Homework Boy

Non-featured
Written By jenna frye

A collaborative music video project

 
young boy with face and arm paint operates video camera

Completion Date
2009

Community Partner
Govans Elementary, Baltimore, MD

Disciplines
Sound and Video, Community Art

Course
Electronic Media and Culture

Homework Boy was the first collaboration I did with two of my favorite Baltimore artists, Chris Metzger (Visual Art Professor) and Ysem Brown (Music/Tech teacher and choral director for Govans Elementary).

Together with students from all of our schools, MICA, Morgan State and Govans, we set out to do something simple: make a music video parody of "Crank Dat Souljah Boy" and turn it into something more positive for the Govans students. Ysem re-wrote the lyrics as well as dedicated tons of practice time in music class to get the students ready for their close ups.

Much of our work in preparing for the video took place over a day long Saturday workshop of fun, technology and pizza. We had a blast running around the empty school on the weekend!

All of the students played critical roles in storyboarding, filming, acting in and editing the video, and we were all super excited about how awesome we did with our Homework :)  

 
two young boys dancing on stage
teacher and students gathered in front of laptop
young boy and college student operate video camera together

Black Girl Magic

You do that HOMEWORK boy!

As the three of us revisited the project after we finished the video, we began to understand the real value of the work, beyond the readily apparent cuteness factor. The magic happened when the Govans students saw themselves well represented in their own media and when audiences got to see beautiful Black joy on screen.

The process of producing great media involves much more than just understanding the technology. As artists, educators and citizens, we believe that media and cultural literacy are critical parts of a media education. It is our hope that collaborative, community-based media projects help students become critical producers of media which will help them become critical and indeed conscious, consumers of media.

Watch Homework Boy!

 
three young boys posing on stage
students and faculty gathered around a laptop in the school cafeteria
young black boy and adult black male under dramatic lighting using the black power fist

The great Craig Herndon!

 
young black man and black boy posing with peace signs

Jimi

students and teacher using camera together
large group of teachers and students dancing in a circle in the cafeteria

Sharing our stories in a circle

Faculty Team
Ysem Brown, Jenna Frye, Christopher Metzger

Photo Credits
Christopher Metzger

Grant Funding
MICA Lucas Grant

Videography Support
Rassaan Hammond, Jimmy, Craig Hernon

Special Thanks
Thanks to students from MICA, Morgan State and Govans Elementary for being amazing collaborative partners in this project.

jenna frye
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