Cycle Three Activities

During the third cycle of DesignIT Studios Year Two, students focused on creating films and music to express their ideas and emotions. Students gained competence in creating music and movies that they later used in making a final project incorporating their original music and a filmed story. The teens also had a chance to design sound automata, moving sound sculptures, for the Fort Worth Museum's Mad Scientist Ball fundraiser.

The teens began by delving into the world of MIDI programming using crickets. The students practiced composing known songs using the LogoBlocks software alongside the crickets and MIDI boards. MIDI programming is the art of using a computer to play various instruments to make music. Students had the opportunity to create musical sculptures to display at the Mad Scientist's Ball in February.

After their work with MIDI programming, the teens spent several weeks working with Screenblast's Acid Pro software, a music remixing program. They took bits and pieces of their favorite songs and spliced together new loops, or small musical ideas, with other music. The students had much fun remixing songs as well as making original compositions.

Filming and editing was reintroduced to the students and they were given the chance to make films using music that they had created. The Boys and Girls Clubs spent some time going over storyboarding and the elements of good films. The clubs entered original films into a national contest sponsored by Best Buy. The Panther branch of DesignIT Studios enjoyed a field trip to TCU's Radio-Television-Film Department, where the teens were able to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of a radio station and television studio. The students were able to gain a better understanding of what goes into television and radio and insight into oft-overlooked career possibilities. Panther students wrapped up their cycle by holding a film festival at their club to showcase the films that the students had created during the past few months.