The din of the Third Street corridor in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point roared like a generic soundtrack as Jose Alfaro and his team walked past a storefront mannequin, darting into the tiny Community Youth Center.
Black bags scattered across the floor, the team began rigging up light stands, cameras and a boom microphone. Soon, the four-member team was interviewing the center’s program director about his incarceration as a teen, and his resurrection as a mentor to young Asian people in the Bayview.
It was a scene the production team will repeat more than 50 times over the next 50 weeks — rolling up video stories of 50 notable non-profit organizations chosen for grants by the Bay Area’s Super Bowl Committee as the NFL begins to carve its path toward Super Bowl 50, which will be played in Santa Clara's Levi’s Stadium next year.
“So for us it’s been great for us to tell stories of different organizations,” said Alfaro, “different non-profits and the great work they’re doing out there.”
It’s worth noting, the non-profit that employs Alfaro is doing some notable work of its own. Reborn corporate stalwart Villy Wang founded BAYCAT over ten years ago to help young people growing-up in challenged neighborhoods learn the ins and outs of video production. The organization puts video cameras, high-powered computers and knowledge into the hands of students who've grew-up on the wrong end of the digital divide.
“The kids we are working with are coming from low income,” said Wang, “and they are not growing with the same kind of access — or these computers at home.”
Wang herself experienced that childhood divide — working in New York sweatshops with her mother, who eventually started her own business and plucked her family from the grip of poverty.
“I know what it’s like to grow up without the same kind of access,” said Wang, standing in the light-filled main room of BAYCAT's studios in San Francisco’s Dogpatch Neighborhood.
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Children as young as 11 years old from nearby Bayview-Hunters Point have gone through BAYCAT’s free training, which includes every aspect of video production training; from videography, to editing to soundtrack composition. Among its work is a recent music video for San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to promote its sewer system. Alfaro started as an intern, working his way up to a staff job.
“We’re teaching those kids that they can be part of the tech world,” said Alfaro. “They can be creative and tell their own stories through media.”
BAYCAT has turned-out films, promotional videos and documentaries. Which made it a good fit when the Super Bowl Committee began looking for a video production company to document what it calls its “50 Fund.” The BAYCAT team handles everything from pre-interviews, video shoots, editing and graphics for each video piece -- churning out a video a week.
“Fifty videos, 50 weeks,” pondered Wang, as her crew prepared to head out to its next shoot. “That is a lot, we’re super excited.”
