Kid Vid

A mere few years ago, only the rich could afford video tape recorders, let alone the equipment necessary to make video. Thanks to advances in technology, all that has changed. Today, almost anyone can pull together the elements necessary to make their own video programs. Nowhere is this having an impact so much as with the world's youth. This month, Videomaker takes a look at three people who are taking part in what we call the "kid vid" movement.

Jeff Combe--Panasonic Kid Witness News Instructor

Contact Jeff Combe at his office and he might just be with the sheriff filing a child abuse report. Combe works at Garfield High School in notorious East Los Angeles--the same school featured in the film "Stand And Deliver"--a neighborhood he blithely describes as "not very confidence-building." Unique among teachers, he handles a full load of English, Journalism, American Literature, Composition and Radio and Television courses. Combe's mission is to use video to build the confidence of his students, to show them they have power and to train them to make the best video they can.

But Combe doesn't have to go it alone. In his quest to get students motivated to shoot video, he has a powerful ally: Panasonic. Combe explains: "The Kid Witness News Program was developed by Panasonic to try and get schools and industry working together. This particular program was meant to get video equipment into schools around the country. Panasonic donates cameras, computers, videotapes and tee shirts to the schools; all they require is that we enter at least one tape per year in their contest."

Independent's Day
"I really gear the class toward teaching the kids how to be independent filmmakers," Combe says. "I try to maintain the balance between fiction and non-fiction and I always try to keep the class working in new and different ways." For the two-semester course, that means starting with the basics.

"I teach film history first, using silent films to show how camera angles can be used. I try to use a different representative film and filmmaker to explore each aspect of movie making: one for sound, one for lighting and so on."

Combe then moves his class, made up of sophomores, juniors and seniors, toward working directly with the equipment. "Without the right tools, you won't be able to build very well," Combe says, referring both to understanding the language of video as well as handling the gear. Thanks to Combe, the students understand the language; thanks to the Panasonic Kid Witness News Program, they have the right gear.

Guns and Prizes
Last year, the seven-minute video Combe's class entered into the contest was a docu-drama of sorts. "Our video was based on factual cases of kids bringing guns to school. Two years ago, the drama class at our school had done a live performance involving several stories on the subject and we chose one to make a video out of. The story is about a kid who brings a gun to school thinking it will protect him from some other kids he's scared of. A girl knows he has the gun, but she doesn't tell anyone. After the kid with the gun ends up getting shot and killed himself, the girl realizes she should have told someone about the gun and maybe her friend's death could have been prevented."

Apparently, it hit home with the judges: out of a field of 300, the tape produced by Combe's class won first place, an achievement of which he's naturally very proud.

"As a result of our winning in both the educational category competition and as best video, Panasonic flew me, a vice principal and six kids back to New York for a week. I can't tell you how inspiring it was to the kids. I mean, those kids came back different human beings. It really meant a lot to them and it really meant a lot to me."

Accidents Happen
While working with troubled kids has its downs, the ups are rewarding enough to merit weathering those pitfalls. "I just love working with kids because of what it means to them," Combe says. "Historically, you know, artistic and creative people very often come from troubled backgrounds, and video or drama is a great place for them because it serves as an outlet for their troubles. It's a place where these kids can expose their troubles and get respect for it."

Now entering his eleventh year as a teacher, Combe, who has degrees in film and drama, first worked in front of the camera as an actor before moving into the classroom. Teaching first at the junior high level, he started teaching video in a way he describes as "accidentally."

"I was talking to another teacher about using video and we just happened to be walking behind the principal. When she heard me, she turned around and said, 'You know how to operate video equipment?' It was too late to deny it by then and so she turned the equipment they had gotten from Panasonic over to me and I started using it."

Into the Future
Of course, Combe has his reasons for feeling so strongly about video. "Educationally, it is the medium of the future. This generation of students is so tuned in to video and so aware of it. Video cameras are extremely common." But that's not all--Combe loves it, too. "I love anything and everything that has to do with movies and I have for as long as I can remember." It's a passion that comes through even talking over the telephone.

One point Combe hits home over and over again is that you don't have to be what he calls a "techno- nerd" in order to make video; you just need the right tools.

"It doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be some latest, greatest, top-of-the-line camcorder with all kinds of bells and whistles--you just have to know what you're doing. I can't give you the specs on all our equipment or quote lines of resolution, but I do know how to make something look good. And video is such a democratic art form that as long as you know those basic tools, you can do anything you want. That's what video teaches, and when you get these kids to see that, especially the ones who see themselves as powerless, you can give them a tremendous sense of power."

Mick and Kris Kollins--"World Youth News"

The power of video for kids is a message Mick and Kris Kollins want to get out to youth everywhere as well. After this father-and-son team saw studies showing that kids didn't like what they saw on the news--they felt all the stories were depressing and downbeat--they decided to create "World Youth News," a news program about kids, by kids from around the world.

Calling All Shooters
The first step in a process that has already put six episodes of "World Youth News" on the air was to contact schools around the world and ask them to put up "Help Wanted" flyers on job bulletin boards. The resulting response has been incredible. And it's easy to see why: "World Youth News" pays 250 dollars for each story they use. According to Mick, that's no small potatoes in some countries.

"In Eastern Europe, for instance, an adult male takes home the equivalent of about 150 US dollars a month. And that's considered a good salary. Now you get his kid who comes up with a story, videotapes it and sends it to us and we use it, that kid's got 250 US dollars. Let me tell you, that kid is suddenly a real hero."

"It gives them a real sense of purpose and legitimacy," says Kris. "We make ID cards for them--press badges. Some of our kids have used those press badges to get into political rallies and things like that."

Gaining Exposure
As of right now, "World Youth News" is on two different cable networks three times a week. Combined totals from both networks means WYN (pronounced "win") is currently in about 22 million homes. And that's just in the United States. European interest has been gaining steadily--20 countries are currently in negotiation. One, Saudi Arabia, has already placed an order for 26 episodes.

Success, however, has not been easy. "When we first finished the pilot, we took it to a lot of people and they simply didn't know what to do with it. It wasn't like anything they had seen before. It wasn't exactly a news show and it wasn't exactly some kind of entertainment. It was infotainment."

Still, Mick and Kris knew they were on to something. Says Mick: "The teen market is the largest market in the world, end of story. Last year, American teens, which number about 30 million, spent 57 billion dollars of their own money."

Says Kris: "Besides that, they are the most accessible group--the easiest to talk to. We've got it so they're the ones who are doing the shooting and they're the ones who are digesting that same information. We don't see a lot of good things for teens and we really wanted this to be one of the good things."

Making Plans
But "World Youth News" is only part of their plan. As they expand, their intention is to create the World Youth Network.

"Right now," Mick says, "we have a mini-CNN in place. We've got shooters all over the world who are sending us stories and whom we can contact to go and get a story for us. Our ultimate goal, however, is to expand into the on-line arena and become a complete on-line service. That way, people can send their videos to us straight into our computers and the users out there can have direct access to that same information. We want to provide a service where the user can become a participant."

"Besides," says Kris, "we've got a lot of footage that people have sent to us that we haven't been able to use yet, and we're in the process of archiving it. When we're finished, we'll have this incredible library of footage that, with the right software, people from anywhere in the world will be able to look at, just as if they're going to the library."

Direct work with the kids who shoot for them has already been happening. In one case, they received three different tapes from London, England, all on similar stories. The problem was that each tape wasn't really complete. "One had good camera work," Mick explains, "but lousy writing. Another had good writing, but lousy camera work." So Mick and Kris put all three into contact with each other and sent them out as a team to get the story on unemployment that appears in the first episode of "World Youth News."

"It's very interesting to see how kids from different countries have different skills and different approaches. But that still doesn't make me think they're really that different. I think if you went into any kid's room in any country in the world, you wouldn't be able to tell what country you were in. They're all wearing Reeboks and Levi's. I think kids are essentially the same the world over and that's why this concept is so powerful."

Interested in participating? The rules for becoming a correspondent are simple: you can be any age, but the ideal age is somewhere between twelve and twenty-five; you must have access to a video camera; and you must have something important to say.

"Obviously," Kris emphasizes, "the better the shooter you are, the better chance you have of seeing your story on the air. We do all the editing and graphics and final post-production work, so just get the best stuff you can and remember, quality audio is extremely important." Send your tapes to -

         World Youth News, 5641 
         Colfax Ave. Suite 329
         North Hollywood, CA 91605.

Fred Levine--"Road Construction Ahead"

Perhaps no one better understands the strength of the youth market than producer/director Fred Levine. Fred is the creator of "Road Construction Ahead," a video for kids that has sold over a quarter-million copies. Levine is another man with a mission, and like his colleagues above, he wants kids to see quality.

Where's the Good Stuff?
Originally a producer of corporate and industrial videos, Levine first became exposed to the children's video market after the birth of his first child in 1985. To put it simply, he didn't like what he saw.

"I was very disappointed with what was out there. It seemed that the programs were either very violent or what I call namby-pamby video--you know, the world through a rose-colored video lens. And I asked myself, where is the reality?"

He found it walking out the door one day when he glanced over and saw his children, Miles and Ian, glued to a segment on "Sesame Street" that showed--you guessed it--a bulldozer pushing dirt around. "I knew right then I was onto something. I said to myself, 'There's my reality-based programming. It's got real people in the real world doing a real job.' Kids don't need to be entertained by fake stuff."

That's when Levine produced "Road Construction Ahead," his wildly successful video that consists mainly of scene after scene of bulldozers, graders and other heavy equipment, doing what they do best: pushing dirt around. 250,000 tapes later, Levine's vision seems to have paid off.

Rocky Road
But success didn't come right away. Levine started small, getting his tape reviewed in newspapers and magazines.

"Whenever possible, I had the reviewer include my 800 number and I took all the orders myself." For the first nine months, Levine paid for no advertising but eventually he began experimenting, initially in small- town papers, and finally in the New York Times.

The strategy paid off. Since the first tape, Levine has produced two others--"Fire and Rescue" and "Cleared for Take-Off"--both of which together have sold another 250,000 copies, bringing his total sales of all three tapes to a half-million.

His success has inspired a number of other videomakers, but not in the way Levine would like to see. "I knew when I first started this that a lot of people would jump on the bandwagon. But what really drives me batty is that people are just in it for the quick buck, rather than being interested in doing something that has quality. There is so much more quality programming for kids to be made, but people too often don't go at it in a creative or quality way; they just imitate something else that is successful."

And that is no road to success. Levine has had legal run-ins with at least two other companies who have taken imitation of his product so far as to try and make their videos actually look like his. "I don't know why people can't just do things in their own style."

His success has also inspired people to seek him out as a distributor for their material, but to date, Levine simply hasn't seen anything he feels his loyal customer base would value.

"Unfortunately, I haven't come away from this whole process with a lot of positive feelings about the video business. Overnight success really does have a lot of pitfalls. I've had to learn a lot of things the hard way. Being a video producer and making a product did not mean I knew how to run a business, and I found myself in the position of needing to run a business--which is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be." Even the first video was no easy task; it required moving his family to another state, and took a year to complete.

"I knew I needed a major construction site in order to make the first video. We were living in Vermont at the time and I found a huge four-lane highway construction project in Rhode Island, so we moved to a house just up the street from there." Levine spent that year becoming friends with everyone on the construction site, a working method he still employs today. "I still take six months to make a video because I like to get to know everyone and everything about what they're doing. I think that's real important and a big reason people have responded to the videos." After shooting, Levine started the arduous editing process, testing parts of the program out on his kids. "If they watched it, it stayed. If they asked for peanut-butter sandwiches, it went."

Just Do It
The early days may have had their own set of difficulties, but Levine still often finds himself longing for them.

"I started with my equipment in the spare bedroom and my hat really goes off to the man or woman who is out there doing the same thing. My advice to them is just keep going for it. Do something and do it well and do it in your own style and recognize your own ability to create and be original. There's a lot of people out there who really want good video and that's part of what I feel like I've provided. A lot of people told me I couldn't do what I have done. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do it."

In fact, Levine is so interested in people who can make video that he wants to hear from them. If you think you're a talented shooter or editor, send a demo reel less than ten minutes in length to:

          Fred Levine Productions 
          P.O. Box 4010, Portsmouth
          NH 03802. 

Send an SASE if you want your tape returned, and if you want to be sure he's gotten it, send the package via registered mail--return receipt requested. And no phone calls, please. If Levine likes what he sees, he'll contact you.

Last Word
No doubt the future will bring a greater explosion in kid vid. With such a huge group of young people learning how to use video and camcorders getting cheaper every day, there can be no doubt that we'll be seeing more of it.