AFH Photo Studio Features Crayons in Stop Motion Animation

"Action"...has been the word coming from behind the doors in the Artists For Humanity Photography Studio for the past few months. Though best known for still photography, a partnership with the Adobe Youth Voices Project challenged the studio's twelve plus teens and mentors to produce a stop motion animation video with a message about a social issue they face in their community. The result is a five minute piece entitled, Who Do You Think You Are? The Story of Greg Gray. The theme is "stereotyping" and the message as described by seventeen year old Lena Yee is, "Be yourself. Don't try to be someone you are not. And don't let others get to you."

In February, when the teens began the project, Yee says, " I took the lead to get it started because I had a vision. It is my third experience with Adobe, so I felt ready to be the director and help others. Once we had the theme of stereotyping, the hardest part was writing the story because there were so many options. We came up with the idea to use crayons, not people because choosing the people would be stereotyping!"

Following is a brief Q and A with Yee.

Q: Why Greg Gray?

A: Gray is dull.

Q: His parents?

A: Black and white, which when mixed become gray.

Q: The rest of the cast?

A: "Colorful."

Yee outlined the Adobe Project'

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s challenges:

One: " Getting the crayons to stand up! Finally used thumbtacks under the sets."

Two: The voices. "Solved with help from the AFH Video Studio."

Three: Designing the sets. "Came up with 6 sets and divided into teams to build them."

Four: Editing. "learned that there are 12 frames per second for each scene. Lesley Rule from Adobe was a big help all along the way."

Yee is in her second year at AFH and a Junior at Media Communications and Technology High School in West Roxbury. She considers art as a hobby, not a profession. She aspires to a role in criminal justice and wants to study business management. She attributes Summer Search to her interest in "helping young kids be more open and become leaders."

On June 2, AFH presented Who Do You Think You Are? The Story of Greg Gray at Adobe Youth Voices Live at the ICA/Boston.

Take a look and share the pride.