Art is often created to address social, political, religious and cultural issues. No matter the medium, artists engage audiences with their work as a way to explore activism, cultural changes and difficult topics.
Bansky, one of the world’s most famous street artists, is known for his works of political and social commentary, or Kehinde Wiley who focuses on tropes of portrait painting. More recently, artists have taken to platforms like TikTok to talk about their work.
Art can also be a reflection of the collective experiences we share, and a way to find meaning through visual expression, like these artists who created pieces about isolation at the beginning of the pandemic. And musicians, who have used their voice to champion causes, like Alessia Cara.
For this project, your challenge will be to produce a FEATURE STORY about art and social change in your community.
Go HERE to complete the project.
If you plan on having a classroom discussion before assigning this challenge, use this Classroom Conversations Guide to help students feel prepared and supported.
Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information.
An account of past or current events. In journalism, stories are presented with a combination of people, facts, and typically includes a beginning, middle and end.
A person or other physical being in a narrative. Stories are made up of different characters who provide information and help shape the narrative with their knowledge, experience and perspective.
Video stories about newsworthy issues and topics, factual information, balanced reporting, research, voice overs, soundbites, b-roll footage, infographics, reporter standup, nats (natural sound bites).
The story of one person, has voiceover (VO), b-roll, pictures, nats (natural sound), interviews of family members or peers of that one person.
Narration and/or voiceover (VO), scene reconstructions, archival footage, nats (natural sound), b-roll, images, research, lengthy interviews, soundbites.
A short extract or clip from a recorded interview, chosen for its relevance to the story, pungency or appropriateness.
Sounds produced in their actual setting. Natural sound, commonly known as NAT sound, puts the viewer in the place the story was told by enhancing the scene(s) with video containing rich audio such as a musician singing at a train station, a storm approaching, or the sound of a tractor plowing the field.
An example of using a little person to tell a big story. For example, you want to tell a story about pollution in your community’s water system. That is a big issue. Your video will use the story of a person (character) to illustrate the effects of bad water quality.
An attempt to grab the reader or viewer’s attention with interesting information that will keep them reading or watching.
The supplemental footage used to visually support your A-ROLL.
Search: broll.
Historical understanding requires recognizing this multiplicity of points of view in the past, which makes it important to seek out a range of sources on any historical question rather than simply use those that are easiest to find. It also requires recognizing that perspectives change over time, so that historical understanding requires developing a sense of empathy with people in the past whose perspectives might be very different from those of today. (NCSS D2.His.4.9-12 - D2.His.8.9-12)
Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences. (ISTE)
Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical. (ISTE)
Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals. (ISTE)
Whether students are constructing opinions, explanation, or arguments, they will gather information from a variety of sources and evaluate the relevance of that information. (NCSS D3.1.9-12 - D3.2.9-12)
Journalism
Representation
Climate Change
Stereotypes and Misconceptions
Race and Justice
Video Production
Civics
History
Arts
STEM
Identity
Social Media
Projects
Intermediate
Advanced
Mic
Video Conference Software. IE: Zoom or Google Meet
Computers
Camera or Mobile Phone
Internet
Notebook
4-6 Weeks
For this project, your challenge will be to produce a FEATURE STORY about art and social change in your community. SRL wants to showcase how local artworks and artists are exploring the intersection of art and the following issues:
You can consider different kinds of art to explore:
And you can tackle this assignment a couple of different ways:
Profile (2-4 min long):
The story of one person, has voiceover (VO), b-roll, pictures, nats (natural sound), interviews of family members or peers of that one person. EXAMPLES:
Short doc (5-8 min long):
A short film that shows real events and fact-based information about an issue, person, or place. EXAMPLES:
News package (3-5 min long): Video stories about newsworthy issues and topics, factual information, balanced reporting, research, voice overs, soundbites, b-roll footage, infographics, reporter standup, nats (natural sound bites). EXAMPLES:
NAT package (2-4 min long):
A video story guided by the natural sound from interviews and the environment. Natural sound, commonly known as NAT sound, puts the viewer in the place the story was told by enhancing the scene(s) with video containing rich audio such as a musician singing at a train station, a storm approaching, or the sound of a tractor plowing the field. EXAMPLE:
THINK CRITICALLY
FIND YOUR STORY
Use this storytelling roadmap to complete your story. Use it as both a guide and a checklist.
FACEBOOK: /STUDENTREPORTINGLABS