Turn on the Lights

Turn on the Lights: A Collaborative Music Video Project, 2013
By: Christopher Metzger and Ysem Brown

Much like our video project It's at Govans, Turn on the Lights brought students enrolled in my Computer Graphics II course into the Baltimore City School System, but this time to a new school, Tench Tilghman Elementary/Middle School. Wherever Mr. Brown goes, we follow. This time around he held a contest with his middle school students to write and record their own songs. They studied the music industry, discussed trends, listened to music, and over the course of the school year various groups of students wrote songs and a final vote was tallied. We figured it'd only be fitting to create a new video to celebrate the song with the most votes. Enjoy!

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.

Thanks to Morgan alum Kelli Williams for pulling everything together at the end of the project. Also, shout out once again to MICA alum Rassaan Hammond for stopping through for the day to lend his knowledge and equipment to the project. He should really be on the payroll at this point, don't ya think? Funders?