Regent Park Focus

Our second last week at Focus was an eventful one. The beginning of the week was filled with editing for our Criminal Harassment and Neighbourhood Police videos. Wednesday was the most exciting day. Over the weekend, a bunch of Focus members participated in the 24 hr Film Challenge by TIFF. Wednesday was the screening where 18 films were shown on the big screen, including Focus’s own film “Sweet Deal”. It was so amazing to see the wide variety of entries, and how creative people were when implementing the required shots and props from TIFF. Even though Focus didn’t win, the bonding experience the team had and the final product is something they are proud of. I will definitely be part of that team next year. But we also had a bit of filming this week too. We had two interviews with Julie Fiddes from the Women’s Shelter discussing their role in helping victims of criminal harassment. Our big filming session was filming Rob and Amber on their patrols in the gay village and St. James ...

This week at Regent Park Focus was very productive! We edited a lot of the footage we got from the Legal Aid Convention and board meetings. We are still continuing to edit and finish the feature before summer comes to an end. We also had our radio show that focused on the technology of the future and the positive and negative impacts that it could potentially have. We had Danny Nolivos who spoke about the dark web which got a bit eerie, but definitely interesting! We also had Christian Waddell (a.k.a Pants) who is the best Virtual Reality gamer in the world! He spoke a lot about VR and AR, his experience with it, and how he thinks it will benefit the future. We spoke about TV show, Black Mirror and how it does a good representation of how the future can potentially look like. Looking forward to finishing up the Legal Aid film and the last week at Regent Park Focus. http://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/2019-08-08.mp3 Date: August 9, 2019 Name: Elise Ardizzi

This week at Regent Park Focus was very productive. We visited the Legal Aid Clinic and interviewed the staff members to get their opinions on the legal aid cuts that Doug Ford is implementing. We learned that this will, unfortunately, impact low-income individuals putting them at even more risk of homelessness, jail and to be hospitalized. Ultiumatley this will cost the government more in the end. We also went to a rally on Tuesday to film and interview individuals who have used the legal aid services, and also staff memebers who are being effected by these cuts as well. The footage we got of everyone was very good and now starting to edit and sync the audio in the lab. We are super excited to see how the final video comes out! We also had our radio show on Wednesday. Our topic of discussion was "Travel and Tourism, the good, the bad, the dirty". We had Nino Ace as our guest who is a professional traveller, having travelled to 36 countries and 6...

This week, we filmed the last episode of the “Lloyd Show”. Meeting Lloyd was an interesting experience and for it to come to an end is a little bit sad as we will miss working with him. In this episode, Lloyd interviewed a friend of his, Ines, who talked about what stores she thinks should be put up in Regent Park and etc. Overall, the scenery was a nice touch to the video, and we’ll surely be coming again to film or take photos. Besides the show, we also conducted our fourth radio show, talking about Eating Disorders with two special guests from NEDIC. They talked about signs to look out for and what to do if you know someone is dealing with the problem. It was very educational and we hope our listeners enjoyed it just as much as we did. Listen to Podcast: In the end, it was an easy-going week. Next week, we plan on focusing on just editing the videos now that we’ve finished filming altogether.

The last week of July had been a busy week for us with filming sessions and important guest speakers. Monday, July 29th had Deputy Police Chief Peter Yuen discussing the future plans for the Neighbourhood Community Officer Program. The meeting took place at the Regent Park Community Centre with an amazing turnout from residents. The new program will be rolled out in September to 35 communities, including Regent Park. Our team filmed the meeting and interviewed a few guests to get their opinions about the expanded program. Wednesday had our usual Catch da Flava radio show, with our specialist being Mary Wu from SE Health to discuss tips for Job Hunting and Ergonomics. But beforehand we had a special guest speaker. Nigel H. from Etalk came to talk to us about his career in the industry, and even his own time in Regent Park Focus. Nigel gave great advice about how to get an internship and shared his tips on how to make a lasting impression that will open more doors (you should have a ...

This week at Regent Park Focus was very busy! We started off with our radio show, had to find a guest speaker that our discussion. This was a bit difficult but in the end, had a guest come from Regent Park Film Festival to talk about diversity in the film industry. We also started working on our promotional video for the Legal Aid Clinics in Ontario. Here we are focusing on the residents that live and use the service, and also trying to raise awareness to the general public of Doug Ford's cuts. We went to Ryerson University, and Moss Park to interview people. We just got new equipment so it was a lot of fun working with such high-quality camera gear. Loving and learning a lot here! Date: July 26, 2019 Name: Elise Ardizzi

Group #1 Blog #4 This week was full of interviews and filming. On top of our Wednesday radio show, we had two filming sessions interviewing speakers for our Criminal Harassment video and our new Neighbourhood police video. On Monday we met with Julie S. Lalonde, creator of Outside of the Shadows, to hear her opinion about criminal harassment in Canada. That was followed by a meeting with St. James Town Neighbourhood Police Officers Rob Chevalier and Amber Smith. We got to know the officers and discussed ideas for the neighbourhood police video. Tuesday was our first filming session with Rob and Amber. We got a tour of the 51 division and filmed an interview session in “The Space”, a space the police acquired and turned into a community centre. Our Wednesday radio show was about abortion with a surprise birthday party for Lorena. We shouted her out on air and had cake to celebrate later. What an interesting week! Date: July 26, 2019 Names: Iman Rajabi and Vanessa Wu

Group # 2 Blog #4 This week at Regent Park Focus was very busy! We started off with our radio show, had to find a guest speaker that our discussion. This was a bit difficult but in the end had a guest come from Regent Park Film Festival to talk about diversity in the film industry.  We also started working on our promotional video for the Legal Aid Clinics in Ontario. Here we are focusing on the residents that live and use the service, and also trying to raise awareness to the general public of Doug Ford's cuts. We went to Ryerson University, and Moss Park to interview people. We just got new equipment so it was a lot of fun working with such high quality camera gear.  Loving and learning a lot here! Date: July 26, 2019 Name: Elise Ardizzi

Group: # 1 This week our group not only broadcast our second radio show “Catch da Flava” but also did a lot of activities related to the next weeks’ radio shows and to the short documentary on Criminal Harassment that we are producing. On Monday we went to the streets to ask Regent Park streeters’ opinion about the changes that Ontario province is making for the accessibility of alcohol beverages and retail and convenience stores and its consumption in public areas. The next day we edited their answers into two audio clips that were played on our radio show on Wednesday. Throughout the week we also edited footage of the testimonials from criminal harassment victims for the short documentary that we are making. We also reached out to experts on the subject, police officers and lawyers as potential interviewees for this project. We plan to film our first interview next week. Meanwhile, we researched and gathered the information that will guide our scripts for our radio shows for the ne...

This week we worked hard on writing the scripts for the radio show up until Friday, where we interviewed Ismail Afrah for the Revitalization Project. Ismail had a lot to share about his work in the neighborhood as he is the co-chair of TCHC. Later in the day, we went out to film Lloyd and his friend Yousuf Ismail for the “Lloyd Show”. They had a discussion on how the revitalization has affected everyday life as longtime residents of Regent Park. So far, the week consisted of a lot of filming and script writing. Very excited for next week’s radio show where we talk about DUI’s.

This week, we got new cameras! It was very interesting to see how the settings worked and how much more advanced they were compared to the old equipment we had previously. Besides this, we also did our third radio show so far on Driving Under the Influence, with special guest, Carolyn Swinson. She talked to us a ton about MADD Canada and how they help enforce safe driving. Other than that, we continued working on writing the script for next week’s radio show, as well as started to edit the “Lloyd Show”. So far, so good! Next week, we plan to film some more with Lloyd as well as start editing the Revitalization Project.

Summer Blog 2019 I Week of July 2 – 5, 2019 This is the 2nd week working in Regent Park Focus for the Summer Media Assistant Production Program, and it is a blast working on numerous projects for this job. My co-workers are fun, energetic and diverse. Everyone works their hardest during projects to ensure they leave their mark at Regent Park. Our most recent project was short films about gentrification. All of my group members had a blast during production and the whole filming experience was super fun. We ended up making two videos called “Invasive”, and “Grandmami”. And this is just the beginning of the summer with more projects waiting for us to produce. By: Iman Rajabi Date: July 5, 2019

Jenna Borisevich January 14, 2019 POLITALKS – Suze Morrison Blog Post In this new segment of Politalks, Jason Clarke welcomed Suze Morrison back into the studio for another interview at Regent Park Focus Media Arts Centre. Suze Morrison is currently a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party, representing the riding of the Toronto Centre. Having now worked in office for several months, Suze was able to provide us with a lowdown of her experiences since being elected as well the ongoing challenges she is attempting to confront. Listen to the full interview to hear about Suze speak about her greatest priorities for the Regent Park community, her take on carding, her opinions on intersectional feminism, women in politics and Ford’s decision to cut finding to the College of Midwives of Ontario, as well as some tips around self-care during this politically trying time. Please click on the following link to view the interview: LINK HERE ONCE AVAILABLE For ...

On July 25, 2018, Regent Park Focus welcomed 20 summer campers along with the chaperones and staff from  Heart to Heart , a joint project of Givat Haviva and Hashomer Hatzair - Camp Shomria Canada. The youth, half of whom are Jewish citizens of Israel and half of whom are Palestinian citizens of Israel, created video and audio resources to support themes of intercultural communication and peace. The screening of the final work is to follow later this season, and the resources w ill also air on Regent Park TV and Radio Regent. To learn more about this innovative peace-building effort, please check out a short radio interview with the youth participants at the link below. http://www.regentparkfocus.com/…/heart2h eart/Heart2Heart.mp3 You can also learn more about the summer program at  http://www.heart-to-heart.ca - Tyrone

What is That?: Episode #1 Levi, Valentina, Matthew, Divine Last week we filmed our pilot episode of What is That? The three of us tried and rated each one of the mysterious food items brought in. The items consisted of a bag of chips called “Tyrant habanero super spicy mix“, a drink called “Ramune”, an unfamiliar fruit called a dragon fruit also known as pitaya, and a healthy nutritional bar called “Maze Bar”. We all tasted them, then gave our honest opinions about them. The chips were given an overall rating of 3/10, Ramune was given a overall rating of 4.5/10, Pitaya was given a 7/10 and Maze bar was given a 5/10. The pilot episode turned out to be very comedic and educational, which made it engaging with anticipation for the next. We did a great job at keeping the discussion going even if it was just random conversation and staying enthusiastic throughout. A few things we could do differently for the following shows is to keep the cameras rolling for the whole episode and m...

Regent Park Focus Blog Post July 16 - 20 This week was a busy week. The students have finished filing their interactive story pilots now it’s onto the editing. They also acted in their own videos which allowed them to try out new stuff and get a little creative and step out of their comfort zone to really make the videos impact more. This week was also full of filming. From filming Politalks interviews to interviewing for the RPTV news segments. Now that all the footage is in, it’s time for editing for the next week or so. We have captured lots of this great community and really see how everyone bonds together. Our RPTV news team also got to experience the Taste of Regent event where there is live music and food from many different community members. It happens every Wednesday across the street from Daniels Spectrum. For radio, there were a couple segments about issues and topics that pertain to everyone. We not only had some political talks but also addressed issues with par...

This week marked the first full week for new Regent Park Focus Summer Staff. New Media Coordinator Shian has been leading the interns in a morning course about Interactive Storytelling. After an exercise in re-adapting TV scripts, the staff were split into two groups and wrote a script and filled out call sheets for a pilot episode of an interactive web series. Last week Music Production Coordinator Levi has been helping youth create their own beats. There’s plenty of room for more students, so come by any weekday from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM and learn about music production, editing, and mixing! In the afternoons staff have been researching and writing their own articles for the monthly Catch Da Flava Magazine. The pieces are looking to all be very interesting, so keep an eye out for the online and in-print release! The staff continued their work on producing shows for the TV and radio station, getting familiar with the inner workings of film and radio production. Groups started f...

July 31- Aug 4 This week participants at Focus worked on discussing their pitches and shared their story ideas in a pitch meeting. They were asked to start on their scripts with the advice and suggestions they were given from the group meeting and to have them submitted later on. Participants also took part in a two day anti-oppression workshop with guest Rania El Mugammar, to give them context on how to write their newcomer stories. They were given several exercises and hand outs with definitions for what anti-oppression entails. They were asked to use this information to inform their script writing, but some of them will be using the information to work on their debate on race issues in Canada and America for next week’s episode of Catch Da Flava youth radio. By: Judy Pham

July 24-28 This week participants at Focus worked on submitting pitches for a seven-minute video they will be doing, with a focus on the newcomer experience. Three stories would be created into videos, while the rest were asked to focus on writing the script to familiarize themselves with script-writing. On Friday, participants held a goodbye party for six international student interns as their session at Focus were ​ finished. Participants were able to enjoy each others’ company, but also learn to balance that with completing all video projects on the same day. Some participants were assigned to be on air for Catch da Flava youth radio, where they discussed the experience of being international students, and the overall experience of trying to belong in a country that doesn’t wholly accept them as being a part of their society.

July 17-21 This week participants at Focus submitted three story ideas for radio show Catch da Flava, with an emphasis on social justice topics. They had a meeting about their pitches and presented them to everyone, and scheduled in which show they will be presenting their stories. They worked on securing a guest for the topic, learning how to write a radio script, having suggestions and revisions to it, prepared to be on-air for the next week. Some of the topics included were interviewing the cartoonist and author of Asylum Squad, Sarafin. Also, some participants wanted to discuss the experience of an international student, and another participant wanted to have a debate on whether racism was worse in Canada or the U.S. Along with this, a few participants focused on completing video editing projects and working on learning how to create their own games. By: Judy Pham