Breaking Stereotypes with Baseball and Education in Boston

http://www.thebase.org The BASE operates a premier national urban youth training academy which combines sports and academic opportunities with a methodology that cultivates excellence, belief and love. We are making the invisible, visible and shining a spotlight on the limitless potential of our young people. Video Credits: Voice Over by Robert Lewis, Jr.

Boston based nonprofit, the BASE, recently commissioned me to direct and produce a film about their program. I was given almost full creative control with the mission of telling a great story in a cinematic way. Luckily, a great story is not hard to tell when they are real and happening constantly around an organization like the BASE.

The Process: I wanted the film to be as organic, truthful and moving as possible. To achieve this I sat down the the founder, Robert Lewis Jr., and interviewed him for over 3 hours. Those three hours gave me everything I needed to organize and shoot the story. They also gave me a powerful voice over to cut up in the editing room. I decided not to re record anything and keep the true passion Robert voiced in the interview for the final film. He's an incredible speaker and story teller so it would be a shame to "fake" anything he said. Following the interview I cut up a 4 minutes voice over and formed the story. We spent about 3 days filming the story of Eduardo, Jalicia, and Anthony making their way through Boston's Roxbury neighborhood to the BASE headquarters for study and to the ball field for play. We filmed real games, classes and study sessions which were then used to visualize the voice over with Robert. In the end we created a piece I am very proud of which first screened last week at the BASE Ball III celebration in Roxbury. The MA Governor, Boston Mayor, and Police Chief were all in attendance but best of all, the athletes were there with their families as well.

Please leave a comment about the film below and if you love it SHARE! Thank you.