LILOAN, SOUTHERN LEYTE ? Monday night at the Liloan Gym, dramatic, scripted television took a back seat when children aged 9 to 15 went onstage and realistically portrayed poverty and inhumanity in their very own video productions.
This time, children?who are often on the receiving end of programs not suited for their age?showcased the products of their discontent.
Anak TV, which nurtured creators in the kids via a continuing media literacy and production workshop, summed up its mission accomplished in four words: ?Make them make media.?
Responsible media
?Anak TV?s chief advocacy is responsible media, especially for, by and about children,? Anak TV secretary general Mag Cruz Hatol told the Inquirer. ?We realized that if we are going to raise a generation that is responsible in consuming media, we should also make them responsible producers of media.?
The 30-second videos that spoke out against the issues of violence and abuse were produced by an ensemble cast made up of the 26 workshop participants. The kids were picked from marginalized communities by Plan International, a humanitarian, child-centered nongovernment organization working in 66 countries.
The media training has fostered creativity, self-expression and teamwork among the kids, who grew from being clueless about media technology to being techno enthusiasts. The workshop was part of Plan?s advocacy against violence and Anak TV?s crusade for responsible viewership and media literacy.
Monday?s showcase was the real reality TV drawn from a child?s perspective. There were stories on child labor, child abuse, poverty, environmental degradation, power shortage.
Some of the works ended on a good note, others on uncertainty. It helped that the kids? plight inspired some gems of artistic thought that no one had to run on empty.
?One hundred percent of the ideas behind the kids? video productions are theirs,? Hatol said of the photographs and videos that found a platform on recital night. ?We were only there as motivators, as task masters. We taught them the skills they can learn and they developed them quickly.?
Using computers, digital cameras and video and sound recorders, the kids?the Young HeArts Media Correspondents?were able to discover media without being plugged on TV sets. Hesitant at first, they adjusted to the tools in no time and developed a fascination for modern technology.
?They?ve never held a camera but the moment they started touching the gadget, they learned it quickly,? observed Hatol, who facilitated the training. ?I think that?s the merit of being young, they are able to explore.?
One-on-one mentoring
The training came in the form of a class workshop with one-on-one mentoring that encouraged the kids to critique themselves and each other. Since the kids have very short attention span, the trainers had to use the game component to prop them up.
A little goes a long way, Hatol believes, saying the kids? works may be a little ?raw? now but they hold so much promise.
Already, the videos of the workshop graduates from Cebu and Western and Northern Samar have impressed TV executives that the first question they raised was, ?Were those really done by kids?? The top two networks committed to find airtime for the best works this December.
The Anak TV and Plan International project took shape three years ago, when the proponents thought of designing a mentoring program in basic media literacy that would cover digital photography, camera work, video production, musical scoring and basic editing. The idea was to level the playing field?to enable the poorest of the poor, who may not reach college, to learn media basics.
Hatol said the next step would be an advanced training program for kids who excelled in the workshop, to be held in Cebu, Manila or Tacloban.
Trainers? training
?It would be kind of a trainers? training so when they go back home, they?ll be like big brothers, mentoring those they left behind,? he said of the workshop in progress. ?They?ll be taught new techniques. We?ll teach them how to handle cameras, how to interview, how to do mini-documentaries.?
An interesting development, according to the Anak TV executive, is that the kids? community has caught on with media literacy.
?The children are now able to discuss with farmers and fishermen about such important issues as drug abuse and conservation,? said Hatol, explaining how the videos are being used for deliberations in schools and barangays. ?They have become very articulate. They have been able to express themselves using the video.?
Rodel Bontuyan, Plan International area manager in the Visayas, said the workshops have become ?venues of participation of children in social transformation? in all 23 municipalities and five provinces in the Visayas where Plan operates.
?The kids have become active players who convey the message they wish to put across, particularly on issues affecting their lives,? said Bontuyan. ?We engage the children in public discourse. This is one venue for adults to respect the views of the child.?
The Department of Education reportedly took notice of Anak TV and Plan International?s efforts and is set to introduce media literacy in the curriculum this year.
That?s welcome news for the media literacy graduates, particularly those who received distinctions during recital night. Given medals of honor were: Rey Comabig, Marygold Mete and Lou Chin Lee, Best Directors; Justine Escalante, Best Photographer; Breny Catacte, Best Writer; Winston Timbang, Best Videographer; and Evelyn Anajao, Best Performer.
Comabig, Escalante, Lee and Michael John Ramos were chosen to go through advance media training.
Fifteen-year-old Comabig, who co-hosted the night?s program, believes the poor do not lack in artistic talent. The graduating high school student received two awards that night?Best Video Director and Best Overall Director.
His winning piece, ?Kalooy ni Neneng (Kawawang Neneng),? shows children as victims of physical abuse and neglect. ?I saw it happening in the barangays. This is the reason why the number of street children continues to increase,? Comabig said in Filipino.
Comabig said he believes in paying it forward. After the training, he said he would like to support and steward artistic talent by passing on what he learned to his fellow youth.
Lee, another workshop graduate, won Best Director and Best Scriptwriter awards for her video public service announcements ?Koprahan? and ?Silot,? which tackled child labor and child abuse.
In ?Koprahan,? Lee dramatizes how most children in their barangay are denied access to education. ?Children are forced into labor by their parents. Instead of sending them to school, they make their children work so they can earn their way to high school,? said the 15-year-old in Filipino. ?I want the parents to realize that education is important for the youth. They should not neglect their children.?
Their works may be confined to the community for now, but it is certainly a good place to start.
