By Emily Wiebe
Production Assistant, Rein Cabalquinto, shows kids from Elmwood MB Church's Spring Break camp how we get ready to film a show.
While Square One World Media staff have always enjoyed welcoming people into our building and touring them through our studios, these activities came to a screeching halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, we have taken every step to change this. In addition to many personal tours, we hosted our first ever open house in February, an event for donors and a Spring Break Camp tour in March, and a Youth for Christ Film & Media Camp tour in August.
With Youth for Christ beginning their Film & Media program this year, partnership just seemed to make sense! We were so glad to welcome fifteen youth ages 10-15 years old to our studios on Monday, August 28th for an immersive tour of our film, puppet, and audio recording studios.
The youth were able to learn how we build a sound environment for our English kid’s podcast, Tales from Cottonwood Trails, how to operate the cameras for our live Afghan television show, and how our puppets are filmed on set. It’s safe to say they had a blast, with comments like “Wow! This is so cool!”, “I can’t believe we got to come here!”, and “How can I get a job here?”
Our Spring Break Camp tour for Elmwood MB Church was for a younger audience yet. Twenty-seven children ages 4-11 years old flooded our studios in March for a whirlwind afternoon of activity. The kids had a chance to sit behind the camera on our film studio set, and create their own puppets to put on the green screen in our puppet studio. Each child went home with a goodie bag of Square One items to remind them of their visit.
At Square One, we are thrilled to be able to help instill a love for media in people of all ages and to show them how it can be used to share the message of Jesus.
We look forward to continuing to open our doors for more people in the future. If you'd like to book a tour, contact our office at info@s1wm.com or 204-667-9576.
Use the arrows to see more photos from the March donor event and Elmwood MB Church Spring Break Camp visits. Guests to the donor event heard from Production Manager, Grant Hoeppner, and toured the studios. The children from Elmwood MB Church had the chance to make sock puppets and put them on the screen in our green screen puppet set. They also had the opportunity to learn how our film studio operates, and how we put sounds together to create Tales from Cottonwood Trails in our audio recording studio.