Beyond the French Quarter
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http://www.purplevalleyfilms.com/nola
Title: Beyond the French Quarter
Form/Genre: Documentary/Short
Running Time: 08 minutes 50 seconds
Language: English
Synopsis
Beyond the French Quarter is a student production that captures the unconventional accounts of youth volunteers in New Orleans. Follow us beyond the cameras and tourists, as we try to find hope in the areas that still haunt of desolation three years after Hurricane Katrina.
Background of this project
In March 2008, our eight-person production team visited New Orleans. We were all members of Purple Valley Films, an independent student film production company in Williams College, MA. Funded by the College, this project is not only about doing community services and helping with the reconstruction in the region over the Spring Break; it is about telling our peers stories of the City of Jazz three years after Hurricane Katrina. During our one-week stay, we talked to people — college volunteers hammering on roofs, ordinary folks, kids in the neighborhood, the homeless in Tent City — and filmed the interviews. We captured images of the destruction and reconstruction, faces of volunteers and local residents. In the French Quarter there may be parties, neon lights, tourists, fine dining and jazz; beyond that, there is still a lot to be done.
Filmmaker’s Biography
Danny Yuxing Huang (黄雨星) was born in Shenzhen, China and educated in Singapore. He made his first film, using Windows Movie Maker, in 2004, and since then, he has been an avid filmmaker. In 2008, his Chinese short film, Yang Fan is Born (生日快乐), was selected as the NPAR Animation Series in Annecy Film Festival, France. He is currently an undergraduate student in Williams College, Massachusetts, and is the president and founder of Purple Valley Films, the student film production company in Williams.
Address: 1716 Paresky Center, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267
Email: yuxing.huang [at] williams [dot] edu
Website: http://www.rain-stars.com
Poster
Detailed cast and crew credits
Unless indicated otherwise, the following cast/crew are students of Williams College.
Director and editor: Danny Yuxing Huang
Assistant editor: Helen J. Cha
Written by: Steven P. S. Cheng
Narrator: Robert Amster
Music by: Daniel Brett (Public domain music)
Interviews with
- Ian Willson (Co-Founder, Michelle’s Earth Foundation)
- Nate Johnson (Brown University)
- Vicky Ferguson (Elmhurst)
- Jason Zander (Elmhurst)
- Brittany Siegler (Elmhurst)
- Rachel Saetre (Elmhurst)
Interviews conducted by:
- Steven P. S. Cheng
- Thammika Songkaeo
- Fatimah Toure
- Danny Y. Huang
- Ariel Kavoussi
Transcribed by
- Helen J. Cha
- Steven P. S. Cheng
- Ariel Kavoussi
- Kwan Young Paik
- Thammika Songkaeo
Boom operator: Stevie Luther
With special thanks to: Williams College, Williams College Chaplain’s Office, Office of Campus Life, Lehman Council for Community Engagement, Richard Lescarbeau, Liza Johnson, Ian Willson, Volunteers from Elmhurst College (Illinois), Church of the Annunciation (Broadmoor, New Orleans), Duane Nettles (Church of the Annunciation), Paster Keith (St Bernard Parish), Paster Randy Millet (City of Hope Church, St Bernard Parish), Latoya Cantrell (Broadmoor Improvement Association), Malik Rahim, Mrs McGhee, Emily the GPS.
Raw footage
- Due to compression, the left and right channels (initially separated recorded) have been merged so naturally the quality of sound is reduced.
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- Instead of viewing the clips directly in your browser, right-click on the links and download to your computer.
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If you see (your name) after the description of a video clip, you are responsible for its transcription.
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Tape number | Description | Size | |
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01-1.m4v | Footages provided by Pastor Keith showing destructions of St Bernard Parish. Interview with his wife Cindy. Interview with President of St Bernard Parish. 03:41 – 08:36: Cindy (Prim) 09:00 – 18:00: President of St Bernard (Danny) |
139M | |
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01-3.m4v | Interview with President of St Bernard Parish. | 8.7M | |
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01-4.m4v | Mississippi and levee at St Bernard. 07:18 – 25:24: Interviews with church staff [?? - Ariel what is this?], including James (Ariel) |
186M | |
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02-1.m4v | St Bernard (St Marie Street) at sunset. | 110M | |
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02-2.m4v | Chat with volunteer at City of Hope Church. 00:00 – 05:00: Volunteer at City of Hope. (Steven) |
37M | |
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02-3.m4v | Chat with volunteer at City of Hope Church. | 8.1M | |
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02-4.m4v | Interview with Pastor Keith and Pastor 00:00 – 15:22: Pastor Keith (Danny) 16:07 – 32:09: Pastor Randy Millet (Stevie) |
256M | |
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03-1.m4v | Pastor Keith drove us around St Bernard. 00:00 – 53:00: Pastor Keith (Stevie) |
388M | |
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06-1.m4v | Interview with Malik Rahim. 00:00 – 01:02:00: Malik Rahim (Fatimah) |
457M | |
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08-1.m4v | Chat with staff and volunteer at Camp Hope. 00:00 – 48:28: Staff and volunteers at Camp Hope (Danny) |
353M | |
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09-1.m4v | Pastor Keith drove us around St Bernard. We met a group of Habitat for Humanities volunteers working on roof. Interview on roof. 00:00 – 16:10: Pastor Keith (Stevie) 16:50 – 33:06: Volunteers on roof (Steven) |
306M | |
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09-2.m4v | Interview with Latoya Cantrell, BIA President 00:00 – 15:34: (Ariel) |
114M | |
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11-1.m4v | Sunflower field in Lower Ninth Ward. Scenes of destruction at Lower Ninth. | 186M | |
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11-2.m4v | Chat with Ian, Michelle’s boyfriend. 00:00 – 23:50: Ian (Steven) |
174M | |
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11-3.m4v | Sunset at St Bernard. | 109M | |
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15-1.m4v | Interview with Duane Nettles. Chat with James. Scenes of Tent City. 00:00 – 27:50: Duane Nettles (Prim) 28:01 – 37:46: A day in the office (Ariel) 39:18 – 57:17: James (Ariel) |
460M | |
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16-3.m4v | Interview with his wife Cindy. Footages provided by Pastor Keith showing destructions of St Bernard Parish. 02:06 – 54:06: Cindy (Prim) |
462M | |
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17-1.m4v | Interview at Tent City. Scenes of Musicians’ Village. 00:20 – 12:30: Vietnamese immigrant at Tent City (Kwan) |
115M | |
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17-2.m4v | “Stop RACISM” sign. Fresh demolition at Simon Blvd Ave. | 11M | |
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17-3.m4v | Simon Blvd Ave. | 24M | |
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17-4.m4v | Kids at Broadmoor Neighborhood. Visit at Camp Hope. 01:58 – 26:23: Kids (Helen) 27:07 – 33:59: Tour at Camp Hope (Danny) |
248M | |
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18-1.m4v | Interview with Duane Nettles. 00:00 – 01:01:57: Duane Nettles (Prim) |
454M | |
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19-2.m4v | Interview with Malik Rahim (beginning) 00:00 – 44:00: Malik Rahim (Helen) |
322M | |
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20-3.m4v | Interview with Malik Rahim (last part). Mrs McGee. 00:00 -30:35: Malik Rahim (Kwan) 31:11 – 01:05:03: Mrs McGee (Stevie) |
477M | |
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About the production team
From left to right:
First row: Thammika Prim Songkaeo ‘11, Helen Cha ‘11; second row: Danny Yuxing Huang ‘11, Steven P. S. Cheng ‘10, Kwan Young Paik ‘11, Ariel Kavoussi ‘1; third row: Fatimah Toure ‘08, Stevie Luther ‘11
All are students of Williams College.