Background

How does positive development happen? First it starts with the parents. Without supporting parents, an even stronger community of individuals are needed for positive youth development. Then it takes the community of individuals who are willing to support youth in positive ways, by being there to counsel them, teach them and support them. Finally, it takes motivated youth willing to put their mind into something productive to society and something that interests them.

There is no rule on where the motivation initially comes from - the youth themselves or from someone else who inspires them. At some point, though, through positive influences, self motivation should kick in and youth devote considerable time and energy to excel at a specific discipline that engages them.

This is clearly the case with Dan Engelhardt and Brad Leong.

Keiko Agena, star of WB's Gilmore Girls spoke a our recent Voice LA Film Forum at USC's Zemekis Center. She said that only about two percent of the people who get involved with acting or film"make it." Therefore, you have to really love film and and acting because if you love it you will probably excel at it. However, she said if there is something that you love more than acting than film, her advice is to pursue that love instead.

There is no doubt in our minds that Dan and Brad love film.

Some of the influencing factors in Dan and Brad's lives include their parents, Gary Riekes from the Riekes Center and their teachers. We hold the highest regard for Gary as he was the one who introduced us to Dan and Brad. Gary's Center and his positive attitude have been a personal motivator for us.

Positive Development and Filmmaking

Richard Lerner, professor at Tufts University and advisor to Voice Films, suggested to us that filmmaking can be a positive experience for youth while contributing to development. He has also suggested that we try to apply some of the principles of positive development to our efforts. This was the genesis of Voice Films effort to use the principles of positive development in the way we operate.

We want to show some examples how Dan and Brad have developed personally as well as professionally through film.

Star Wars Benefit Documentary Age 14
see trailer

We saw this film when we first met Dan and Brad about two years ago. They showed this on their sample reel. They were both about 16 years old and were already contemplating new work. To be honest, we had seen far better work. The technical production and camera work were not quite polished, but we were captivated by their enthusiasm, professionalism and willingness to work with us. They were determined to make the best films possible.

They had their own business and business cards – Anchange Productions. They built a few web sites. They understood technology really well. They seemed like our prototype emerging young digital filmmakers that represented the shift to the image economy. We wanted to work with them.

They also had a great mentor, Gary Riekes, who advised us that we work with Dan and Brad. He saw great potential in them.

What’s interesting about the Star Wars trailer and benefit documentary is that they were taking on professional work at young age and viewed themselves as both artists and professionals. The seriousness of the work demonstrates their already strong interest in film and their willingness to work on something for the benefit of others as well as for themselves.

A Perfect Day for Bananafish: Age 15
see the film

"Bananafish" was the second film we saw. This was our first glimpse at the serious nature of their work. Nearly every other film we saw among hundreds of youth dealt with skateboards, guns and Hollywood derivatives of murders and chase scenes. We were wondering when we were going to see something different.

Banafish is about a teenager with suicidal tendencies. The film is particularly sensitive in showing the main character as being somewhat of a loner but possessing a desire to communicate with others about the strange world of bananafish. It also demonstrates the human tendency to forget about others and to underestimate the problems others might have, even those we love.

This film demonstrates their desire to develop films expressing a serious voice. In an earlier interview, Brad Leong told us that he was interested in exploring social issues. This film explores the complex issue underlying depression and suicidal tendencies.

This film shows marked improvement in technical production: the composition, lighting and scene transition. In addition, the music complements the images. They have also integrated black and white with color.

However, the major weakness is in the acting and the direction to the actors. We have noticed the strong tendency of young filmmakers to focus almost exclusively on the technical production (lighting and camera) almost to the exclusion of working with actors.

Even with the shortcomings of the film, we were impressed with the sensitivity and seriousness of the film. We hadn’t seen a film like this from 15 year olds. This demonstrated their ability to work with actors across different scenes to put together a film with a story. They were clearly developing their capacity to work with people, both older and younger, to develop their films.

They were also exploring color and black and white as well as various compositions.

In God We Trust: Age 16
see the film

"In God We Trust" (IGWT) was inspiration for "God Bless," which was recently shown at the Voice LA Film Forum at USC's Zemeckis Digital Center. IGWT is about a homeless veteran and his interaction with a youth who gives him some money.

It opens with a bright narrow hallway with images of children running and parents running as they carry their children. Then there are cuts, like flashbacks, to a battlefield with slain solders on open fields - pretty serious stuff. The camera continues tracking down the hallway. The images get more intense with the dead scattered on a battlefield, an explosion, an image of an innocent girl smelling a flower, then an old man at the end of the hallway.

A child stands in front of the man; they look at each other. The child gives him the coin and he leaves.

The move is synched to a Brian Eno sountrack, "an ending (ascent)" - a cool, haunting sound.

I remember seeing this film in a park in Palo Alto one evening at a student film festival that Brad organized. The film didn't fit into the festival because all of the other student films were about students playing with guns and shooting one another or rolling around on skateboards -- the typical stuff we'd seen. And then IGWT comes on and the audience of students and some parents are just quiet.

The film gave us a clear indication of their desire to express films have a social viewpoint. They were looking at significant global events and how these events impact our behavior and impact us locally.

From a development, perspective, we were definitely impressed as Brad and Dan showed sensitivity to others and what was going on around them. They wanted to express their personal views to others through film. They were valuing diversity, increasing their connection to the world at large, and expressing their viewpoints and emotions through film.

Dan Engelhardt and Brad Leong's film, "A Man and His Past", won the Best Short Film at the Frost Film Festival at Culver City High. Their film was shot on 16mm in Los Angeles with professional actors. They edited the film using an Avid suite.

The film involves a successful, African American man who comes back to his abandoned home many years after his mother, who was abused by a violent husband, abandoned him. Their film represents a unique and sensitive voice as expressed excellently well through a scene during which the mother tries to explain to her 5 year old son why she needs to leave him. The film flashes forward to the man who returns to his home, reflecting on what took place in the abandoned home – both the happiness and the pain of living there.

This film is remarkable not only for its production value and its voice, but also because a 17 year old Asian American and 17 year old Caucasian directed two professional, adult African Americans and a young African American boy on location in Long Beach over a frenetic two day shooting schedule. The professional actors have stated that they would welcome another opportunity to work with them.

Again, this demonstrates their interest in expressing a voice through film related to social issues. We were deeply impressed by this film for what it represented in their maturation as youth striving to be serious filmmakers, its production value, which was a significant improvement over "In God We Trust," as well as the simplicity of the vignette.

They also demonstrated the ability to use more advanced lighting equipment and to find a location specifically for this shoot.

From a development perspective, there was a big improvement over their previous films. The film demonstrates a sensitivity to their environment around them and the growth in their ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds.

God Bless, Age 17-18
see trailer; see the storybook

God Bless, shot on Super 16mm, centers on a community of homeless people living in a creek bed. The film explores social structure and humanity while still focusing in on a very narrow and propagandistic view. The narrative follows that of Joe Buckley as he attempts to take care of his slightly disabled friend and to make sense of the distant and somewhat oppressive world around them. The film was based on their original film shot on video, "In God We Trust." The film explores the relationship of parental abuse to homeless.

The film premiered at Voice LA at the USC Zemeckis Center for the Digital Arts to an overwhelmingly positive audience.

Voice Films was intimately involved with the making of "God Bless" as Dan and Brad participated in the CreateSF development program. We worked with Dan and Brad by providing advisors related to producing, line producing, directing and writing. We also helped with resource sharing.

The film was a much more complex than their previous film, "A Man's Past." It was shot on multiple locations in Los Angeles and Northern California. They worked with professional actors ages 30 to 50 years old. They used an advanced 16mm Panavision camera. They used a professional dolly and a crane that Brad designed and built himself. They collaborated with two composers and musicians to write original music for the film.

The film would not have been possible without the collaborative efforts of students and friends from Culver High and Los Angeles. In addition, Jim Knight from Culver High provided technical as well as personal counseling to Dan and Brad.

We emphasize that the entire project was produced and directed by youth - directing, line production, editing and music.

From a development perspective, the film demonstrated their growth in working with a much larger crew, a larger caste and more sophisticated equipment. It also demonstrated their ability to develop a film with a story that integrates social issues.

This is a significant improvement in their social and emotional development - their ability to work with adults, peers and the community to pull this film off. The film also demonstrated their increasing ability to make good choices and the types of behavior required in difficult situations. For example, both Dan and Brad had to deal with actors two to three times their age that demanded specific changes on the set each day. They had to learn how to deal with such conflict and resolve them in a professional manner.

They will soon be off to college. Brad will be attending USC in the Spring of 2005 and Dan will be studying in Santa Monica then transfer to UCLA. They are living together in LA, working on their next film, a feature-length one. This demonstrates their development in discovering and developing their talents and passions in filmmaking. This directly related to Voice Films' core values of discovering and developing young filmmakers.

At the same time, they recognized that there is still tremendous room for improvement. Dan, Brad and Voice Films realizes that longer feature length films will be possible only if they develop more professional organizational skills. Thus, our ongoing work with them and their next project will be related more to developing professional production and management skills.

We are extremely proud of the quality of the film, but we are more proud of the development of everyone involved with the making of "God Bless."

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