Teens get lesson in video production
12 Jan
By Scott Thomsen, Colorado Springs Gazette
A six-week Urban League workshop on video production started out as a chance for seven teens to learn about writing scripts, taping interviews and editing.
Along the way, they have learned a little about themselves.
A central part of the program was to produce a 20-minute video about racial and family unity. The students interviewed dozens of people from different backgrounds, including a blind couple, a family of eight and a single mom with two children.
Different people with a lot of the same wants, needs and fears.
“It kind of opens your mind to different kinds of people,” said Oji Fittz, 17, a workshop participant. “We’re really not that different.”
The program started in December. It is funded by $2,000 in grants from Colorado College and the Gazette. Students hope to premiere their video at the Unity in the Community Expo next month.
The program is headed by instructor Taa Dixon, who has worked in video production at the WTTW public broadcasting station in Chicago and Blue Penguin Productions, an independent production company in Denver.
Dixon said her students have experienced all of the real-life struggles of working for a television station, a music video producer or a film company.
Students write scripts, conduct interviews, run the cameras, edit the tapes and critique their work. Some of the interviews get a thumbs up, others get cut because of background noise, bad lighting, even a microphone that wasn’t turned on.
On Saturday at the Urban League office on Parkside Drive, the students reviewed footage and wrote intros for the segments.
Dixon said she chose a real-life topic because they are issues “that are relevant to youth today.”
Nathaniel Harvey, 17, said he hopes the video will break down some of the stereotypes people have created about people from different backgrounds. “That’s not real life.”
It also forced Harvey to think about his own views when he listened to someone with a different opinion. “It does put a different perspective on the issue,” he said. “Eventually, you can understand their point of view.”
Daniel Saunders, 16, agreed. He wants people who watch the video to walk away with “a new understanding about how people feel about color, race, family and unity.”
The program may have sparked some interest in a new hobby, something to study in college or a full-time career in video production, editing or camera work.
Several of Dixon’s students said they were hooked.
“I had never thought of it as a career before,” said Quentin Moore, 17. “I’m real interested in camera work now,” he said. “I like the creativity and the challenge. Even when I’m at home watching TV, I watch how the camera moves.”
Note: If you participated in this program, please send Taa an email!
