They're tired, hot and hungry after a long mid-day walk from the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, but that doesn't stop 14-year-old Brandon Crain from making a b-line to one of six computers set up at the Hearts and Minds studios on the Wilmington Riverfront.
Crain's got a video to edit, and he can't wait to get started.
He is one of 20 mentees -- mostly children from the Southbridge section of Wilmington -- participating in Media Mentors, a program created by documentarian and film teacher Sharon Baker to educate young people about the media arts.
The program, now in its fourth year, pairs college students studying media arts with professionals from the field for a week of master classes, then matches those students with younger mentees for a weeklong camp that exposes them to the world of film.
"It's basically has the atmosphere of salon learning, where they circle up and learn in small groups," says Baker. "It's not the kind of thing you get in school."
In fact, as arts funding dwindles in the public school system, Baker says it's more important than ever to foster media literacy among young people.
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Media Mentors in Pictures Click here to view a full-color photo gallery of the Hearts and Minds experience. |
"Kids need to be the critical learner and the critical thinker," she says. "They need to understand there's more to the world of media than what they see on TV."
Baker got the idea for the program back in 2004, when she began teaching a documentary film making course at Delaware State University. She implored her students to attend a series of prestigious summer workshops in Maine, only to realize that very few could actually afford them.
"At that moment, I decided I wanted to do something here," Baker says.
So with the financial support of several benefactors and the buy-in of her studio's staff members, Media Mentors was born.
Brandon Jackson, a 22-year-old University of Delaware senior, said the program is one of few opportunities in the state where students can get enrichment in film -- a field he fell in love with as a 13-year-old seeing The Godfather for the first time.
"Kids grow up in front of television and video games and yet they have no idea what goes into conveying that message," Jackson says. "It's like Plato's Allegory in the cave: He sees everything in shadows on the wall but he doesn't really what's going on."
Tre Bracey, 15, started in the program four years ago with virtually zero exposure to the industry. Now he's a mentor-in-training and wants to be a broadcast journalist.
Just as computer literacy is so important, media has become so pervasive with the rise in Web based sites like YouTube, that it is imperative to learn the basics, he says.
During the second week of the program, which wrapped up Friday, mentees each shot their own videos on the Wilmington Riverfront, themed after some of their favorite poems. They were involved in all aspects of production, from acting and directing to filming and editing.
For 10-year-old Rachel Dryden, the biggest thrill was learning about the possibilities of the "green screen," used in production to superimpose images into the videos.
For Crain, it was being in front of the camera.
"I like being able to act out different characters," he says. "I like being the center of attention."
Mentor Alicia Dominguez, a 26-year-old senior at Neumann University, says pairing newfound knowledge of film with her passion for political science has created new career opportunities.
"I never thought of myself when I was younger behind the camera, because I was never exposed to this," she says. "But I've learned that you really are able to put two passions together and open another door."
