WTTW11 to broadcast Central Standard: On Education

CHICAGO, Aug. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Central Standard: On Education®, the groundbreaking local web series, will air on WTTW11 as a five-part weekly 30-minute series, beginning Friday, September 5 at 7:30 pm, with rebroadcasts on Sundays at 5:30 pm. The series, produced by WTTW Chicago and Scrappers Film Group, in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios, focuses on education in Chicago and the surrounding region as seen through the eyes of five 8th grade students attending five very different publicly-funded schools as they strive to make it into one of the region's top public high schools. You can also watch the series on the series YouTube Channel or at wttw.com/centralstandard.

The featured students and their schools are:

• Robert – Creative Communications (District 149 S.T.E.M.) Academy (Calumet City)
• Gina – Marquette School of Excellence, Chicago Lawn (Chicago)
• Natalia – UNO Esmerelda Santiago, Humboldt Park (Chicago)
• Kyle – Walt Disney Magnet School, Buena Park (Chicago)
• Emma – Wilmette Jr. High (Wilmette)

Along the way, we watch them deal with factors that may affect their educational experience, such as participation in extracurricular activities, challenging financial situations, testing, social pressures, and more. The series will also include the perspectives of their parents, their teachers, and other individuals involved in the education sphere.

Central Standard: Education is produced by filmmakers Ben Kolak and Brian Ashby of Scrappers Film Group in collaboration with WTTW Chicago.

"We chose to build this project as a web series to directly address the changing ways people access content," said Anne Gleason, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Interactive Media at WTTW. "The digital format allowed the filmmakers to present stories as they happened, and we are excited to present the compelling result to our television audiences," she added.

"The series has been shot with DSLR cameras with 2-person crews at each location," said Kolak. "The cinematography lends itself to effective storytelling through attention to composition, light, detail, and movement," added Ashby.

Central Standard: On Education is made possible, in part, by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Northern Illinois University, PBS Digital Studios, and by WTTW members, viewers, and with the help of Indiegogo funders and other friends of the production.

SOURCE WTTW Chicago