Post by Diamond Girl on Jun 22, 2005 17:13:13 GMT -5
Motown magic helps Chinese cell phone users learn English
By Betty DeRamus / The Detroit News
Remember that Stevie Wonder hit "I Was Made to Love Her," an old-style love song that made you picture a man on his knees, bleeding all his feelings on the floor?
It's part of this story.
So are millions of young people who use cell phones in China. And so are a Detroit brother and sister and an Oak Park video producer who understand what it takes to stay afloat in an economy that's losing manufacturing jobs by the minute.
My father spent his life in the kind of jobs where men sweated away their youth before they turned 30: repairing railroad tracks, building bridges, blasting aluminum with jolts of heat.
The future, however, doesn't belong to workers like him.
It belongs to people like Detroiter Greg Eskridge and his two partners who have whipped up a project that combines Motown magic with telephones and new technology. With the help of a Chinese subcontractor, they've created short videos designed to teach millions of young Chinese cell phone users a little English.
Confused? Don't be.
It makes perfect sense, really, if you've ever been to China. In fact, Greg Eskridge got the idea after visiting China several times and noticing how many youths spent their time beaming each other instant cell phone text messages. He also became aware that many Chinese want to learn English.
Now don't get me wrong: Eskridge's company is no king-size conglomerate. It doesn't have thousands or even dozens of employees. In fact, Emage Media Group, a video production company, is a three-person enterprise that includes Eskridge's sister, Ann, and Bill Givens of Magnetic Cinema Digital Video Productions in Oak Park. It kind of reminds you of the days when a different kind of magic transformed an old house on West Grand Boulevard into a place where Berry Gordy scribbled songs on scraps of paper and Smokey Robinson sometimes swept the floor.
But Emage isn't trying to create a musical empire. The partners have produced a series of one- and two-minute videos about the ups and downs of life on an American college campus where students deal with their classes, love lives and loneliness.
Using local young talent, the partners filmed eight videos at the University of Detroit Mercy. Songwriter Sylvia Moy and her collaborator, Carlos Gunn, wrote the theme music. Moy is a former Motown songwriter and producer. The songs she co-authored for Stevie Wonder include, "My Cherie Amour," "Uptight" and, of course, "I Was Made to Love Her."
So Chinese cell phone subscribers can now download Detroit videos, view them on their cell phones and, perhaps, learn some English.
Meanwhile, Greg Eskridge says he's preparing a second series of videos that would include product placements. "I'm scheduling a trip to China in the third week in July to cement a deal," he said. "We're convinced that this series will not only be popular, but pioneer the newest way to do clever product placement advertising in China."
I don't know what kind of products the videos will sell. Hamburgers? Lipstick? Or, quite possibly, lessons about hope in hard times.
By Betty DeRamus / The Detroit News
Remember that Stevie Wonder hit "I Was Made to Love Her," an old-style love song that made you picture a man on his knees, bleeding all his feelings on the floor?
It's part of this story.
So are millions of young people who use cell phones in China. And so are a Detroit brother and sister and an Oak Park video producer who understand what it takes to stay afloat in an economy that's losing manufacturing jobs by the minute.
My father spent his life in the kind of jobs where men sweated away their youth before they turned 30: repairing railroad tracks, building bridges, blasting aluminum with jolts of heat.
The future, however, doesn't belong to workers like him.
It belongs to people like Detroiter Greg Eskridge and his two partners who have whipped up a project that combines Motown magic with telephones and new technology. With the help of a Chinese subcontractor, they've created short videos designed to teach millions of young Chinese cell phone users a little English.
Confused? Don't be.
It makes perfect sense, really, if you've ever been to China. In fact, Greg Eskridge got the idea after visiting China several times and noticing how many youths spent their time beaming each other instant cell phone text messages. He also became aware that many Chinese want to learn English.
Now don't get me wrong: Eskridge's company is no king-size conglomerate. It doesn't have thousands or even dozens of employees. In fact, Emage Media Group, a video production company, is a three-person enterprise that includes Eskridge's sister, Ann, and Bill Givens of Magnetic Cinema Digital Video Productions in Oak Park. It kind of reminds you of the days when a different kind of magic transformed an old house on West Grand Boulevard into a place where Berry Gordy scribbled songs on scraps of paper and Smokey Robinson sometimes swept the floor.
But Emage isn't trying to create a musical empire. The partners have produced a series of one- and two-minute videos about the ups and downs of life on an American college campus where students deal with their classes, love lives and loneliness.
Using local young talent, the partners filmed eight videos at the University of Detroit Mercy. Songwriter Sylvia Moy and her collaborator, Carlos Gunn, wrote the theme music. Moy is a former Motown songwriter and producer. The songs she co-authored for Stevie Wonder include, "My Cherie Amour," "Uptight" and, of course, "I Was Made to Love Her."
So Chinese cell phone subscribers can now download Detroit videos, view them on their cell phones and, perhaps, learn some English.
Meanwhile, Greg Eskridge says he's preparing a second series of videos that would include product placements. "I'm scheduling a trip to China in the third week in July to cement a deal," he said. "We're convinced that this series will not only be popular, but pioneer the newest way to do clever product placement advertising in China."
I don't know what kind of products the videos will sell. Hamburgers? Lipstick? Or, quite possibly, lessons about hope in hard times.
