17th Annual North

American All Youth

Film & Education Day

The best films from all over North America by youth

just like you! (pg 3)

CA State Fair Media Team

The nation’s first state fair youth media program with BIG Impacts in

the BIG Fun of the California State Fair 2013 (pg 5)

Monthly Briefing-

September 2013

Co-Chairmen Speak!

Hello everyone! I’m

Nick Stringfellow, a

Senior at Franklin High

School, and I’m very

proud to be serving you

as a YBAMA Co-Chair

for this amazing year.

This year, we are on the

cusp of something truly

extraordinary. With new

leadership and a renewed

sense of motivation,

YBAMA is on the path

to success with even

more opportunities for

everyone to get involved.

We now have multiple clubs all over the region join-

ing us in our mission, and more schools are coming

on board as well! This year, YBAMA is sponsoring

a large number events, including more Theatron

workshops on new areas such as Camera Training

and VFX, ongoing projects with the State Fair, and

even our own film contests and events that will ad-

dress a wide variety of interests!

As a studio organization, it’s our goal in YBAMA to

not just limit ourselves to our own craft, but to

MAKE THINGS HAPPEN with our wide variety of

skills and interests. As the first, and maybe even the

only, youth studio guild where the youth are put first,

we have an amazing opportunity to show everyone

that we are the future of media right here, right now.

This is an exciting year to be a member of YBAMA,

and we hope you will join us in this unprecedented

revolution of youth media that will transform the

world!

I hope to see all of you at upcoming events, and I

hope we can meet in person soon!

Let the future be bright,

Nick Stringfellow, Franklin High School,

YBAMA Co-Chair and Sacramento Sierra Digital

Arts Studio Partnership Board Member

Email: stringyfeller31@gmail.com

As a YBAMA mem-

ber, I had a busy an

important year. The

most meaningful part

of my year was spent

in the weeks before,

during and after the

CA State Fair. I

wanted to support the

goal of the Fair by

demonstrating the way new technology is being brought

into the fair. When we arrived at every morning, we were

given projects that our teams were challenged to pre pro-

duce and shoot. Because we were treated like real profes-

sionals, we took the responsibility seriously. The “blue

shirts” as we were called became a badge of honor. Young

children, teens, adults, walking or riding in a wheelchair,

followed our progress.

I wrote scripts and worked on 15 projects, many that I

wrote and directed. (see www.bigfun.org/media and click

to State Fair Youth Media) My favorites were LET FREE-

DOM RING, ROLLER COASTER PHYSICS and HALL

OF HEROES. The highlight of the State Fair came on the

last Saturday when my script ABRAHAM LINCOLN:

THE TIME TRAVELER finally came to life. With the

fantastic support of executive producer, Jack Kohler (ON

NATIVE GROUND), I was able to use a professional cast

and a large crew to direct a twelve-minute short. Addition-

ally, I wanted to honor Lincoln by highlighting the Eman-

cipation Proclamation exhibit. It was quite a challenge as I

only had 7 hours to shoot the entire movie. Editing took

another 3 days.

Although the 150 segments and movies that we all shot and

submitted by the 27 working youth who worked at the Fair

were something to be proud of, the experience itself was

the greatest gift. We became an important fabric of the Fair

as noted by THE SACRAMENTO NEWS & REVIEW

(8/8/13). I want to thank my Natomas Charter School

“Dark Rider Production team, which included Matthew

Binger and Cleavlnd Groves (and others from time to

time), for making my summer an exciting and fulfilling

experience. We are all looking forward to a bigger next

year!

Alex Greenlee, Sophomore, Natomas Charter School of

Performing Arts Academy, YBAMA Co Chair and

Tower of Youth Board Member

Email” darkriderproductions@icould.com

Communications Update Sharing and growing is what YBAMA is all about. As a new or-ganization, we want to let all of you know what were up to in the world of the internet. As of now we plan on rebooting and massively expanding our Facebook and YouTube pages and refreshing them in order to make them more interesting for all of you! We want to see these pages transform into a way for all of you aspiring media studio des-tined filmmakers, photographers, and actors to communicate, see each other’s works, and trade and build upon your wonderful and inspiring ideas. Why do we do this, you ask? For all of you to create a great impor-tant voice and impact on our world, of course! As aspiring career

seekers and audio visual commu-nicators, we want a bright future for ourselves. There are lots of you who are tal-ented and in love with the web and social media and we really need to know who you are. Let's get to-gether and help each other! Please contact one of us, Communica-tions Group Co-Chair, Josh Hamil-ton or Gurneel Boparai so we can connect ASAP. What better way to start off then to share with each other? Because we care!

Contact Us! YBAMA Sites:

YBAMA Website:

http://ybama.towerofyouth.org

YBAMA on YouTube:

http://www.yotube.com/TowerOfYouth

Like us on Facebook!:

https//www.facebook.com/YouthBroadcastandmediaassociation

Follow us on Twitter!:

@Youth_Broadcast

Follow us on Instagram!

@YBAMAfilm

Talking about YBAMA on social media? Use the hashtag #ybama to

spread the word and see other posts by members!

Want to join us on our social networking team? Send YBAMA Communi-

cations Co-Chairs Josh Hamilton or Gurneel Boparai to sign up and get

involved!

Hey!! Youth movies don’t get any better anywhere!!

We juried 150 of the best entry movies during this

summer from all over the US and Canada, and, we

picked 38 to screen that are over the top cool!

Meet the greats!! 2 time Oscar nominee documentary

film maker is this years Career Movie Industry Vision

speaker, Rick Goldsmith, who will talk about “Truth

Telling in Movies” with the usual Q& A before lunch!

That’s what we want you all to plan to see, Friday,

October 4 at the Crest Theatre at 10th and K from 8:30

am to 5 pm. The Crest holds 1000 people, so why

shouldn’t we fill it up? What could be more fun, more

interesting, more proud than being all together from

across our Sac Sierra Region to watch and appreciate

our generation’s messages “Reel Revelations”?

We seriously need to get transportation - buses, and

parents - to get us there – the hardest challenge. Be-

sides the movie art, the top CA film schools recruiters

line the lobby

all day, lunch is served as part of admission ($10 for

us, $15 for adults over 18). The whole show will be

hosted by pairs of YBAMA Jury members and we hope

there will be some pro tech demos as well.

Everyone must invite and help deliver all their best

friends and interested classmates/classes, in very short

time. We must handle the barriers to going – persuad-

ing our schools to organize the field trip, buses, and so

on to prepare to get

the most out of the great history making day! We, the

youth of today, are only seen as a problem, rank ama-

teurs, irrelevant to the economy to the larger world. If

they could see our North American event, they would

be blown away. Try and get your principals, board

members, superintendents, definitely your parents, to

make this year a total priority to come, watch… and

take us seriously. We are the solution and our North

American Film & Education Day is unique in the

country! Plan, act now, be together, celebrate, build

YBAMA through our event.

A Day in the Life of the Jury:

“Next movie please,”

The chair and founder of the YBAMA, Dr.

William Bronston picked up a DVD from the large

box of them on the living room floor. A sea of young

faces looked up from their clipboards to watch the

next movie.

The intense stares that occupied their eyes

were not that of normal teenagers. These scrutinizing

glares hinted that these teens had expertise. Hailing

from half a dozen schools from all over Sacramento

Sierra region, jurors held interests in everything from

acting to screenwriting, to directing and filmmaking.

The backgrounds of the jurors involved were as di-

verse as the films themselves. Over 150 pieces were

sent in from all over North America and they resided -

addressed, labeled, and all - in the box in the front of

the living room. The situation was minimalistic and

powerful. Simply being in that room was being part

of something bigger - a nervous system of sorts. Per-

spectives, styles, images and messages from the far

reaches of the network all reported back to the center

- there in that living room. Everything put before us

was cutting edge - new, exciting, provoking, captivat-

ing, and magical. After every five-hour session, every

juror brought home not only the fatigue a long day’s

work but the inspiration of over a hundred other

youth.

-Maxwell Fong, Franklin HS Alumni

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Franklin HS Alumni

This year's

Movie Industry

Career Vision

Speaker, Rick

Goldsmith, 2

time Oscar

Nominee for

feature Docu-

mentary

The YBAMA Youth Jury Experience

When: Friday, October 4, 2013

Where: Crest Theatre, corner of 10th and

K Street

Time: 8:30 am—5:00 pm

Schedule of Event:

8:30 am - 9:00 am:

Registration Begins

9:00 am - 10:30 am:

Showcase I: Main Theater

10:30 am - 11:45 am:

Career Movie Industry Speaker: Rick Goldsmith “Truth Telling in Movies”

11:45 am - 1:00 pm:

Lunch (Served in Main Theater)

12:30 - 1:00 pm (Optional):

Showcase II: Downstairs Theater

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm:

Showcase III: Main Theater

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm:

Showcase IV: Main Theater

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm:

Showcase IV: Main Theater

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

More information will be included in the October Issue.

Last season’s 5 Theatron Professional De-velopment YBAMA workshops were fabu-lous! Way beyond our normal classroom experience! Starting with this coming October 19 through May 2014, at Arts Institute, we launch this coming seasons interactive Theatron media topic sessions. We plan to hold our full day, every month, profes-sional seminars. We will feature the best professionals in the region to offer major experience in the following:

Pre Production/writing

Executive Producing

Directing and Acting

Cinematography and Camera Han-

dling

Sports Media

Music Videos

Documentary Filmmaking

This year, to mid 2014, we add 4 more that will include:

After Effects

Marketing Media Works

Sound Design

Make up and Hair styling

And this is just for starters; there are sev-eral other topics and subjects that you can learn about! Mark your calendars for these upcoming workshops that will blow your mind and make you the best artist you can possibly be! Don’t hesitate: spaces are limited for each workshop!

CINEMATOGRAPHY AND CAMERA HAN-

DLING

OCTOBER 19, ARTS INSTITUTE SACRA-

MENTO

AWARD WINNING - MIKE CARROLL,

CHANNEL 3, KCRA CAMERAMAN & INDIE

PRODUCER

DIRECTING AND ACTING WORKSHOP

NOVEMBER 16, ARTS INSTITUTE SACRA-

MENTO

JONATHAN WILLIAMS, CO-FOUNDER

CAPITAL STAGE

ACTOR, DIRECTOR, WRITER, STAGE DE-

SIGN

2013-2014 YBAMA THEATRON:

Plan to Attend Upcoming Sessions!

Mark your calendars!! Clear the time!! 3rd

Saturday… every month, 9:30 – 3 pm!!!

Arts Institute: 2850 Gateway Oaks Drive

Sacramento, CA 95833 ($5, and Lunch)

A snapshot from our Producer’s Workshop in the Spring of the 2013 Theatron Season.

A candid from a behind-the-scenes tour of News 10 during our Sports Media Theatron Session.

YBAMA Members conversing during our Directing and Acting workshop, a repeat workshop for the 2014 Theatron Season.

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

MIKE CARROLL

A Look at the Enormous Opportunity for Youth Filmmakers Region-Wide

We were the first in the nation to produce all youth-made video segments to promote our California State Fair program and exhibitor treasures to the web world!! With the leader-ship of Jack Kohler and Anecita Augustinez, cofounders of On Native Ground (ONG), a con-tract was drawn with CALEXPO to create a full blown media production and green screen stu-dio constructed in the Youth Industrial Voca-tional Arts Pavilion (#4) for the 17 days of the 2013 Fair.

Kohler and his pro crew worked relentlessly on pre and post production as did YBAMA shoot team leaders Max Fong (Franklin HS), Austin Morris (Cosumnes Oaks HS), Alex Greenlee (Natomas Charter Arts Academy). A youth group from Wilton Rancheria added to our punch. ONG provided professional mentoring, operational protocols, their cameras and equip-ment augmented by loans TOY arranged for 5 pro Panasonic USA Cameras, 2 -50inch - Filco big screen monitors (and a big frig), and Boom mics from ATV Video, to supply the youth video artists.

27 of our YBAMA members started showing up day 1, from early in the am till 10 at night to pre produce, shoot and edit the mass of video – a total of 178 total working days over 1100 hours logged – ultimately delivering 150 video seg-ments from 3 terabytes of material! Kudos to CALEXPO’s Michelle Johnson, though very pregnant, who administered all the youth pro-graming for the Fair, and Greg Kinder, Assis-tant Manager of CAL EXPO, who set the ground for our overall success. It was a miracle in action that hugely impressed the Fair leadership who put up a special web-site as the finished pieces were edited and vet-ted to be webcast (www.bigfun.org/media (then

click to Fair Youth Media link).

We showed the brilliant creativity and power of youth media. Kamilos Companies provided $4,000 in summer stipends that was divided among the YBAMA artists based on their logged in time and work. The rigor, expecta-tions, and reliance on teen workmanship were eye opening to the participants who worked exactly like network TV broadcast pros on as-signment day and night. New ground was bro-ken daily as respect for the working youth. We have till November to add finished works to the www.bigfun.org website. Begin to plan to expand for 2014!!! Interested? Contact your YBAMA school co-chairs to carve your place in the studio.

IMPORTANT LINKS

State Fair Youth Production

Crew:

http://www.bigfun.org/media/state-fair-youth-media/

YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/CalifStateFair

On Native Ground:

http://www.onnativeground.org

CONTACT INFO:

Jack Kohler:

trxtrjack@yahoo.com

California State Fair:

info@calexpo.com

Several

YBAMA mem-

bers working

with Fox 40 on

the zip line to

promote the

state fair and

collect dy-

namic footage

of the fair’s

happenings!

A Look at the Enormous Opportunity for Youth Filmmakers Region-Wide

During my summer break, I joined the YBAMA Film Studio teams at the California State Fair. My only knowledge of movie making before the state fair came from working with digital media and the internet. My only experience with filming was working with a senior student, Maxwell Fong, when he was directing the Franklin High “Wildcat Anthem”. As I entered the Youth Studio Crew at the California State Fair on July 12th, I was given the privilege to use professional Panasonic Pro camera and filmmaking equipment, meet 25 other local youth filmmakers, and, most importantly, be a part of a live working studio, something I had never done before. By the end of day one, I had begun to operate the great cameras, operate elite audio equipment and my editing skill, on a professional level, was greatly expanded. The seventeen days in the California State Fair Film Crew had allowed me to grow my basic knowledge, and gain a whole new confi-dence and skill. I learned a lot from student peers, our professional mentors, and the many video projects I took on. Being invited to work at the California State Fair Film Crew by the Youth Broadcast and Media Association and our partnership with On Native Ground was a blessing and an amazing experience. It

changed everything for me and the way I plan to apply myself, aim my schooling and career plans.

-Gurneel Boparai, Franklin HS

My experience filming at the state fair with my “Wolf Pack” production team from Cosumnes Oaks HS was nothing short of amazing. Over the course of the 17 day Fair, I got so much experience, met so many other talented YBAMA filmmakers from other schools, and learned so much from everybody there – Jack Kohler, Anecita Augustinez, Kevin Belloumini, and Dom Porras were our pro mentors from our partnrs, On Native Ground. They super-vised, scheduled, edited, helped with pre pro-duction, and challenged each of us.

The first video I filmed was the day before the fair started, the story on the giant “CALIFORNIA” letters that are now in front of the state fair. It was one of the first videos ever uploaded on the state fair’s public www.bigfun.org/ media and now has almost 300 views.

Of all the projects there were two shoots that I had the most fun working on. The first was about the big “Jewels of the Jungle” exhibit. I especially like the beginning when our anchor Michael Anderson volunteered himself to have a python wrapped around him as he intro-duced the exhibit.

The second was a chef competition between chef Evan Elsberry and chef Don Dickinson. The video came out amazing and it was so much fun to produce and edit the whole thing. As of the time of this writing it still is in the line

to be uploaded. When it does, I'm sure it will be a hit.

Throughout my 10 days on site filming I pro-duced more than 20 projects many of which I edited from home at night. Having the opportu-nity to film the state fair was a ground-breaking achievement. This is the first time a team of youth filmmakers has organized to film promo-tional video for any fair in America. I can't wait to begin planning for next year!

-Austin Morris, Cosumnes Oaks HS

Studio Club Updates

Bear River

Franklin Folsom

Bella Vista

Franklin

Consumnes Oaks

STUDIO CLUB

MODEL

All over the region, YBAMA members are usher-ing the creation of high school branches of YBAMA clubs that will be essential to getting our youth media machine up and running faster and more efficiently than ever before. There are several clubs that already have been established in the region, and there are many in the works, which is a great start to this movement we are creating. In order to obtain a parallel to other schools and a homogenous unit that can maintain connections to other clubs and the organization itself, each YBAMA club will follow a specific format as fol-lows: CLUB OFFICERS: -Co-Chair: The co-chairs will be the chief execu-

tives of a high school’s YBAMA club. The co-

chairs are critical in planning and running meetings,

maintaining efficiency in club matters, and repre-

senting the YBAMA club well in order to maxi-

mize the club’s impact and presence at their school.

Club Co-Chairs will be automatically part of the

YBAMA Leadership Team and will communicate

with the rest of the leadership team and the Corpo-

rate Board in order to keep their club involved and

up to date with the latest YBAMA activities.

-Vice Co-Chair: The vice co-chair has similar

duties to the main co-chair, but the rest of their

tasks are more behind-the-scenes; Vice Co-Chairs

are responsible for communication between the

club chairs and collectively sustain the club’s suc-

cess in between meetings.

In some cases where multiple Vice Co-Chairs exist,

these positions may be defined for a specific pur-

pose as well as the standard Vice Co-Chair duties.

Descriptions and delegation of a special area of

focus for a Vice Co-Chair will be formulated in

coordination with the Organization’s Co-Chairs.

CLUB CHAIRS:

-Membership Chair: This Club Chair is the main

resource for recruitment and sustaining member

involvement, working with other membership

chairs to gather information about recruitment,

pass on tips for retaining membership, and finding

better ways to keep members interested and active

in YBAMA.

-Professional Development Chair: This Club

Chair is crucial in finding ways for members to

interact outside of their student realm and into one

of more professional interests via Theatron Ses-

sions, contacts with professional guilds such as

SAG, and other opportunities to further one’s skill

set in their field of focus.

-Program and Project Development Chair: The

focus of this club chair is to provide projects for

the club to participate in as indie works/

competition pieces as well as connecting with

YBAMA/Tower of Youth Sponsors (SMUD,

Kings, River Cats, State Fair, etc.). This chair must

find ways to keep the members active and have

them participate in YBAMA-sponsored events,

contests, and projects.

Communications Chair: The main focus of this

club chair is to publicize their own club and

YBAMA as a whole via social networking

(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), email, news-

letters, and advertisements to keep all current and

prospective members up to date on what their

YBAMA club is doing and promoting their activi-

ties as positively as possible.

This format should be the MINIMUM for

each club. We want you guys to be as success-

ful as possible in your clubs, so, if you have

any ideas for your club, contact the YBAMA

Co-Chairs or Dr. Bronston!

YBAMA Club Structure Model

Club

Co-Chairs

Club Vice

Co-Chairs

Membership

Chair

Professional

Development

Chair

Program and

Project Development

Chair

Communications

Chair

The River Cats Youth Media Day Competition Winners

Youth

Media

Day

2013

Austin Morris, Sade Miller, and Prin-

cipal McDougall (Cosumnes Oaks

HS) at the showing of their piece for

the River Cats Youth Media Day,

emerging as the sole winner of the

10+ pieces produced.

YBAMA Officers:

Co-Chair: Nick Stringfellow

Franklin HS stringtfeller31@gmail.com

Co-Chair: Alex Greenlee

Natomas Charter School darkriderproductions@icould.com

Membership Co-Chair (2): TBA

Communications Co-Chair: Josh Hamilton

Franklin HS jiamaham@gmail.com

Communications Co-Chair: Gurneel Boparai

Franklin HS gurneelboparai@gmail.com

Project and Program Development Co-Chair (2): TBA

Professional Development Co-Chair (2): TBA

YBAMA & Tower of Youth CEO: Dr. Bill Bronston

Email: williambronstonmd@gmail.com

CONNECTIONS!

Tower of Youth:

http://www.towerofyouth.org

Capital Film Arts

Alliance (CFAA):

http://www.capitalfilmarts.org

A c c e s s

S a c r a -

mento:

http://www.accesssacramento.org

Sacramento Interna-

tional Film Festival:

http://www.sacramentofilmfestival.com Talent Earth:

http://www.talentearth.com Sac Film and

Music Festi-

val:

http://www.sacfilm.com

A Place Called Sacra-

mento:

http://www.accesssacramento.org/program_schedule/place_called_sacramento Sacramento

Artober:

http://www.artobersac.com

Interested in joining the

YBAMA Leadership

Team? Send Dr. Bron-

ston an email at william-

bronstonmd@gmail.com

or contact one of the

YBAMA Organization Co-

Chairs, Nick Stringfellow

and Alex Greenlee, for

more information on how

you can get involved!

We’d love to have your

creativity, ideas, and po-

tential as part of our

team of youth advancing

the power of youth me-

dia!