VidLab: Producing a professional music video with 6th graders

“Do you know what dubstep is Joanne? We want to do a dance to dubstep” said Jeremiah, one of my 6th grade students in my video production apprenticeship called VidLab at Orchard Gardens, a K-8 school in Roxbury, MA. Having been in college when Skrillex was at the height of his dubstep career, I was certainly familiar with the bass-heavy electronic dance music genre, but couldn’t believe this tiny 10-year old not only knew what it was but enjoyed it! 

Despite being at an underserved school, the students in my apprenticeship that fall in 2017 had far more talent, maturity and refined taste than I ever had at that age. After lessons on storyboarding and all the different roles involved in video production, I split the class into two groups and gave them freedom to choose whatever topic they wanted. 

From left to right: Jeremiah, Xavier, Aaron and Alondra!

Jeremiah’s group was very passionate about music and dance, and decided to do a dance music video. While Jeremiah was elected director, that didn’t stop Xavier, the producer, from voicing his preference for a classic Michael Jackson song over dubstep, which he (like many others, even my age) didn’t particularly like. Aaron, the editor in the group, suggested a wonderful compromise: a dubstep remix of a Michael Jackson song, which both Jerimiah and Xavier approved. The girls in the group, Alondra (producer) and Briana (videographer) chose Jennifer Lopez’s song “Ain’t Your Mama” for their part, and with the boys, gave me a list of costumes and props they needed. 

VidLab students share their reflections on the process.

The boys’ vision was clear: silver, white and red suits and they wouldn’t settle for anything else! The girls in this group couldn’t care less about the outfits and requested cooking utensils to throw away defiantly in the video. It was easy enough to bring a ladle and spatula from my own kitchen, but I had to do a little creative thinking about the suits given my budget. I didn’t want to disappoint but also didn’t want to overspend on one-time-use costumes.

The solution was right across the street from Orchard Gardens--I walked over to Goodwill and spent two hours carefully sifting through the racks. The boys’ suit section was incredibly limited and the smallest men’s suits were still too big for a 10-year old’s frame. So I turned to the huge selection of petite women’s blazers and found boys’ pants in matching colors. I didn’t specify which section I got their costumes from, but Jeremiah, Aaron and Xavier loved them so much they didn’t think to ask, instead insisting it was only right they should keep them since they looked so good in them--and they did! They oozed confidence and style as they danced and flipped through the air--in petite women’s blazers. I like to think that in addition to video production lessons, I included a covert one on gender fluidity in modern fashion. 

The final music video!

During the WOW!, parents, teachers and community members were blown away by the final music video. Alondra, who was also the main girl dancer in the music video, was even approached by an admissions officer from a prestigious art academy for high schoolers, who was so impressed that she asked Alondra if she would be interested in applying when she graduated 8th grade. Alondra’s beamed as this admissions officer and her parents discussed her potential and exchanged email addresses. This moment and the immense pride on my students’ faces as their friends and family requested to watch their music video one more time was the highlight of my year that December.