Eatontown Hip Hop, Yo!

I had the pleasure of working with students and counselors from the SPEAK program recently. SPEAK is an acronym for Summer Program Eatontown Alliance Kids and is a collaborative effort between school and community organizations to provide a positive experience for students ages 11-14. The program supports community service activities, development of positive character traits, and a strong anti-drug/alcohol message. Students participate in alternative activities that focus on community service, altruism, social skills, and conflict resolution. It encourages cooperation and teamwork, and strive to enhance resiliency and internal strengths to prevent involvement in substance abuse and violence.

I was hired to produce an anti-drug/anti-alcohol song and video with them and in the span of two (half) days last week, we did it! I arranged a basic track using Garageband and then brought my (somewhat mobile) audio studio to their space above the Eatontown firehouse. We spent a couple hours workshopping themes and lyrics, then spent another two recording the vocal takes. I was so impressed with how focused and professional the kids were. After I showed them how to run the recording session, I just stepped back and they all served as their own engineers and producers. Due to time constraints, later that night I edited the takes into a coherent song. I am confident that they could have done this, but since they only meet for four hours a day, this was not possible.

Later in the week, we met once more in their firehouse space. This time, we set up the room for video production. Dawn White-Ryan, one of the program's dedicated and talented counselors, purchased a few yards of bright green fabric, which we draped over and clamped to a chalkboard for a makeshift chroma key (green screen). We positioned the screen to take advantage of the south-facing windows behind us and I also brought along a couple hot lights with diffusers to illuminate the performers. I set up my Sony Bloggie on a tripod and we then spent a couple of hours shooting. Again, the kids directed the shoot, not me. I find this to be the most rewarding part of these kinds of projects, when the students immediately take ownership of their work.

After we "wrapped," we connected my Vaio laptop to a large screen TV in the room via HDMI and I showed students the basics of video editing using Sony's Vegas. They quickly got the hang of it and cut together the rough edit of the video you see below. I took it home and finished it up. I think it rocks and I am so proud of all the students and counselors who stepped up as brave souls and made it happen. Here's the video, entitled, "Just Say No!":

Just Say No! (So You Can Be My Bro)

Thank you to counselors Counselors Dawn Ryan, Lori Boyd, Jill Wetzel, Lindsay DeVito and Ryan Hennelly! You all rock!