Shuling Yong

A year ago, I had the great privilege of working alongside Rebecca Parrish, doing location sound recording for Jen Gilomen, one of the filmmakers behind Working Films documentary Deep Down when they brought their film’s protagonist Beverly May to Chicago. They were here for an ITVS Community Cinema Screening, but first stopped by Little Village to meet the members of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) to learn about their fight against several toxic industries, including two huge coal power plants that were poisoning the air and the people in those neighborhoods.

LVEJO member Ian took us on a walking tour of his neighborhood, where we got to stand right outside the towering gates of the Fisk plant in Pilsen. The change in the quality of air I was breathing was immediately noticeable. There was no running away from the foul smell of chemicals in the air. As I crinkled my nose and started to fear the effect breathing the air would have on my brain that day, I wondered how the City of Chicago could allow such a toxic-emitting plant to carry on running right where people’s homes are. A 2010 study showed that pollution from the Fisk and Crawford plants alone leads to 42 premature deaths, 66 heart attacks and 720 asthma attacks each year!

Fast forward to today, I found myself back in Pilsen, where the smoke stack of the Fisk plant towered over me once again. A large crowd had gathered in the park across the street carrying signs and chanting continuously. This time, the looks on the faces of Pilsen residents were ones of sheer joy and celebration. Just yesterday, news broke that both coal plants in Chicago will soon shut down.

That’s when Greenpeace, one of the organizations that’s been fighting for this for years, called me to help document this historic victory.

Visit their blog to read their recap of the day and watch a clip of Lelia Mendez, a member of the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO), giving an emotionally-charged speech.

(Thank you Mitch, for passing this opportunity along. It was so great to come full circle.)

Meet Tyler. Bright student. Strong role model. Aspiring journalist. One of the 15,000 lives that has been touched by Evanston non-profit organization Y.O.U. (Youth Organizations Umbrella, Inc.) over the last 40 years. She’s also one of the talented young men and women I had the privilege of meeting while on my journey to document the impact that Y.O.U. makes in our community.

With comprehensive after-school programming, assistance with homework, enriching summer activities and leadership development opportunities, Y.O.U. enables every youth the opportunity to realize their full potential, regardless of their economic backgrounds. I’d also like to highlight, especially, the organization’s one-on-one mentoring program. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having a good mentor in life and am so glad the kids get paired with their own mentors through the program.

To learn more about Y.O.U., visit their official website at www.youevanston.org

About the video
Produced/Directed/Sound Recorded by Shuling Yong
Cinematography by Jeff Perlman 

Innovations For Learning has been featured in GOOD Education for our use of computer technology to help teachers track student learning in classrooms. Watch how it all works as my boss Seth Weinberger demonstrates the TeacherMate.

Check out the full article on GOOD here. Thanks to the team at www.good.is for the great post! Glad I was able to contribute some classroom footage to this.

Created for the Childcare Network of Evanston‘s 13th Annual Benefit on Oct 22, 2011.

A community is only as strong as its foundation, and for over 40 years, CNE has been providing the building blocks necessary to ensure that children in Evanston and its surrounding communities have access to quality early education programs. Research has shown that without this quality care during the early childhood years – birth to five – a child’s chance for future educational, professional and personal success is greatly compromised, thus having a great impact on the stability and overall health of a community.

Details
Oct 2011
Duration: 7min 9secs
Shot on the Panasonic GH2
Edited on Final Cut Pro
Produced/Directed by Shuling Yong
Cinematography by Jeff Perlman
Location Sound Recording by Jonathan Vogel and Morgan Johnson
Edited by Philipp Batta

We all grade ourselves by different measures:

• For some people, it’s as simple as how much money they make. When their net worth is going up, they know they’re doing well.
• For others, it’s how much money they give.
• For some people, it’s how many people’s lives they can influence for the better.
• For others, it’s how deeply they can influence just a few people’s lives.

- from pg 30 of “Anything You Want” by Derek Silvers, Founder of CD Baby

It’s amazing how quickly 8 weeks goes by when you’re immersed in work you’re passionate about. The Cabrini Connections Reel Talent Productions internship ran successfully and 3 teenage girls emerged with a renewed sense of confidence about who they are and what they can achieve. Here’s a peek at what went down.

Summary

In Summer 2011, 3 teenage interns came together to produce a short documentary about health and sports participation in their communities. With the generous help of Girls In The Game and Kartemquin Films, the result was 8 weeks of immersive, hands-on learning for the girls. Their finished film “Girls In Action” premiered on Aug 24, 2011 to over 50 people, and the screening was followed by a thoughtful Q&A session about the issues. Girls In Action will also be featured as a companion web video for In The Game, a Kartemquin Films doc-in-progress about Title IX, gender equality in sports, and how change takes place in a democracy.

Summer Squad

In order for our interns to produce a well-informed and thoughtful documentary, they had to first learn about the issue at hand – why there is a lack of participation in sports among girls in their community. So we kicked things off by sending them to spend a week at Girls In The Game’s Summer Squad. There, our girls not only participated in daily workouts, but also learned about the media’s role in influencing perceptions of sports participation. They had to think about important questions like:

• How much coverage are women’s sports given in the media?
• How does the media portray sportswomen?
• How does that influence a teenage girl’s desire to be active?
• What can I as a filmmaker to do change perceptions and encourage more girls to be active?

Field Trip: Chicago Premiere of The Interrupters

To give our interns an understanding of how social issue documentary can inform audiences and affect change, we took them to the Gene Siskel Film Center for the Chicago premiere of The Interrupters, the newest film from Kartemquin Films (Hoop Dreams). It was an eye-opening experience for them to see a documentary film by the legendary Steve James, and to witness great audience discussion after with the filmmakers and subjects.

The Big Premiere

After weeks of hard work, Girls In Action was finally complete.

Our interns had the opportunity to screen their new documentary to the award-winning filmmakers at Kartemquin Films. The big day began with a special sit-down lunch with the producers and director of In The Game, where the girls got to share their experience and ask questions of Kartemquin’s Executive Director Justine Nagan, Producer Mary Morrissette, and Director Maria Finitzo herself.

That same evening, our interns planned a big screening at Cabrini Connections itself. There was an overwhelming turnout of support from the interns’ friends, family members, subjects of the film, internship mentors, representatives from Girls In The Game, and staff of Cabrini Connections. The place was bustling with excitement as the girls geared up to screen their film a second time that day.

Following the screening, the interns invited representatives from Girls In The Game up front to join in the Q&A session. Questions from audience members came fast and furious – first about issues covered in the film and what we can do about it, and later about the filmmakers’ experience. Our girls had set a goal for their film to inform, inspire and influence, and based on the questions audience members were asking, we can say they’ve achieved it. They handled the Q&A very well and we are very proud of what they’d accomplished in such a short period of time.

Summing Up

Our three interns had, over the course of 8 weeks, learned so much more than how to use a camera. They learned:

• how to think critically about an issue and structure their story in a manner that would convey a positive message to their audience.
• professional communication skills such as how to set up interviews, how to send a professional e-mail, and how to follow-up with a thank you note after.
• basic job responsibilities such as showing up punctually, completing tasks on time, and communicating with teammates clearly and effectively.
• to exercise their public speaking skills by standing in front of an audience, presenting their work, and taking questions after.
• how to carry on as champions of healthy living and keeping an active lifestyle.

As with all good things, the internship had to come to an end. We sent our girls off with the hope for bright futures ahead for them all. Go now, and take flight!

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the help of my two fellow instructors, Jane Wang and Jonathan Vogel. I couldn’t have asked for a better team to take this adventure on with me.

They applied, they were interviewed, and they conquered! We’re happy to announce the 3 budding filmmakers who’ll be going through an intense 8 weeks working on their own documentary about health and fitness in their communities.

We’re kicking off the first week with an immersive learning experience by sending our interns to participate in the Girls In The Game Summer Squad, where they’ll be playing sports, going on field trips and learning about issues around Sports and the Media.

Keep a lookout for the girls’ updates and reflections on their filmmaking journeys on our Reel Talent Productions blog at www.cabrinifilms.blogspot.com

Much love and gratitude goes out to my amazing team for leading this with me. Jonathan, Jane and I are going to work our butts off to make this as memorable and fulfilling of an internship for the girls as possible. :)

First Lady Michelle Obama made it clear:

“The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake.”

With a mission of solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, Michelle Obama launched Let’s Move!, a nationwide initiative to put children on a path to a healthy future. 

One of the 4 pillars of the campaign is in Increasing Physical Activity, because our young people now live in a world where it’s easy to be sedentary, and inconvenient to be active. In a report to President Obama, adolescents spend more than 7 hours/day watching television, DVDs, movies, or using a computer/cell phone/MP3 Player. 56% of boys and 74% of girls are not getting sufficient exercise.

That’s why I’m excited to announce that three Reel Talent Productions teens will spend 8 weeks on a summer filmmaking internship producing short documentary to examine what the situation is like within their community. How’d things get this way? And more importantly, what can we do together to reverse it?

The finished piece will be used to inspire, inform, and fuel discussions about these pertinent issues, adding a small (but mighty!) puzzle piece to the larger picture that is Let’s Move!

My co-leader Jon and I are in the midst of conducting interviews with applicants this week. With only 3 spots available, making the final decision will be tough. Results will be announced next week.

Keep your eyes peeled for updates on the kids’ journey here. Ask them questions, send them encouragement and suggest ideas for improvement! Let’s do this together.

Louder Than a Bomb is a documentary featuring some of the most brilliant youth across Chicago competing in the world’s largest youth poetry slam. Watching its trailer was enough to get me inspired, give me goosebumps, and leave me wanting to see more. Winner of the Audience Choice Award and Standing Up Film Competition (for films that celebrate social justice and activism) in the Cleveland International Film Festival, Louder Than a Bomb shows you the incredible power that spoken word has to move an audience and bring community together. And now, with its television release on the Oprah Winfrey Network as part of the OWN Documentary Club set for this Fall, LTAB is poised to spark change across the nation; especially timely now, when arts education programs are being cut at an alarming rate.

As part of my learning journey of how media can be utilized as powerful tools to engage our communities, I asked to meet with Louder Than a Bomb directors Jon Siskel & Greg Jacobs. Hear what they have to say about the impact they want to create with their film and how they plan to maximize it.

Thank you, Jon and Greg, for being most welcoming to me. It was a fun visit! :)

Media Impact Spotlight is a web video series featuring professionals utilizing various forms of media for positive social change. Watch previous episodes and subscribe to the series here.