Youth on Racism.

• Date: 22 September 1997
• Author: Saunders, Dana
• Published date: 22 September 1997
• Author: Saunders, Dana

Introduction

RARELY VISIBLE IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA, THE PERCEPTIONS AND WORLDVIEW OF children are vividly expressed in the hundreds of "youth-produced" videos that are created in classrooms and community-based workshops every year. Kolaps and Youth on Racism are just two examples of competent and compelling videos produced by children participating in youth media programs.

Youth-produced videos are, most often, a collaboration between the children and "media educators" or "media artists." The latter tend to be teachers with traditional academic backgrounds who have learned video production skills, or professional videographers committed to sharing their knowledge with children educators teach the fundamental skills necessary for self-expression using the medium of video. Ideally, they act as mentors who facilitate the production process as unobtrusively as possible, allowing the children to express their own authentic voices.

Although the structure and details of each program are unique, they share similarities. Among them are access to experienced mentors, a safe, focused, and creative working environment, an opportunity to learn technical skills, and access to cameras and editing equipment.

Video production workshops enable children to express their unique perspectives while they acquire the skills and self-esteem necessary to make their voices heard in the public sphere. Schools, public health projects, leadership training, and arts programs have used video production to engage children in identifying and representing problems that affect them, and working toward viable solutions.

Pervasive exposure to mass media has created a generation of children and youth with a sophisticated understanding of the media's power and influence. When provided with the skills and equipment necessary to create their own media, children respond enthusiastically, producing insightful investigations of topics important to them, such as racism, politics, ecological concerns, sexuality, and homelessness.

Once completed, youth-produced videos are showcased in community settings, schools, and video festivals. A few are picked up by distributors and become available to the educational video market. Youth-produced videos are sometimes broadcast on community access television and occasionally on public television stations.

In a Refugee Camp

In the youth-produced video entitled Kolaps, teens living in a Croatian refugee camp tell their stories, share their observations...