Ming Pao Explores Film Stylo: Empowering Student Expression Through Film
We recently hosted a screening of student films from G.T. (Ellen Yeung) College, followed by a panel discussion on teen mental health. The films were created through our Film Stylo program, which helps teens express themselves through filmmaking. We were thrilled to have Ming Pao journalist Hilary Chu attend the event and feature us in her article.
Below is the English translation of the article. For the full article in Cantonese, please click here.
Social Experiment: Cameras as Pens - Secondary Students Express Inner Thoughts Through Film
As the mental health of young people has attracted much attention, a film education company has launched an initiative to assist secondary school students in creating personal short films to cultivate their ability to reflect and express emotions. The initiative was implemented in a local school for the first time last year, with Form 1 and 2 students making films from their unique perspectives, responding to the theme "High Hopes". Normally when we watch movies, we rarely question the director’s filmmaking intentions; when we listen to the real thoughts of young people, would we also be able to put aside our judgments?
Background
Project: Student filmmaking initiative "Film Stylo" and screening
Purpose: To teach students to use film as a medium for self-expression and to promote the audience’s understanding of adolescent growth through the screening of completed films
People: Film and media arts education company, Babel Film Workshop; Year 7-8 students, teachers and parents from G.T. (Ellen Yeung) College
Drawing from personal experience
Babel Film Workshop started offering student film programs in 2019, initially teaching visual literacy to teenagers aged 8 to 18, so that they could learn to receive and understand different information through visual media. Jeremy Hung, founder of Babel Film Workshop, found that students of different ages had very different reactions. The 8-year-olds were mostly extroverts who could express themselves easily, "without much of a filter." On the contrary, students aged 12 and above are quite the opposite, not really revealing what they’re thinking. However, through spending a long time with them and watching the short films shot by the students, Jeremy "knows that they actually have a rich inner world and have a lot of things they want to express."
Jeremy later changed his approach and no longer required students to make story-driven films. Instead, he asked them to draw from their own experiences, thus reducing the creative difficulties. Nowadays, teenagers are inseparable from devices, and have a certain level of understanding of filming, so Jeremy hopes to improve their skills and incorporate film language to strengthen their ability to express themselves. The younger generation watches more movies (or short clips) than reads books, so it may be more natural for them to replace pens with cameras.
The initiative is named "Film Stylo," which Jeremy explained originated from the French film theory Caméra-stylo, meaning that film directors use cameras as pens to express themselves like writers. If students learn to write essays in school from a young age, could they also learn to make films? Even though film is a complex medium, Jeremy believes that an inexperienced 12-year-old student is capable of making films. "Film Stylo" was launched in local international schools, targeting students studying film under the IB curriculum. This collaboration with G.T. (Ellen Yeung) College is the first time that Babel Film Workshop has launched “Film Stylo” in local schools. The participating Secondary 1 and 2 students are not studying film, but they successfully completed works ranging from one to more than four minutes in duration.
On the evening of January 17, a screening was held in the auditorium of the G.T. (Ellen Yeung) College. A total of 12 student films were shown, and most of the audience were parents. Nathan Gao's film was one of the films screened, and in it he confessed that he was isolated by his classmates in primary school, and was addicted to the Internet, which gradually gave rise to negative emotions. Later, he gradually learned how to get along with others, got rid of his dependence on the Internet, and has since hoped to become a counselor in the future to help more people. Although the entire film includes Nathan's voiceover narration, the audience can also understand his state of mind through other visual elements, such as a subjective shot of walking alone in the empty corridor; a slow-motion shot expressing his reflection of throwing his "good friend" stuffed doll on the ground when he had a temper tantrum.
Expressing emotions through short films and showing another side of themselves
Nathan Gao said during our interview that the filming process helped him express himself. "It was only during filming that I understood what I had done before, (and) what I was thinking." In the post-screening panel discussion, he mentioned that he didn't have many friends in school, felt very lonely, and often cried at home. After watching his film, Nathan’s father was surprised that Nathan could express his emotions clearly in the film, because he has never been great at expressing himself.
Although the starting point of the "Film Stylo" project was film, Dr. Eunice Yuen, a child psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine, saw its potential for application in the field of mental health, thus teamed up with Jeremy to develop it. Jeremy is not a mental health professional, but through his understanding of film, he knows that film can help the audience build empathy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he initiated "Film Stylo" as an online course in two schools in Hong Kong and New Haven, in the United States. Students in both places made pandemic-related films at home, and three films from each school were selected for a screening. Initial research at the time found that “Film Stylo” helped foster the emotional wellness and empathy of student filmmakers and audience members, and had a significant impact on family and school communities. The research is still ongoing, as data from student filmmakers and audience members are being collected.
G.T. (Ellen Yeung) College screened the works of 12 students at this event. The school's Head of Moral Education Group, Ms. Sura Ng, has taught most of them, but she got to know them in a new light through the films. "It's actually a completely new [understanding], because students would never have such an opportunity to express this side of them to teachers." Some teachers follow students' Instagram accounts in hopes of understanding them better, "but in fact, what [students] share is very superficial and optimized for instant gratification." She noticed that junior secondary students are generally shy, and it is not as easy for them to establish a friendly relationship with their teachers as well as senior students do. In particular, most of the students participating in "Film Stylo" this time are introverted. Ms. Ng said with a smile: "Today was the first time I heard Nathan talk so much."
In the past, when the school held extracurricular activities, it would also invite students to reflect on what they learned, but the effect was not as ideal as this event. "It's not necessarily that the activities are meaningless, but they can't reach into their hearts, which makes their reflections ineffective." She was pleasantly surprised by the students’ profound thoughts on the theme of “High Hopes”, which will also help her communicate with students in the future. Different students have different interpretations: some clearly express their ambitions in the video, which Ms. Ng thought of as a brave declaration; she also appreciated that some students chose to focus on the process of realizing their ambitions. "How we go on this path is more of a “how” than a destination." One of the student filmmakers has high hopes of obtaining second-level blue belt in nunchaku. He would borrow relevant books from the library to remind himself to practice hard.
Listening to real thoughts and thinking deeply about film language
Mind HK’s Acting Head of Programme (Youth Programme), Michelle Cheng, was invited to attend the screening. She later shared that student filmmakers can sort out their emotions through the editing and filming process, and it is also helpful to talk with others about their aesthetic ideals during the process. From an art therapy perspective, therapists ask questions while the patient is painting, guiding them to process their emotions. Although the “Film Stylo” program is not art therapy, and does not emphasize its mental health connection to students, the creative process helps students find their own voice in a non-judgmental way.
From September to December last year, Babel Film Workshop’s Curriculum Developer Matthew Leung worked with a dozen students from G.T. (Ellen Yeung) College over 9 classes. Students first wrote a script on the theme of “High Hopes,” then came up with ways to express their ideas through visual elements, such as the choice of music and the use of colors in the visuals. Some students encountered difficulties during the writing. For example, someone wrote that his high hopes was to become a doctor, but stopped after writing one or two sentences. Matthew asked him if he actually wanted to be a doctor, and asked him to rewrite it, "Because when you write this voice over, you must write something real from your perspective, instead of writing what you think the teacher wants to hear." Seemingly reserved teenagers may just need someone willing to listen them. "When they know that there are others who want to listen and really care about their ideas, they will be more willing to share their own issues." The student who originally claimed that he wanted to be a doctor was actually the student who has aspirations in nunchaku.
The public does not need to have received film education to understand the messages in the films. Jeremy said that this is because the filmmakers know how to use film language to express themselves. Young people watch or even make short videos of a dozen seconds every day, but Jeremy said they may not have tried to create works as long as several minutes to express richer content. "Watching reels is very different because the starting point is to attract your attention, which I think is more superficial." Now Instagram and Apple even have built-in features that suggest materials that can be made into reels, leaving users with less room for independent thinking. On the contrary, under the guidance of the "Film Stylo" program, students have carefully considered the setting of each scene, editing techniques, etc., making it easier for the viewer to empathize with their perspectives and understand their thinking.
Non-judgmental communication helps convey deeper messages
Jeremy said that the creative process of "Film Stylo" is very similar to our thinking: "Students are not writing movie dialogue, but inner thoughts that they have. Then they choose what to present from their own perspectives. What we think is not necessarily what we are watching, so there may be some mismatches." The richness of a film lies in the juxtaposition of different elements, which can convey deeper messages when combined.
"Film Stylo" does not focus on the quality of students' works. The purpose of the teacher’s guidance is to remove technical barriers and enable students to express themselves more richly. Matthew added that when students asked him for his opinions on filming and editing, his attitude was “filmmakers giving feedback to filmmakers”. There is no right or wrong way for students to express themselves; the key lies in clarity. For example, he would suggest keeping the shot for an extra second or two so that the audience can remember it more easily, but he stressed that "in the end it is actually their (the student's) own decision." This kind of non-judgmental communication is common in the film industry, where audiences generally do not question the director's ideas, but only discuss the way they are expressed.
Mental health research has long proven that journaling helps people organize their thoughts and effectively reduces stress, anxiety, and depression. Jeremy pointed out that "Film Stylo" is not just a private diary. Students spend most of their time not thinking about what they want to say, but "whether others can understand what they are saying". He mentioned Dr. Eunice Yuen's research at Yale University, part of which was how the "Film Stylo" creative process helped adolescents' mental health.
