Young people are learning the technical and creative skills that will turn them into film-makers in an innovative project just launched at Stratford Circus.

The project, Y-Zee TV, involves creating a television show from scratch over 8 weeks and then launching it on YouTube.

“It’s all about creativity, story-telling and putting something together from the ideas of the young people themselves,” said Cassandra Delisser, the youth workers from Newham Council co-ordinating the work.

“They will all get to learn about how productions come together from behind the scenes and they will have the opportunity to operate equipment and get to understand how the technical system operates,” she said.

The youth team taking part were recruited through Instagram, the Borough’s Youth Zone Network and Storytelling for aspiring filmmakers by word of mouth and through local schools.

Patrick Campbell, CEO of Patcam, the director guiding the process believes that storytelling is at the heart of everything. He is enthusiastic about the possibilities in encouraging young people to understand techniques for storytelling that will explore self-understanding.

“Storytelling skills open the door to 1001 possibilities and can be linked to improving opportunities for employment and education,” he said on the first night as the students learned the rudiments of unpacking and installing complex lighting equipment and tried their hands at filming and interviewing.

Participant Lawrence Ssonko is an actor. He wants to learn what the production team does to get a picture of the whole process. “We are getting a great opportunity to learn how other team members work,” he said.

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