I Am Project

The Multimedia Arts Classes were commissioned by the District Administration and the Diversity/Unity Committee of North Allegheny Schools to create movie about diversity and unity in the North Allegheny Community. The theme of I Am was suggested by the committee.

The theme, overall design and working process was devised through brainstorming with each of the three Multimedia classes. A mini studio was constructed in the art office adjacent to the Multimedia lab to accommodate filming of interviews in relative private. Approximately 50 students were interviewed beginning with the prompt "I am...". Multimedia students were given access to the interview footage with which they created movie portraits of each interviewed student. The interview footage was blue screened in order to allow compositing of the subject in the edited portrait. Interview portraits were selected through a process of group voting to be included in the final movie.

An opening sequence was devised to address the question "what if we were all the same?" Many students were posed the question and their answers recorded. Student, Logan Hammerschmidt devised and shot a sequence where he was filmed many times in the same space, dressed in a tudedo monosuit. These identical characters were laboriously composited together creating a world where we are in fact "all alike". Other students filmed additional short responses to "I am.." as well as interstitial footage of the featured interviewees as faces in a crowd. Logan took on the task of the final edit.

The resultant movie will be presented to all fourth graders in the district in assemblies on diversity and unity as a focus of conversation.

Here are more of the individual portrait videos.