PROVO--Jeremy's claymation video has a simple message for today's youths: "Don't do drugs."
"It's about drugs and how it can mess up your life and how, if you listen and don't do drugs, you can live happily ever after," said the 18-year-old who helped create the clay characters in the newest Slate Canyon Youth Center production, "A Short Black and White Film."The 3 1/2-minute video is actually the brainchild of Jeremy and two other boys who were in detention for the six months it took to shoot the film.
It's the second in what volunteer directors hope becomes a series of videos that use the talents of teens in the center and expand their horizons at the same time.
"Our first was a music video in color with a five-piece band," said Alex Urrutia, a volunteer at Slate Canyon who offered his talent on the camcorder to the youths in the center. "This is black and white to give it that ghetto effect.
"Since I was a little kid I've been interested in making a movie. I told the volunteer coordinator I had 'this amazing ability,' and she put me to work," said Urrutia. "At first I did magic tricks for the kids, but in the end, it became the claymation thing."
Teenagers who had earned privileges at the center through good behavior became the crew, sacrificing their free time after school hours to work on the project.
They designed the clay characters with square bodies and big noses and created the set, making a little house with a tiny couch of paper and matching wallpaper. They made additional vintage wardrobe pieces for the various scenes.
Jeremy wrote the story and blocked out the movement.
"I learned it takes patience and a lot of planning to make a movie. It's harder than I thought," he said. "You can't just do it. It has to be planned out."
He added a flashback segment where the dad in the story returns to his teenage years -- a time when he made some mistakes.
The experience Jeremy has gained will help him after he leaves the center to pursue a career in cartooning, maybe with Disney. It also earned him fine arts credit toward his graduation certificate.
The video is on a limited distribution circuit. Those at the center have seen it. It's been shown at the mentor volunteer banquet and from one end of the state to the other by proud staff members.
It was also shot on a limited budget.
"We don't have a volunteer's budget," said Karla Sedillo, volunteer coordinator for the center. "We've done this with funds we've scraped together from here and there. One volunteer won a $250 award that she gave us, and we hold various fund-raisers."
Sedillo said volunteers and mentors are constantly needed at the center, especially male mentors 21 and older.
The mentors provide role models for the troubled youths.
Volunteers may teach in an area of personal expertise, as Urrutia has done, or oversee a project or class that simply interests them.
"In one project, the volunteer taught the kids to crochet and the boys made quilts," Sedillo said. "That was something to see."
Anyone interested in learning more about mentoring and volunteering should call 374-8108.