Pictures by Lauren Robson - Leeds protest against education cuts and rise in fees.

To Build a home.

I climbed the tree to see the world... when the gusts came around to blow me down... I held on as tightly as you held on to me... I held on as tightly as you held on to me...

The cinematic orchestra - To build a home.

To Build A Home from Erik Koene on Vimeo.

There is no authority but yourself.

Abbie Trayler Smith - Fotopub Still TV podcast

Alan Watts on insecure societys and hermits

Music and Life - Alan Watts

Bicycles for Humanity

Grandpa & Bicycle

Museum of Industry Bicycle Collection

Human Rights Day Interview with Multi-media Monk, Venerable Sovath on Ho...

Alela Diane - Oh! My Mama

The Kids Britain Doesn't Want:

words fail me.

The Outspoken Showcase

Went to this with laura on Monday. Really glad we made it. I should make more of an effort to get to these things and show support for Women's groups. I thought that women were pretty equal these days, but more and more recently I realize they are not at all. It really fucking sucks. This comedian was there called Josie Long, she proper made me laugh really liked her she was ace.
There was food included in the price of the ticket which was only three pound. The food was delicious, best food I have had for ages!! Food made by riot grrill. This is something that seems to be happening a lot, two things I have been to now where they share food I really like this.

Cant remember where I found this or why I hadnt posted it before but now after another Christmas I feel it is even more relavent.

We are now three to five generations removed from the rural backbone that strengthened America. The world at large has undergone a similar transformation as the promise of easier work has created a migration to big cities. These mega-cities could be seen as an experiment gone awry, as general well-being has declined, with suicide rates increasing across the world. Crowded conditions and economic strife have led to rampant crime, pollution, corporate malfeasance, and a dog-eat-dog type of competition that can be described as a temporary insanity.

The economic crisis we are living through has been the final straw for many people, as promises of a better, easier, and more creative life seem to have been sold to us by carnival-style tricksters who are laughing all the way to (their) bank.

Here are the top reasons for becoming self-sufficient; these are based on fundamental, systemic concerns for why undertaking this life change will not be a fly-by-night fad, but rather a long-lasting means for personal independence.

10 Reasons to Become Self-Sufficient

1. Freedom from market manipulation – The traditional market-driven investment vehicles are more and more obviously controlled by traders and banking institutions. The debacle of the private Federal Reserve Bank is just the icing on the cake to a previous decade full of Ponzi-type schemes. Now, the institutionalized looting of retirement money is being planned.

2. Hedging against inflation – Have you noticed the price of goods lately? Even Wal-Mart is silently raising its prices. People might have a choice whether or not to buy stocks or gold, but people have to eat – the current increases in basic goods portend hyperinflation, and will not ease anytime soon. Food shortages could make the problem exponentially worse.

3. Increasing health and wellness – It has now been revealed that some "organic" items have been falsely labeled. In addition, a host of "GMO-free" brands have been exposed as deceptive. GMO food lacks the nutritional value of what can be grown in the average backyard. GMO mega-corporation, Monsanto, has a sordid history and has continuously trampled on our trust. It is time that we do the work ourselves.

4. Building community strength – We constantly hear people say, "I don't even see my neighbors, let alone know anything about them." Of course not: 80-hour workweeks and grabbing meals-to-go doesn't exactly promote community interaction. With such little time to interact with our immediate community, it is no wonder why many people report feeling disconnected. In these trying times, it is a local community that can offer the best support.

5. Working for yourself – Working hours are increasing, pay is often decreasing, and corporate executives are taking bigger bonuses than ever. This is leading to a prevailing disgust, as people are being forced to admit that they are living lives of near-indentured servitude. Even for those not working in corporations, working for someone else is rarely as satisfying as creating and working for something where every minute you spend is yours alone.

6. Having more free time – We have been taught to believe that life on a farm is arduous sun-up to sun-down drudgery where you collapse at the end of the day. This is not so much the case anymore. Sure, the setup of any farm or self-sufficient endeavor is often time-consuming and laborious, but new technologies and new skills of manufacturing food via permaculture and aquaponics are offering low-cost start up and minimal maintenance, as these techniques serve to create symbiotic systems that are remarkably self-governing.

7. Generating food and energy security – The planet is running out of food and traditional energy. Climate volatility, market forces, GM foods, and rising costs of harvesting and transporting food are all conspiring to create food shortages even in the First World. This trend will not reverse. And our oil-soaked way of life is being threatened by mounting evidence that the oil lifeline could be disconnecting rather soon. We should be looking to the air, sun, geothermal, and wave power to wean us from the energy grid.

8. Acquiring an appreciation for life – As one gets closer to life-giving forces, there is a natural appreciation for how things come into being. When you have created your garden, toiled there, selected the best for harvest, and have prepared that food for your family and community, the significance of what you have taken part in can be trans formative.

9. Restoring balance – Nearly everything in our society is at a peak, or is drastically out of balance. The systems and governments to which we have looked for balance restoration are missing in action. We must take it upon ourselves to restore our own financial and environmental balance sheet. The best way to do that is to reduce our over-consumption.

10 Ways to Get to Self-Sufficiency

The global economic collapse has become an eye-opening experience for many people. The ongoing crisis continues to create more joblessness at a time when the cost of essential items like food and energy continue to rise.

Inflation is only expected to continue due to excessive printing of money to compensate for the bursting economic bubbles, which were arguably created by printing too much money with artificially low interest rates in the first place.

The 2008 price shocks in oil followed by the financial collapse have led many people to begin taking measures to become more self-sufficient. And recently the ominous signs of food shortages, the weakening dollar, and the rising price of oil all point to a similar atmosphere as 2008. Some have taken steps to conserve electricity, reduce spending and consumption, while others are planting kitchen gardens and installing solar panels on their homes. Even living off the grid is becoming a mainstream concept for those seeking independence.

Indeed, becoming more self-sufficient is proving to make common sense whether one anticipates more hardship to come or not. Sure, many of us would love to live completely off the grid without giving up everyday comforts, but this is not practical for most of us. However, there are many steps that can be taken to move towards self-sufficiency which can be relatively painless and quite rewarding.

The following are 10 suggestions that can lead to independent living:
Reduce your debt: Especially get your credit card debt under control, since it is entirely corrupt. Call your credit card companies and ask for a work out plan similar to what they received from the taxpayer bailout. If they don't cooperate to your satisfaction, there are some reasons not to pay at all.

Reduce your consumption: Evaluate your current budget and determine absolute necessity. Push your comfort level to find areas where you can scale back, and then identify comforts that you’re willing to sacrifice.

Reduce energy use: Change light bulbs, have entertainment systems plugged into a splitter that can be shut off completely to reduce phantom charges, etc. Carefully plan shopping trips and other transportation needs.

Store energy: Always have back-up propane storage and a large wood pile for a rainy day. Investing in a generator of some kind (even a solar generator) will be money well spent.

Invest in food storage: With a falling dollar and rising food prices, why not create a food savings account? Get some good books, dehydrators and vacuum sealers for storage methods. Best storable food items are grains (rice, beans, flour), canned goods, seeds, and some prepackaged items.

Produce your own food: Replace your lawn with a garden, fruit trees, and keep chickens. Go on hunting and gathering adventures for nuts, fish, and wild game. Store extra garden seeds!

Learn new skills: Surf the Internet, read books, and take courses in practical skills like gardening, cooking with whole foods, composting, carpentry, alternative energy, natural health and wellness etc.

Start a side business: Turn your passion or hobby into a small side business to make some supplemental income. Who knows, it may become your path to full financial independence.

Install alternative energy: Start with small installations like a solar hot water system, a solar freezer, a solar attic fan, or a wood stove etc. If you have limited funds, tip-toe your way to independence.

Suggest solutions for your community: Start or join a local cooperative for food, products, and services. Engage your local community in discussions to take steps for self-sufficiency. Share your story and build support.
These steps will save money as we move closer to the ultimate prize of independence. Each action we take to live more simply frees us from the control systems put in place to make our lives more complicated, more toxic, and less independent.
by Michael Edwards and Jeffrey Green
http://www.activistpost.com/2010/08/ten-reasons-to-become-self-sufficient.html

photo from www.channel4.com
Share
49 people like this.
Naomi 'Ma Larkin' Lever Great :)
Monday at 21:21 ·
Gayleen Marie Chapman WOW Great ideas!
Monday at 21:40 ·
Amy Giddings this is the best article I've read all day! I am definitely sharing... Thanks!! :)
Monday at 21:43 · 1 person ·
Barb Schuetz This is great- I'd like to add a bit regarding food storage and new skills; Learn to properly prepare garins, nuts and legumes to get the most fromm them(and to avoid them taking from you which is especially important in poor times) and learn to FERMENT! One of the oldest methods of food preservation that also increases the nutritional/medicinal value of the food, that is if you don't kill it by cooking/canning.
Monday at 21:44 · 4 people ·
Patricia Wood Emery Liked and shared! Friends and family laughed at us and thought we were crazy when we "moved to the country" three years ago when hubby retired from the Navy. Now some of those same folks contact us and as for advice!!! HA!

There is still SO...See more
Monday at 22:08 · 2 people ·
Illinois Patco So please Barb, tell us more about fermenting!
Yesterday at 02:09 ·
Barb Schuetz ‎:) I suggest everyone own a copy of Wild Fermentation. I know there are plenty of books out there about this but I LOVED (and still love) this book because it qualms fears and makes even complex ferments so simple. There's also a FB group ...See more
Yesterday at 03:23 · 1 person ·
Patti Coffey I just got a copy of Wild Fermentation-bought it from th Dervaes family. I see so many recipes I want to try!
21 hours ago ·
Melanie Myers Licensed Acupuncturist fermentation has a whole lot of health benefits, just when doing it yourself, make sure you are extra careful at following the instructions to a tee, for safety reasons. same with making kombucha tea. great stuff, and hope it is in the book so you can try it. not the store bought kind. it tastes different, and each batch tastes different. you guys make me want to get back into it!:)
about an hour ago ·
Melanie Myers Licensed Acupuncturist bought a generator this year and am building a little winter/all season house for it and putting it on cement slabs I am making. also doing this for my son's house. bought my house last year and am finally in a position to begin turning my ...See more
about an hour ago ·

I think this is where I am aiming.

Evaluation.

First of all I have really enjoyed this brief. I wish it were longer because I feel I am only just getting my teeth into it and that I have only just scratched the surface of the subject. There are so many more areas within it that I would like to look into and many more that I need to look into.

I really enjoy the independent study aspect of this project. I definitely work well this way I feel. I like being in charge of my own time and what I do with it and at what pace. But I think that literally even just on one subject of moving image the learning journey could go on forever.

I made a small pixilation piece and a small animation that I did intend on developing further. I have never done either of these things before so I am pleased I now know how to do them. I then went on to do the short documentation of Papergirl as a small live project to do within the Comm. Tech. brief and this ended up taking a lot longer than I thought. Not having the relevant editing software at home meant I could only work on it at college that was good in the sense that I always had help at hand if I got stuck with something, but not so good in that it took a lot longer than I expected to remember how to use the software. Do a good edit. Figure out through trial and error what is a good edit, being brutal with the footage and finding out I had not been brutal at all and having to keep going back over it again and again! I am still glad I did the Papergirl project though, it was a great experience and I did learn a lot from it. I know now that I may of been slightly over enthusiastic about the amount of projects I could fit into the time period and also exactly what a small project is. I now realize that the last two test pieces I did (miranda and sequence 1) might of worked better size wise. This may change as I get more used to the software.

I have become more familiar with final cut pro now through this project and am more confident with editing and I also know how to look at sound waves in the program if I wanted to edit in time with the music. Although I still need to learn how to use the camera properly I have learnt about framing a picture and am quite pleased with some of the shots I have got. Once I have learned to use the camera properly (manually instead of in automatic) this will improve the quality of any work I do. I will also try and get some other people together that might be interested in collaborating because sometimes I would imagine It is difficult capture everything.

I will make time in the future to develop tests I have done in pixilation and stop motion.

I wanted to look into women in the film industry a little more. I also wanted to look into the history and future of moving image a little deeper. I also need to understand the technical side a little more compression and key frames for example are things that have come up in the last few days that I don’t understand. I also wanted to make my own sets and characters for animating to develop those projects further.

To develop my understanding in this project I combined just trying things out, asking relevant people for help and advice and reading relevant books and web sites and I think this has worked really well. Both Sharon and Matt have been fantastic help since they both have lots of experience in this area. Being able to look things up and ask questions as and when I needed to has been invaluable. I did do a camera induction, which was great and although I understood it at the time, as soon as I had got home to write up what had been said it, I couldn't remember a thing. So the trying things and having people at hand to ask for support was crucial.

The projects maybe could of done with being smaller in retrospect so I could try lots of different things and then improve on them as I fixed what went wrong. Things might have been less daunting that way.

I don’t seem to have a problem finding live projects to get involved in but I do lack the technical now how and seem to just come up with the goods by the skin of my teeth at the end. I would like to develop my technical skills further so that I am comfortable and don’t constantly need the back up of tutors if I get stuck. I do feel like I have learned a lot throughout this brief. I have learned that I actually know very little indeed and have winged it this far!

I still need to plan out my projects a little more. Story boarding is something that I meant to do that I didn’t and I know this would help. I let the live brief take up too much time and I didn’t get round to doing all the things I wanted to or to develop the ones I did.

I am being a lot more observant now whenever I watch anything. constantly wondering how things are done and with what programs. Noticing different ways of showing visual footage and audio. Noticing the use of audio to create an atmosphere.


I took the camera home to do some small tests using the controls manually because when I borrow the camera I take it out turn it on and press record. Luckily that has been ok for some of the projects I have done previously but will not always do for other things I would like to try. I couldn’t figure out how to work the controls though so wasted an entire weekend with it. I will find or download a manual for future reference. Again this will improve the quality of the images I capture and make editing easier.

I have found some great organizations and met some great people read some really interesting stuff, and made a short film (that is not bad) for the very first Papergirl in this country so that is an achievement I am pleased with.

Cinedans: meeting with Alain Platel / Sophie Fiennes

Really interesting video. Sophie Fiennes goes into her editing and filming techniques.

Deepak Chopra - Hub Culture Interview at GGCS3

ok so I final learned how to do a screen shot!!! :) It's apple/shift/3
So this is the footage inside after effects. You have tools in the bar across the top effects in the box on the right. Time line at the bottom and project box on the left if I remember right. Matt showed me some of the things you can do with it and how to use it and I really want to have a play with this further :) some awesome effects. You can also use it for animation.

Ashes and Snow HD from kedarvideo on Vimeo.

This made me cry. Such beautiful cinematography. I actually want to go live with those elephants now! Stunning.

Miranda

This is the same piece of footage put into after effects, I have never used this program before. Matt showed me the basics and then I had a bit of a play with it. All I have done in this video is increased the contrast and put a slight blur on it. It's quite different to final cut but really exited about the potential of using it :)

Sequence 1

Ok this is some old footage I had sitting around. Just thought I would use a little bit of it to do a couple of little tests with. This is just slowed down in Final cut by 50%. I quite like the effect. Can be slowed down further or not so much.

Zeitgeist- The Summary (Final cut)

High on Hope

Leeds International Film Festival had a screening of a new documentary High on Hope at Leeds Town Hall on Friday the 19th. Laura and I went to see it :)
What an amazing film!!! Loved it!!! It brought back lots of memories for me :) Though I wasn't at those particular ones.
There were people in the audience that had obviously had been to these raves. They were clapping and shouting in the cinema Laughing and pointing when they saw friends they new. Everyone left the Town Hall with smiles from ear to ear.
Really interested in documentary films.

Here is the trailer.

High On Hope - Trailer from Piers Sanderson on Vimeo.

Papergirl Manchester

This is as finished as I could do with the time I had. On the whole I am really pleased with it. There are a few things that I should go back and correct in the edit but Maybe later. As I said before doing this has highlighted the fact I don't really know how to work the cameras and that is obviously really important. It would make post production easier and more enjoyable if the footage was right in the first place. I have passed it on to Janice (Papergirl Manchester) and she really likes it, so I am pleased about that too. Obviously I haven't saved it correctly size wise. It's ok for youtube and vimeo but not on here.

Sony HDR-FX7 Using it manually instead of in auto.

It might sound silly but these are things I didn't understand. Don't know how I have gathered as much footage as I have with out understanding this. Hopefully now that I'm starting to understand, it should start to improve the footage I collect and make editing much easier.

Shutter speed - Almost always have this set to 50th of a second to prevent blurring.
Only set it lower if you want blurring.
Set it higher if you want sharpness in something for example a glass smashing.
The faster the shutter speed or the higher it is, less light is let in.

Gain - Measured in D.B. Brightens but adds distortion to the image.
False or digital brightening.
Should be kept at 0 unless there isn't enough light

I brought back the camera yesterday after having it from friday to wednesday. I was going to do some test pieces using the camera in manual. I thought I had got my head round the settings and what they were for but when I got round to using the camera I didn't even know how to use the control panel. Friday evening I went to see a film (high on hope) as part of the leeds film festival with Laura. then after I had done home stuff I took the children to see Alice in Wonderland at the Carridgeworks theatre saturday eve and for dinner in the German Market. Monday did book making all day at vernon street and that then left me with tuesday. I played with the camera a little but I didnt know you select things on the control panel by pushing the dial in!!!! This is getting increasingly frustrating now!!! Why is there no fucking manual!!!!! ARRRRGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
Stuck because of such a stupid thing. How the hell I did a video I do not know. I realise I have been taking the camera out each time and just turning it on and pressing record. In which case I could of saved myself the trouble of carrying the massive heavy case evry time and just got the smaller camera out. WELL FRUSTRATING. (Thursday 25th)

I HATE TECHNOLOGY WHY AM I EVEN USING IT!!!!!!!!

Send and receive contact has been made at last!

I had emailed Leeds Asylum seekers suport network ages ago and my email got passed around people at the network they then emailed me back to discuss or find out exactly what I wanted to do.

Hello Mas,

thank you for getting back to me. I wondered if I could just come in and have a chat with someone initially just get an understanding of what you do there. I am interested in helping to overcome some of the negative press that we are starting to foster around asylum seekers at the moment it this country. I'm not sure exactly what I would like to do at the moment, I would like to gain a better understanding of what you do and why and also who you help and where those people come from. I have been doing a little bit of everything, photography, film, posters, books and animation. I was hoping to come down and have a chat a look around if thats possible and then take it from there?

Hope to speak with you again soon.

Tahra.

Hello Tahra

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
I have made some enquiries and think that it would be good for you to attend one of the Press Gang meetings organised by Richie McAndrew, Manager at LASSN.
These meetings are normally held once a month and the next one is on Thursday 25th November at 6.30pm at the One Community Centre, 1 Cromwell Street, Leeds, LS9 7SG.

If this date and time is not good for you, please let me know.

Many thanks.

Mas

Since then I have also been sent an invitation to a conference that I didn't manage to attend but I went to the meeting with the organisers afterwards. I wasn't sure what the meeting would be about but I really wanted to go to the conference and was gutted I didn't get myself together enough to go, so made sure I got to this one. This is the mail sent out after the conference..

Greetings from Schumacher North!

And thank you for your participation in the 2010 Leeds Schumacher Conference. We hope you agree it was a worthwhile and enjoyable day, with something approaching 100 conversations on creating a society Beyond Consumerism; we will be most interested to hear your detailed feedback on what was good and what we could have done better; see below.

We want to keep up the momentum and begin to translate the ideas into action - here are three places to start, please get involved in whatever way appeals to you:

1. Schumacher North Website - this will be receiving a major overhaul over the next few weeks, and we intend to include the fullest possible facilities to take forward the conference conversations online. We will create discussion forums based on all of the World Cafe questions, workshops, and Open Space conversations. We will include a section for conference feedback and suggestions for next year's conference and for other events. And there will also be a gallery of photographs to help recreate the atmosphere of the day.

Please visit the website after this Wednesday when we will have put up the post-Conference information and participate in the forums (you will need to register on the site in order to do this if you have not already done so, and to wait up to 1 day till your registration is confirmed.)

2. Annual Gathering - This is your opportunity to input into plans for Schumacher North's development, contribute ideas, connect with other conference attendees and SN members and friends and have a good time as well! The gathering will take place at Swarthmore Education Centre, 27 Woodhouse Square, Leeds LS3 1AD, from 6-9 p.m. on Wednesday November 17. Food and drink will be provided, if you would like to bring a contribution to share that would be much appreciated.

3. Membership, involvement, support - We do need your support to keep Schumacher North going, expand our activities and take forward the vision of a sustainable, fair and fulfilling way of life that we believe to be the future.

As a member of Schumacher North you will receive regular updates on our activities and discount prices at selected events - we hope also to offer reciprocal membership with Schumacher UK and an annual free copy of the latest Schumacher Briefing. We will also put you in touch with a local Schumacher North group where this exists, or offer support and help to start one if you wish. A membership form is attached - if you would like to join please fill it in and return it by post or email to the address below.

We also need volunteers to help with administration, planning and publicity, etc. - if you are interested please let us know what area you are interested in helping with wand what skills, etc., you can offer. We will be posting a 'wish list' on the website shortly.

Finally, but very importantly, if you are in a position to support us financially at whatever level, this is hugely important. Please think about making a donation to support our work, we promise to use your money to maximum effect!

Best wishes,

David Midgley

I couldn't stay for the entire meeting but chatted with a few people and they were all very lovely. I was on my own and quite nervous and uncomfortable because I didn't know anyone, but they came over and talked to me and made me feel welcome.
There was a retired lady who was a child therapist for 25 years, lovely lady. She said her job was to "normalize children in an insane world" I think those were her words... she didn't really enjoy her work and I could see in her eyes as she was thinking and telling me about it that they were not fond memories. They brought and shared food before the meeting and then went on to discus the conference which I hadn't attended!! So I just sat and listened. I took notes on names of speakers that people had enjoyed. They then wanted peoples ideas of what didn't work so well and what would be good for the next event. They discussed themes for the next event and finally decided to keep the same theme "beyond Consumerism." I listed to what everyone had said and then we had a break but from what other people had said I had a few ideas myself and put them to the Matt during the break. Also I offered help with publicity and documenting the event which they all said was a shame they hadn't done. They seemed really enthusiastic and took my details and then I ran off for my bus! I did tell them I am just learning but willing to help out in any way I can. They also mentioned a story that had been told at the conference which everyone had loved, one of the women mentioned that it would be nice to have it animated.. so although I have only done 13 seconds of animation I said I would love to have a go!! eek!! Well anyway we will see... S'all good :)

Social Media Revolution

Interesting post from a friend on a social media network no less. This is the future of media at the moment. We do watch what our friends recommend and read what our friends post. The internet and social network sites.

Time!!!

Subcarpati - Am crescut pe la Romana from z00x on Vimeo.

This degree is not going to be long enough to learn all the things I want to learn never mind this brief... Another really cool piece of work that I have no clue as to how its been done :(

1000 voices Ctrl.Alt.Shift competion winner

Ctrl.Alt.Shift Film Competition Winner: 1000 Voices from Ctrl.Alt.Shift on Vimeo.

This blew me away thought it was amazing! I

Progress report...

Papergirl Manchester version 1 from Tahra O'Regan on Vimeo.

Today I went on to do some color correction took some of the red out of the clips but it doesn't seem to of made a huge a mount of difference, difficult to get things fixed in the edit really need to know how to get it right WHEN filming. (wish I had got things right with the camera) Matt suggested trying it in black and white and it does look a lot better. He also showed me some effects that I really liked like wide screen. Using wide screen means you can also move the image around a little to centre it properly which also might be helpful. Looked good anyway so might try that tomorrow throughout the film.

I have e-mailed Janice (papergirl Manchester) a copy of things so far so she can give me some feed back and tell me what she wants written on the intro. Should hear back from her this eve.

Not happy with the beginning or the abrupt ending... hmm.. wish I had got an interview or two and some more decent footage.. would of liked it to have been a little longer and more about the Papergirl side of things. Might put some txt at the end about submissions for the next Papergirl?? Thanks to The juice folk. etc.

Back to the drawing board.

(sorry had to delete this video in order to have space for the finished one 18th nove)

Hera (Herakut) feat. Rusk (Maclaim)

I really like this video wonder how it was done???? Will have to ask someone... great way to document an artist though.

E-mail from Raindance..

Joined up to the Raindance mailing list some interesting stuff comes through

10 Things Filmmakers Need Every Day

Dear Tahra,

We thought we'd put together a list of the 10 most important things we use every day, along with a few handy tips of where to find the best deals:

Enjoy!
1. A good mobile telephone

A good telephone will become your mobile office.

Get the best phone you can, one that can allow you to surf and accept and write emails, and take location pictures.

An invaluable tool that lets you stay connected even when you are on the fly.

A good website to find the best deals

2. A good email address and website

Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail might be free and easy to access, but getting your own domain name means you can have an individual and bespoke email address.

Register a domain at whois.com, and get a basic package that allows you to create your own email address, like elliot@raindance.co.uk, and join the professionals!

To build a website, use a programme like Apple's iWeb and DIY. Doesn't need to be fancy, include a section About You, Contact Details, Current Projects and your Showreel.

The 7 Steps to Building Your Own Website

Get a good service package from as little as £3.18 + VAT per month with Nativespace (the hosts of Raindance Film Festival)
5 Tips On Building A Filmmaker's Website

3. A good laptop with a good battery

And load it up with a useful editing programme like Final Cut Pro, an office admin programme, like Word, and something you can make good presentations with. It is also really useful to have a software package that will let you resize and optimise pictures for the web.

Here's the computer I use: Apple laptop


4. FLIP Camera

At £145, 720 HD, and an 8 gig hard drive, this little beauty is a must.

- See the review video from Computer Now
- See a camera test
- How one blogger got over $20,000 of free publicity using a FLIP

You can get your FLIP HD on Amazon for just £139.99 inc VAT

Perfect for getting those spur-of-the moment interviews to add to your DVD extras.

Order online here
5. Building your social networking groups

Get tooled up.

Creating Facebook and Twitter groups that are interested in your projects will pay dividends when your movie gets out there.

Get in the habit of spending 15-20 minutes every day.

Join the Raindance Twitter group
Free article: Web A-Z for Filmmakers

6. Business Cards

Who said a business card needs to be made of paper? This one is made out of sacking cloth.

One thing to be very sure of is that your details can be easily read. If printed on paper, make sure the back of the card is clear and has a matt finish so details can easily be written on the back.

Some other ideas for business cards.

Presentation is everything too.

Here are some great ideas on how to present yourself.


7. Pitching Skills

Many filmmakers avoid pitching - likening it to snake-oil-salesmanship

Most movies start with a pitch, and if the gift of the gab evades you, chances are you won't get the money, the crew or the talent to participate in your film.

Here's a free article: Pitching Essentials Part 1
Once you've read that one, read the exotically named Pitching Essentials Part 2
Check out our Live!Ammunition! Pitching Competition

8. Fig Rig

Our good friend Mike Figgis developed a camera stabilization device called the "Fig Rig" for holding a lightweight camera. He first used it for making "Timecode" the digital feature made with 4 cameras running at the same time.

Watch Mike Figgis do a Fig Rig tutorial.

Camera stabilisers don't come better than this, and our good friends at PEC in London have come up with a super deal.

9. Get Networking

Join filmmaking groups and associations where you live. London is spoiled for choice. There is the New Producers Alliance, Women in Film and Television, and OTT Films.

Online groups where you can meet people and exchange ideas include Talent Circle, and Shooting People.org.

Raindance has several monthly events aimed at networking, including Boozin' N' Schmoozin, our Open House, 99 Minute Film School and Live!Ammunition! events.

Then there is Twitter!
10 Twitter Tips For Filmmakers
Twittiquette
5 Twitter Filmmaker Marketing Tips

10. Training

The best way to learn how to make a film is by doing it, but getting advice from someone who has made films and made mistakes will save you time and energy duplicating those mistakes.

Two people will approach the same project in very different ways. Raindance film training courses will help you to discover different ways to approach the challenges of filmmaking and give you the tools to succeed.

Here is a Raindance must when it comes to training:
Unless tutors have practical experience in their field they won't be able to show how the industry really works or how they solved problems in their own projects.

The Raindance way to learn is always through people who have first hand experience of working in the industry.

11. Bonus

Lots of times you might need some expert advice.

- draft cast and crew contracts
- sample business plans
- a short seminar on film finance
- script registration

Maybe not everyday, but enough times to make it essential.

Happy Filmmaking,

Bradford Animation Festival 2010.

Laura Jordan, Georgina Beaumont and myself spent friday at the animation festival. It was really quiet. I think there must of been a maximum of 10 people in any of the showings. We watched a LOT of animation that day. Some were really good others I didn't enjoy that much. I particularly enjoyed the ones that had a real story behind them and the more hand made ones with smallest amount of computer generated imagery possible or none at all. The puppets and paper made sets. Hand made shizz.

TUSSILAGO, THE MAN WITH THE CARDBOARD HEAD AND ZBIGNIEV'S CUPBOARD

Tutorial feedback...

Ok.. so after my tutorial I have had my concerns confirmed regarding the amount of work I have done and although it looks like I have only done three test pieces, one of them was a live brief that had to be done within the time frame of this brief too. I thought I could fit it in with what I was doing and still have time to do other test pieces.. I may not now :/ But I have been putting the time in, in final cut pro.
I have been learning stuff all the way through the papergirl piece too from organizing people to get us to the location speaking with organizers to arrange filming and then everything in the edit suite has been new to me.

I still have to get my head round the cameras!

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

Papergirl progress.. taking longer than I thought..

Must of clocked up a good 24 hours at least, just editing in the last couple of weeks, my eyes are going square! But I feel like I am getting somewhere now. I have chosen a track I am really happy with that works well with the footage and the feel of the day. I have also been shown how to see the music in final cut so that I can cut visuals with the music, I don't know technically how to explain that but I have watched a few videos recently where the cuts are at the same time as say for example, a drum beat and I think it works really well. I have done a little of this on the Papergirl film just to try it out and now I know basically how to do it I am well chuffed! Will be playing with this much more!

I asked Matt if he would of finished this video by now if he was doing it (since he knows what he is doing) I don't know if he was just being nice but he said no he takes ages doing everything. So I feel a little better about taking so long about it now. It's getting there. Although.... having said that I have all the clips to go through and correct color balance etc. Oh god it's going to take ages!

If I find time I really need to get out with the camera in different lighting and set the white balance manually and just do some 5 min test shots with out going through the whole edit thing.

Street Art Interviews 2 - BBC Blast

How to destroy the world - Rubbish

Wikileaks document leaks

This is one of the great things about modern communication technology.
"the leaks improve our understanding of what's truly going on in the world" Julian Assange

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

Interesting. Excellent points made.

WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM by Steven Johnson

Cherry kino, East street arts, Patrick studios, Mare's Tail.

Cherry Kino.

Went to see a film as part of the Leeds film festival this Sunday at Patrick studios with Georgina Beaumont. The people there were lovely and we got shown the D.I.Y. film lab for the super 8 and 16mm cameras. Something else I know nothing about but it all looked very impressive. She showed us a camera that was 60 years old and in perfect working order. (similar to the one above) Apparently for £40 a month you can go and use the room and the equipment. Something worth remembering for the future. I had wanted to experiment with the older cameras. I am not sure about how environmentally friendly they are though as there was also chemicals involved in the developing. Will look into it.

The room was warm and cozy with tables and chairs, settees and futon mattresses on the floor and candles burning on the table. We got a glass of wine and made ourselves comfortable.

Mare's tail.

The film was over three reels. I have never seen a film like this before. The guy was clearly very liberal and when I found out it was made in the sixties it all made sense! I did actually end up enjoying it as well. At first I said to Georgina "oh god I hope it's not all 'arty' noise and squiggles", which the first reel was pretty much, but I ended up enjoying the drifting fluidity of it. The second two reels had much more recognisable visual imagery on and a little spoken word. Unfortunately the spoken word was difficult to make out.
It made me think that it is o.k. to experiment and not to necessarily have a tangible story line with a beginning, middle, and end or a point to it.

The thing I loved most was the sound of the film going round in the back of the room :)

There is another one at college on Tuesday eve 6-8pm 'My love has an exquisite corpse' that I will attend. There are meant to be books handed out that the lady at Patrick studios had made up that explain the cameras and editing in more detail.

Pixilation experiment.

I may do this again at college in the studio with proper lighting. and maybe some help running back and forth to move the flowers and butterflies and then to the camera was fun but not the easiest way to go about this I am sure! I would like to make a longer one possibly using some illustration too. It seems to work best with really exaggerated movements as though doing mime.
I did this in imovie at home not sure if there are other programs that would work better but this seems to be sufficient.
This is my eldest daughter :) She did her own hair and make-up :) Fab!! fun fun fun!! xxxx

The second one I added music too. Imovie seems really straight forward to use for this kind of thing. The top one I copied the frames with the butterflies twice to make it a bit longer :) Still needs doing again with a bit more prep and consideration.

Just remembered that I printed each of the photos off in order to animate them again in a different setting. haven't got round to doing this yet. December 1st

Soul Searchers - Blow Your Whistle

Thought this might be good for background but may be a bit too upbeat..
Thinking now maybe Bonobo flutter??? Or change down???? Beachy head, Mechanical me, Bonobo mix??? hmmm... Bonobo Terrapin ???

http://www.demo2010.org/

Article from the New Statesman.

The party game is over. Stand and fight
John Pilger
Published 04 November 2010


The lesson of the French anti-government protests is that “normal” politics exists only to promote corporate interests. Britain must prepare for a rebirth of the only thing that works — direct action.

"Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fall'n on you:
Ye are many - they are few."

These days, the stirring lines of Percy Shelley's "Mask of Anarchy" may seem unattainable. I don't think so. Shelley was both a Romantic and political truth-teller. His words resonate now because only one political course is left to those who are disenfranchised and whose ruin is announced on a government spreadsheet.

Born of the "never again" spirit of 1945, social democracy has surrendered to an extreme political cult of money worship. This reached its apogee when £1trn of public money was handed unconditionally to corrupt banks by a Labour government whose leader, Gordon Brown, had previously described "financiers" as the nation's "great example" and his personal "inspiration".

This is not to say parliamentary politics is meaningless. It has one meaning now: the replacement of democracy with a business plan for every human activity, every dream, every decency, every hope, every child born.

No rationale
The old myths of British rectitude, imperial in origin, provided false comfort while the Blair gang built the foundation of the present "coalition". This is led by a former PR man for an asset stripper and by a bagman who will inherit his knighthood and the tax-shielded fortune of his father, the 17th Baronet of Ballintaylor. David Cameron and George Osborne are essentially fossilised spivs who, in colonial times, would have been sent by their daddies to claim foreign terrain and plunder.

Today, they are claiming 21st-century Britain and imposing their vicious, antique ideology, albeit served as economic snake oil. Their designs have nothing to do with a "deficit crisis". A deficit of 10 per cent is not remotely a crisis. When Britain was officially bankrupt at the end of the Second World War, the government built its greatest public institutions, such as the National Health Service and the arts edifices of London's South Bank.

There is no economic rationale for the assault described cravenly by the BBC as a "public spending review". The debt is exclusively the responsibility of those who incurred it, the super-rich and the gamblers. However, that's beside the point. What is happening in Britain is the seizure of an opportunity to destroy the tenuous humanity of the modern state. It is a coup, a "shock doctrine" as applied to Pinochet's Chile and Yeltsin's Russia.

In Britain, there is no need for tanks in the streets. In its managerial indifference to the freedoms it is said to hold dear, bourgeois Britain has allowed parliament to create a surveillance state with 3,000 new criminal offences and laws: more than for the whole of the previous century. Powers of arrest and detention have never been greater. The police have the impunity to kill; and asylum-seekers can be "restrained" to death on commercial flights.

Athol Fugard is right. With Harold Pinter gone, no acclaimed writer or artist dare depart from their well-remunerated vanity. With so much in need of saying, they have nothing to say. Liberalism, the vainest ideology, has hauled up its ladder. The chief opportunist, Nick Clegg, gave no electoral hint of his odious faction's compliance with the dismantling of much of British postwar society. The theft of £83bn in jobs and services matches almost exactly the amount of tax legally avoided by piratical corporations. Without fanfare, the super-rich have been assured they can dodge up to £40bn in tax payments in the secrecy of Swiss banks. The day this was sewn up, Osborne attacked those who "cheat" the welfare system. He omitted the real amount lost, a minuscule £0.5bn, and that £10.5bn in benefit payments was not claimed at all. Labour is his silent partner.

The propaganda arm in the press and broadcasting dutifully presents this as unfortunate but necessary. Mark how the firefighters' action is "covered". On Channel 4 News, following an item that portrayed modest, courageous people as basically reckless, Jon Snow demanded that the leaders of the London Fire Authority and the Fire Brigades Union go straight from the studio and "mediate" now, this minute. "I'll get the taxis!" he declared. Forget the thousands of jobs that are to be eliminated from the fire service and the public danger beyond Bonfire Night; knock their jolly heads together. "Good stuff!" said the presenter.

To the barricades
Ken Loach's 1983 documentary series Questions of Leadership opens with a sequence of earnest young trade unionists on platforms, exhorting the masses. They are then shown older, florid, self-satisfied and finally adorned in the ermine of the House of Lords. Once, at a Durham Miners' Gala, I asked Tony Woodley, now joint general secretary of Unite, "Isn't the problem the clockwork collaboration of the union leadership?" He almost agreed, implying that the rise of bloods like himself would change that. The British Airways cabin crew strike, over which Woodley presides, is said to have made gains. Has it? And why haven't the unions risen against totalitarian laws that place free trade unionism in a vice?

The BA workers, the firefighters, the council workers, the post office workers, the NHS workers, the London Underground staff, the teachers, the lecturers, the students can more than match the French if they are resolute and imaginative, forging, with the wider social justice movement, potentially the greatest popular resistance ever. Look at the web; listen to the public's support at fire stations. There is no other way now. Direct action. Civil disobedience. Unerring. Read Shelley and do it.

The rule of thirds.

This can be applied to video image as well as photography.

Music video.

one of the other little projects I was going to give myself to do was to go over some footage I shot last year of my friends performing one of their songs for me to make a video for them which I never got to do. I had not analysed the filming. The group I was with took it off me to make a video for the video elective, to do the edit, as I had done the filming. I really didn't like the edit they had done, so I am going to try again with the editing.

Looking back on it now I can see lots of mistakes that i have made as the person holding the camera and also being essentially the director too. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. I had done a very short minimal storyboard. But we quickly ran out of ideas and ended up just trying stuff in the hope that it would work. I payed no attention to the rule of thirds and some of the shots were not interesting to the eye. I got lots of wide shots and very few close up. Should maybe run through things a couple of times focusing first on wide shots then on close ups. I can see this now knowing a little more than I did last year. I think it is extremely important to have a good storyboard and a firm idea of the shots you need and get it right before you get to the actual filming. Luckily these were friends and didn't mind too much helping me out with a project because had I been with people I didn't know, clients for example they would of been bored expecting much more direction and generally known that I didn't have a clue what I was doing and never hired me again!

There are however a couple of bits that look ok. So I am going to experiment with them to see if I can get her something together.

I'm learning though!

Camera stabilizer DIY steadicam

could of maybe done with one of these!

Saving work I've done so far to show progress later.

Mark out (this is showing where the end is)

File/export/quicktime conversion

Settings- key frames/ Automatic

Date rate/Automatic

Quality compressor/medium. (this is just going to be to post on blog so the quality doesn't have to be high.)

Size/dimensions/custom 1024 x 576 (Shot in s.d. so need to customize to avoid distortion)

De interlace source video

Options/sound settings

format/aac (compression)

Save

Then I burned to a disk so I can look at it again at home to decide music and also to figure out other ways of doing the edit.

Anoushka Shankar - Ancient Love

Chilled out sound track or something more up beat..? or something political...? decisions decisions... I think that the music is really important though.... it is something I always notice when I watch movies or television or whatever.
I love this piece.

A History Of Cinema

Lykke Li - Little Bit

Starting to appreciate the difficulty of the editors job. How the hell this was done I do not know! I did some layering today so that seems pretty simple but the amount of cuts in this must be extraordinary!

Interesting... not thought of some of this...

Training Series: The Primary Audiences for the Toolkit (and How We Identified Them)
By Chris | August 3rd, 2010

Hi. Chris Michael here, the Video Advocacy Training Manager at WITNESS. This is the second post in a series of training-related posts with an overview of what we’re up to with our new training initiatives. All of the posts in this series will feature some behind the scenes work we’re doing – and we’re inviting you to collaborate with us by providing your feedback, suggestions and ideas to help us enhance our work. (You can start by filling out this survey!)

In preparing for the Video Advocacy Planning Toolkit that we’re building (see my last post for an overview), we did a ‘persona’ exercise to help us narrow the primary audiences that we envision as key users. We needed to go beyond ‘human rights activists that want to use video’ and get very specific – exploring questions such as their motivations, where they are located, what their budget is and what their current use of video is. Now, ideally this is done through research and in-person conversations, which we’re doing as well (please fill out our survey if you haven’t already), but we wanted to get a jumpstart on the process.

The persona exercise, which is rooted in brand building and marketing, is something that we do regularly at WITNESS with our partners to support their video advocacy efforts, in our social media outreach – on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. – as well as when we were designing the Hub.
“Well, my video is for everybody, of course…”

Here’s a common interaction that my colleagues and I have at trainings, during presentations and via email regularly:

Me: Who is the target audience for your video?

Committed activist: Everybody, we want everyone to see it…It’s for everyone.

Now, the great thing about this response for us is that we have an immediate path we pursue – narrowing and focusing the intended audience for a video. In WITNESS’ experience, a targeted and reachable audience is essential for successful video advocacy – knowing which eyes you’re trying to reach. (Also, we cannot forget the import of ensuring that they will actually see it, and that your content will move them to take the action you seek. More on that soon…). It also rings true for any content that we or any group or organization is creating.

Here are a few of the questions that quickly spark the ‘who’s your audience’ analysis:

* Who is your audience? Why are they your audience?
* What do they want (if anything) from you? Do you know this (research) or are you guessing or inferring?
* When will you try to reach them and why then (does it best support your advocacy timeline)?
* Where can you access them online? Offline? Who do they pay attention to? Trust?
* Why are you the best placed to provide this content? Are you providing something unique that they cannot get elsewhere? Are you sure you are providing something new?
* How will you track if they receive your content? How will you know if they read or watched your content? How will you know if they took the desired action you propose in your content?

We’re not alone in adapting this process from the corporate sector and using it in the social change sector. Many groups and organizations are using this exercise to not only narrow their audiences, but to also map out the respective audiences’ action path or ‘rate of conversion’. For a product, this might be something like (really simplifying it here, folks):

Potential consumer sees an advertisement in Facebook -> s/he clicks the link -> learns more about the product -> buys product

Generally speaking in marketing, this is a successful path – the person bought the product.

In social change work, and with video, we might have an action path like this:

Person receives email with link to advocacy video -> s/he clicks the link -> watches the video -> follows the suggested link in the video (or text), in this case let’s say it is ‘sign this petition’ -> s/he signs the petition

In this case, the action path was successful because the ultimate goal, which was clear in the video and the text throughout the entire experience was “sign the petition”. Now, in social change work we can have dozens of great actions – from signing up to a newsletter and following an organization on Twitter to donating money or calling an elected official.
Prioritizing and narrowing audiences

The range of applicable actions and the breadth of potential audiences make it that much more important to narrow and prioritize the folks you are trying to reach. To ensure this blog post doesn’t go further down the abstract path, let’s look at what we have done for our Toolkit audience analysis.

Here are four primary audiences that we have identified at this stage, in order of priority. We are narrowing them down further and further as we build out the Toolkit. This is being done through the in-person interviews my colleagues and I are doing, as well as via the survey. (For the sake of the exercise, let’s assume that they all share the same language and we can reach them.)

1. Charlotte the Curious Campaigner
2. Monique the Media-Making Advocate
3. Adriana the Aspirational Advocate
4. Connie the Connector

Friendly reminder: The Video Action Planning Toolkit is WITNESS’ newest training initiative. Based on the WITNESS video action plan, the Toolkit will be a multi-lingual, interactive and open-source toolkit designed to help advocates develop a successful video advocacy strategy. Designed for both online and offline use, we are working to ensure it reaches an even greater number and range of activists through a streamlined, customizable and self-directed learning experience.
For all user types, it is important to understand…

All users will:

* Be able to use the Toolkit online or offline;
* Determine if video is the right tool for them;
* Evaluate and be able to enhance their existing campaign objectives;
* Get exposed to video advocacy best practices and case studies;
* Be able to evaluate what goes into creating a strategic, effective advocacy video – have a self-assessment;
* Develop a comprehensive video action plan;
* Complete exercises to create budgets, roles & responsibilities, shot list for content, etc.;
* Be able to save and return to the toolkit at anytime; and
* Be able to share their completed VAP and worksheets with allies, funders, etc.

Currently, users will not:

* Get coached or get direct feedback from staff or mentors;
* Get how-to production skills or insights via the toolkit itself (though there will be ample other resources);
* Be able to connect with other users (it is not a social network);
* Get a WITNESS certification or accreditation; or
* Get funding or sponsorship directly via WITNESS for their video production.

Charlotte the Curious Campaigner

Charlotte works for a nonprofit or is a very active community organizer that is involved in a current human rights campaign. She and her allies have identified video as a potential tool to help bolster their existing campaign. They know their audience and they change they want, but have not created video before – either for advocacy or personal use.

Current campaign (yes or no): Yes

Advocacy efforts: Direct lobbying and working on policy change.

How she found the Toolkit: Heard about WITNESS through an ally and searched for WITNESS online.

Internet use: She has a personal computer with decent internet access (she can watch videos on YouTube).

Online presence: The group does not have an online presence, but is interested building one.

Experience with video: Never made a video, but interested.

Reason for wanting to make an advocacy video: To support their campaign by using video in a presentation and meeting with policy makers.

Access to video camera: Does not own a camera, but can get access from family or friends.

Editing experience: No editing experience.

Budget considerations: She can allocate $500 for the project.

How s/he is connected to community: Either s/he is

a) a member of community;
b) working directly with the community (staff/volunteer) or
c) has no connection, but cares

Time constraints: She is very busy and is lucky if she can find one full hour to dedicate at a time to this project / Toolkit.

Needs: Help in understanding what video-making entails, how video can be a good advocacy tool, and best practices and case studies. She also needs help with developing a budget and roles and responsibilities.
Monique the Media-Making Advocate

Monique works for a nonprofit or is a very active organizer that is involved in a current human rights campaign. Her role in the group is to manage the multimedia use of the group’s work – documentation, saving and sharing multimedia content. She has done short videos before, but they were more to ‘raise awareness’ about an issue for the general public or the group’s stakeholders. She is now in charge of developing a video strategy to support the group’s primary campaign.

Current campaign (yes or no): Yes

Advocacy efforts: Has made short videos to raise awareness among general public or group stakeholders

How she found the Toolkit: Direct outreach from WITNESS

Internet use: She has a personal computer with decent internet access (she can watch videos on YouTube).

Online presence: The group has a website and a social media presence (YouTube, Facebook and High5)

Experience with video: Has made short videos before.

Reason for wanting to make an advocacy video: To support the organization’s primary campaign and incorporate raising awareness of a particular bill legislation. The project is time-bound.

Access to video camera: Has access to camera

Editing experience: Has editing experience and access to editing equipment

Budget considerations: $5,000

How s/he is connected to community: Either s/he is
a) a member of community;
b) working directly with the community (staff/volunteer) or
c) has no connection, but cares

Time constraints: She is very busy and is lucky if she can find one full hour to dedicate at a time to this project / toolkit. Must have video completed in time for bill legislation.

Needs: Better understanding of the best practices of video advocacy. Doesn’t need help with video production, budget or roles.
Adriana the Aspirational Advocate

Adriana cares about water issues in her community. She wants to make a video about water issues she and people in her community face and encourage people to pressure their elected officials. She’s not sure if she should make a video for them or for the media or for another audience. She’s never made a video before, but has access to a camera with video.

Current campaign (yes or no): No

Advocacy efforts: Wants to make video about water issues she and people in her community face; use video for lobbying power.

How she found the Toolkit: Searched online for video activism and found WITNESS. (She also read a blog by Connie the Connector.)

Internet use: She goes to an internet cafe or friends’ houses to get online.

Online presence: She has a Facebook profile and uses email once or twice a day.

Experience with video: Never made video before, but has access to camera w/ video.

Reason for wanting to make an advocacy video: Draw awareness to issue, rally the community to take action and support lobbying efforts.

Access to video camera: Yes

Editing experience: No

Budget considerations: Costs must be under $500

How s/he is connected to community: Either s/he is
a) a member of community;
b) working directly with the community (staff/volunteer) or
c) has no connection, but cares

Time constraints: She has time and this is important to her and she is able to commit the time it will take.

Needs: Introduction to video advocacy, audience and video production. She also needs some information on how video has been used successfully and how much time it takes and how much it costs.
Connie the Connector

Connie is a plugged-in, independent activist and grasstops, early adopter - not necessarily going to make a video herself, but likes being on the cutting edge of social media and sharing tips with her community (mostly via Twitter and her popular blog). Connie is more of an influencer to drive people to the toolkit, not so much as a user of the toolkit itself.

Current campaign (yes or no): No

Advocacy efforts: All non-media related; goes to protests, signs petitions and blogs about issues online.

How she found the Toolkit: She follows WITNESS on Twitter, has made an uploaded videos for her YouTube channel (but aren’t advocacy videos)

Internet use: High internet use – online all day all the time.

Online presence: Pretty much always online when in front of desk, and is regularly checking email and Twitter on her mobile phone.

Experience with video: Yes–more ‘media savvy’ in terms of social networking sites.

Reason for wanting to make an advocacy video: N/A

Access to video camera: Yes, she has a DV camera and can get access to friends’ cameras if needed.

Editing experience: She uses iMovie regularly for home movies.

Budget considerations: N/A

How s/he is connected to community: Either s/he is
a) a member of community;
b) working directly with the community (staff/volunteer) or
c) has no connection, but cares

Time constraints: She probably isn’t going to go through entire toolkit, but will read and explore areas she’s interested in (particularly audience and distribution sections), and will share her thoughts and the Toolkit via her blog.

Needs: She’s interested in reviewing the Toolkit and sharing her thoughts on it with her community and groups she thinks would be interested.
What are your thoughts?

So, what do you think of our approach and use of this audience persona exercise? What are we missing, and how do you think we could approach this better? Lastly, if you have done this exercise before for your social change efforts, or seen it documented, please do let us know via the comments below.
Category: How-To & Toolkits | Tags: storytelling, training, Video Advocacy | 11 comments | Share:

11 comments to Training Series: The Primary Audiences for the Toolkit (and How We Identified Them)

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Tina Penn
August 19, 2010 at 10:27 pm · Reply

I realize that exposing human rights abuse is absolutely essential to advocacy, And I do not discourage anyone using this strategy, but I would also like to mention that there are many ways to be a human rights advocate and use technology. Really what is needed is a change in conciousness, not only about human rights, which most people do not even know what human rights are, but also a shift in thinking about what behaviors are acceptable as human beings. Here are some of the questions I would frankly like to see discussed more in media. Why is violence accepted as a cultural norm and why do we allow this to continue? What are the easiest ways for people to create social change? Throughout history, governments have told us who we should and should not hate, one group to another, why do we not recognize this? Genocide is highly preventable , most genocide occurs because we as humans generally stand by and do not speak out. Why is this? In my opinion advocacy is also about asking questions.
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Collins Dennis Oduor
August 13, 2010 at 5:17 am · Reply

Sounds a good idea, am interested to know about the idea. How did you come up with the concept? did involve the community in developing the toolkit? Because it basic and community centered when it comes to documentation of community concerns. Am thinking of adopting the same concept to our programs back here in Nakuru. Anyway good work keep it up.
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Humphrey Otieno
August 10, 2010 at 1:44 am · Reply

Am interested to know more about video advocacy, simply because am a human rights trainer and defender working with community in the informal settlements and as you know this are the marginalized communities who cannot access very basic services like water, sanitation, health care, education, and the most shelter. i learned of video advocacy through one of our international forum and i liked it
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Tom
August 9, 2010 at 5:59 pm · Reply

I would mention that the toolkit should also address the policy issues that lie behind choices of formats. I would suggest that the toolkit should advocate for using of VP8, OGG.Theora CODECs given their free licensing. See http://bit.ly/c8xizgfor more detail at a conceptual level.
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Philly
August 5, 2010 at 9:07 am · Reply

I’m Adriana, the Aspirational Advocate – or a close cousin. I want to inspire people in a creative way to run to raise awareness and money for WITNESS, and figured video would be an appropriate approach, given video is what WITNESS is all about. But I’ve never made one before, and raising awareness for WITNESS is my first real advocacy effort. While I’ll be working with someone who has worked in educational video for years, reviewing these basic marketing questions has helped me better define what I would like to achieve. I just have one question – I found (was it on the Hub? need to re-look!) where there were very basic training videos for effective filming (e.g. filming while walking)…are these, and other practical filming tips going to be included in the toolkit?
o
Chris
August 5, 2010 at 10:14 am · Reply

Thanks for your note Philly, and desire to help raise awareness about WITNESS and its work (let me know if you embark on the path of a video for WITNESS!). There are quite a few resources out there on best practices for filming, which we’ll incorporate into the Toolkit. However, the bulk of the Toolkit will focus on the planning aspects of video advocacy – an often neglected aspect. For now, you can see some of the core video training materials WITNESS has created, as well as some great resources via this WITNESS Training site.
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Michael Fox
August 4, 2010 at 6:49 pm · Reply

In response to Tina Penn – although I agree with the concept, and have seen some good examples of this actually happening, there is a danger of not uncovering many of the social issues that exist all around us, simply because those who live in poverty, homelessness, unemployment etc. do not have the resources, or the awareness, to do what is needed. Sure, there is a bunch of technology available, but how do you a) get that technology in to the hands of those who, as you suggest, would benefit from it, b) how would you teach them to use it effectively and c) how would you motivate them to take the time and effort?
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Michael Fox
August 4, 2010 at 6:45 pm · Reply

Totally agreed with the need to target an audience. The added wrinkle, these days, is the need to make it clear that there is something in it for the audience to watch what you are showing. With a massive volume of still and video content portraying every facet of human suffering, the general population has become hardened to the repetitive nature of many of these productions.

By focusing on a specific audience, and making it easy, even entertaining for them to understand what they can do to make a difference, a producer will have far more success in achieving his/her goals.
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Chris
August 5, 2010 at 10:24 am · Reply

Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Michael – and your great documentary, Beyond Elections on participatory democracy decision making and democracy. We are of the same mind with the challenge of content saturation and the challenges one faces with ensuring an intended audience not only sees an advocacy video, but that it inspires them to take the desired action. To address this, with the Toolkit we are heavily focusing on the import of identifying and narrowing not only audiences, but developing the optimal story that will best support the advocacy message. Additionally, as we have seen in our own work with our partners, we’ll really focus on how video can be one of the great advocacy tools that can be employed – used alongside other advocacy tools and efforts.
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Tina Penn
August 4, 2010 at 5:47 pm · Reply

I, as an activist am actually more interested in teaching those that are being oppressed how to tell their own stories using technology. If I depend on on my own knowledge and research to drive my work, I guarantee you I am missing a lot of information. Real social change happens from the bottom up. It’s like they say you can feed a man or teach him how to fish. This may not work in very underdeveloped countries, but I guarantee it would work in the United States that has vast technological resources.
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Chris
August 5, 2010 at 10:34 am · Reply

Thanks for your points, Tina. WITNESS has always focused on supporting and building capacity of folks that are on the frontlines – confronting issues and designing and executing strategies to address them – to use video in their social change work. A few things that I’m excited about with the Toolkit are designed to amplify the lessons learned and experiences of frontline human rights defenders that have successfully integrated video into their advocacy efforts. The case studies and insights throughout it will feature video work by activists, not professional, hired filmmakers. Also, we will cover the technical, security and logistical challenges they faced and creative solutions. Lastly, with full recognition that content online does not mean universal (or safe) access, we are going to have a robust offline distribution so the Toolkit will be a plug-in and go via a USB stick (most likely – we’re still finalizing that).

Post production day 2

Jump-cuts -

I had done a few cuts that didn't look right they didn't sit together too well. I had looked at the clips so many times I felt I needed a fresh pair of eye's so I asked Matt. He said they were jump cuts. e.g. a wide shot to a wide shot of the bikes on the road. It seems to work better if the image is different to the last e.g. wide to a close shot.

Hosepipe shooting -

A term Sharron used when I described my problems shooting, when I wanted to capture all the different things going on around me and not getting a still enough shot to use for the final piece.

I need to choose a piece of music now. I probably should of chose a piece of music first because I may find I want to start over again if it doesn't go with the footage. I did some layering of footage today and basically just remembering how to use final cut pro. It's amazing how quickly I have forgotten all this from last year.

Legal Warning - Documentary Trailer

I like the sound of this.

Post Production.

I spent the day asking Matt Burton Questions in the edit suite downstairs today. Still not on the camera but just to remind myself exactly of how to do the post production stuff. Also to ask about improving the quality of the video he explained and showed me a few things I can do which I will explain as and when I am doing them.

This is what I did today and started trimming the clips I captured, but after a good 4 hours looking at the screen I decided to get myself home as I was getting frustrated and fidgety. Not that I wasn't enjoying it, I was.

Logging and capturing in final cut pro.

Final cut pro/system settings

Click set for video drive

Click set for Auto save Vault

Final cut pro/easy set up

Choose recording format

File/new project

file/save as


I made the mistake of filming in D.V. rather than H.D.

H.D. = High-definition video

D.V. = Digital video

Yet again these terms I do not know..well I know what they stand for but I do not know about them so I searched and found a few articles .

HD vs DV
HD or High Definition is the emerging standard that is beginning to replace older screens that can only show standard definition video. Standard definition screens can only display 480 rows of pixels while HD screens can either have 720 or 1080 rows of pixels. HD can also refer to the format that the recorded video is encoded in since you would need a video source that conforms to the HD standard in order to benefit from it. DV is an acronym for Digital Video. This is the replacement for older analog video recording and storage techniques that were once used to produce the Betamax and VHS videos.
Digital Video was developed with the aim of improving the often problematic analog videos at that time. Analog video like those recorded in Hi8 and Video8 usually exhibit poor video quality which made it unsuitable for any other purpose except home videos. DV allowed professional level video recording in a small an inexpensive camera, which made it an instant favorite for hobbyists and field reporters who want high quality videos.

HD did not do as well as DV at first since it had to solve a lot of problems before it became a marketable product. The problem with HD was that you needed to have everything in HD, from the recording to the TV screen, in order to actually see a difference but both viewers and broadcasters were unwilling to invest their money without instant gratification, that’s why it took quite a while.



The choice of recording in HD or SD is up to the person using the camera if he has a DV camera that supports recording in HD. But if you want to record in HD, you’ve got no choice but to use DV since HD in analog does not exist anymore. Using analog systems to broadcast HD quality video was tried during the early days of HD, but it was soon scrapped in favor of DV due to multiple problems; one of which is the very high bandwidth requirements.

Summary:
1. HD is a recent standard for TV screens and video media while DV is a type of video storage where the data is stored as digital information
2. DV was adopted rather easily by the general public while HD underwent a lot of changes before it become viable
3. Digital video can either be in HD or SD while HD videos are strictly digital videos

Then looking at some discussion boards I'm finding it confusing as to which is the best quality. It seems it depends on what you want it for. But it also says on one of them that once you have been through post production and burned your D.V.D the quality is around the same...So maybe H.D. is really more to for cinema use or for rich folks with big fancy T.V's? Maybe it's not necessary at all, maybe it's just another bigger is better, newer is better, buy more stuff, thing that business out to make money would have us believe.

Ok just watched this and I can't tell any difference at all.

http://vimeo.com/756517

Good night.