Month: November 2020

Host: With most colleges transitioning to an online learning curriculum amid a global pandemic, the mental health of current college students is at stake. According to a study done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 40% of U.S. adults reported struggling with mental health or substance abuse during late June. Alina Camejo spoke to one college senior about what it’s like surviving a global pandemic while simultaneously finishing her studies.

AMBI: Sounds of typing on a laptop (FADE DOWN AS TRACK BEGINS)

TRACK: I’m on Zoom call with Jewel Antoine, a Psychology student at St. John’s University who is currently at home in Trinidad and Tobago. She said in mental health terms, the last eight months have been a journey.

ACT: JEWEL: I think something that impacted my mental health in the beginning was the fact that no one knew what was going on and everything was just kind of being cancelled. Everything was on hold. Everything was very uncertain.

TRACK: Although the uncertainty of the pandemic has taken a major toll on her mental health, she continues to remain optimistic about how she has learned to handle these setbacks.

ACT: JEWEL: My mental health coping skills also started to adapt to our current situation. I think I started to look at everything on a day-by-day basis and just trying to stay as productive as I can and look for simple pleasures. As I’ve started school again, it’s occupied my time a lot, which is good because I have less time to just sit around.

TRACK: Regardless, balancing schoolwork, post-grad plans, and home life isn’t easy even in so-called normal times. According to a 2018 World Health Organization survey, 35%of freshman college students from multiple countries screened positive for at least one of six mental health disorders. This has only increased since the pandemic. 

ACT: JEWEL: My biggest hurdle is getting my family to understand that just because I’m in the house doesn’t mean that I’m always available like I have like school, work and classes going on.

TRACK: As she approaches her graduation date, Jewel says she is trying to remain flexible as she navigates the grad school application process during the pandemic.

ACT: JEWEL: My plan originally and well, my plan still is to go to grad school in the UK and now that the pandemic happened, I don’t know like what that’s going to look like in 2021, so I’m trying to be flexible, but it is very scary going into a job market and going into like a new school without a lot of certainty.

TRACK: Although Jewel emphasizes the stress of her responsibilities, she has found solace in the increased family time she has now.

ACT: JEWEL: I don’t live in Trinidad full time. My mom doesn’t live here so the fact that we’re both here together for such a long period of time gives her, me and my grandmother time to learn, to do stuff together and reconnect which is something I’m grateful for amidst all of this.

TRACK: Jewel hopes professors and employers can extend grace during this time and have students and employees understand their feelings are valid.

ACT: JEWEL: It’s okay to just be with those feelings and not want to do anything for a little bit and I wish that schools, jobs and everybody else understood that as well.

TRACK: Jewel recently started seeing a counselor at her school., which she says has helped. And with winter approaching and many colleges continuing distance learning into the Spring 2021 semester, these  counselors are going to be more crucial than ever. For Baruch College, I’m Alina Camejo.

I volunteer for the Social Media and Communications department for a church conference. They are always trying to find different creative ways to reach out to the youth and young adults in order to keep them engaged in church activities. Currently they are in the works of planning their very first virtual youth conference and I will be assisting in the planning, and recording for the program. I think it would be interesting to film the day and get people to explain the intentions behind the program (also being that young adults are leaving the church in large numbers.)

For my video Pitch i will make video of my friend Brett Loving is an Artist, a business owner and entrepreneur, an action sports athlete, and all-round earth experiencer.  the video will show how he makes his unique art and motorcycle life and events.

A day in the life of an artist, her name is Sardis Disla, located in Philly, PA. They have an Etsy store that’s been successful this past year. Sardis is very active in protest issues regarding LGBTQ+, BLM, Gentrification, and much more. I want to show how they manage their store, how they find protest to go to, and just go on about their day to day.

I would be interested in interviewing people from Bombazo Dance Co. about the historical origins of Bomba, their own journey with it and how COVID-19 has impacted their programming. In addition, I would include shots of the dancer(s) wearing the traditional skirt that is accentuated through the dance and the drumming. I would also feature archival footage of their organizations before and after the pandemic impacted the organization’s in-person classes and how they have shifted to virtual Bomba lessons.

Reminders and Upcoming Dates

Video rough cuts are due Friday, Dec. 4.

Final videos are due Friday, Dec. 11, our last class.

 

Pitch Workshop

We’ll discuss your video pitches together and give feedback.

 

Asynchronous Assignment

Watch the video editing tutorial and edit your five-shot sequence together. Upload to Vimeo or Youtube and post on the class blog by next class.

For my video story I’d like to do a “Day in the Life” type of video with my cousin who is a football player for Rutgers University. Like everyone else, the pandemic changed his life. It would be interesting to hear him talk about his workout schedule, academic life, and home life back in Brooklyn after 2 years away. Since he was a little scared to go in the first place, I think he’d have a lot to say about his experience as a student athlete going to another state and a D1 school. I’d also like him to discuss the #ShowMeYouCare movement that he and other Black student athletes started in sync with the outrage against police brutality that this year started.

For my video pitch I have two main ideas: The first is to document a friend who has been restoring a pandemic during the pandemic. The second is to capture another friend’s plant collection and how he has kept that going during the pandemic.

For my video pitch idea, I have 2 in mind.

When COVID-19 started, the government in Singapore implemented a policy called TraceTogether.  It requires people to check into any building they enter just in case the area might be compromised. To make sure the pubic follows the rules, there are people stationed at every entrance. The people are allowed to enter by one of three methods. Either by scanning a QR code from a mobile app, letting the workers scan a custom SQ code assigned to each person or scanning their ID. This is an interesting idea and it works wells to the point that it became an accepted part of everyday life. I wanted to take a video showing the policy being applied. I also to talk about why it works in Singapore and reach out to the creators of the policy and ask them a few questions.

The second idea are related to arcades. Arcades in Singapore are an extremely form of entertainment and enjoyment for many people but it poses a huge safety risk for the machines being in close proximity with one another and the people are forced to stand close to each other to play. I have been to four of them at various hours of the day, (morning around 8am, afternoon around 2pm, evening around 7pm and at night around 11pm) and they are packed regardless of the time. In addition, they are normally spectators to those who play and they are usually crowded together. For this one, I want to talk to the supervisors and ask what they think of the arrangement and if it was up to them, what they would do to limit the interactions.

For the final installment of my immigration series, I was hoping to film a few of my first-gen American friends. My friend group is full of first-generation Americans and I would do a video interview series with them to talk about their experiences growing up in America with immigrant parents and how that affects their perspective. I myself am a Belarussian-American, and in the friend group we have representation from Azerbaijan, Hungary, Puerto Rico/Ukraine, Ukraine, and Belarus. The video series would be shot in different settings and will be mindful of COVID safety measures.