View Tube Youth Project

15 young people from across the borough of Newham presented a short film – ‘The Risk I’m Willing to Take‘ – to an audience of over 150 at an open day at the View Tube; a locally run arts and community resource which overlooks the Olympic Park.

The workshops, which took place at the View Tube between February and April 2011 under the guidance of artist Faisal Abdu’Allah, gave the group hands-on experience and expert tuition on all elements of film production; from script writing to sound recording to filming and editing.  Special thanks go to Futureversity, the youth charity providing free courses and opportunities throughout London, who kindly allowed the group to make use of their film editing facilities and Rosetta Art Centre who promoted the workshop opportunity across Newham.

‘The Risk I’m Willing to Take‘ follows the career of a promising young boxer Carlos Carter whose career is threatened at a crucial match due to health complications brought on by air pollution. The film features leading scientists from the Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance at Brunel University who generously hosted a special workshop as part of the experience, inviting the group to participate in lung capacity tests normally carried out on professional athletes. Futureversity kindly provided the use of their editing suite.Visitors to the open day saw and heard about the extraordinary work and research that went into the film, and were given the opportunity to take part in breathing experiments run by scientists from King’s College College London who introduced the London Air Quality Network website, which enables online visitors to access pollution records for their own postcodes. Alongside this, visitors had the opportunity to  produce ‘Ink Breath Drawings’ made from a single breath and which visually mimic the fragile and intricate appearance of bronchioles.