SatisFactory:
An Inner-City Youth Video Program Gets It Right


BRAINTRUSTdv interviews the founder and members of the Youth Sounds Factory

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With youth-oriented digital video production programs thriving all over the world, how could any one of them be singled out for its approach and achievements? It was precisely the flaccid and unchallenging nature of some of these programs that spurred Youth Sounds Factory founder Gabriel Diamond to start an "elite" program for underprivileged teens in inner-city Oakland, California. Two recent successes have validated his methods: the Factory project Inertia won an award at the 2005 San Francisco International Film Festival, and another Factory project, the epic Elements, led to an opportunity for the Factory to produce an original series for UPN. In the following interview, Diamond articulates his frustration with other programs of this sort, and three original Factory inductees talk about independent video production vis-à-vis major film schools, spoken word, hip-hop, and the mainstream media's ubiquitous depictions of drugs and violence in the inner city. Due to its dynamic nature, this interview is presented in video format only. Conceived and conducted in a manner inspired by its subject, the interview contains excerpts of award-winning projects completed by the Youth Sounds Factory. Watch the Youth Sounds Factory Interview (Requires Real Media player) Interviewees: Gabriel Diamond Paolo Sambrano Erica Eng Vernell Harbin Questions: Alejandro Adams Camera: Josh Fry