August Show '06: Make Your Choice!

The MNN Youth Channel is excited to announce our annual spring wrap-up screening on Wednesday, June 21st 2006. We will be showcasing some of the best youth produced work that played on the channel in the last 5 months! There will also be performances by young, local hip hop and spoken work artists. First, however, we need your comments on the following six video clips to help us decide on the best Series and Special

August Show '06: Best Series A: Producers Project

Producer's Project is a bi-weekly series on Mondays at 7:30pm. Since June 2002, The Producers’ Project (TPP) has worked to extend the effectiveness, relevance and reach of education by putting powerful tools of learning, leadership, expression and production into the hands of students and teachers. In partnership with the New York City Department of Education, we’ve operated summer boot camps, semester-long courses for students, and professional development programs for teachers. The results are visible in and exciting array of academically aligned, emotionally resilient, artistically expressive and issue-oriented documentaries and PSAs.

Links:
www.theproducersproject.org

August Show '06: Best Series B: Access Harlem

Access Harlem shows once a month on Sundays at 4pm and produced by RECYouth (Reel Education & Communication for Youth). NYC youth (ages 6 - 19) participating in the RECYouth program learn the skills necessary to become digital filmmakers, musicians and storytellers. RECYouth offers free, citywide, year-round programming, based in City of New York Parks & Recreation's Computer Resource Centers. We offer both after-school and teen programs in which students are trained in digital video and audio production through hands-on, pre-employment technology and arts instruction.

Links:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_things_to_do/crc/recyouth/recyouth_index.html

July Show '06: Best Series C: Drop TV

Drop TV is a magazine-style series of half hour episodes, on every Sunday at 11:30am, packed with high energy segments made for youth, by youth. Get ready because this isn't your grandparent's TV show, this is DROP TV - our media, our way.

During the summer months and after school, Media Guild apprentices, under professional and peer mentorship, engage in all aspects of pre-productions, production, and post-productions for DROP TV: research, writing, scheduling, camera, sound, lighting, computer graphic design, computer animation, editing, music, and sound mixing.

Links:
www.childrensmediaproject.org

July Show '06: Best Special A: Public Housing

Where did public housing come from? Who lives there? Who makes the decisions? What does it look like? What are some of the issues facing public housing today? These questions and more are explored by a group of students at City As High School in colloboration with The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP).

CUP works with youth to create collaborative projects that explore the urban environment. Our educational projects build on the everyday experiences of young people to ask questions about democracy, civic participation and social justice.

Links:
http://anothercupdevelopment.org
www.city-as-school.org

July Show '06: Best Special B: Burnt

Attempting to challenge the notion of what we consider social norms, Burnt enters the life of four friends struggling to communicate with each other.

Film Directed, edited and written by Karina Hurtado in collaboration with Global Action Project

Since 1991, Global Action Project (G.A.P.) has provided media arts and leadership training for thousands of young people living in underserved communities, from New York to Croatia to Guatemala to the Middle East and beyond. Our mission is to provide youth with the knowledge, tools, and relationships they need to create powerful, thought-provoking media on local and international issues that concern them, and to use their media as a catalyst for dialogue and social change.

Links:
www.global-action.org

July Show '06: Best Special C: Teen Talk TV "Sex Sells"

Teen Talk is a program devoted to giving a meaningul and powerful radio/media voice to urban youth. All Teen Talk students are from the NYC Alternative Schools Superintendency and attend one of over 25 alternative schools or sites. Teen Talk productions are completely student-driven. Students do the research, choose the guests, write the questions and make it happen. Teen Talk has won 'PASS' Awards for Teen Media, radio and TV competitions, for the past 2 years.

Links:
www.teentalkny.org

June Show '06: Save Access Images Online...

Check out PHOTOS from the Save Access Protest/Rally at the Verizon Headquarters here in NYC!!
more info: http://www.saveaccess.org

June Show '06: Youth Focused O-Reilly Clip

Media Matters for America is always keep an eye out for Media Nonsense. In this clip, O'Reilly seems to frame the fact that young people in general are uniformed as to global politics as a right vs. left issue. Now, he makes some good points in this one (surprisingly)! I have met young people who dont know where important places are on a world map, but there are somethings that should be addressed that are not - like maybe young people arent mis-informed by Jon Stewart (see the statistic in the paragraph below), but brainwashed by advertising and consumerism... hm?... or the sensationalist (and yes, right wing) news outlets like Fox or the Fake News about video games sold to us as real and even important. How stupid, to say that the media is the problem... but only the 'liberal' media. Even 'all the stupid kids' know that there is no such thing!!! By the way - even though we dont have statistics to back it up, most of the young people we work with at Youth Channelknow that O'Reilly is full of crap AND how to find Iraq on a map.

Summary: Bill O'Reilly asserted that "[m]any Americans ages 18 to 24 have no idea what's going on," stating that they "get their news from [Comedy Central host] Jon Stewart and their point of view from bomb-throwing entertainers." In fact, studies have shown that viewers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with John Stewart are consistently better informed about current events than consumers of other media, and Daily Show viewers are significantly better educated than viewers of The O'Reilly Factor. Further, consumers of Fox News in general have been found to be significantly more misinformed about current events than consumers of other mainstream media.

June Show '06: Save Public Access; Protest Corporate Media Domination - MAY 24!!!

On Wednesday, May 24th, thousands of people in cities across the country will protest the Telephone Companies AT&T and Verizon. We are outraged by the tactics of the major telephone companies (AT&T, Verizon and Quest) to pass National Video Franchising legislation in Congress. The Telcos are spending one million dollars a week to buy the votes of Congress people for their legislation (House Bill 5252 and Senate Bill 2686) and on advertising to influence public opinion, using ‘astroturf’ groups to distort the issues. The proposed legislation will curb local control over video franchises, negatively impact thousands of local Public, Educational and Governmental Access channels, allow red-lining in low-income and rural communities and jeopardize the openness of the internet by removing ‘net neutrality’ provisions designed to promote competition.

June Show '06: Sir! No Sir!: No to War, No to the Military

This is a great public service animation which speaks to young people about the reality of the army and war. Its also a preview of an up an coming documentary. If you ever wanted to end a war. You need to know this story.

Must watch flash animation Here

May Show '06: LIVEWIRE FESTIVAL

On April 29, 2006 the Livewire Festival was a 2-day event (One day entertainment, and the other workshops) launchd with an electic mix of electronic music, hip hop and some rock n roll. The Misled Youth Network organized the event which had a very nice turnout. If you have an open mind, and like all kinds of music, this event would definitely make your body move. Check it out!

May Show '06: City Council Resolution 2006

On May 10th, 2006 City Council members and supporters of public access, including producers and public access televsion staff. There was a press conference about some certain issues and the cope bill, all of which are important things that relate to the destruction of public access, and the silencing of the voices of those from marginalized groups. To find out more info on these issues log on to www.mnn.org/saveaccess.
Watch this clip.

May Show '06: Hello-Good bye

Good bye Youth Channel!!!.... for now. Before I started film school, even before I considered myself a filmmaker I came across Guerrilla News Network. Their videos/organzation is very interesting in terms of their mission and how they create very entertaining pieces that also make a bold statement.
Have a good summer!!
-Verena

May Show '06: YC Media Literacy Article Online

The Robert Bowne Foundation recently featured an article about the Youth Channel Critical Thinking Workshop, Mind Over Media, in their online publication, Page Turner.
Read It Here!

May Show '06: Coca Cola: Cool Hunters Exposed

Check out these two clips. the one on the left is an excerpt from a truly indpendent video out of suburban Ontario. The one on the left is a Coca-Cola ad produced by a Toronto ad agency. Be sure to look at the frame-by-frame comparisons linked below.

Benny(the director) has done a frame comparison here and here. For more info on The Winking Circle check out their new website. Heres a link to an online debate about who should sue who. whats YOUR opinion?

May Show '06: May Day: Immigrants' Rights, Youth Voices

Watch The Video (approx. 40 MB)
On May 1, 2006 MNN Youth Channel was out talking to young people in the streets in both Washington Heights and Union Square in New York City. Here's some of what we heard.