Student video finalist in music video contest
BY SHARON LEFF Staff Writer

Red Bank Middle School students and teachers join Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna (second from left) at a Borough Council meeting where they were recognized for creating a music video that is a finalist in an international competition.

RED BANK — After about a month of work and the participation of 100 students, the middle school's music video submission, "This Year," is a finalist in a nationwide competition.

About 100 students from six classes in grades six through eight helped to create the video, according to music teacher Holcombe Hurd.

He said students were an important part of each phase of the video, whether it was daily production responsibilities, running the computers, or helping to choose the best shots to include in the final product submitted in the Interactive Classroom Makeover Video Contest sponsored by eInstruction.

"It's very much a family attempt," Hurd said.

In addition to the teachers who were directly involved, the students received help from the school principal, librarian, and math and language arts coach, and the video features a cameo by the district superintendent.

"When the kids see that kind of buy-in from the grown-ups in the building, they get excited, they get jazzed up," Hurd said.

During the video, students sing and rap about the need for more technology in their classrooms and what they could potentially do with new computers and equipment. The video runs about 2 ½ minutes.

This is the second consecutive year in which the middle school video has placed among the finalists in the international contest.

According to the contest's Web site, the grand-prize winner will receive an eInstruction classroom technology makeover valued at more than $25,000.

The site states that judges will look at three categories: effectiveness of demonstrating the use of technology in the classroom, the extent to which the entry demonstrates collaboration between students and teachers in creating the video, and the overall creativity and spirit of the entry.

The public can view and vote for the video submission by visiting http://eimakeover.shycast. com/contestant/404 and clicking on the "vote" button.

The contest required that entries had to be either a song parody or an original song that demonstrates or envisions the use of technology in the classroom.

To develop the idea, the students got together and conceptualized what they wanted to see in the video. Then they wrote the lyrics and song and recorded the song.

Hurd said the process of brainstorming, recording the song, and then shooting and editing the video began about a month ago.

"The children sat down with us, and we discussed how to storyboard," he said about the process. "We watched videos from last year, and we looked at the rules and we looked at the judging criteria. Then we got a prize list from the Web site, and we put that in front of the kids and brainstormed and storyboarded what this thing was going to look like."

The idea for the video's title, "This Year," came from the students' motivation to improve upon last year's contest submission.

"This year we're going to put our best foot forward. This year we're going to work as hard as we can. This year we're going to bring our 'A' game. And that's how 'This Year' was chosen," Hurd said.

Video submissions were due two weeks ago, and to garner attention and votes, a group of students presented their video to the Borough Council at its meeting on Oct. 24.

Hurd said that despite the outcome of the contest, the youths who participated are winners because of what they learned from the process.

"They participated in a new, real-world, authentic experience, and from where I'm standing, these kids are winners," he said.

He said that if the same contest is held again next year, he would absolutely want the students to participate again.

Last year, out of more than 200 submissions, the middle school's video, titled "Use Ya Tech," a parody of rapper Eminem's "Lose Yourself," landed the students one of five finalist spots in the sixth-to-eighth-grade category in the contest.