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Making Movies, Mastering the Media
by Hilary Goldstein, 11.18.05
"The media has an undeniable influence on the lives of young people. But they will learn to read the media more critically if they learn how to make it." |
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Every day, millions of teenagers surf the Web, listen to the radio, read magazines, go to the movies, and pass by billboard ads. A recent study by the TV Turnoff Network found that the average teen in the United States spends more hours each year watching TV than attending school.
It's no surprise, then, that more and more schools across the country are embracing media literacy education, exploring how the information we hear, read, and view each day is assembled and edited.
Media Literacy 101
Media literacy encourages us to consider what influence editors, producers, and corporate sponsors can have on media, and what their objectives are. It also raises behind-the-scenes issues, like who owns the media and ways ownership might affect media content.
Some organizations, like the nonprofit Educational Video Center (EVC), take media literacy a step further, teaching teens to produce their own media. EVC believes that teaching teens media production can make them more conscious of how media works, and how it can be shaped to convey messages and persuade audiences.
"The media has an undeniable influence on the lives of young people," says Gretchen Badenbacher, EVC's teacher development manager. "But they will learn to read the media more critically if they learn how to make it."
Getting Behind the Camera
EVC's basic and advanced documentary programs give small groups of students hands-on production experience from day one. Students learn how to operate a camera and conduct interviews, how to research topics, and how to edit it all together into a final video. Choosing their own story ideas gives the participants the opportunity to explore issues that affect their lives - without having to appeal to corporate sponsors or other outside interests that might shape a mainstream media production.
With a spotlight on social action themes, students have focused their cameras on an array of subjects, from organizing for education reform to questioning why the media often praises spoken-word poetry but demonizes its creative cousin, hip-hop.
The most advanced EVC program, YO-TV, even offers paid internships. YO-TV transitions students from school into the working world, with groups completing projects for professional clients. Award-winning productions have covered explorations of the foster care system and the rising rates of teen credit card debt.
These programs don't just cater to honor students, either. Badenbacher says that the program actively recruits students who may not be excelling in their regular studies. The excitement of video provides incentive for those students who might not do as well in traditional classroom settings, but who might excel in an environment that cultivates creativity and expression.
Tuning in to New Opportunities
Media production is creative, artistic, and fun work, but it's no cakewalk. EVC's programs follow a rigorous schedule — participants spend half a day at high school and the other half at EVC. The programs place strong emphasis on time management and responsibility, with students required to work together to complete their deadline-oriented projects. It's an approach that requires participants to demonstrate dedication and personal initiative.
Teamwork is key — participants work in a cooperative setting and must develop patience, good listening skills, and the ability to overcome differences. Facing peer review to reflect and assess their progress, the participants have to stand up to the harshest critics — each other.
"It's the kind of training that really can prepare you for the work force," says Antonio Abreu, an EVC alumnus. "It gives you more than what you get in high school, because you're forced to go beyond the basics. You learn to be a leader."
But probably the best lesson Antonio learned from his experience with EVC was one that will last him a lifetime: "[I gained] a better understanding of potential I have in myself," he says. "I'm more aware of opportunities that I have, of what is out there." |
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