Every semester, thousands of children graduate from the various OFY, OFL, and PIE schools. At many of the graduation ceremonies, a video would play, featuring interviews of now-graduating students as they reflect on their journey up to this point in their lives and what the future has in store for them. Many of these students have unique backgrounds and different circumstances from most high school students. Not all of their paths toward graduation are linear, and many of them have faced struggles reaching their destination. But these videos were meant to serve as a way to celebrate the hardships many of them endured, while painting a picture of students that are uniquely prepared for the world ahead.
Filming these videos was a logistical challenge. I, along with my videographer co-workers, would bring multiple cameras, tripods, and cases filled with lighting equipment to the schools, where we would quickly set up our equipment. These rooms we were stationed in would typically be an empty classroom, so creating good lighting and interesting compositions was often very challenging. In addition, due to the unique attendance structure of the schools, our shoots were always scheduled when the school would be distributing caps and gowns to students, as well as putting the finishing touches on anything students needed for graduation. It was always a party going on outside of our shoots, which made recording audio very difficult. Additionally, every student is different, so sometimes interviewing a student could be simple and easy, while other times it was less so. In order to be in the video, students needed to volunteer to be in it, however sometimes teachers would volunteer students themselves. Each interview lasted about fifteen minutes, with one school having anywhere from a couple students to over a dozen. After recording we would pack and up and go back to our office in Pasadena.
After filming, we would log the footage and mark them based on the questions. Then began the slow process of sifting through the footage to edit it into a concise video. Video length would vary depending on how many students we interviewed. Every student needed to be featured at least once in the video. Additionally, graduations were often regional, so one video may have had three different schools, each with up to a dozen students interviewed. In such case, a video could be more than ten minutes long! Because of this, editing could take quite a while.
This process changed slightly during the pandemic. Instead of filming the interviews ourselves, we would send the questions and filming guidelines to the schools, and they would have students film their responses on their own. While this made it possible for us to continue making the videos during the pandemic, it also presented its own challenges, particularly because students are not video professionals and would often send videos that didn’t always follow the guidelines as best as we may have needed. However, this just meant we would have to adjust and take appropriate action to do what needed to be done to complete the video.
With the videos completed, we would bring them to the graduation ceremonies and play them for the students and families. It was always a joy to see families react positively to the videos.