Hello, people! =) This week is the last week of SMI and we are having a screening @ CCTV’s studio @ 6pm, don’t forget to stop by to support us!! My job for this week was to be a photographer. I’ve taken a lot of pictures from last week till now and had imported all the pictures onto the computer already. So now I am focusing on choosing the pictures and make it into a slideshow for the screening. This year in SMI I didn’t produce any video because I was absent for the first 4 weeks in SMI, and it would have been hard for me to produce a video within 2 weeks. Instead, I helped to put the screening together. Even though I haven’t had the chance to produce video in this year’s SMI, I’ve really enjoyed being a photographer for 2 weeks, cuz I learned how to use a camera that’s more advance than one point shoot camera, which is Cannon 20D. Though sometimes I get bored…..;)

This summer at SMI, I have been a member of the advanced group. As a group, we decided that for our final project we would make a comedy about a bachelor who gets cold feet and runs away at the alter to go speed dating. Each member of the group was assigned a specific roll in the production of the short film, mine being Production Manager. As Production Manager my job is to organize most aspects of the project. I only somewhat knew what I was in for when I was given this job, but I took the responsibility on whole heartedly. read more...

Wooh...finally I am able to post another article in my blog. I registered an account in CCTV’s website last year… I think… or maybe longer than that! But I’ve never sign in from the day that I registered it so obviously I forgot my username and password. Now I am participating in 2008’s SMI and all the participants need to write an article for their blog, so do I. Since I forgot the username and password CCTV’s staff was trying to help me figure it out, but the whole process was not fun at all, because there were many issues that came out and I couldn’t login to my old account. At the end I created a new email address and new account at CCTV’s blog. Hopefully I will be able to login in my new account with out any difficulty. read more...

Hello everybody!
Finally my personal narrative is finished. Although it is not my best work I find it very emotionally interesting. The process of creating my project let me learn a lot about final cut pro, using the camera, and other things. I'm really excited that it's finished because now it's Final Project Time!

This is my personal narrative.

Hey. I finally got done with my personal narrative. I'm so glad I'm done, so now I can focus on my final project with Gus...it's gonna be awesome.

Here is the finished personal narrative.

This is my personal narrative story about the Dana Park playground and how I grew up around it and why it is so important to me and my childhood.

My personal Narrative is about the place that i go when i want to go away from everyone and the craziness that usually goes on in my life.So i chose to do this about my home because its the only place that i find peace and quietness.

For the Summer Media Institute 2008 each person made a personal narrative about someplace that was important to them. I chose my block. One of the most important things about my block is Halloween, so I chose that as the focus of the project.

This is my personal narrative project that i had to do. It's about my home and how it's important to me and how much i love it.It took 3 weeks to make it and the most challenging part is the editing because it's a lot of work and I'm new to final cut pro so it's complicated. But I had fun doing it especially the shooting. :)

My name is Abdulla and I am part of SMI. Our first project is a Personal narrative about Harvard Yard. I spent a lot of time there after moving from Syria to the US because I took summer classes there. I learned English there and that is why it is important to me.
Excellent! Thank you and enjoy my project!

cool stuff

The goal of my personal narative was just to show and display with great detail how important the boston common and fanueil hall is to me. and that was pretty much it.

The goal of my personal narative was just to show and display with great detail how important the boston common and fanueil hall is to me. and that was pretty much it.

Check out my personal narrative at blip.tv!

Being a member of the Advanced Summer Media Institute group is a very big change from last year's SMI. We now get to skip all of the beginning training, and get right into working on our projects. Our first project, the documentary on the MSYEP is a good chance for us to get used to working with each other and the equipment again, while we still are creating a documentary that will be shown all over Cambridge. Everyone's favorite though, of course, is the final project, where anything goes; or almost anything at least. read more...

Being an advanced SMI student and a youth trainer, I think having two positions brings a whole different level to SMI. Last week, the first week of SMI the advanced group didn’t have to have any ice breaker games since we had all known each other from last years SMI or at school. So it was straight off to business, we sat down as a group and discussed our first project. Which has been assigned to us by the SMI staff, to make a documentary on the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program. So far we have gotten an interview with a Leigh Hardy, a counselor, and George Hinds, MSYEP Coordinator. read more...

My name is Abdullah I'm From sudan I'm going to be junior in CRLS and I hope I'm going to have good time with my new subjects
I like to play soccer with my friends also I love to play piano and guitar I'm interested in playing soccer and piano. I'm 18 years old
I live with my family in 808 Memorial drive. I work in CCTV which mean My job is to shoot video taps also my peroject in to shoot Harvard yard because it important to me and I like it, It nice place to siting in harvard yard

Hey everyone, its joshua in the hizhousssse. i am currently working for SMI for the summer and i am currently writing my own movie script of Jay and Silent Bob and Rob. The movie is based on the adventures of jay and silent bob created by Kevin Smith. i've been wanting to do this for a couple months now, and i'm really excited and mad amped once the movie shooting begins. i have a lot of my Co-workers that are going to be apart of the movie extravaganza, and it should be fun. so until then, see ya.

What’s up? read more...

This is my first summer at cctv. This morning we made some videos using different types of shots. Now we are working with blogs and stuff. Each SMI member is working on a solo narrative project about a place that is important to them. My important place happens to be across the world in a little town called Kew, Australia. Instead of getting shots of my place, I've interviewed my family members to share their stories of when I used to live there. We will soon be finishing up and starting our next project. We will create of movie of our choice. There are no restrictions or guidelines.

My name is Erika. I’m 14 years old and I’m going to be a freshman at CRLS.If you want to know me then just send me an email. Right now I'm working at CCTV and I'm doing a personal narrative and I'm having fun. Especially going to my house and shooting there with the cameras that people don't usually use everyday.I got the flip cameras a few days ago and it's pretty cool.Hmmmm..well,I hope do a good job on my project and just have fun. :)

Hello,
My name is Erik Madsen-Bond. I am working at CCTV’s SMI program over this summer through the Mayor’s Program in Cambridge. Throughout the summer we will make two videos. The first one is a personal narrative about a place that is special to us. For my project I am doing my block as a place that is special to me. In particular Halloween on our block is very special. I live on Dudley St. in North Cambridge. Halloween is very special to me. Over 800 people come to our block each year. The picture is of what we did last year. The second half of the summer we get to make a project on any thing we want. I have no idea what I am going to do for this program.
Thanks,
Erik

I work at CCTV in their SMI program. The first project that we have been working on is our Personal narratives. We had to choose place that was important to us and talk about what it is and why it is important to us. I chose my block. Shooting went ok. I feel like I may not have enough footage. My personal narrative will be boring.I just hope my final project will be better.

peace kids.

Hey, my name is Ben Cox and I work at SMI. This is my second year at SMI, and I also worked at CEA during the school year. My Personal Narrative is about the train tracks that run through the woods around Fresh Pond. I live nearby, and I walk in the area all the time. My project is nearing completion, and I'm really proud of what I've accomplished so far. I'm looking forward to the final project, because I have several good ideas for what I could do.

Hi I'm Jacob and this is my first blog entry. I have worked at SMI before and have been editing videos for a while. I'm excited to be at SMI again even though I'm repeating a project that I did last year due to the fact that I am in the beginner group due to space limitations. I can't wait to finish working on my personal narrative project which I chose to write about Dana Park, a playground on magazine street that used to be the main park students used at the Cambridgeport school. I chose to make my movie about Dana Park because I used to spend a lot of time there and I experienced many memorable moments there with my friends and family. So far I have shot everything I needed, recorded the voice over, found archival photos, and begun editing and putting together the entire movie. I need to add music that I have created and I want to make sure this project turns out well because the playground I've chosen to write about means a lot to me. read more...

Today is my last day blogging until August when i come back from snowboarding in Oregon. I will be sad to leave SMI for so long, but I know that when I come back, the documentary that the advanced group is working on and the personal narratives will be finished and looking good. Today for me was filled with finalizing the logos that will be used for SMI this year, both on the t-shirts all the participants will get at the end and for the screening promotions. The t-shirt design is the new group photo and the screening flyer is attached to this blog. Come check out what we have all done this summer Friday, August 15 at 6 PM in the studio, and enjoy a summer's worth of hard work and fun.

While I am gone I am taking a flip camera in case i find time to blog about my trip. This group will continue to have blog posts and media posted by other participants for the next few weeks, so keep checking back to see what's going on, and don't forget to come to the screening.

Finally our group picture is up! These are the participants of the 2008 Summer Media Institute (minus Julie Pan).

This is the first promotional video for the end of the program screening (all are welcome). The date and time are not definite, but check back throughout the summer for more information and previews. All of the participant produced work will be shown. Enjoy.

I am a student in SMI, and am currently working on a personal narrative project about the Valente Library. In this project, I will explain why the Valente Library is an important place to me. It will consist of a voiceover and various images of the library, as well as an interview with one of the librarians.

So far, I have written the script for the voiceover. In addition, I have written lists of both questions for the interview and shots which I want to use.

This is my blog. I have nothing to say, I am in SMI at CCTV. We make videos n stuff. Yup I’m involved with web 2.0 now I feel really special. Call me when web 3.0 kicks in.

Hey guys!
So this is my first blog post on the CCTV website, but no worries there will be many, many more.After one week at SMI (Summer Media Institute) I'm having a blast. I'm super excited for the flip cameras that should be here any minute so that I can start posting videos, but unfortunately they haven't arrived yet :(. We also are in the process of filming a personal narrative project about a place we find important to us. I chose the mural across from my house. I'm scheduled to start shooting tomorrow (YAY!). If all goes well I should have an excellent finished project that I'll be posting soon. Stay tuned for more to come!

I'm 15 years old and my name is Demetrius and i go to the rindge high school and im a fresh to death men and i work at cctv.
i just moved to cambridge last yea from Boston roxbury and i have family out here thats a big reason why i moved to cambridge also cause of a big death in my family so now i go to cambridge schools which i feel is way better for me i love it.

My name is Fredeline Thompson, i go to Cambridge Rindge and Latin and i am part of the summer program here at CCtv. Right now i am working on my personal narrative story which is about where I go when I need to be alone. It’s where I can find peace of mind and the ability to express myself. So basically what I am trying to show is how meaningful my home is to me. Because whenever I am alone I feel like I can do whatever I want and just be myself without having to worry about people judging me. The reason that i chose to do this piece its because of all i said above my home means a lot to me it gives me more time to think clearer and better myself. I have more time to think about issues that are affecting me and by thinking reasonable i can make better decisions.

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to my blog! This happens to be my first blog post. :) This summer I'm working for CCTV as a part of the SMI 2008 youth program. I love working with CCTV because I learn a lot, and have a lot of fun! Currently, we are working on a personal narrative project. The subject of this project is our favorite place. I'm working on shooting clips of the river, and my boathouse, Cambridge Boat Club. This place is very important to me because I spend almost every day here and I have close relationships with my coaches and teammates. I will post my video just as soon as it's completed! Talk to you later!

Last week ended for the advanced group of SMI with a trip to Emerson College for a tour of the school and a workshop from Emerson Professor Marc Fields on Documentary Production. We watched pieces of documentaries, talked about the good and bad qualities a documentary can have. Participants were able to ask questions and share ideas to help with their documentary this year about the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program. Following the discussion, Marc took us on a tour of the Emerson facilities. We stopped first in a sound studio where a grad student talked to us about Protools and gave us a demo using a trailer for the movie cloverfield. We continued through the buildings, stopping shortly for lunch, looking at edit suites, studios, control rooms, Avid rooms and more learning about each one along the way. Everyone took a lot out of the experience, whether it was knew knowledge of programs and equipment or new ideas for the documentary. A special thanks to Marc Fields and Emerson. Enjoy the attached video clip! read more...

Today was day three of this year's Summer Media Institute. The advanced group took a field trip, leaving the beginners to work on their personal narratives. I followed the group of six participants and two instructors to Calumet camera store in East Cambridge with my Flip camera, but the batteries died after I filmed the ride there (attached in time lapse form). At the store we were able to look at some new cameras and equipment, talk about new trends in film making, ask questions about prices and how to choose a good camera, as well as learn about renting equipment for projects we might want to do on our own. Tomorrow, the advanced group will take another tour to a different camera store, and hopefully I will have enough batteries to take some more video or pictures of what we do.

Summer Media Institute (SMI) 2008 kicked off yesterday at 9:30 in CCTV's studio. Twenty-three youth from the ages of 14 to 18 began their six week journey, but who will remain? ... everyone. The day started off with introductions followed by awkward silences as new and returning faces filed into the door and into the studio for an orientation. SMI was explained by the CCTV staff working as instructors and questions were answered about what working here would be like this summer.

The instructors explained that we were going to be split into three groups for the summer (or more like two and a half): beginners, advanced, and documentarians. The placements were made by prior experience or participation in the program, or for the two documentarians Julie Pan and myself, by the amount of time we are going to miss this summer. After the groups were explained and people found the right one, they split off to go talk about what was to come project-wise this summer. read more...