Students and volunteer artists got together during the Starting Artists Afterschool Program to create this experimental music video public service announcement. First, we created a grid of nails using fabric and particleboard. We made a grid in order to spell out recognizable text messages using rubber bands that make up each letter. We brainstormed popular text message abbreviations and we purposefully chose messages that some people might want to censor. At the same time, a member of our team was creating the music in GarageBand. She mixed together different beats and loops punctuating the soundtrack with sounds you would hear on a cell phone, a popular tool for text messaging. Then, we put it all together and edited it in iMovie, speeding up the digital video taken on our Flip Video camera and synching it to the music. Our message is that if everyone censors him or herself then we wouldn’t need to have the government or someone else censoring us. Often, we forget how hurtful our words can be – even in text message format – and we need to be aware of how our words might affect other people. In the end, it is each person’s responsibility to censor him or herself.
