Mt. Scott students learn video production skills

This fall, Mt. Scott High School was selected as a partner organization with the Oregon Learning Lab for Information Education (OLLIE), a program of Portland Community Media and MetroEast Community Media’s Youth Voices Initiative.

OLLIE provides media education and technology training to under-served youth and schools in Multnomah County. The goals of the program are to:

Develop the critical thinking and media literacy skills of young people in schools and community centers
Support educators and community organizations by providing 21 st century tools such as digital video cameras, audio equipment, and laptops
Promote community and civic engagement through the production and distribution of youth media.

A group of 22 Mt. Scott students are working with OLLIE media instructors to learn about the basics of storytelling and video production, including:

Pre-production including script writing and storyboarding
Camera angles, framing and composition
Methods for recording audio
Basic digital video editing, including choosing and arranging images and adding sounds, titles, and effects in order to tell a story
Creative collaboration
Sharing responsibility through video production roles

The theme for the OLLIE workshop at Mt. Scott is “Perception vs. Reality.” Through video production, students are exploring their own “life stories” – their families, homes, schools, economic situation – and contrasting and comparing them to the lives of students outside of their own community.

At the end of the OLLIE program, the students’ completed works are screened during a closing celebration and participating students receive a DVD copy of their projects.