By Amanda Dyer
NEWS-SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
10-04-2007
Students from Lodi High School video production class will spend the
next year shooting a handful of short documentary films about the
growing cultural and socioeconomlc divide among Lodi teens.
The students will produce the documentary as part of the California
Council for the Humanities' Youth Digital Filmmakers project.
The California Council for the Humanities awarded Lodi High filmmakers a $30,000 grant to create their documentaries.
Lodi Unified School District added an extra $15,000 to the pot, giving students $45,000 to work with.
Jerry Pike, the class' teacher, bought four high-definition video
cameras, high-end sound equipment and Hollywood-grade video editing
software and computers.
Pike also reserved a room in Lodi's Stadium 12 Theaters to show the films in May.
While waiting for the equipment to arrive. Pike and his class are pondering what stories they want to tell.
Lodi High senior Amber Peer said that while she would like to focus on
how students are influenced by fads and popular culture, racism in Lodi
is also something she'd like to look at.
"Lodi is still one of those towns that judges (people) on race and I don't think that's right," Peer said.
Sophomore Zyania Lizarraga feels racism is not only a city problem, but a school problem as well.
"There's a lot of jokes that fly around in the hallway and nobody seems to do anything about it," Lizarraga said.
The students will try to further define their stories, as well as other projects they plan to work on, at the Youth Digital Filmmakers
launch today and Friday at California State University, San Francisco.
At San Francisco State, students win attend story-telling workshops,
learn digital filmmaking techniques and meet people from the seven
other groups selected for the project.
Pike hopes his students will take up some of the issues which he says divide the campus: Race and economic status.
"We have a lot of de facto segregation on campus," Pike said.
Pike acknowledges that Lodi High has a reputation for hosting Lodi's
elite, while Tokay, Bear Creek and even McNair High Schools are usually
seen as more diverse.
However, Pike said such common stereotypes are misconceptions.
"Lodi High is not just full of white, privileged people," Pike said.
The school has a large contingent of students that either come from
foster homes, are being raised by their grandparents or are being
bumped from one home to the next. Pike said.
"The first day of school I can tell who they are," Pike said. "They have it written all over their faces."
That lack of support and access keeps those students out of extracurricular activities. Pike said.
"This is what I would like my video students to touch on," Pike said.
Pike's class was the only high school class selected to work with the
Youth Digital Filmmakers project. All other participants are private
groups from San Francisco, Oakland, Concord, Long Beach, Los Angeles,
Fresno and Siskiyou County
Once students return home, they start working on their films with
local videographer David Myers from Reel Home Productions. Myers was
hired by Pike to assist students when he's unavailable.
Contact reporter Amanda Dyer at amandad@lodinews.com. Other prospective topics to be covered by student filmmakers:
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