MetroEast Community Media and Portland Community Media have been proud to bring OLLIE to youth in Multnomah County for the past five years. During this time, more than 1,500 individual youths from over 100 schools and community groups were served by OLLIE.

Alas, it is time to say goodbye to OLLIE. In these troubled economic times, both MetroEast and PCM are looking for ways to use our resources to maximum efficiency. We remain committed to youth media, and will continue to bring resources and media education to young people.

Last Friday, 14 students from the Multnomah Youth Corps visited the Portland Community Media studio. Gariet and I set up six small sets, consisting of a bedroom, living room, diner, office, campground, and a car (complete with rear projection!). After an introduction to television production from the director of Multimedia Services, Jasun Tait, and a short tour of the facilities, we set to work making a movie. In just 2 hours we helped the youth brainstorm and produce a short video that used all these sets. By the time they went home, we'd made an epic horror comedy entitled The Last Night. It was a blast!

Are there any among you who dare behold the terror of The Tobacco Nightmare?  If so, you are in for a treat!

Our latest video of the week was created by students at Lynch View Elementary School, and is beyond a doubt one of my favorites.  This group was assigned to make an anti-smoking video, but rather than do something boring, they decided to make a horror movie!

In this video, a young girl befriends a giant talking cigarette named Smokey, against the better advice of her peers. But when she tries to distance herself from Smokey, she finds that Smokey isn't willing to let her go...

The metaphor is brilliant.  The movie is both hilarious and creepy.  Awesome video!

The lastest video of the week from OLLIE Youth Media is Be Bromantic!

This video was created by youth in the Teen2Teen program at the Cascade AIDS Project. The youth wanted to show, in a fun and humorous way, that it's ok for boys to express their affection to each other. With a creative combination of music, editing, and lighting effects, these teens produced a wonderful video!

More great videos are now online. Head over to the media page to check out these new shorts! They include work by:

-The Campfire/SUN students at Lynch View. These videos are about the environment.

-The Technology Class at Faubion. These videos document different aspects of the city of Vanport, Oregon.

-Mr. Switalla's 5th grade class at Salish Ponds Elementary School. This is one epic video about the events leading up to the American Revolution.