It's been a busy summer at Youth Beat!

Our interns took on some hefty professional projects (stayed tuned for more on that later) and for the first time ever, we offered the Future Filmmakers Summer Camp, a six week intensive beginning video production course.

“Within six weeks, we got so much done!” exclaims Nico, one of the #FutureFilmmakers camp participants. 

Students dove into learning the full range of skills needed to make high quality videos. Storyboarding, lighting, audio, camera work, editing . . . they did it all, and by the end of the summer they had a robust portfolio of films to show.  Including autobiographies, short documentaries, narrative films….and a music video!

They also learned a lot about working as a team. “Usually, I don’t work with other people well,” explains Nicko. Youth Beat, he says, “forced me to work outside myself and see what other people have to offer within a group. I learned that if I wanted to do it well, I couldn’t do it by myself. You can’t do filmmaking by yourself!”

We’re are incredibly proud of the #futurefilmmakers. They all took a lot of creative risks, stretched their comfort zone and accomplished their goals.  When the crew decided they wanted to produce a music video as their final project, a couple of students stepped up to the plate in big ways -- reaching for their dreams and telling their stories

Their stories aren’t for the faint of heart. These kids have seen and lived through a lot, and we see their music video as testament to their resilience, talent and incredible capability when provided with tools needed to succeed.

We are thrilled that many of the #FutureFilmmakers are planning to return to Youth Beat to continue learning as advanced students during the coming school year!

P.S. We hope you will check out their video and celebrate their accomplishment with a comment or a like!