The Mirror | Van Nuys High School | March 2021 | Volume 107 |Issue 3

8| MARCH 2021 | | P E R S P E C T I V E |
theMIRROR
Lights, camera, action, announcements
Good morning, Van Nuys! I’m your host...
A little pandemic doesn’t
stop the morning
announcements crew
from keeping students
updated on school news.
By DANIEL ESPINOZA
THE MIRROR STAFF
It’s a gloomy Tuesday you have been
sitting on a stiff chair in your room
for the last two hours. Exhausted
from your workload, you slump
down in your seat and click to join your
advisory period on Zoom. As you turn on
your camera, your teacher presses play on
a pre-recorded video.
“Good morning Van Nuys!”
You spend the next few minutes listening
to updates on campus news. “Parent
conferences are this afternoon”: helpful
reminder. “The online talent show is coming
up”: sounds interesting. Maybe this
Tuesday isn’t so gloomy after all.
During the advisory period on Tuesdays
and Thursdays, students listen to
morning announcements presented by
hosts Devorah Porter and Wellington
Upstill.
With an abundance of events taking place
at all times from Zoom spirit week to FAFSA
news, morning announcements serve as a
tool for students to stay in the loop.
Since advisory is a mandatory class
for all students, Mr. Thomas McCluskey’s
video production class, which is responsible
for creating the morning announcement
videos, found it to be the most
effective time slot to get a wider audience
of students to view the announcements
during online learning. Outside of advisory,
students can access these announcements
through Van Nuys High School’s
YouTube page.
The morning announcements staff
has felt the pressure of the pandemic and
implemented a new way to continue keeping
students updated despite challenges.
Due to restrictions surrounding on
campus activities, the announcements are
filmed by the anchors, who have an at home
set up. Developing a script, filming and editing
can prove to be time consuming.
“The whole process takes at least a
couple hours.” Upstill said. “From setting
up all of the gear to perfecting the cameras,
lighting and green screen, it’s very time
consuming.”
Porter uses a Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5
digital camera with a 14-140mm zoom
lens while Upstill uses a Canon C100.
The morning announcements backdrop
shows the front of campus, which
requires the anchors film using a green
screen set up. Throughout the videos,
there are relevant photo pop-ups and
infographics which elaborate on what is
being discussed. While these elements create
a visually appealing experience for the
audience, they require elaborate behind
the scenes effort.
To maintain structure in the development
of the morning announcements,
there is a group chat used to decide who
will cover different stories and a Remind
which allows film teacher Mr. McCluskey to
communicate with the anchors and team.
“A major downside is the communication
gap and the fact that we don’t receive
or directly give each other feedback online.”
Porter said.
The announcement scripts are a mix of
submitted items and staff-written news
reports. Most topics covered are submitted
through the designated Google Sheets
document where requests are turned in
along with details on the topics. The morning
announcements staff will then review
the form submissions and add them to
the script. Occasionally, Upstill and Porter
will write some of their segments if they
are concerning staff and clubs, or if school
staff has requested coverage and not formally
submitted to the Google form.
“Since it’s so independent, it’s a lot more
work for a single person,” Upstill said. “I
think the biggest obstacle I face when
recording announcements is just finding
enough time in my day to do everything
properly and to the highest of my abilities.”
Despite the extensive process to
produce the announcements, Porter and
Upstill find positive aspects within the
current situation.
“I personally enjoy getting to work from
the comfort of my home as well as being
able to use my personal computers rather
than the school’s devices.” Porter said.
Using devices more familiar to the anchors
serves as an efficient way to make
the filming, production and editing more
convenient.
Student participation in clubs and
activities have decreased with the inconvenience
the pandemic presents. Upstill
views the announcements as an impactful
resource that “helps keep school spirit up
during COVID.”
While the staff shares that creating the
announcements can be difficult at times,
they still view it as a spirited and informative
project that is going strong.
STAYING IN THE LOOP Hosts Wellington Upstill (L) and Devorah Porter update students about school events during their morning announcements segment every Tuesday and Thursday.
SCREEN CAPTURE
Performative Activism: Disingenuous allyship is trending
By ANGELICA VENTURINA
THE MIRROR STAFF
American influencer and singer Madison
Beer held a cardboard cutout with the
handwritten message “NO FREEDOM
TIL WE’RE EQUAL SIGN” written in big,
black letters at a Black Lives Matter protest last June.
What seemed to be a sign of solidarity turned out
to be a classic influencer photo op.
Beer is not the only person to have feigned activism
and support over the last year.
Many social media influencers have followed suit
especially during the eruption of the Black Lives
Matter protests. Other celebrities like Kylie Jenner,
Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevigne refused to use
their platform to share important resources and
instead chose to post a black square under the
#BlackLivesMatter tag which drowned out important
posts.
Disapproval came straight towards rich celebrities’
barely sufficient donations to the cause. The
self-indulgent actions of many other popular figures
have been harshly criticized by users on Instagram
and Twitter, who have created bail funds and participated
in praxis outside of the internet. To some
people, these influencers are taking advantage of
crucial problems to better their reputation and create
a persona that will bring forth an audience to
praise them for their “efforts.”
Senior Isabel Mejia doesn’t see these influencers’
efforts as genuine; instead, she sees their efforts as
calculating attempts to rake in approval from others.
“A serious movement shouldn’t be used as an opportunity
for you to boost your reputation,” Mejia said.
“They use these situations as a way of gaining a larger
audience and looking like a better person. They’re
probably extremely ignorant about these matters and
only talk about them for the likes and views.”
During the pandemic, those who couldn’t leave
their homes found that spreading awareness and
important information about injustices against
Black and other communities of color through social
media was the alternative to protesting outside.
Unfortunately, there seems to be another group of
people online that see activism as a trend, and “hop
on the train” only to direct the attention to themselves
or spread misinformation.
This phenomenon of fake activism, best known
as “performative activism,” is when individuals only
act as “allies” for their own convenience and personal
gain, especially to avoid backlash and criticism.
Sophomore Ahmed Alsubhi is outraged by individuals
co-opting important hashtags and using
them for their own benefit.
“It’s honestly stupid because they’re using the ‘Defund
the Police’ and ‘Abolish ICE’ hashtags to bring
attention to themselves,” Alsubhi said. “It’s narcissistic
and disgusting of them to have to use people’s
pain and suffering to bring attention to their page.”
While some would rather look the other way
when it comes to influencers and even friends,
Junior Elliana Alferez will not. She feels it’s only right
that she calls out the hypocrisy many of her peers
show on social media.
“A lot of these so-called “allies” will be the same
people making all types of racist jokes with their
friends in group chats,” Alferez said. “It’s pure hypocrisy
because they’ll yell about hating racists on their
story, but literally end up being just as bad as them.”