Close-ups and colour temperatures

Seventeen young Barbadians have been trained in video production. Today, the graduands of the five-week programme, which was a partnership between the Ministry of Youth and Community Empowerment, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and UNICEF, ended with a graduation ceremony at United Nations House, Hastings, Christ Church.

The participants got the opportunity to show their parents, UNICEF officials, and representatives of the Ministry and CBC, one-minute video clips they produced during the training sessions. Each video highlighted some aspect of the rights of the child.

While delivering remarks, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Yolande Howard commended the quality of the work produced by the young people in the short space of time. Howard said the products showed that the participants had natural talents and ideas and were committed to the process.

The Permanent Secretary thanked UNICEF for its continued commitment to Barbados and told the graduands that art was a tool used to help change people. She said it has been used in various forms, including photography and videography for people to be able to express themselves and to effect behavioural change.

“It is a very strong mechanism because at the basis of that mechanism is communication. And communication is one of the most important tools that we all have to be able to change, to be able to develop, to be able to improve and continue to make ourselves better, to make our family and friends better and to be able to make our country better. These kinds of programmes are ones that we need to continue to support, to allow our young people to have that kind of voice,” Howard said.

Howard told participants that following the training, they were now equipped with knowledge regarding the various careers they can pursue in broadcast and other forms of media.

The Permanent Secretary also encouraged members of the media to highlight more positive stories about the youth of the nation. “I therefore implore all media houses, to please find those prominent places and highlight the achievements of our young people. Let people know that there are positive young people, there are young people doing good things in Barbados,” Howard urged.

Veteran film producer Rivelino Simmons, who facilitated the programme, said he was pleased with the outstanding performance of the participants. “We are looking to develop the second phase of the project now so it would be sustainable. We don’t want to just do a project and then that is it. From my perspective, the programme went right. We achieved more than what we wanted because in addition to the one minute videos, we produced some other videos,” Simmons said.

The students were awarded for their efforts and performance with Sarah Holder receiving the Best Video award. (AH)