Monday January 10
Workshops began with the first group of girls (instead of the second group). We warmed up with the story game (characters, locations, and complications on pieces of paper, drawn at random) and then screened the three films created on Friday, based on the Noyud Ali passage. (I included audio from the films in Week 1's blog.) I anticipated that the girls would be excited or embarrassed to see themselves on-screen and that we'd be a group of squirmy gigglies while watching the films together. Instead, the girls were focused and quiet. They were interested in each other's work and seemed proud of what they had made. Success! I included credits at the end of each film and I hope they were proud to see their names on the screen. We discussed each film for a few minutes - What image stood out to you? Why? How could you use abstract images to illustrate your story?
Next we began the Identity Project. I asked each girl to write five sentences describing her personality. Once the sentences were written, I asked each girl to draw one image (to be filmed later) to illustrate each sentence. Two rules: 1) The images must be filmed in the multipurpose room. 2) You can't show an entire face or an entire person (a small detail such as an eye is fine; abstract images are encouraged).
As the first group was working on the project, girls from the second group trickled into the room. I decided to incorporate the second group into the Identity Project right away, instead of going back to Friday's lesson plan with the passage from the Noyud Ali book. (I bring the Noyud Ali book to class each day, in case there is extra class time or I need an example to illustrate a point, and each day I find that a girl has pulled it out of my bag and is sitting somewhere reading it. I'll bring in another passage for us to read together another week.)
As each girl finished writing her sentences and drawing images, production began. She would work with another girl to film her images and record her sentences as voice over narration. The girls were great collaborators. I was impressed in every way - their creativity, the care with which they crafted each other's films, their professionalism. Maybe my most relaxed day on a set. Thanks to Shannon(!!!) for helping us with pre-production and production today.
Tuesday January 11
Today we did a warm-up game suggested by Shannon(!!!). I brought in a bag with tiny slips of paper in it. Each piece of paper had one letter of the alphabet written on it.
Each girl drew two letters out of the bag and was challenged with finding the shape of the letters somewhere in the multipurpose room. The only rule was that objects couldn't be configured to create the shape of the letter - the letter had to already exist in the environment. Once the girls had found the letters, they shared with the group where they saw the letter in the room. If someone couldn't find a letter, the group worked together to find it. "Q" was tough.
After the warm-up, we watched three of the edited Identity Projects (I need to edit the rest for Friday) and we discussed them. This screening went as well as the screening on Friday. Larry, a psychologist at the safehouse, joined us and had some really interesting observations about the films to add to the discussion. For example, one of the girls had written that she was happy, but her image was a sad face. All of her images were in opposition to her sentences.
Then I laid out a set of photographs (from National Geographic photographers and from Paul Strand) on the floor in the middle of our circle. The photographs showed objects, settings, and a couple extreme close-ups (one of an eye and one of feet). I asked each girl to choose a photo and tell us what emotion she saw in the image, and why. I demonstrated with a photo of colorful umbrellas.
At the end of the workshop, I recorded audio for a couple of the girls' Identity Projects who didn't have time on Monday. And then the second group of girls came in. Larry hung out with us to repeat the workshop.
Friday January 14
I arrived to find that four girls left the safehouse yesterday. One will be leaving tomorrow. There is a new girl today. Hard and hopeful. The girls missed their friends, but also were excited about the possibility of going home themselves. I was surprised by how sad I felt.
Warm-up - We listened to soundscapes from Radio Lab episodes (my addiction) and talked about the images we saw when listening to the soundscapes, the emotion of the soundscapes. Then we screened the rest of the Identity Projects and discussed them a little bit. They all seemed proud of their work. Here is audio from one of the projects:
I don't like fighting with my roommates. I like to be respectful so that I am respected. I like to play up to a certain point. I am serious, and the truth is that I don't really know my personality yet. And I am sensitive. I am cheerful up to a certain point. I like to play soccer, and what else...I like to do chores and...to have a clean house.
I'll put together dvds of of the projects and give each girl a copy. Eduardo, the coordinator at the safehouse, said he could mail the dvds to the girls who have gone home.
Next I asked the girls to work in pairs and passed out a photograph to each pair. I asked them to look at the photograph and write down five sounds that they imagine exist in the world of the photograph, if we were to bring the photo to life and be standing in it. It was an abstract challenge for everyone to grasp, but after some additional explanation the gears started turning and there were fantastic, creative responses. (Examples below)
1. people are talking
2. birds are chattering
3. many voices
4. the wind in the trees
The women are talking.
One of them is tapping her fingernails together.
There are shouts from children.
You hear the sounds of the street.
It sounds like there is something dripping, you hear the
drops.
After this exercise, I asked the pairs to draw a map of a place they would like to live. It could be based on a real place; it could be an imaginary world; it could be a combination. Shannon and I demonstrated by drawing a map together on the whiteboard. We would like to live in a house with a yard all the way around it. I would like to live by the ocean, so I drew an ocean. Shannon would like to live near a place where she can volunteer with kids, so she drew a nursery nearby. The groups got to work quickly after our demonstration.
Once a pair's map was finished, I asked them to write down fifteen sounds that they would hear in the world of their map. I thought that this would take a while, but the girls filled in the world of their maps quickly, enthusiastically. I had brought only one audio recorder with me (I didn't think we would get to recording today). Shannon took a couple groups out of the multipurpose room to gather sounds. I stayed behind in the multipurpose room while some groups finished their maps and sound lists. Eventually all finished and, while Shannon worked with groups to record sounds, I sat with a couple girls with my laptop and we searched for sounds in a sound effects bank (only sounds that might be impossible to record at the safehouse; I want as many sounds as possible to be recorded by the girls).
This was a great week. I feel very lucky to be here. There won't be a workshop on Monday, but on Tuesday we are taking a fieldtrip to a movie theater in Quito to watch a series of short films about significant moments in life.
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