Jacob Favela ~ Forgiven

This music video features Jacob Favela performing his own lyrics "Forgiven", with choreography by Meosha Adams. In it Jacob tells the story of his mom's sordid life and the results it had on her family. In the end he forgives her.

Forgiven is the first film from the Children's Music Project at the Hill Country Youth Ranch. It was directed and produced by Tony Gallucci (Milk River Film).

The Ranch is a family-oriented facility housing disenfranchised, abandoned and abused children. They are wards of the state of Texas. The Children's Music Project is one of several fine arts programs at the Ranch that seek to discover, encourage and accommodate the artistic talents of these children. With a state of the art recording studio, theatre and fine arts center, the Ranch is immersed in providing kids the opportunity to expand their horizons in ways that may lead to future vocations and careers.

Typically, children at the Ranch write poetry, which is then taken by professional songwriters and musicians and recorded in an effort to spread the words of the child and the story of their lives.

The project is now working on its third CD of songs featuring such luminaries as Dana Cooper, Stephen Bruton, Monte Montgomery, Sara Hickman, Tommy Spurlock, Jamie Oldaker and Flaco Jimenez.

This video represents two firsts for the Ranch -- the first public release of a song both written and performed by the child, and the first attempt at a music video of such a song.

We hope you enjoy this production.

[UPDATE: Since the production of this video, it has made the rounds of social service agencies and folks invested in the future of abused children. Because of this Jacob was invited to a leadership conference in Wasington D.C. where he met with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama; he has spoken to another national leadership conference in Denver; and met Elton John, Lance Armstrong and Andy Roddick at a function where they honored him as the CPS Youth of the Year for Texas.]

[UPDATE 2: He was the subject of FoxNews's Thanksgiving 2007 feature story which utilized this video . You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syIBivbmSk the news story was nominated for an Emmy, and i (tg) was nominated as cinematographer.]

[UPDATE 3; we did not win the Emmy, but i was honored to have been considered.]

The Ranch and its fine arts programs are supported largely by private donations. If you would like to contribute to the cause, you can check out the website at http://www.youth-ranch.org, or mail them at P.O. Box 67, Ingram Texas 78025.

"Forgiven"
*Written and performed by Jacob Favela
*Choreographed by Meosha Adams
*Dancers are Meosha Adams, Vonda Velasques and Mona Medina
*Mom is played by Olivia Navarro
*Costumed by Carol Priour
*Music recorded, mixed, engineered, mastered and produced by Tony Young
*Film directed, filmed, edited and produced by Tony Gallucci
*Special Thanks to Theresa Brown, Ciara Rodriguez, Holly Riedel, Joshua Rose and Gary Priour

© 2007 Jacob Favela & The Children's Music Project, Hill Country Youth Ranch, Youth Ranch Music (BMI)

Unfortunately this video was uploaded to YouTube prior to their allowing high-resolution uploads. To change it out would require losing the fine comments and all the ratings and views stats, so i am leaving it as is, but please note that in the new enlarged screens it looks pretty poor in quality. It is not.

+11/+1r=5

Category:

Music

Tags:

• HCYR
• CMP
• Forgiven
• Jacob
• Favela
• milkriverfilm
• tony
• gallucci
• music
• rap
• hip
• hop
• unsigned
• Emmy

[whatthedoe]

Quality! What do you shoot with!?!?

[milkriverfilm]

hah! funny that i'm not happy with the quality after the YouTube compression. the original is actually really sharp. i use a Canon XL2 and edit with Adobe Premiere CS3 Pro. really like the setup, but am still in the learning process for how to best deliver to YT.

[milkriverfilm]

thanks for asking. the song is not yet available as a music download. you can download the video if you want off of youtube. there are instructions out there on the web. google it. it's also available as a dvd from the Children's Music Project -- write to: Hill Country Youth Ranch, P.O. Box 67, Ingram, Texas 78025 and ask for a copy. you'll be hearing more from Jacob. i am going to try to get another one of his songs on film and will post the new music vid here if can get that nailed down. -- tg

[milkriverfilm]

thanks man, Jacob wrote the song when he was 16, and i agree, it's very, very powerful. p.s. got some laughs on your video this afternoon!

tg

[pawntx]

much respect man

[mikey7886]

dam still cant beleive me and jacob went to school together its crazy how everything got now

[SuperMRJUMP]

Those back up dancers are epic

[ChuChu7676]

just went through the adoption agency class and they showed us this video, got to say that it help me with trying to figure out what children go through, powerful brother powerful, good luck with your music career, thank you

[wfikglftbw]

Man, I am 66 but your age inside and only I knew what you knew when my mother did all the wrong things that lead to a very early death. Your my brother and love you for sharing the message that comes from only our source who owns our soul. Grow, I will pray for that anointing to be upon you.

[mimbrava]

Powerful, Tony.

[DARUNSTA]

I love you homito!!! Damn Jacob ur gonna go far... u already have.. i love you and thanks 4 being here AND there 4 me!!

[melissableuz]

Keep telling your story...WOW.

[PurpleDragon1123]

Jacob, I love this song. I went through alot as a child and when I went to the ranch I was hurting so bad. I am thankful for the people at the ranch. They gave me the strentgh to get through life. I was actually able to forgive my mother. As for the person saying the girls danceing was the funniest thing they ever seen I guess they just dont get the message of this song. I would really like to meet you one day. I hope to be able to get back and visit the ranch soon.

[ljcapps69]

Thanks for this very moving video. I have tears in my eyes.