Reel Grrls is an organization that empowers girls through media production. This spring break, they taught 12 young women from Seattle to make four music videos, each from a female band in Seattle. Here is the result:
Unfortunately, the screening was on a Friday at 3:30pm, and I (Teresa) was the only band member who could attend. Even then, I arrived late and watched it on the laptop in the theater. I met Summer, one of the designers. After learning how to make a video, she and her colleague, Niaylah, had about 2.5 days to put it together, including animation, filming, and editing. It was amazing to see someone’s interpretation of our music. It’s like having someone dress you up, and looking in the mirror and realizing you’re kind of cute. It brought tears to our eyes when we saw it.
I asked Summer about her thought process during the making of the video. The moment she opened her mouth, I could tell that she was mature and thoughtful. She is going to go far in life. She said they didn’t want the video to be of a certain person, which is why they chose to only show a pair of Converse shoes, walking around Seattle, disobeying the rules. (A personal favorite is when she walks on the couch with her shoes on. I can hear my father yelling right now.) We joke that it’s a video about Rebecca, our drummer, who has been wearing Converse since high school and describes herself as surly when she was a teenager. I also like the touch of being “erased,†as the character moves backward through the scenes.
Thanks to Reel Grrls for providing a space where young women can be artistic, express themselves, and learn the technical side of filmmaking. Special thanks to Summer Matthews and Niaylah King for the beautiful work they did the week of March 29, 2010.