Youth Film Project

Beyond Visions Foundation (BVF) designed the Youth Film Project as a four (4) program session curriculum. It was initially implemented to provide critical thinking exercises and alternate skills building for at-risk youth living in public housing communities through digital photography and video production instruction. The four components of the program are the Digital Photography Session, Dramatic Shorts Session, Animation Session, and Documentary Session. A fifth component, Underwater Photography Session, will also be introduced to the project. The Youth Film Project also meets the following National Arts Education Standard in the Theater discipline for Visual Arts:

1. Understanding and applying media techniques and processes.
2. Directing by organizing rehearsals for improvised and scripted scenes.

The photography session is the introductory component of the Project. Through digital photography, participants are introduced to camera usage and the aspects of capturing digital images in an aesthetic manner such as adjusting F-stops and exposure. These skills will be utilized on a more complicated scale in the video production components of the Project. BVF met the following outcome measures for this program session.

This session introduces the participants to all the levels of dramatic video production including script writing, pre-production planning such as rehearsals and blocking, directing the cast and crew during the taping of the footage, editing captured footage into complete dramatic shorts, and developing promotional materials for a marketing plan. BVF met the following outcome measures for this program session.

Trailer for "Three Wrong Choices":

Participants utilized Caribbean artistic media as inspiration for the scripts for their animated short movies. The selected scripts were then taped in hands-on and simplistic styles of animation such as chuck-a-mation, capturing images of toys and similar miniatures and editing them into animated scenes, and live stills, taking multiple photographs of live actors and scenes to be edited into simulated actions. The participants also developed a marketing plan for their completed animated shorts. BVF met the following outcome measures for this program session.

This program session was designed to more accurately portray the culture and lives of the participating youths through their points of view. The participants selected social issues and cultural nuances as the subject matter for their documentaries. They then researched their selections and sought out community members and professionals as interview subjects and storytellers and then wrote interview questions for these subjects. Field shots were then planned to capture the subjects and supporting footage to be edited into documentary shorts. BVF met the following outcome measures for this program session.

Documentary "I See a Ghost":

Documentary "To Fish":

Documentary "Under Who’s Authority":

BVF provides training packages for the Youth Film Project series or for its individual program components. Training packages include facilitator training (for five facilitators), program curriculum manual, basic program materials, and an evaluation component. Program must be provided in sequentially starting with the photography program. Individual program packages are $995 each while the entire project training package is $3,850. Prices do not include travel, accommodation, and per diem expenses of the trainer(s).