Age Range: 13-18
(Note: Anyone can access the free content on this site and create their own content without registering; however, you must be 13 to participate in the Open Call. Authors’ and participants’ full names are disclosed on the publicly-viewable website and, sometimes, on television.)
[Note: ClickSchooling Editor-At-Large, MaryAnna Cashmore, wrote this review. Read more about MaryAnna at the end of the review.]
This landed in my inbox recently:
“Calling all teachers & students interested in video production! WGBH (a PBS affiliate) is excited to announce “Youth Voices” – an open call for pitches from 13-18 year olds to produce video segments on climate change. Check out WGBH Lab or contact Teachers’ Domain for details.”
I took a look; it’s more than just a call for youth-submitted videos. This website goes out of its way to provide everything a young person would need to succeed as a filmmaker. Check this out:
- Sandbox – A vast collection of archived video clips that anyone can freely download and use in their own creations as long as the source is properly credited. Categories here include Animation, Beauty, Black Public Media, History, Nature, Places, Technology, and more! This and similar stock footage is used in such productions as NOVA and Frontline. How cool is that? (When you’re ready to go pro, WGBH offers the “real thing,” top-quality versions of their stock footage, for sale on their site – see the very bottom of their pages for the link.)
- Lab Collections – Need some inspiration? Take a look at what others have created. Here you will find mash-ups, proposals (you can even vote for the ideas you like), youth-created films, rough cuts, and more. The youth-created samples here are impressive. Some of these have actually become full-length films or been featured on television.
- Open Call – After you’ve moused around the site a little and feel ready to take on a challenge, take a look at the current Open Call. It’s like a filmmaking contest; teens submit films they make on the given topic. (You must be at least 13 to participate.) To quote the webpage:
“Open Call is an invitation for you to produce short works and share them with the world. You pitch us an idea or submit a completed work that is relevant to the latest theme. If we like your project, we’ll give you the money and feedback to make it happen. We may even license your completed short to use on TV or online in conjunction with upcoming PBS premieres. The WGBH Lab offers advice along the way, and eventually your work will have a home here on the WGBH Lab web site. Take advantage of the Open Call community and make your voice heard!”
- Resources – “If you’ve never made a movie before, or if you just need some pointers, the Web offers all kinds of tips to get you started. We’ve collected just a few sites that have information about everything from camera gear to proposal writing to film uploading. Don’t be afraid to do your own research too. There are no absolutes – these aren’t rules, just guidelines to help you envision your work.”
- Filmmakers in Residence – After you’ve gotten REALLY good, you can think about applying for one of WGBH’s limited number of “Filmmakers in Residence” positions. You can read about the people currently in this program and see samples of their work here as well.
“Filmmakers in Residence (or “FIR”) is the WGBH Lab’s marquee program. Every year, the Lab hosts a small number of filmmakers and innovators from related industries such as commercial television, feature films, advertising, web or animation as they work on the production or post-production of their independently funded project. In addition to in-kind support, filmmakers are connected with some of WGBH’s most talented and innovative media producers. The program is open to both up-and-coming filmmakers and veteran independents.”
Want more? At the bottom of this website you can find links to “Open Vault,” a huge assortment of WGBH educational video clips on many subjects.
Enjoy! 
MaryAnna Cashmore and
Diane Flynn Keith
for ClickSchooling
Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved
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********ABOUT MARYANNA CASHMORE********
MaryAnna Cashmore homeschools her three children in California. She is an on-going contributor to ClickSchooling and, along with her son, maintains the ClickSchooling archives. MaryAnna occasionally works as a Virtual Assistant for Homefires.com helping to update the California resources for homeschoolers – including our directories of homeschool support groups, charter schools offering home study programs, and the field trip directory. She also teaches music classes to homeschoolers, and is active in her son’s Boy Scout troop. MaryAnna helped compile many of the resources and wrote the code for the terrific Sense of Wonder science website. Check it out!
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