More Top Picks Best Walking Watches For Women
player ready...”Five, four, three, two, one. Fade sound. Picture up.”
The 16-year-old sophomore from Von Steuben High School couldn`t hear the countdown on the director`s circuit. But she didn`t miss her cue when the red light blinked to life on camera number two.
”Hello. My name is Mai Dang, and this is `Hard Cover.` ”
”Today we`re going to talk about college. How to select a college. How to apply. Where to get scholarships.”
The young talk-show hostess proceeded to introduce her panel of experts: seven Chicago high school students who, like herself, were making plans for college.
Half-way through the introductions the same director`s voice was heard again, but this time over the studio loudspeaker so everybody could hear.
”Cut. Stop the tape. Sorry. We need to do it over.”
Inside the control booth, instructor Rachel X. Weissman explained why she had slammed on the brakes. The three cameras in the studio weren`t shooting close-ups of the right kids as they were being introduced.
”Let`s do it over with just a wide shot,” she ordered.
After the show, Weissman explained why she didn`t insist on redoing the more complicated opening.
”We`re not really going for technical proficiency,” she said. ”This isn`t about correctness. It`s about getting them interested. It`s about the self-esteem that comes with putting your viewpoint, your perspective, your intelligence across on TV.”
– – –
Teenage television.
The skeptical mind races ahead to ”Wayne`s World,” one of those vicious continuing spoofs on the big time ”Saturday Night Live” TV show. The gag features comic Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell, a self-absorbed teenager whose lack of anything worthwhile to say doesn`t stop him from hosting a public access cable TV show from the basement of his parents` house in, of all places, Aurora.
Wayne`s signoff says it all: ”Until next time, dudes. Party hearty!”
But Mai Dang isn`t Wayne Campbell and ”Hard Cover” is no adenoidal ego trip.
The show is a serious and successful educational tool developed by Community Television Network of Chicago and by Youth Communication, two not-for-profit organizations.
Produced by teenagers for teenagers, the half-hour show is taped at the studios of Chicago Access Corporation, 322 S. Green St.
The next ”Hard Cover,” the one about going to college, will be televised at 5:30 p.m. May 14, on cable Channel 19.
The finished product won`t have the polish of a network show, but in the long run ”Hard Cover” might accomplish more than ”60 Minutes.”
That`s because the show is produced by high school students from some of the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago-places like North Lawndale and Pilsen, where many kids know a lot more about drugs and dropping out than deadlines and documentaries.
”These kids are getting an edge,” said Denise Zaccardi, a former English teacher who 15 years ago began using video to motivate her inner-city students. She discovered that producing TV shows, besides imparting employable skills, put her students ”in touch” with themselves and their communities in a way that term papers did not.
Recent ”Hard Cover” installments have tackled school reform, AIDS, girl gangs, teenage pregnancy and domestic violence.
More Top Picks Best Dinnerware Sets For Families
– – –
Miltrona June Brown had errands to run after the show, so as soon as the tape was declared ”a wrap” she abandoned her post at the character generator, a gadget in the control room that makes on-screen lettering.
”I`ve done about every job there is to do,” she said, ”Cameraman. Floor director. Host. Console.”
Impeccably turned out in a peach-colored sweater and skirt, Miltrona is a 16-year-old senior at the Community Christian Alternative Academy in North Lawndale. Next year she`ll attend Rosary College in River Forest.
She credits ”Hard Cover” for keeping her on track.
”The kids I went to grade school with, most of them have dropped out or had children of their own. Me, I`ve got other plans. I`m going to get a degree in oceanography and then use my television background to bring it all back home.”
”Ten years from now?” she repeated a question. ”Ten years from now I`m going to take over for Jacques Cousteau.”