THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120036
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 92 lines
There are some ``super-dee-dooper'' things in the program ``Hip Hop's Park,'' but Barney isn't one of them.
In this children's television program, an urban spin-off of PBS's popular ``Barney'' show, there are no purple dinosaurs, no sugary-sweet songs about birthdays, no marching ants.
Rather, there is Hip Hop the Bear, 7-footish and lonely, who has been kicked out of the forest because he's grown too big. His home is now a city park where three kids come looking for adventure. They find it through Hip Hop.
There is also salsa and hip-hop music, slang and D.Vine, a talking, Hispanic plant.
The themes are self-esteem and discipline.
For 18-year-old Sonya Massey, Hip Hop and his tufts of synthetic brown fur are more real than any character she's seen on TV. She purposely helped create a character that kids like those from her own Campostella Square neighborhood could relate to.
``We wanted him more urbanish,'' said Massey, a recent graduate of Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake. ``The bear is from the streets, he knows reality. He knows how to put it to the kids, that everything isn't always going to be all right.''
This pilot show is one of the projects of the Virginia Beach-based Youth Entertainment Studios' summer camp. YES sponsors year-round media clubs in four high schools across the country, including Oscar Smith. The summer camp is an extension of the program, pulling together 30 teenagers from the four YES clubs to learn more about the movie and entertainment industries.
The YES program began three years ago with the hope that the allure of movies and television would grab the attention of socially and economically disadvantaged kids, many of whom need a push to stay in school and set higher goals.
``We know that while they might not have an interest in school, or hopes or dreams, these students can connect through entertainment,'' said Harry Young, co-founder and president of YES.
``In order to have a great impact, we developed the clubs to teach perseverance, discipline, what it takes to complete a media project.''
YES has made an impact.
``It's given me direction,'' said Jason Emory, a 17-year-old junior at Oscar Smith.
As a one-day director, Emory helped write some of the lyrics for ``Hip Hop's Park'' and worked with the stage lighting.
``It's showed me that if I want to be a director,'' he said,``I have to know about lighting, acting and script writing. . . I feel like I can take charge and be a leader sometimes, which is important.''
The three-week summer camp ended Friday after the students produced four 10- to 15-minute videos - a romantic comedy, a segment on date rape, and segments about interracial and abusive relationships - which they wrote, directed, acted in and edited.
They all worked shifts at WGNT-TV in Portsmouth to help with ``Hip Hop's Park.'' The work with the camera, lighting and makeup was all intrinsic to giving Hip Hop his appeal, but the script was most crucial.
``With `Barney,' it's like living in a `Leave It to Beaver' world. It doesn't relate to people in the inner city, no one in my neighborhood,'' said Massey.
``There's no real diversity,'' Massey said. ``They have a black girl on the show, but she isn't really black. She lives in a white world of reality. There's no flavor to Barney.''
Massey and some of the script writers gave Hip Hop flavor through music and dialogue:
Some kids might leave a city park by saying, ``I'm getting ready to go, I'll see you later.'' But characters in ``Hip Hop's Park'' bid farewell with, ``Man, I'm about to bounce. I'll see you. Later.''
And Hip Hop the Bear gives praise with a smooth, ``Yeah-yea!'' No ``fantastics'' or ``supers.''
``That's the slang - `Yeah-yea!' - said Massey, who also has just finished a script for Nickelodeon's ``Alex Max'' television series.
``Kids have to have something to grab on to. `Hip Hop's Park' won't grab everyone's attention span, but it will appeal to some.''
Though ``Hip Hop's Park'' isn't scheduled to run yet, Massey said it was enough just to work with the project.
``It's exciting to do something where you feel you can express yourself,'' she said. ``It feels real.''
MEMO: For more information about Youth Entertainment Studios, call
579-4496. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN\The Virginian-Pilot
Sonya Massey, above, applies makeup to actor Hunter Barnes, who
plays D. Vine, a character in "Hip Hop's Park"
B/W photo
In the studios of WGNT-TV in Portsmouth, Oscar Smith High School
junior Jason Emory, 17, helps tape a hip-hop version of ``Barney.'' by CNB