CuriousWorks Operating with OzGREEN

Morgan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:12:18 +0000

Presenting the Videos the Youth Made at the Vodafone Offices in Chatswood

With CuriousWorks, I had an opportunity to work with the awesome OzGREEN folks and train some young leaders from around Australia on media making, interviewing and editing. OzGREEN are an Australian environmental justice network that are just getting up and running with their social/digital media strategy. Our main work with them was to train their young, regional leaders on media making tools to tell the local stories of environmental justice, challenge and opportunity in their communities. OzGREEN simply serves as the ‘network connector’ of these stories/regions. We did quite a bit in 3 days…

We used some basic tools like digital cameras (with video capabilities), Windows Movie Maker and iMovie. We used 2 Macs and about 6 Windows XP computers with only one connected to the internet (which was slow and sporadic:( Overall though, it was awesome. We played a remixed version of the Social Media game, developed awesome projects, learned how to shoot video for live events and developed techniques for interviewing people.

We also made some awesome videos, an OzGREEN/CuriousWorks Digital Media group on All Around You.net and a few blog posts with pix of our work. Here’s a quick recap of all the things we learned, broken into nice bitesized chunks.

Top 4 Things We Learned in the Past Two Days

we had to reshoot our videos because the sound quality was bad
we had good video because we had great lighting
you can always use photos to overlay on spoken word
you can even record yourself as you’re traveling about the conference, town and community

Techniques For Editing

process of using the same questions and then edit all the answers together
interviewee repeats question and then edits out the interviewer
use of titles to show what the question is
when editing, listen out for sections that relate to what you want to communicate

Tips for Using Photos in Interviews/Movies

good to add in photos to give context to interviewee/place
you can sometimes download photos of people – just be sure you let them know you are

Tips for Filming

pay attention to the background of where you’re interviewing someone
it’s good to have trees all around you:)
variety of camera angles can keep attention when interviewing people/places

Tips for the Interviewing Process

when interviewing/prepare what you want to say ahead of time
if you have a particular focus, listen out for sections of the interview that relate to that point
- for instance, if you’re interviewing about leadership, listen out for things that your subject says about leadership
- if you’re interviewing about the environment, listen out for things that your subject says about the environment
if you’re only using the mic on your camera to record sound, be sure to keep the camera relatively close to your subject
dissolves can help to play with the sense of time in the video
use the description of the video or the comments to give more info about the project – website to go to,
photos can be used to represent the theme of the video
you can use titles to clarify things in the video
if you make a mistake, sometimes you can turn it around by some clever editing techniques;)
it’s good to have natural light on people’s faces – medium close ups are good to use
if you don’t have a tripod, look for things that can be used as a stable surface to place your cameras on

Tips for Using Sound/Music

when adding music, try and make it instrumental – that way the singing doesn’t interfere with anyone speaking
as soon as you’re at a venue where you want to record people, be sure you find a nice, quiet spot to record – watch out for air conditioners!
if you’re interviewing people with differing heights, adjust the level of the camera to be on their level

Tips for Using AllAroundYou.net

allaroundyou.net can be used to host your media – you can then embed your videos into other sites – you can even share links!
it’s also how you can connect with Morgan and Shakthi (and anyone else you met and connected with at the workshop!)
here’s a few tips on using it: http://toolkit.allaroundyou.com.au/tag/aay/

Tips for Using Facebook

from the awesome Beth Kanter
from Mashable:
- Facebook Pages vs Facebook Groups: What’s the Difference?

Tips for Using Windows Movie Maker

63 Video Tutorials For Rocking Windows Movie Maker (via Atomic Learning)

33 Things the Youth of Newman Can Do

Morgan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:12:42 +0000

I once had a mentor tell me that when working to empower people, all you can really do is ‘hold the crown out in front of them’ – it’s up to them to step up into that crown and claim it.

We’ve been in Newman for nearly 12 weeks now working to help local kids make media, videos and websites, as well as fundraise, run a film night and even get mentions in both print and on national television!

On our last ‘workday’ with them we did a nice review of everything they’d learned. At this point, without any youth center or community technology space to call their own – it’s up to Newman’s youth to determine their future as the town’s central media makers. Our hope is that they’ll be able build on the skills and creativity they’ve developed these past 12 weeks.

That said, here’s a blog ‘toast’ to the 33 things the youth of Newman can do…so far.

Act
Be Resourceful
Blog
Build Ad Hoc Computer Labs
Build Websites
Collaborate
Conceptualize and Design Palmtop Computers
Create Live Electronic Music
Develop Ideas for Films
Direct
Edit Video
Generate Ideas for Youth Spaces
Get Furniture Donations for Youth Spaces
Hold and Record Youth Forums
Learn About DJing
Learn From Each Other
Lobby Online
Market Events
Model
Petition for the Youth of Newman
Produce
Set Up Facebook Pages
Set Up Video for Events
Share Media Together
Shoot Video
Storyboard Movies
Take Notes
Teach Each Other About DJing
Teach Each Other
Teach Teachers
Twitter
Upload Pictures To Share with the World
Work Alone

.+We Operate Best Together+. » media

CuriousWorks Operating with OzGREEN

33 Things the Youth of Newman Can Do