Viewfinder: Help Wanted: Video Volunteers

I have a suggestion for those of you who have the following qualities:

• decent video producer.
• desire to "give back" to the community.
• love young people.

If you haven't already guessed, I am suggesting that you volunteer to help teach kids videography.

Our schools are loaded with potential. The videos produced by young people that I see (by way of the annual Videomaker/Panasonic Contest) is marvelous. The work of younger videographers is extremely creative and full of ideas, but they usually lack the fine technical details that come after years of shooting and editing video.

It is important for young people to express themselves, and video is a great tool for doing so. They can express their opinions to each other, to their parents or to the community at large by way of the public access cable channel. This form of expression can keep some kids out of trouble. It can also help kids that have been in trouble to warn their younger classmates about the dangers of drugs, gangs, STDs and crime. Self-expression is one of the unfulfilled fundamental emotional needs that kids have during their years of growing up. Often they feel as though "no one understands them." Video programs can provide a wonderful "relief valve" for kids in need of an o…