Open CallOpen Call: Rough Cuts
The Ghosts of John Jay High [Formerly 'Thug School'] (Rough Cut) (3:10)
Sarah Gonser + Lance Kruger | Brooklyn, NY
“Who in here doesn’t live in the projects?” Thirty-two ninth graders stay put. Only the teacher, who is white, raises her hand. “That’s what I thought,” says the boy who asked the question, staring out the window of H.S. 460, formerly John Jay High School, a.k.a. Thug School. This isn’t a particularly unusual scene except for its location. John Jay is in the heart of Park Slope, Brooklyn, home to multi-million-dollar brownstones, stroller brigades, and bleeding-heart, peacenik liberals. Two streets away is P.S. 321--one of the finest elementary schools in New York City--its classrooms packed with smart, primarily white kids with near-perfect reading and math scores. Fifty-three years after Brown vs. Board of Education, John Jay High’s students are primarily black and poor. Police and metal detectors surround the doors. Bussed in from projects in the Bedford-Stuyvesant, Red Hook, Sunset Park, and Brownsville sections of Brooklyn, few students graduate, fewer make it to college. I’d like to give one bright student a camera for one week. The assignment would be: shoot whatever stands out about the experience of being one of the few hopefuls in a failing school that, in 2008, remains an insular, almost all-black island, midst in a wealthy, nearly all-white neighborhood.
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” —Ralph Ellison
Sarah Gonser is co-director and co-producer, along with her filmmaking partner Lance Kruger, of "The Ghosts of John Jay High." Prior to this project, Gonser co-produced and co-directed Waking Aphrodite, a documentary film that premiered at the 2007 Silverdocs: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival. Together with Kruger, she is now in pre-production on a film about a child raised in the South Bronx by drug-addicted parents during the corrupt and crime-ridden 1970s. Born and raised in Switzerland, Sarah Gonser has lived in New York City since 1992.
Lance Kruger, co-director and co-producer of "The Ghosts of John Jay High," studied film at the University of Southern California, University of Nevada Las Vegas, and New School University. Prior to this project, Kruger co-produced and co-directed Waking Aphrodite, a documentary film that premiered at the 2007 Silverdocs: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival. Together with his filmmaking partner Sarah Gonser, he is now in pre-production on a film about a child raised in the South Bronx by drug-addicted parents during the corrupt and crime-ridden 1970s. Born and raised in Nevada, Kruger has lived in Brooklyn, New York, since 1995.
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Student Footage
Like how you combined professional editing and interview techniques with student's video diaries. The end result is very polished. The students you interviewed had a very compelling story to tell... maybe the principal is a good way to meet the shop keepers and affluent parents half way. Although a part of me doesn't want to see you explain it all away either. Maybe interview the girls after telling them about the principle's response.
Great work
This is really compelling and insightful. I really admire the way that you gave the young people such agency and power. And I'm not sure I want to hear from adults at all. In terms of a greater context for the story, perhaps you could consider adding the voices of kids from the nearby "good school," if that's still a possibility. I'd also encourage you to revisit the sentiment you end the piece with. Do you really want to end with a plea to white people for understanding? Is that really what the kids want, you think? In any case, this is a strong piece of work. Well done.
Jacquie Jones
Executive Director, NBPC
Exciting!
I find this piece exciting! I think the interviewees' relationship to the camera (to you) is refreshing. If you focused on just their points of view, I think it would be fine because the setting is a strong enough character.
Regarding giving guidelines to the students for their video diaries, check out Kirby Dick's "Chain Camera" and see if you can get in contact with him or someone who was on its production. Somewhere on the dvd KD mentions that he gave his subjects some simple guidelines, and listed a few--maybe you can get more. Looks great, Good luck!
Documentary
You brought a new story to the public. I'm so tired of movies that try to depict this. I would like to see a teachers perspective, and one community store owner. I wonder how they feel! I like the sound mix also, the authentic hip-hop in the background really set the mood. I imagined this film would look like this. I would also like to see a longer version in the future. Great Job!
All the best,
Javan J
Why our story changed
Hi Chris: You know, oddly enough, one of the biggest challenges we faced with this short was deciding which story to tell. Obviously, the shortcomings of public education is a huge issue and the rhetoric surrounding it is, well, numbing. Thing is, that rhetoric generally comes from adults. You can read about the issues until you're blue in the face, talk to school administration, speak to Park Slope parents, etc. Ultimately, we realized that the freshest, most interesting take was coming from these six very bright young women--all students from an advanced placement class with college plans. They had a lot to say about the neighborhood perception issue. That said, we're still torn about whether to feature responses from, say, business owners who object to students hanging around their establishements. Or the local parents who ship their kids off to private schools instead of to the one right down the street. The principal also has a very clear-eyed take on the whole matter of perception vs. reality. Then again, a short is a short is a short.
In terms of the video diaries: we gave a camera to two students for a day. Some of the in-school footage (hallways, metal detectors) comes from their diaries. We'd like to try that again, but with different (and perhaps more focused) guidelines in order to have more useable footage at our disposal.
Any opinions about featuring those opposing (and adult) perspectives?
Thanks,
Sarah & Lance
Different direction?
Nice treatment. I love your motion graphics with the news papers. You put a different spin on an old tool. Very creative. I noticed you story is different than you pitched it. Can you talk to us a little bit why it changed?
best,
CH
Supervisor, WGBH Lab