Ups and Downs

Producer: Big Picture Alliance

Ups and Downs is a student-created video from the Spring 2007 digital media arts after-school program run by the Big Picture Alliance at Murrell Dobbins CTE Vocational High School in North Philadelphia. This partnership, now in its 11th year and this video represents the core principles of this long-running program. Student director and star Vann Parker uses personal narrative and video in a deeply personal way, as a representation of his poems about suicide, anxiety and life. Like many videos from Dobbins students, it doesn’t shy away from the most intimate themes and ideas. It doesn’t utilize video to glamorize or present a slick narrative. Instead, it very deliberately and artistically demonstrates very real feelings in one student in a way that resonates with his peers most organically and effectively. It is a specialized format, a documentary based around interviews that interweaves recitations of his poems and visual interpretations of not only his writing but also the original feelings that inspired the poetry. In this way, the video does not only draw from the poetry, but from the director’s vision of life itself. It builds on the original writing and delineates, articulates and projects the voice of one teenager in North Philly. This film is currently on the film festival circuit, most recently selected to screen at Vancouver as well as Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF).

The Big Picture Alliance educates disadvantaged and underserved youth in developing self-expression, life and job skills through the inspiring and collaborative process of creating media arts. Partnering with schools, community centers and arts organizations, the BPA programs support students in accessing advanced technologies, including digital media, computer arts and the Internet. Through hands-on training, the BPA uses young people's interest in media making to develop language and communication skills, critical thinking, teamwork and self-esteem. Under the guidance of the BPA's diverse staff and network of professional media makers, students are empowered to create projects that speak of their lives, dreams and communities. Through community and film festival screenings of the students' films, the BPA reaches successive groups of students who hear and respond to the voices of their peers.