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In true New Orleans style, we started with an incredible food, mostly provided by our friends at J’Anitas BBQ.  I am a big fan of the movie, of course, but this pulled pork, brisket, and bourbon bbq sauce was nearly the best thing about the evening!

After the screening, we held an awards ceremony for the filmmakers.  Eleven participants were awarded certificates of recognition for achievement in community documentary filmmaking and their own digital video cameras.

Both evenings culminated in a fiery discussion about how we can move forward on the issues that neighbors care about, including housing, schools, and economic empowerment.

It was an incredible weekend!  We look forward to sharing the film with all of you through online viewing, DVDs, and screenings in more locations during the next months.

Hello All,

My name is Michele Burton-Oatis. I am a participant in the Video Voice Collective in New Orleans. The reason I’m sending you all this e-mail, is to address my concerns about the editing process of the documentary. It is my understanding, that the editing will primarily take place outside of New Orleans. And that we the participants are to identify parts of the films that we have shot and state what we would like to see. At that point, Anthony will then take our selections, edit them together and then submit the film’s rough edit for our approval. If my assessment of the editing component of the project is correct, I must express my concerns. The best way for me to do this is to use what I have read from your web site.

“Train them to produce their own media around health and resilience issues that are important to them and their neighborhoods in which they live.”

If this quote is true, then editing is a major component in the process. Each participant has taken the time to go out into the community and shoot things that were important and sometimes very dear to them. This gives you the VIDEO. The editing is how we will express our VOICES. By not fully investing the time to teach us the techniques as stated in your proposal and allowing this film to truly reflect what we have learned would be an insult to our commitment.

“Forming a partnership among these disparate groups is a community-building process that results in collective envisioning, filming, editing, and dissemination of films.”

If this is no longer a goal in this project, are we not just test subjects. If that is the case, than I see little that makes this project and the film any different than the others of New Orleans.

“Freire argued that every individual, no matter how “ignorant” or consumed in the “culture of silence”, is capable of looking critically at the world through collective dialogue with others.”

This statement is very powerful. I truly thank all of you for this project. Because of my involvement, I view the rebirth of my city very differently. I am invested in this project and my community. That is why I along with any other participant who desires, deserves to have every opportunity to gain the knowledge and hands on experience to complete what we have set out to accomplish.

I ask you to consider the most important part of this project if you all are truly interested in hearing our voices.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Michele J. Burton-Oatis

Structures of Participation in Digital Culture. A new SSRC edited volume on culture, technology, and power in the digital era.  The book comes out of the Culture, Creativity, and Information Technology program, which focused on changing forms of cultural agency and the changing roles of cultural institutions.  Full text available free online (and for sale!)

The Bellagio Global Dialogues on Intellectual Property, or, How to Build an International Policy Research Field.  A report on Rockefeller Foundation IP Policy Initiatives, 2001-2006.

As a part of the commitment that they made to the Clinton Global Initiative, Pure Digital Technologies recently announced a goal of giving away one million free Flip Video camcorders over the next five years to nonprofits to help them document world issues and highlight the invaluable work they do across the globe.

In the press release Jonathan Kaplan, the CEO of Pure Digital Technologies, states ‘Non-profit organizations do incredible everyday work that the public rarely sees. Imagine the impact that video would make if every on-the-ground staff member or volunteer had both a camcorder and the ability to broadcast their message to the world.

The deal that they are offering is 2-for-1 price through the Flip Video Spotlight Website for those organizations that are accepted by the scheme.

The deal: your nonprofit gets is a Spotlight Kit for $150.00, which contains two 60-minute Flip Video Ultra camcorders with built-in video editing and publishing software, detailed instructions for easily uploading video to your own website or popular video sharing sites (like YouTube, MySpace, and Blip.tv), tutorials, and other training materials. If your group cannot afford the 2-for-1 price, then the site also gives information about how to apply for funder sponsorship.

The Flip Video Ultra camcorders can be used by staff and constituents who are not trained videographers. The camcorders are easy-to-use point-and-shoot, lightweight, compact devices that produce ok quality video. Some digital cameras can capture video at a similar quality, but this price point for nonprofits can’t be beat!

Learn more about Flip Video.

To create Maquilapolis, the filmmakers brought together factory workers in Tijuana and community organizations in Mexico and the U.S. to collaborate on a film that depicts globalization through the eyes of the women who live on its leading edge. The factory workers who appear in the film have been involved in every stage of production, from planning to shooting, from scripting to outreach. This collaborative process breaks with the traditional documentary practice of dropping into a location, shooting and leaving with the “goods,” which would only repeat the pattern of the maquiladora itself. The process embraces subjectivity as a value and a goal. It merges artmaking with community development to ensure that the film’s voice will be truly that of its subjects.

The filmmaker’s ongoing commitment to the community participants and organizations that they work with led them to hold an intensive video editing workshop just this year. Each participant created a short 3-5 min documentary about their life histories. They will have them posted on the site soon!

After months of reading, analyzing, discussing, blogging, and tagging, we are happy to announce our final project: The Participatory Media Guidebook.

We created the Participatory Media Guidebook to introduce a range of participatory media tools for collective action to activists and social justice organizations around the world. The guide discussed what tools to use and when to use them. It is a wiki, so it will always be evolving and updating. Please participate by adding your own expertise on how to use new media to change the world.

New media offer an incredibly unique and new opportunity to address our current public health crisis. There are countless examples of this already happening with enormous success around the world. Sharing videos about condoms online can educate people in India about HIV, despite the mass media ban on such conversations. Blogging about outbreaks can get information about deadly epidemics to the World Health Organization well before a national government would admit to having a problem that might discourage tourist from coming to their coasts. Social networking sites can facilitate community organizing and mobilization of diasporas, such as Mexican migrant workers, that would otherwise not have the numbers to be a political force to demand healthy working conditions or access to medical treatment.

Caricia Catalani

First and foremost, your action keys are no longer the same. So say goodbye to (command) T for a cut. In order to make a cut you now have to select the clip to the point where you want to make the “cut” and then go to your edit tab and select Split Clip. It looks like this:

As you can see the Split Clip option is not lit in this picture and that’s because this version of iMovie will only allow you to do that with video clips and not photo clips. The movie that I was working on was entirely made of photos from my iPhoto Library.

There is a really good tutorial page on the apple site and that link is here: iMovie Tutorials

You can find a plethora of little quicktimes on how to use editing techniques, lay down multiple audio tracks, sharing your movies, etc. Oh, and there is one way around moving your dialogue if you want to go through the extra work: you can make a sound file of your dialogue and then export it to iTunes. Then, when you have it saved in your iTunes library you can import it back into your timeline as a separate sound file (it will appear as a green sound line in your editing window of iMovie) and then move it to wherever you want. Just remember to adjust the volume on your video clip so that it’s not doubling or echoing the same sound.

Finally, I tried to take an iMovie file and then burn a DVD of it using iDVD. This proved harder than it should have been. There is some confusion as to what iDVD considers your media and so iMovie asks you to go to the Share tab in your top menu bar and then select Media Browser (should look like this):

And then when you select that another menu will pop up and that looks like this:

This menu gives you options to save your project as either tiny, mobile, medium or large (corresponding to how large you want the final format to be and it gives you handy little correspondence icons). Then, when you have it saved as one of these sizes and stored in a place you’ll remember open iDVD and add your movie:

You can do this several ways but I like to get into the menu drop box mode of iDVD and then click on the little + symbol at the very bottom left corner of the page, a new box will pop open on the drop box page and then you simply drag your saved file of the movie into that new box and there you go!

Blip.tv is an online video sharing site for videobloggers, podcasters and Internet TV producers. This year, Blip.tv was rated the #1 online video sharing site by PC World. What makes Blip.tv stand out from the crowd is its superior video feeding (meaning that it loads really quickly for viewers) and its revenue share standards. If you are willing to accept advertisements on your video page (which is optional), Blip shares the profit with you 50/50. Advertising is the only proven profit-maker in the online video world and so, unlike the Veoh standard which relies on user pay-per-view, it is pretty certain that video creators will benefit from this deal. Blip is very open about the fact that they do not claim rights to your creative work and that they cannot sell your work for a profit without your express consent. To add to this, video producers will like the fact that viewing quality is very high, but still not as good as DVD, like you may be able to get through a .Mac membership.

Other benefits of Blip, according to Blip, are:

• Fair Terms. We believe that you should own the product of your hard work. When you upload to blip.tv you give us the right to distribute your video until and unless you delete it from our systems. You don’t have to give us any kind of exclusive rights, and we won’t sell your work or advertising on your work without your express, specific permission.
• Direct to TV. We’re sending our top shows directly to the television set with Internet video on demand. And that’s just the start. We believe that your show should be indistinguishable from a show on a broadcast network in terms of how people find and watch it. We’re working hard to make this happen.
• Multiple Formats. You shouldn’t have to choose between great quality Flash video and compatibility with iTunes. Your videos should work everywhere, no question. That’s why blip.tv supports every video format under the sun, from Flash 8 (much higher quality than most Flash video) to Quicktime (for the all-important iTunes) to DivX and 3gp (we think cell phones are cool, too).

Blip.tv Case Example

For nearly 25 years, the organization MADRE has been fighting for health, education, food sovereignty, and long-term solutions to the crises of women around the world. Now you can watch their video, see some of the results that MADRE has created, and join their effort. The video, as you will see, loads very quickly and the picture is high-quality although it is likely that the video was produced with basic digital storytelling software. Through Blip’s syndication options, you can post MADRE’s video to your own website or blog. MADRE opted not to have advertisements on their video page, so you can enjoy an unencumbered view of their work. If they had opted to include ads, MADRE would receive 50% of the profits earned by Blip.tv.

How do I use it?

One of the best things about Blip.tv is that they have a Learning Center, that walks you through the basics about uploading videos and using Blip.tv. As a part of this Learning Center, Blip provides mini-training videos on video production and online sharing by experts, like this one:

You can always pay to get a “pro” account and these will let you send larger files - the problem of time still remains. It usually takes upwards of ten minutes or more (depending on file size) to send. If you’d like to get these “pro” services here are some providers: Yahoo Mail Plus, Runbox, or You Send It and then there is the option of getting a .Mac account. This is an Apple service that allows you to store things online - think of it as a floating external storage device - and you can give people web addresses to view your projects. Here’s that link: .Mac.

Compressing your file is the best option. This sounds easy, but it rarely is. Video compression, like data compression, is a tradeoff between disk space, video quality and the cost of hardware required to decompress the video in a reasonable time. Also, the length of your project is a major factor, as is the source material (i.e. standard dv or high definition dv or dvd). A Quicktime file is usually the way to go (.mov file) or if you’re sharing between Mac computers than you can export your file to be an iMovie quicktime. Okay, I want to make it a .mov file, that should be easy. It would be but you’ve got a ton of choices as to how to save your file to make it the smallest yet viewable. I recommend the following settings for a viewable, audible yet still sendable file:

20 frames per second (the usual rate is 30)
Width: 480, Height: 360, Pixel aspect ratio: Square
Crop: None - Padding: None
Frame Controls: Automatically selected: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 50
Min. Spatial quality: 50
Key frame interval: 150
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 50
Average data rate: 0.688 (Mbps)
Fast Start: on

Finally, what do I use to compress my project? Good question - there are several programs out there and some that come with your computer. If you’re using iMovie (depending on the version) there are several options. In iMovie ‘08 you go to the <Share menu and then a submenu will come up with various options for types of files <iTunes or <Youtube or <Export to Quicktime. Then there are options inside of that as to how you want the specifics of the .mov file you wish to compress - for the <iTunes selection it looks like this:

On the iMovie versions prior to that (iMovie HD or iMovie 6, 5, 4…) there are fewer options but it turns out to be easier to do - you go to the <Share menu tab and then select <Quicktime. A sub menu will pop up and inside of that you can choose the following:

And as you can see, the compression setting will give you an estimated size for the file - up there it says 1.33 GB (i.e. hard to send). There is plenty of software out there - Cleaner, Sorrenson Squeeze and there is the Final Cut Studio program called Compressor which gives you all the bells and whistles for compressing files. Here is an in depth introduction to those programs and what it means to compress a video file: Creative Cow. (I highly recommend this site!)

For those of you that are already familiar, this blog may not be of much interest to you. But, for the novice, here is an introduction to YouTube, including the pros/cons of using it, how to upload participatory videos, and how to compare it to other video sharing sites.

Founded in February 2005, YouTube was created to watch and share original videos worldwide. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email.

YouTube.com is the most popular video-sharing site on the web. Popular YouTube.com videos are shared and viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The most popular videos tend to be short, between 1 and 3 minutes long, although longer videos can be uploaded. Although viral comedies have been the most popular YouTube.com videos, the 2008 Presidential elections has provoked a variety of more politically-oriented uses of YouTube that range from serious questions for party nominees to satirical music videos to experimental political advertisements.

YouTube has a variety of viewing sizes, so that it is accessible through a range of bandwidths. Videos uploaded onto YouTube can take advantage of their sizeable hosting space and post the videos directly into their own websites, blogs, and social networking sites. This is difficult and expensive to achieve in-house, without the threat of overwhelming your web hosting service and causing a system crash if too many people attempt to view the video simultaneously.

YouTube may not be preferable for sensitive content due to its large viewership, the author’s inability to control content distribution, and the viewer’s ability to post unedited and sometimes insensitive responses.

As a part of its commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative, the The YouTube Nonprofit Program was developed. Through this program, nonprofits can broadcast on a special Nonprofit channel, which includes:

• Premium branding capabilities and increased uploading capacity
• Rotation of videos in the “Promoted Videos” areas throughout the site
• The option to drive fundraising through a Google Checkout “Donate” button

How to Upload Participatory Videos onto YouTube

Using YouTube requires a little bit of knowledge about the site itself and, to be really successful, some understanding of how to make a video for online distribution.

The YouTube Toolbox is a fantastic source of basic videomaking recommendations, including tips on the following:

• Optimizing for online distribution
• Planning for a shoot
• Recruiting talent
• Composing a video
• Simple effects
• Lighting for internet videos
• Digital audio
• Editing
• Music and soundtracks

Once you’ve finished editing your video, made sure it’s less than 10 minutes, smaller than 100MB, and in an acceptable format, you’re ready to upload it. Click “Upload Videos” in the upper-right-hand corner of any YouTube page.
Enter as much information about your video as possible, including Title, Description, Tags, and Category. The more information you include, the easier it is for users to find your video! Determine if you want your video set to Public or Private. Click the “Upload a Video” button. In the next window, click the “Browse” button to browse for the video file. Select the file you want to upload.
Click the “Upload Video” button. It can take from a couple minutes to an hour for your video to upload to YouTube. If you’re receiving an error with your Upload, you might want to make sure you’re attempting to upload a file that’s recognized by YouTube. YouTube accepts video files from most digital cameras and camcorders, and cell phones in the .AVI, .MOV, .WMV, and .MPG file formats.

Basic instructions and advanced tips on using YouTube can all be found at the site’s Help Center.

YouTube does not share profits with its content producers, as is becoming more popular with sites like Blip.tv.

Comparing YouTube to Other Video Sharing Sites

Check out Our Ratings and Comparisons of YouTube to other popular sites like Blip.tv, Veoh.com, and .Mac gallery sharing.

Check out other experts’ rating & comparison resources:

PC World, Top 10 Video Sharing Sites (Aug 2007)
DV Guru, 10 Video Sharing Sites Compared (April 2006)
Fabric of Folly Blog, 20 Video Sharing Sites Rated (Aug 2006)

Shirley White, the editor and primary author of the book “Participatory Video: Images that Transform and Empower” (2003), has taught participatory video methods since the 1970s. She is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communications at Cornell University.

For a youngster like myself, I find it hard to fathom participatory video in the days before cheap and easy to operate digital cameras, digital video tape that costs about 5-cents per minute, digital editing programs that are free on most computers, and instant connection to millions of viewers for free through online video sharing sites. You have to hand it to Professor White. If you are looking for a book that can provide you with first-person experiences of participatory film, “Participatory Video: Images that Transform and Empower” does just that. The book is mostly descriptive and focused on the use of participatory video as a community development strategy in resource-poor environments.

However, as a researcher and as a person immersed in a very different technological world, I found myself a little disappointed. Although the book was published in 2003, there is really no mention of the changes that I mention above–changes that are monumental in the world of participatory video and changes that result in millions of non-professionals around the world engaging in digital storytelling. Just this month, people in Burma broadcast videos from mobile phones and cheap cameras, effectively leaping over the media black out and revealing human rights abuses to the world. The same is happening in Pakistan. And in China. And the United States. Recognizing this new and nearly global use of technology, Witness launched HUB–the first participatory media site for human rights.

Professor White, a participatory video champion during much more challenging time, nostalgically confesses: “I am still using my decade-old VHS camera and editing system.” Wow!

And, now, I will have to admit my graduate student bias around rigor and research. “Participatory Video: Images that Transform and Empower” makes many claims about participatory video, most of which I agree with whole-heartedly, but it is not enough to say that it is “transformative” and “empowering.” As a student of science, my ability to believe has been forever ruined by this mantra: Prove it. Professor White and her colleagues do not spend much time referring to practitioners, philosophers, or scholars who spent most of their lives exploring, defining, and analyzing these concepts–people like Paulo Freire and his ideas around empowerment. And they do not spend much time describing what exactly they mean by, for example, empowerment. This word is used a lot in everyday conversations, among people fighting oppression, in political contexts, nearly everywhere… But, what does it mean? What does it not mean? Does empowerment mean that you are a better person? Does it mean that you are free from the constraints of oppression? Does it mean that you are DOING something to change your world? What does it mean to say that participatory video empowers? And, does it really? If so, then show me because my unimaginative scientific brain is dying to see the evidence! If so, then this is one of the biggest breakthroughs, well, ever. If the evidence already exists, then I can retire my dissertation project now.

Professor White’s book is an incredible contribution to practitioners of participatory video. It is one of perhaps 3-4 books written on this subject; an early adapter extraordinaire that is sure to be followed by a flood of books on participatory video in the coming years! Professor White’s book reminds us that we are arriving at a truly miraculous era of participatory media and culture. We have a lot to be thankful for because it has never been easier to collaborate, produce, and distribute videos with communities across the globe.

“A vivid survey, Aufderheide’s book reminds us how crucial content and purpose are to the power and appeal of documentaries. When other films help us escape the world, these films return us to it with clarity and passion. This book lets us see how that is so.”

— Bill Nichols, author of Introduction to Documentary, Professor of Cinema and Director of the Graduate Program, San Francisco State University

Visit the Center for Social Media’s website to read an excerpt.

Documentary Film is available at Amazon.com.

First, I want to talk about the differences between iMovie 6 and the newest iMovie to come out with iLife 08. These are so different that they should be called different programs. Where iMovie 6 gave you control of audio elements (for example - you could split the audio from a video clip and put it anywhere you wanted) iLife 08’s version does not offer that control. But, what you lose in audio control you gain in speed and usability. It’s the most user friendly editing software on the market.

vs.

Second, let’s just touch quickly on the differences between iMovie and Final Cut. It’s kind of like comparing the Atari 2600 to an XBox 360. But, there is something to be said about the usability of iMovie and training people to use it. iMovie uses intuitive programing and with the basics can be used for small projects. *Note If you are using a Mac of some kind you must be careful about using an external hard drive — SOME HARD DRIVES ARE NOT FORMATED FOR THE MAC and if you try to save your footage without formating the drive first, you will encounter numerous editing issues (i.e. dropped frames, missing material, etc…). Final Cut is more like an advanced version of flatbed editing (that’s the old term for actually editing with film and your hands) — the principles include using bins, sequences and folders for your footage. If you don’t know these principles it’s an uphill climb but one that can be mastered with either a weekend long intensive class or a lifetime of dabbling. There are many bells and whistles on Final Cut and some exceptionally complex - for example, editing the sound tracks requires a pretty expansive knowledge of sound waves, dbs (or decibles) and other physical properties of sound.

With that said, the pluses on Final Cut far outweigh the minuses. You can easily slide your footage single frames at a time to place exactly where you want it — keeping your snap guide on allows you to precisely place any footage, you can have multiple tracks for sound (iMovie only gives you two tracks and doesn’t split your dialogue into right and left tracks), the overall speed with which adjustments can be made is far superior to anything else on the market. These are just a few of the differences and insights into these editing tools, there are many, many more… *Note, if you are using Final Cut there are SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS to handle the software. You don’t want to use it if you don’t have enough RAM or a graphics card that doesn’t support the software.

However, the VVC will most likely be training people how to use iMovie in community filmmaking projects mostly out of financial constraints. Plus, we will be trying to partner with local film makers and ideally would use the iMovie cuts as a guidepost for professional editors to make a final cut. Although, it is totally possible to make a polished final product from iMovie.

Most importantly, Insight found that such work is most effective when funding resources allow for a project’s life to extend beyond a minimum period of a few days or weeks, and participants are able to develop a videomaking agenda without the interference of funders or program managers. Co-Founder Chris Lunch argues,

“Without the pressure of producing predefined outcomes, the facilitator of a creative project can open up to the unexpected. Of course the best results occur if you can take your time when the focus is on the process, not the product.”

As such, most of the videos produced through these efforts are not made for widespread viewing, but rather small and targeted audiences. However, the following video is online:

Woodland Peace - UK, - A 10 minute film by Nick Cottingham, a highly creative person living with schizophrenia in Oxford UK about techniques people use to generate positive space in the mind. Mr. Cottingham hopes this film will be the first of a series of participatory videos made by mental health service users & Insight, promoting and spreading personal therapeutic tools for finding peace. This film is also available through the Mental Healthcare Trust.