Project Details
From Fall 2016 to Summer 2017, we had the pleasure of working with the University of South Carolina’s Upward Bound Program, one of it’s three TRIO programs. We had an awesome time with the staff and students there!
We created a 9 month Moving Image Literacy 101 program to empower students in their high school careers with 21st Century media literacy skills in hopes of keeping them engaged school and increasing their academic confidence. We provided these high school students with a basic understanding of the language of filmmaking, media production training, critical viewing, writing and thinking exercises. Students created short films utilizing the skills and techniques they created, which we screened on the final days of our sessions. We also expanded this program into a 3 day film workshop in Summer 2017 where, each day, groups of students would create their own short films using these techniques.
We also had the pleasure of curating Upward Bound’s 2017 Media Conference – which featured presentations by motivational speaker Anton Gunn, media literacy expert Frank Baker, and The State Newspaper writer Erin Shaw. Our conference theme was: “Think Different: How to critically engage with media to navigate the digital world”, and featured the following presentations:
- Hip-Hop: “How hip-hop music & culture can positively influence your identity” (Focus on how thinking outside of the box can influence entrepreneurship, self-image, self-confidence or finding who you are)
- Movies: “How understanding how to analyze film can make you a better critical thinker”
- News & Political Media: “How understanding news literacy can make you a more informed citizen”
Check a few pics from our time there.
The Upward Bound Program in collaboration with OTR Media Group provided over 100 students from Richland County Schools the opportunity to discover the art of film and film development. OTR’s curriculum not only exposed students to the world of film, but also enabled them to produce short film projects that students used to fulfill school assignments and teach others about our program and the services we offer.
Sherard Duvall and his fellow team members are utilizing their craft to change the perspective of both pre-collegiate and collegiate students across the Richland County area. I would advise both academic and art centered programs to use their curriculum to motivate students who have an interest in media arts and communication.
Due to our partnership with OTR Media Group, the Upward Bound staff has recognized the vast amount of students who have an interest in this field and is now offering media arts and communications courses throughout its academic and summer phases.
