An ethnographic study of youth creating media was conducted to examine new literacies at an urban high school in northern California. The school primarily served students from low-income, non-dominant racial and ethnic backgrounds. This article reports on a 9th-grade social studies multimedia project about migration and immigration--called "Coming to California"--that helped to build students' literacy skills, innovate core subject instruction and also, in part, shape the larger culture of a newly formed small school. Content analysis of videos offers insights into how modality, knowledge and convergence were integral in the multimedia production process. Implications for research and practice include paying careful attention to nuances in multimedia composition that support students' academic and literacy development.