Around the world, artists use their work to confront social, political, religious, and cultural issues. Across every medium, art serves as a powerful tool to engage audiences, spark dialogue, and explore complex or challenging topics.
Artists across time and disciplines have used their work to reflect and challenge the world around them. Bansky, one of the world’s most famous street artists, is known for his works of political and social commentary. Kehinde Wiley reimagines traditional portraiture to highlight Black identity and presence in art history. Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti used his music as a form of political resistance.
Today, artists have taken to platforms like TikTok to talk about their work. Art can also be a reflection of the collective experiences we share, and a way to find meaning through visual expression, like these artists who created pieces about isolation at the beginning of the pandemic. Musicians, too, have long used their voices to champion causes, such as Alessia Cara, who uses her music to speak to youth mental health and empowerment.
If you plan on having a classroom discussion before assigning this challenge, use this Classroom Conversations Guide to help students feel prepared and supported.
For this project, your challenge will be to produce a FEATURE STORY about art and social change in your community. SRL wants to showcase how local artworks and artists are exploring the intersection of art and the following issues:
You can consider different kinds of art to explore:
And you can tackle this assignment a couple of different ways:
Profile (2-4 min long): The story of one person, has voiceover (VO), b-roll, pictures, nats (natural sound), interviews of family members or peers of that one person. EXAMPLES: Mural highlights Bronx teen’s death from gang violence and Making musical connections.
Short doc (5-8 min long): A short film that shows real events and fact-based information about an issue, person, or place. EXAMPLES: Brave Art (short documentary) , Amy Gerber – Ar[t]chive, and These animal are made from 100% recycled plastic
News package (3-5 min long): Video stories about newsworthy issues and topics, factual information, balanced reporting, research, voice overs, soundbites, b-roll footage, infographics, reporter standup, nats (natural sound bites). EXAMPLE: Gentle Giants take over Kentucky forest and Serving America through music
NAT package (2-4 min long): A video story guided by the natural sound from interviews and the environment. Natural sound, commonly known as NAT sound, puts the viewer in the place the story was told by enhancing the scene(s) with video containing rich audio such as a musician singing at a train station, a storm approaching, or the sound of a tractor plowing the field. EXAMPLE: How similar are penguins and humans?
No matter which format you choose, b-roll is going to be very important. A good profile, short doc, news package or NAT package could be taken to the next level with some great b-roll!
Use b-roll as the VISUAL REPRESENTATION of the story. If you are interviewing someone, listen closely, make notes, and then record video of the actions, objects, and places described during the interview. Especially for this project, strong b-roll will help communicate the story of the artwork or artist you choose.
THINK CRITICALLY
FIND YOUR STORY
Use this storytelling roadmap to complete your story. Use it as both a guide and a checklist.
This prompt does not have an active deadline to submit to PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs. However, students are encouraged to publish their stories on their school/club/program website or through video/social platforms such as YouTube, Instagram or Twitter and tag Student Reporting Labs.
FACEBOOK: /STUDENTREPORTINGLABS
Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information.
An account of past or current events. In journalism, stories are presented with a combination of people, facts, and typically includes a beginning, middle and end.
A person or other physical being in a narrative. Stories are made up of different characters who provide information and help shape the narrative with their knowledge, experience and perspective.
Video stories about newsworthy issues and topics, factual information, balanced reporting, research, voice overs, soundbites, b-roll footage, infographics, reporter standup, nats (natural sound bites).
The story of one person, has voiceover (VO), b-roll, pictures, nats (natural sound), interviews of family members or peers of that one person.
Narration and/or voiceover (VO), scene reconstructions, archival footage, nats (natural sound), b-roll, images, research, lengthy interviews, soundbites.
A short extract or clip from a recorded interview, chosen for its relevance to the story, pungency or appropriateness.
Sounds produced in their actual setting. Natural sound, commonly known as NAT sound, puts the viewer in the place the story was told by enhancing the scene(s) with video containing rich audio such as a musician singing at a train station, a storm approaching, or the sound of a tractor plowing the field.
An example of using a little person to tell a big story. For example, you want to tell a story about pollution in your community’s water system. That is a big issue. Your video will use the story of a person (character) to illustrate the effects of bad water quality.
An attempt to grab the reader or viewer’s attention with interesting information that will keep them reading or watching.
The supplemental footage used to visually support your A-ROLL.
Search: broll.
Students recognize the responsibilities and opportunities for positively contributing to their digital communities. (ISTE)
Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences. (ISTE)
Whether students are constructing opinions, explanation, or arguments, they will gather information from a variety of sources and evaluate the relevance of that information. (NCSS D3.1.9-12 - D3.2.9-12)
Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals. (ISTE)
Historical understanding requires recognizing this multiplicity of points of view in the past, which makes it important to seek out a range of sources on any historical question rather than simply use those that are easiest to find. It also requires recognizing that perspectives change over time, so that historical understanding requires developing a sense of empathy with people in the past whose perspectives might be very different from those of today. (NCSS D2.His.4.9-12 - D2.His.8.9-12)
Journalism
Representation
Climate Change
Stereotypes and Misconceptions
Race and Justice
Video Production
Civics
History
Arts
STEM
Identity
Social Media
Projects
Intermediate
Advanced
Mic
Video Conference Software. IE: Zoom or Google Meet
Computers
Camera or Mobile Phone
Internet
Notebook
4-6 Weeks