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Media Community Network Limited is a registered charity that lets young people speak through film about the issues they face.

MCNL^td’s projects are designed to assist the social development of the young people involved while introducing them to a range of technical aspects of film-making.  Each project comprises ~10 workshops and results in a ten minute film which focuses on a social issue that is important to the young people involved and can then be used as a basis for discussion by others.  Where possible, comedy is used to aid communication.

MCNL^td is currently looking for assistance to develop resource packs for leaders and students to accompany these films so as to facilitate their use by schools and other youth organisations as part f a PSHE Curriculum.

Using films produced by and featuring young people facilitates and improves communication with parents, teachers and the community.   Such an indirect communication channel avoids many of the issues of embarrassment and / or confrontation that can be associated with more formal consultation processes.

For the participants, the key benefits of MCNL^td’s approach are:

·       Improved self-confidence from exercising ownership of the film’s content

·       Increased empathy for others, team work and co-operation

·       Improved presentation skills, verbal reasoning and communication techniques

·       Experience of practical film making skills, including interviewing and simple editing

·       Simple research tasks including internet searches

·       Achieving greater understanding of media and documentary formats including the usefulness of comedy to widen audience reach

·       A solid contribution to each participant’s portfolio and personal profile

while the wider community benefits from:

·       Increased awareness of an issue and how it is viewed by the participants

·       Participants improved sense of connection to their school, teachers, parents and the wider community.