments down below, if you want to share.

Yours Truly,
Amazing Alan!