Homework Boy
A collaborative music video project
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 :)
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!
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.