austraLasia #2666
Films by the young for the young
PARIS, SIHANOUKVILLE... : 24 June 2010 -- There is an interesting development around the traps as Salesian education works more and more with the native digital skills of young people today and particularly their visual and kinetic skills, which come together, in a certain way, around an older but now much more available art of video production. We already know of a number of Salesians, especially in the English-speaking world, but not only, who are making a name for themselves as film directors. Now, it seems, the day is not far off when it will be one or more Salesian pupils or recent past pupils, who will join that select band.
Two experiences in particular: one from our region the other from the West Europe Region. Let's begin with the latter.
For a number of years now France (FRB) has been running what it calls a Festiclip. This is an annual event and brings young video-makers together from around the Province for a particular purpose: young people addressing a message to other young people via video. Festiclip, which runs over a number of days, awards ten prizes, some decided by a team of judges set up for the purpose, the rest by the young people themselves.
While some knowledge of French helps to understand the message, the films themselves 'speak' in their own language. Why not go and take a look at this excellent collection of pedagogical material. I could give you the direct link but this time, go to www.sdb.org and switch (using FR) to the French home page; scroll down to the box which says 'Monde Digital SDB' and click on 'des films pour les jeunes...'. Incidentally, we at sdb.org have 'handed over' this box to Communications Delegates in every province - at least those who ask to use it have a right to use it for thier own purposes under certain guidelines. It is being enthusiastically taken up and we are now looking at handing over certain other functions of the site to the Salesian world.
The other experience is from our own Region and emanates from a very active and creative Communications Faculty in Sihanoukville where Colombian born Salesian, missionary in THA province but specifically in Cambodia, is using the video medium for something very similar. He is the first to admit that one of the difficulties is that everyone involved, himself included, is working in a language foreign to them (English) to reach a wider audience, and that they are still in the infancy stage with this enterprise - but 'Boscoliwood' as they call it locally, is beginning to make a name for itself.
There are two types of vide under production at the moment. As with Don Bosco Atelier Multimedia in France, one group are messages of young people to young people, where they tackle social issues. Another set is cultural - for example the videos on Angor Watt Temple. But let's hear what they have to say about themselves:
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Films by the young for the young
PARIS, SIHANOUKVILLE... : 24 June 2010 -- There is an interesting development around the traps as Salesian education works more and more with the native digital skills of young people today and particularly their visual and kinetic skills, which come together, in a certain way, around an older but now much more available art of video production. We already know of a number of Salesians, especially in the English-speaking world, but not only, who are making a name for themselves as film directors. Now, it seems, the day is not far off when it will be one or more Salesian pupils or recent past pupils, who will join that select band.
Two experiences in particular: one from our region the other from the West Europe Region. Let's begin with the latter.
For a number of years now France (FRB) has been running what it calls a Festiclip. This is an annual event and brings young video-makers together from around the Province for a particular purpose: young people addressing a message to other young people via video. Festiclip, which runs over a number of days, awards ten prizes, some decided by a team of judges set up for the purpose, the rest by the young people themselves.
While some knowledge of French helps to understand the message, the films themselves 'speak' in their own language. Why not go and take a look at this excellent collection of pedagogical material. I could give you the direct link but this time, go to www.sdb.org and switch (using FR) to the French home page; scroll down to the box which says 'Monde Digital SDB' and click on 'des films pour les jeunes...'. Incidentally, we at sdb.org have 'handed over' this box to Communications Delegates in every province - at least those who ask to use it have a right to use it for thier own purposes under certain guidelines. It is being enthusiastically taken up and we are now looking at handing over certain other functions of the site to the Salesian world.
The other experience is from our own Region and emanates from a very active and creative Communications Faculty in Sihanoukville where Colombian born Salesian, missionary in THA province but specifically in Cambodia, is using the video medium for something very similar. He is the first to admit that one of the difficulties is that everyone involved, himself included, is working in a language foreign to them (English) to reach a wider audience, and that they are still in the infancy stage with this enterprise - but 'Boscoliwood' as they call it locally, is beginning to make a name for itself.
There are two types of vide under production at the moment. As with Don Bosco Atelier Multimedia in France, one group are messages of young people to young people, where they tackle social issues. Another set is cultural - for example the videos on Angor Watt Temple. But let's hear what they have to say about themselves:
Sihanoukville (DonBosco Khmer). Borah is a good boy: he respects his parents and studies very much. But Seiha and Ro, no. They surround Borah with invitations that will lead the boy in another direction, drugs, a nightmare that makes him another person, far from the respect of parents and a love for books. A cold and friendless court send him to prison. What is going to happen when Borah comes out of that gloomy place? These kind of stories are the ones that the students of the Don Bosco Audiovisual Center are telling in their movie lessons.
The stories must be set in the Cambodian context, showing Khmer traditions and cultural environment, while addressing modern problems.
'In the beginning I feel shy to play Ro, because he is quite opposite to what I am...' said Sophal, 20, 'but I remember that our small productions are for teaching children and young people to follow only good examples, like obey the parents and study,' he adds.
One of the scenes with most impact is when Borah meets his parents in prison. The boy cries when faced with the fact that it seems impossible for his mother to do something for him.
'This is the scene we repeated most,' explains Rotah, 18, 'because we wanted it very real. We use menthol in the eyes and I cried like a baby,' he says laughing.
The program of social communication and journalism is already in its third generation. The audiovisual studios, destroyed one year ago by fire, were rebuilt thanks to foreign benefactors as a space for the students to develop skills in communication. It is possible to find the videos in the Vimeo Journalism Online channel in what is already known inside Don Bosco Sihanoukville as the Boscoliwood (http://vimeo.com/channels/114810) The subtitling in English is not the best and audio should be improved, but this is a first experience.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
