ALTERN MEDIA PROJECTS is the name of the multimedia production studio started by the students of Sacramento High School's 2007 Visual Communication class. It is now a brand the students use when they take on a film or multimedia project for the school or for other non-profits that hire our services.

The project was launched in the fall of 2007 when the students were invited to collaborate with renowned artist Claudia Bernardi. Their first production became "Agents Of Change," a 15 minute documentary about their experience with Ms. Bernardi's and her residence at Sacramento High School.

She visited the students every Friday for two months and taught them about art, history and the power of visuals. The students learned about the horrible massacres in el Salvador and about the dictatorships in Argentina and how artists fought back. They learned a valuable lesson about the important role that art and multimedia can play in social activism.

Since then, Altern Media has extended beyond a single semester and is now the student-run production studio at Sac High's School of Business and Communications and Arts. Altern Media's projects include in-house and commercial video, audio and print projects.

The Projects:
Projects generally come to us by request. We are asked to take on new challenges based on our previous work but we carefully select the projects provided they meet at least part of the following criteria:

1. Is the subject of the  project enriching to our students?

2. Will they have an opportunity to affect change or inform other people with their project?

3. Are the entities that requests projects non-profits or community based organizations.

4. Is the subject educational as well as creative in nature?

The Unit Plan
A unit plan is then drawn out. A deadline established and goals are outlined. For every project,  the students are expected to learn, not only in terms of technical skills, but valuable experience like social consciousness, personal responsibility and engagement.

Jobs:
Once a project is chosen, the students are divided into different teams, all with different jobs. Students can choose to be editors, image manipulators, animators, script writers, sound engineers or administrators. Because many students come to the classes with little or no previous experience in media production, the projects are almost always a learn-as-you-go process, which proves to be the best way to teach multimedia creation.

Execution:
The students are expected to work, both with the class and individually at a furious pace for about 5 weeks. Typically, one class works on one project. Throughout that time the different responsibilities of the project fall on different people. The bulk of the work falls on the administrators and editors, who spend a considerable amount of time learning new skills and applying them. These dedicated students are the most important part of the project and when possible are compensated in kind.

For more information, you may contact the faculty advisor: A. Sarabia:  asarabia@sachigh.org