Registrations now open
The Film Lab
The Film Lab is specifically designed for youth ages 12-18 who are interested in exploring their voices through digital storytelling using the therapeutic benefits of expressing thoughts and ideas through multimedia techniques.
Current Programming
Over the summer, our program will explore the voices of youth through the therapeutic benefits of expressing your thoughts and ideas using multimedia techniques. There will be a focus on community, social justice, self-identity, identity within the community, artistic exploration and more.
We’ll do this through lessons, demonstrations, discussion and shared experiences with a facilitator. Culminating in a final virtual showcase, each youth will have a platform to share a project that demonstrates the theme and topic they are wanting to bring awareness to.
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Tuesdays
Central
Wednesdays
Forest Lawn
About the Facilitator
Armando Salazar Larrea
Photographer, filmmaker and educator with over twenty years of experience. Originally from Quito, Ecuador, his current practice focuses on the family as an investigation of memory, learning and life cycles. His photographs show human relationships and their ambiguities. His personal cinema explores space and time through family ties in constructing identity.
Programming Weekly Schedule
Session 1: Welcome and Introductions
In this session, participants will explore the basics of photography while engaging in social-emotional learning (SEL) activities. They will introduce themselves through photographs, participate in a photo treasure hunt, discuss the elements of a good photograph in relation to emotions and belonging, and create digital collages and mood boards.
Session 2: Black and White and Color Theory
In this session, participants will explore black and white photography with a focus on expression through shadows and textures. They will use various materials to create unique scenes representing emotions. Additionally, they will learn about color theory, including analogue and contrasting colors, and use this knowledge to express specific emotions through their photography.
Session 3: Minimalism and the Psychology of Photography
In this session, participants will explore the concept of minimalism in photography, focusing on the idea that “less is more.” They will learn about the psychology behind photography, including how angles and shot types can convey different emotions and perspectives. Participants will create an emotion collage using angles and techniques, and discuss social-emotional learning (SEL) topics such as inclusion and belonging. The session will conclude with an introduction to the final project, where participants will choose a prop and think about an emotion they want to convey in their final piece.
Session 5: Visual Storytelling
In this session, participants will learn how to convey a story through their photographs. They will explore the elements of visual storytelling and how to use their cameras to communicate narratives. The session will include an activity where participants find images online to create a visual sequence and a practical exercise in creating their own photographic series. Social-emotional learning (SEL) themes such as understanding and expressing emotions through visual stories will be emphasized.
Session 6: Exploring Discrimination and Working on the Final Project
In this session, participants will explore the themes of discrimination, inclusion, and diversity through visual storytelling. They will begin working on their final project, focusing on how to use their chosen prop to convey a meaningful narrative. Participants will reflect on what matters to them and learn how to give human-like qualities to their prop to evoke emotions in viewers. This session will also cover planning a visual story, including technical aspects like composition, colors, illumination, and angles.
Session 7: Preparing Our Exhibition
In this session, participants will take the photographs for their final project using the props and plans they developed in Session 6. They will then compile their images into a cohesive presentation using Canva or PowerPoint to see how the images relate to each other. Participants will also consider adding additional assets to their exhibition, such as music, smells, and lights, to enhance the viewer’s experience and convey their story more powerfully.
Session 8: Photography Art Exhibit
In this final session, participants will present their completed photography projects in a formal exhibit. Each participant will have the opportunity to talk about their piece and showcase their work to the group. The session will conclude with a celebratory pizza party and farewells, providing a fun and memorable end to the program.
Session 9: Photography Art Exhibit
In this final session, participants will present their completed photography projects in a formal exhibit. Each participant will have the opportunity to talk about their piece and showcase their work to the group. The session will conclude with a celebratory pizza party and farewells, providing a fun and memorable end to the program.
Session 10: Photography Art Exhibit
In this final session, participants will present their completed photography projects in a formal exhibit. Each participant will have the opportunity to talk about their piece and showcase their work to the group. The session will conclude with a celebratory pizza party and farewells, providing a fun and memorable end to the program.
Latest Film Labs Blog Posts
The Film Lab Returns Next Week!
We’re thrilled to announce that our much-loved Film Lab program is kicking off again next week! Starting on Tuesday, October 8th, at Hillhurst Sunnyside Community
The Film Lab during Summer
During August and September, the Film Lab been offering two unique programs tailored to the youth attending the Summer cycles. Midnapore – Trellis program We
The Film Lab – Summer is here!
We are excited to introduce The Film Lab Summer Photography Program, an exciting opportunity for young photographers aged 12 to 18 to immerse themselves in
Festival de Cine at Crescent Heights Highschool
Crescent Heights High School held their first Festival de Cine en Español, a special event that showcased the filmmaking talents of the students of four
The Film Lab’s Pizza Party at Cardel Rec South
The end of The Film Lab’s 10-week cinematography program was a pizza party event held at Cardel Rec South. This program, designed to immerse youth
Our Filmmaking adventure
During the month of April, youth have been attending our filmmaking offering at Cardel Rec South. With our phones as our recording and editing tools,
Listen to Our Podcast
In the Film Labs, youth is provided with hands-on learning opportunities that allow them to practice their skills in real-world settings and showcase their work through screenings and exhibitions.
By the end of the program, the youth will have gained valuable skills that can help them pursue their passion for film and photography. They’ll also have a portfolio of work that they can be proud of and use to showcase their talents to future employers or clients!
Programming Weekly Schedule
Week 1: Creating a welcoming, inclusive environment
Setting up the basis of what a welcoming, non-judgemental, safe environment is. We are in the very beginning of our programing, and it will define our interactions within the group. We will introduce the use the medium of a podcast to the group, what it intrinsically means and how it represents a great tool to sharing with the World.
Week 2: Discrimination? Inclusion? Integration? Wait... What?
This second week will consist of the introduction of the discussion point of the ten weeks programming: fighting discrimination and fostering inclusion. We will touch base on the different topics of integration, discrimination and inclusion, as well as how they can be addressed through podcasting.
Week 4: How would you include new immigrants in your community and give them a sense of belonging?
During our fourth week of programming, we are going to be exploring inclusion. We want to dig into how a newcomer to the community can be integrated or included in our existing community. There are many pathways, but how beneficial are they for the included? How much for the community?
Week 5: Existing culture vs foreign culture, the limits of inclusion
In our fifth week we will be exploring the limits of inclusion. What is the impact of immigration on local culture and how would we marry the arrival of newcomers to preservation? Is it always to adopt foreign cultures? Who should have the power to decide, the local culture or the migrant?
Week 6: What do we fear when including people? Anti-migration systems
Migration causes controversy. There are many people against the adoption of foreign cultures in their society and there are movements that would radically be against them. But what do people really fear from migrants? What is the real fear and discrimination behind those movements?
Week 7: Final Project Part 1
Over the next two weeks youth will bring their voice to life through a unique podcast idea of their choosing. Youth will begin the creation of their final art project for an online release. Today’s session will be an open work period for creativity.
Week 8: Final Project Part 2
Over the next two weeks youth will bring their voice to life through a unique podcast idea of their choosing. Youth will begin the creation of their final art project for an online release. Today’s session will be an open work period for creativity.
Week 9: Release Preparation
Editing and releasing a podcast. What goes into the visual identity generation etc.
Week 10: Pizza Party and Virtual Showcase Posting
For the cumulation of the 10-weeks together youth will come together for a celebratory event and posting of the programs. They will be disseminated through Antyx Social Media Posts.
Programming Weekly Schedule
Week 1: Introduction and Creative Ice Breakers
We start the program with participants introduction and ice breakers, having a discussion on the power of individual expression in video creation. As a technical component, we discuss what is video and which kind of videos do we watch.
We then jump into the introduction to basic smartphone video shooting techniques.
We hold a creative brainstorming activity on unique artistic styles in video creation, asking ourselves what’s important in the look of a viedeo?
Week 2: Understanding Discrimination through Video
How do video impact society and discrimination? What’s visual storytelling? Are we being sold narratives and stories through media? In this session we will cover the introduction to color theory and its emotional impact in videos.
We explore color theory and experiment with incorporating symbolism and metaphorical elements in videos – color isolation, controlled color palette… how can video creation address discrimination and promote inclusion?
Week 3: Making Your Voice Heard Through Video Creation
“How can videos help us share our stories and ideas?” “What do you hope to achieve through video making?”. In this session youth will try and find their very unique voices when approaching video creation.
We will cover composition, practicing it with some activities and dicussing what is visual storytelling and how can we use it to our adventage in making our voices be heard.
Week 4: Storytelling with Smartphone Videos
We will be reflecting on previous weeks, and exploring why storytelling is important in smartphone videography.
Participants are encouraged to share personal stories or examples of impactful videos they’ve seen, sparking a conversation about the power of visual storytelling.
This is the first time in the program that we are going to be creating a final video and learning how to edit it using free smartphone applications.
Week 5: Entrepreneurial Vision for Social Change through Video
How can our vision of the world be transformed into social change? Let’s mix everything that we have learnt so far to create a piece that will transmit our own voices combined.
Video can be an impactful tool that will move people, create new goals and achieve greater things.
Week 6: Colorful Imagery Exploration in Video
In this session we will be learning how to plan and create a meaningful piece of content. We are going to be digging into why is it important to have a plan of action in many things in video and how it translates to life and living experiences.
Sometimes, things do not go to plan and we need to adapt to change and overcome it, work with limitations and accept that not everything can be as we imagined it.
We will be exploring color in postproduction, color grading our videos and making them transmit what we want them to.
Week 7: Abstract Video Creation
In this session we will be exploring how we can use video to transmit emotions in its raw state. Instead of creating a narrative, we are going to be exploring abstract video creation.
Sometimes, the lack of a narrative can be a powerful tool to show how we feel and the emotions that we want to transmit to the viewer. Different angles that may evoke certain feelings is what we try to achieve.
Week 8: Youth Voices for the Final Video Showcase
In this session we are going to start preparing for the final showcase. Youth will choose a topic that matters most to them and are going to start planning and recording a video that will be presented on the final session.
The youth will work on a group, agreeing on the creative choices and exploring what would be a powerful message to share with the world. In this session, they will start the recording and plan the preparations needed for the next session.
Week 9: Final Video Project Part 2
Youth will continue working on their final video project, creating their pieces and editing the clips together for a cohesive narrative.
Week 10: Final Video Project Part 3, Pizza Party, and Virtual Showcase
The final session will consist on a first part where the youth will have time to finish their videos, record and edit.
Towards the second session, we will enjoy pizza and snacks while whatching the final creations together and reflecting on the past ten weeks. What are the main takes for each of them? What mattered the most?