C-SPAN 2014 StudentCam Competition

[xcriteria]

C-SPAN StudentCam contest

2014 StudentCam Theme: “A Message to the U.S. Congress”
What’s the most important issue the U.S. Congress should consider in 2014?

Open to students in grades 6-12.

StudentCam is C-SPAN's annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation.

This year we have doubled the number of student prizes from 75 to 150 awards, and increased the teacher advisor prizes to 53 awards, all up totaling $100,000 in cash prizes!

Students are asked to create a short (5-7 minute) video documentary on a topic related to the competition theme listed below.

Anyone want to try this?

[no]

Dealing with actual problems instead of crises they invent themselves.

Now someone do this.

[xcriteria]

(10-24-2013 08:12 PM)planetfall666 Wrote:  Dealing with actual problems instead of crises they invent themselves.

Exactly.

(10-24-2013 08:12 PM)planetfall666 Wrote:  Now someone do this.

Everyone do this! Beyond the prospect of winning (they will select 150 winners!), the project itself is a good catalyst for talking to people at your school, your family, your community, even legislators and experts.

Whether you win or not, it could be a good learning experience, and be an item on your resume or in your portfolio to show people your narrative of making out out of an archaic educational system that's out of place in the 21st century.

This snippet from Justin Schwamm sums up the issue:

Hidden stuff:

On the way 19th and 20th century "factory-model" schooling is stuck in so many people's minds as the only way, and even the way things have "always" been (which isn't true, and won't remain true.)

"It’s hard to let go of the factory-vision … hard, but necessary.  My great-grandparents would have been puzzled, even repelled by it; earlier ancestors would have been horrified; my own future grandchildren and great-grandchildren will doubtless wonder how anyone could have believed such nonsense.  While Ms. X and other friends shriek in anger and fear at the death of the factory, there’s an amazing consensus building about what schools and other learning environments might look like in a post-factory world."

Steps and Stebacks, V

Here are the rules and some FAQs. Submission period is November - January 20, 2014. You can work with up to 3 other students.

I wonder if they allow collaborations between people in different places, dropouts, and/or homeschoolers. This is something to email and ask them about.

Another key criteria is that you must include some C-SPAN footage... they have an archive to look through. I can see how this can also benefit a video like this.

What the judges are looking for (two short clips):

Hidden stuff:

Watch on YouTube



Watch on YouTube

Who wants to give it a shot? Again, it's a basis for interviewing people and asking questions that might be hard to ask without a catalyst like this (as sad as that is...)

[Subb]

I would love to do that. I even have a few friends who would be interested too.

The problem is I don't want congress to talk about any issue. I just want them to play nice together, and not act like preschoolers on the playground.

"I'll let this bill pass, but ONLY IF YOU DELAY OBAMACARE!"
"WELL YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!"
"WELL I GUESS THERE'S NO GOVERNMENT NOW, YOU POOPY HEAD!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!"

[brainiac3397]

I think I wanted to do this in 9th grade, or 10th(IDK...It all just melts togther in a compressed form to save memory storage. At this point, my last 18 years have been shrunk to about a 5 minute slideshow with 1 image every 3 seconds, or total of 100 images for 18 years?)

[James Comey]

We may not have the right to vote, but we do have power.

Let's send in videos how we want a reform of the educational system. We're tired of the old factory model system. We want real education.

[Trar]

My first instinct, if I could enter, would be to do a thing about the widening income gap and the worsening lot of American workers.

The problems of schooling would be something we SSers could work together on if I was lucky enough to go to a school with one, though. Maybe in an alternate universe...

[xcriteria]

We can still produce videos, regardless of this competition. But, I encourage anyone in school to.consider submitting something.

Time is running out, but there's still a month left.

And beyond this contest, pm me for links to.brainstorming threads for collaboration.

[no]

Well, I'm shit at basically everything video related. Both in terms of skill and equipment. Were this not so I would love to enter or at least help.

[xcriteria]

(12-11-2013 10:09 AM)planetfall666 Wrote:  Well, I'm shit at basically everything video related. Both in terms of skill and equipment. Were this not so I would love to enter or at least help.

If you're interested, you could change that.

I used to feel that way, too, but I'm trying to develop my skills, given that I want to produce a series about all this school stuff. One question is, are you okay with being on video and talking about things?

That's a tough one for me, but I'm getting practice and figuring it out. That won't help for this particular contest, but fortunately, there are a lot of other ways to make content where there's no rule that says "you have to be in school."

[Trar]

I'd like to give a shot at being a student in a mockumentary, but the window of opportunity to pass as a high school student is passing me by as I type Otherwise I think I'm a better speaker on the internet. I could still try and talk, though...

I'm not video inclined either, but then again I could probably change that too. Honestly I should make a video thing anyway, but I've got a number of other things on my plate at the moment. If one of you wants to help me for whatever reason, bear in mind it's pretty much about progressiveness