Fresh takes for kids

After school lets out in the afternoon, a group of students aged 14 to 18 meet in what used to be the dusty attic of the Fox Theatre in Redwood City. Today, the old forgotten storage space is home to a youth media production unit called Fresh Takes.

The nonprofit media center is the project of retired sportscaster Pete Liebengood.

"People who knew this space can’t believe what it is now,” said Liebengood, who worked as a sportscaster for both KCRA, Sacramento and KRON, San Francisco.

Since August, 12 students have come to Fresh Takes several days each week to work on multimedia projects. The Fresh Takes team has produced a video for an anti-bullying campaign and a commercial for the Fox Theatre, which will be airing on cable television.

Sixteen-year-old Sean Story, one of two Fresh Takes employees, is the first to arrive at the center one afternoon.

Story, a longtime piano player, took it upon himself create the Fresh Takes recording studio out of a small closet space in the media center. He did some research on what was needed to create the proper recording acoustics. The studio walls are now checkered with jagged foam blocks to create the perfect sound. One wall outside the studio displays pictures of several young hip-hop artists who have recorded there.

Along with the recording studio, the center has a green screen and four professional grade cameras.

As the other students begin to file in, they gather excitedly around Liebengood’s new toy: a camera dolly. The mobile camera stand will allow for better movement shots, said Liebengood.

Story then ushers the team to computer stations in another room.

This particular afternoon, Gigi Carter from the Sheriff’s Activities League (SAL) is asking Fresh Takes to make a promotional fundraising video for the SAL mentoring program. The group watches several examples of promotional videos on a large flat-screen television in the front of the room.

Liebengood nods to different people as issues of animation, lighting and editing come up. Each person has taken a liking to a different aspect of production, he said.

The goal of Fresh Takes is not a narrow one. For now, Liebengood is simply encouraging the students to follow their own multimedia interests.

"I’m really impressed by their interest to keep with it,” he said. "If I can get one kid on a career path every year that would be great.”

Fresh Takes has been a learning experience for Liebengood too. He knows editing, but for teaching other programs in animation, for example, he has sought out other professionals to come teach.

"I just want to get them feeling comfortable being part of a production team,” he said. "Whether they’re sound, light, director, editor, you have work together.”

And watching teens collaborate is quite a sight.

"That’s something you gotta see,” he said. "I say to them, ‘how can you listen to each other when you’re all talking at the same time?!’”

The students collaborate and some have also started their own projects. One 14-year-old student, Toren Fronsdal, is working on a 15-minute documentary on hunger on the Peninsula. As he loads footage of people filing into a San Jose soup kitchen onto a computer, he explains the documentary is for his eighth grade project. The staff at the kitchen would only let him film outside, he said. Fronsdal learned how to edit film — using Apple’s software program Final Cut Pro — from his time at Fresh Takes.

The regular crew that frequents the studio does so free of cost. For now, the center is surviving on donations from big partners. But Liebengood senses donations will not be a sustainable source of revenue. Beginning in April, the center will begin offering short-term workshops to the community for a fee. Workshops will be on video and music production, editing (using Final Cut Pro), animation and photography.

Fresh Takes already offers inter-session classes to Summit and Everest Prep students in which students work in four-person production teams. The teams finish the two-month course with a short film under their belt. The inter-session classes have worked well in the past, said Liebengood.

The center also offers summer camps that teach filming and editing to kids aged 10-14.

Liebengood doesn’t seem to mind that the students have yet to collectively take an interest in producing journalism pieces. Back in his days as a sportscaster, there was the necessity for really crafting a story, he said. Now, in today’s broadcast environment, it’s, he said, "all news, all the time.” And this new fast-paced media environment can sometimes produce sloppy work, he said.

Liebengood decided to retire after running his own video production company in San Jose. He then spent 10 years working on his golf game which, he said, did not improve much.

"I said ‘what are you doing here?’” said Liebengood. "I wasn’t contributing anything to anyone.”

As Rotary Club president and a friend of the Police Activities League, Liebengood realized that he needed to do something to serve youth.

Being married to the mayor of Redwood City, Alicia Aguirre, was also a major source of inspiration for Liebengood. Aguirre has always been active in the community, he said.

The Fresh Takes team is also doing good community work. Many of their media projects are for nonprofits.

In discussing the SAL project, the team decides to take film of the mentoring program’s upcoming soccer game. Carter warns the crew that her SAL mentors may not be well prepared for a camera interview.

"As a documentary person, I don’t like them to be prepared,” said Liebengood.

"Because then it comes off fake,” said one of the students.

"Exactly,” said Liebengood.

For more information on Fresh Takes classes visit www.freshtakes.net.