No Bad Grades

No Bad Grades: A Collaborative Music Video Project, 2015
By: Christopher Metzger and Ysem Brown

No Bad Grades is our first music video project with Ysem Brown since he became the music teacher at Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School. As with our previous video, Turn on the Lights, my Computer Graphics II course visited the school and worked with middle school students to create a video for a song that was written and recorded by students taking class with Ysem earlier in the school year. The lyrics are original, and once again, put a positive spin on a negative song.

We had hoped to spend more time with Mount Royal students, but our time was limited and a two session workshop was the best we could do. With that said, the students (middle school and college) had a good time throughout the process. As artists and educators, we believe in the trans formative power of art and technology and the importance of media literacy in the 21st century. By empowering Baltimore City youth to become media producers rather than consumers, it's our hope that they'll become more critical of the media they encounter on a day to day basis.

Special thanks to my Computer Graphics II students and Cheyenne Bass and Kelli Williams for editing the video. It's much appreciated!