Film at protests? Now what?

With cheap digital camera increasingly available, many more people are filming at protest. But what happens to the footage? How much of it gets editted down. How many people ever get to see the footage? What about footage falling into the wrong hands?

A gathering of radical videographers will take place in London during January to look at these issues, share skills, pool resources and footage, increase collaboration, work on distribution ideas, and generally continue to move things forward a little.

Video Smash Your TV - video/x-ms-wmv 4.6M

The basic plan is to hold a weekend long event consisting of skill sharing workshops, presentations, private screenings and discussion for and about video activism. At the end of the event there would be a publicly advertised screening and a bit of a knees up social.

Additionally and slightly more ambitious maybe is the idea to produce a DVD showcase of everyones work during the event as a promo and video 'how-to guide' that could be used to raise the profile of radical film making in the UK and encourage more people to have a go.

Accommodation and food would be be provided for the duration. It would be free (donations from those taking part welcome but not compulsory). Unavoidable costs could be covered by asking for donations during the public screening and/or selling the DVD showcase at the end of the event.

The workshops and presentations that take place obviously depends on what people have to offer and what people would like to happen.

Some suggestions so far include :

Flash, including using it as a wrapper for online films,

How to author DVDs,

subtitling technologies

The european newsreel

video editing in linux

getting better sound

How to get by using unfamiliar editing software.

quick turn-around editing for the web

whats new... online tv, HiDef and other advances we should know about

how to edit non editable formats such as clips from DVDs

and everyones favorite - screenings, distribution and which codec ;-)

If this interests you then email real2reel @ riseup.net to find out more.

If you think this will interest somebody you know, please pass the information on.

video activist

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

no times?

20.01.2006 00:42

... and at what time are people expected to turn up?

freaky

film funding/distribution

25.01.2006 12:24

Me and a friend have an idea for a documentary on the production of footballs in Pakistan. We want to go there and make a film, come back contrast it with the glitz and wealth of the game proper in the North. At the minute we are writing a proposal for the project.

If anyone has any advice that they could offer we'd really appreciate it in general or in particular on how we could get the film distributed/funded?

In return we have some basic and I stress basic knowledge of film techniques and editing.

Thanks in advance,

Joe

Joe
mail e-mail: joelancaster18@hotmail.com