Words from far away...

We want to involve all the young people on the estate who want to get involved in this film, even if they don't want to - or can't - actually be in the film.

One of the young people who was very involved in organising and acting in the last film is currently on remand in prison. We wanted to keep him involved and he has been writing contributions for use in the current project.

He has written three pieces so far, which the young people in the group are using as part of the script. Here is his most recent contribution:

When in prison the best thing to do is to keep your head down, don’t get involved in any fights or don’t get on the bad side of the officers. Try to get involved with work and education, always go to the library and gym, do all the courses that get offered to you. Be good behaved and try to get on enhanced level which is a level where you can get playstation, more visits, more money and time will go easier.

If someone starts trouble walk away but if it gets too much make sure you stand your ground because the last thing you need is to be known as a victim. But my advise is to keep your head down and keep yourself to yourself.

Police:

The police is going hard on all kinds of stuff, from drugs to weapons to assaults. But what they don’t understand is that where we grow up some people get involved because they grow up into stuff like this, and all they do is send people to prison which just makes them more violent.

It would be interesting to know people's responses to this piece of writing, and to the idea of involving him in the project even though he is in prison, so add your comment below!

No stereotypes thanks?!?

This week's session was focusing on the fictional scenes, developing ideas for a script for the filming which will take place in half term.

This is led by our great drama facilitator Lydia, who got everyone up on their feet improvising, and also led discussions about what happens in each scene. By the end of the session we all had a much clearer idea about the plot, which is basically about what happens after a crime takes place - how the police treat the young people in the local area, and how the young people respond.

One key thing we are all clear about is that we don't see the perpetrators in the film; we are thinking of ways to show a mugging without portraying any of our group members in a stereotypically negative way. The young people also want to explain on the film why they made this decision.

It's hard to make a film (especially a short one) without stereotypes, especially when we want to show reality - but we are giving it a try!

planning and evaluating

One of the nicest things about tonight's session (as well as the great acting / improvising - nice one guys!) was how enthusiastically the young people got involved in the evaluation at the end.

It's common on youth projects for workers to meet and evaluate for quarter of an hour after each session. At the start of this project us workers felt we had not given enough time to group evaluation in the past, and we decided to commit to half an hour each week. We also decided to invite young people to take part as equal members of the team.

Tonight 5 young people and 3 workers huddled in a corner of the cold room, giving feedback on good and bad things about the session, and planning the next session. I liked the way we all talked about good and bad things and were honest with each other, as if it was just a workers' meeting. Especially I liked the way people kept taking next week's session plan from each other, adding to it and writing their names against the jobs!

What we wrote down doesn't really capture the whole discussion... esp. how much we talk about what food to get for the next session, who's going to get it and how much they should spend! Also, don't get the idea everyone is sitting around politely, there's all sorts of phones going off and random conversations / gossip - but honestly, is this any different to most staff evaluations?!

So far I think it's a good idea, explicitly involving the group in responsibility for the smooth running of the sessions. It varies, but that's cool... sometimes the whole group gets involved and other times not even all the workers can stay... tonight was a good one!

What do you think!?! Add a comment!!! You don't have to write as much as me, ha ha!

Hello and welcome!

Hi!
The Cett4 blog is about an exciting film project in Hackney. A group of young people wanted to make a film about life on their estate, and so far they have finished their first film and started work on their second.

The first film was called 'H-Town or Outtatown' and was a great success (more later!). The second one doesn't have a name yet, it's a docu-drama about police relationships with young people. The aim is that the film project is led as much as possible by the young people in the group.

My name's Tania, I'm a detached youth worker, and I have known this group of young people nearly a year. It's the first blog I've done so I'm not sure how it will turn out! I'm not the only adult in the project: at different times there are two drama workers, two other youth workers, and a film maker also involved, and then managers and funders in the background. Most important are all the young people who take part.

If you are involved in the project in any way, or if you are just interested, get in touch with any ideas and suggestions. And most of all, post your comments!!!

Thanks! Tania :-)