“Afghan Dreams” Screens at Department of Commerce

March 4, 2015 by

Commerce screening1

WASHINGTON, DC, 3 March 2015 — We conducted a screening of our film, “Afghan Dreams,” today at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The film documents four Afghan law students, all female, as they defy all odds to compete in an international competition of commercial law in Hong Kong. The team was trained by lawyers working at the Department of Commerce. We followed up the screening with a panel discussion.

It’s been a long road since we began this project over one year ago. And it was great to see our collective efforts bear fruit.

(Photos by Bill Gentile)

 

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Free Screening of “No Fire Zone”

January 31, 2015 by

FINAL Macrae flyer lo resWASHINGTON, DC, 31 January 2015 — Join us this Wednesday 4 February for a screening and panel discussion with UK filmmaker Callum Macrae of his documentary “No Fire Zone,” about human rights abuses during the 2009 offensive by the armed forces of Sri Lanka against the Tamil population.

Learn how Callum acquired hard-to-gather footage of the atrocities that left thousands dead and wounded. And discuss with him his years-long effort to bring attention to injustice, and to force those responsible for that injustice to face consequences for their actions.

This event is free and open to the public. Please arrive on time for food and light refreshment.

Bill Gentile

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Where Has All the (Our) Money Gone?

January 26, 2014 by

Refugee boy

KABUL, Afghanistan, 7 January 2014 — This is a brief clip I shot in a refugee camp in Kabul. According to a camp spokeswoman, the camp houses about 1,500 people from across Afghanistan who have fled the war. She said some of the refugees have been here for as long as 12 years. No running water. Open sewers. No electricity. Some of the kids don’t have shoes.

In a May 2012 report, the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated that if government figures on Afghanistan “for FY2001-FY2013…are totaled for all direct spending on the war, they reach $641.7 billion.”

That’s right, $641.7 billion, with a “B.”

The CSIS report goes on: “This is an incredible amount of money to have spent with so few controls, so few plans, so little auditing, and almost no credible measures of effectiveness.”

Indeed, the spokeswoman at the refugee camp asked what happens to all the money donated by foreign countries, especially the United States. Why are thousands of people living in conditions like the ones in this video?

I didn’t have any answers. Click HERE to see the clip.

#documentaries

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Navigating Misery and Video Journalism

January 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment

refugee lunch copy

KABUL, Afghanistan, 5 January 2014 — Two boys eat a lunch of leftover rice in a refugee camp on the edge of Kabul. About 1,500 people live in this squalid complex of tents and dirt homes. Especially in winter, as the temperature at night hovers below zero, life here is tenuous, particularly for children. The New York Times carried a front-page story recently about malnutrition running rampant among Afghan children — despite billions of dollars in aid during the last 10 years.

Working in these camps is a challenge. In addition to the grinding misery that is harder to accept each time you see it, navigating through masses of people in need becomes more difficult each time you do it. You do so by telling yourself that your work means something. You say that perhaps it will draw attention to their plight. And then you hope that it does.

 

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Using Character to Tell Video Journalism Stories

December 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Returnees

WASHINGTON, DC, 28 December 2013 — This is another of the films produced during my recent Backpack Video Journalism Workshop in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Maria Garcia produced this story about Uruguayans who are returning to their home country after having spent years abroad, mostly Spain, looking for economic opportunity. It’s a microcosm, really, of the broader story of global migration in search of a better life. Following a tried and true storytelling technique, Maria uses the experiences of one or two persons to exemplify and to embody the broader stories of millions.

Click HERE to watch Maria’s story.

 

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“Footprints of Color” at Montevideo Workshop

December 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Footprints

WASHINGTON, DC, 23 December 2013 — One of the most interesting films made during our recent Backpack Video Journalism Workshop in Montevideo, Uruguay, was done by Juan Marra about a young man who paints the sidewalks near his home in an effort to brighten up the neighborhood.

This is just another example of how stories present themselves to those of us who open our eyes, and perhaps our hearts, in order to see and to feel them. You don’t have to go to Syria to find a good story. There’s probably one, on your own block, waiting for you to tell it.

The five-day workshop was organized by Valentina Quagliotti, an exchange student at American University in 2010. Valentina is the founder of Ikusi, a non-profit dedicated to making positive social change with video. My trip to Uruguay was funded by the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo.

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“See, Tell, Change,” With Video Journalism and Ikusi

December 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ikusi

WASHINGTON, DC, 21 December 2013 — This is the essence, the very core, the embodiment of what can be achieved with visual communication. It is the confluence of passion and technology. It is everything that communication can be. It is what I teach my students and it is what I, myself, aspire to. It is called Ikusi.

Pictured above is Valentina Quagliotti, a Uruguayan exchange student at American University in 2010. On the right is Valentina’s younger sister, Agustina. When I met Valentina, her non-profit, Ikusi, still was only a dream, a dream about making positive social change with video. Today it is a reality, and I’m privileged to say that I’ve just returned from Uruguay where I conducted a Video Journalism Workshop and a number of presentations, on behalf of Valentina’s non-profit. The trip was organized by Valentina and funded by the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo.

Valentina just published her group’s video report for 2013. Click HERE to see it. At the end you’ll see the group’s logo and slogan: “See, Tell, Change.” And that’s exactly what she’s doing.

She inspires me.

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Bill Gentile in Uruguay for the Video Journalism Workshop

December 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Bill is on a road trip to Montevideo, Uruguay and is sending in video posts. Today is the first day and he is getting ready for a five day Backpack Video Journalism workshop. Bill will be at Ikusi a non-profit that uses multimedia and especially video.

 

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Here’s How It’s Done

November 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Gulick

WASHINGTON, DC, 22 November 2013 — Good to hear from all of you who asked about the technique used in making some of the images in the National Park Service film that I posted yesterday.

Here’s the answer to how two former students of mine, Sarah Gulick and Erin Finicane, did it. To achieve the slow-motion shots of, for example, the young hiker, they used this Sony camera: http://tinyurl.com/n3majx3, with a shutter speed of 60 frames per second. And they exported that footage at 24 frames per second, giving the piece that dreamy look. Because of the camera’s internal, optical stabilizer, they were able to hand-hold the camera. Not all of the shots were made with the Sony. Some of the rock-solid atmospheric shots were made with an HDSLR, and sometimes with the camera mounted on a tripod.

And although that $600 Sony camera is good for this type of effect, Sarah Gulick warned me that it’s not too good for sound. So you have to really be selective about when you use it, and for what purpose.

I hope that helps.

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Shots 1-5 of the 10 The Visual Language Shots for Shooting Documentaries

October 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

A Lesson from Video #3 of the Video Journalism Workshop, Shots 1-5 out of the ABCs of the Visual Language

Every visual story you see or tell uses the same visual alphabet, or what I call the ABCs of the visual language. Our written alphabet contains 26 letters. The visual alphabet contains fewer than half that and is covered in more detail in Video 3 of the Video Journalism Workshop.

These definitions may differ somewhat between filmmakers, just like slang words can mean one thing in one part of the country and something different in another. But these are the fundamental shots that are used for shooting a documentary. You should learn them and make them part of your professional vocabulary. Later on we will pull out just a few of these when we explore the Six-Shot System but for now this is what you need.

Extra Close-UP (XCU)

Extra Close-UP (XCU)

1. Extra (Extreme) Close-Up (XCU)
In the context of a face shot, the XCU would be just the eyes, or the glasses and the eyes. Or maybe just the hands typing on a keyboard.

Close-Up (CU)

Close-Up (CU)

2. Close-Up (CU)
The next shot is the Close-Up (CU), which is pretty much from the top of the head to just below the chin. You can take off some of the hair line, but you can never take off the chin, for two reasons. The first is that the audience wants to read the subject’s mouth and expression, which are critical in deciphering whether a person is telling the truth or not. The second reason is that editors and producers might want to put the person’s name under his/her face and you need the space at the bottom of the frame so as not to have lettering appear over the subject’s mouth. We refer to this lettering as title or lower third.

Medium Shot (MS)

Medium Shot (MS)

3. The Medium Shot (MS)
The Medium Shot runs from the top of the head to the waist or just below your belt. We need to see the belt.

Wide Shot (WS)

Wide Shot (WS)

4. Wide Shot (WS)
The Wide Shot (WS) includes everything from head to your toes.

Extra Wide Shot

Extra Wide Shot

5. Extra Wide Shot (XWS)?
An Extra Wide Shot (XWS) is even wider than a WS and might include visual information that’s in front of and behind the subject. The XWS also is referred to as a “Master” or “Establishing” shot because it shows where all the elements in a scene are located in relation to each other. You will understand this better when we get to the Six-Shot System, which we’ll go over in a future email.

I will cover shots 6-10 in the next post, including; Over the Shoulder, Point of View, Tracking Shot, Pan Shot and Zoom.

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About the ONLINE Video Journalism Workshop Course?

Discover the secrets of creating powerful video documentaries in the ONLINE Video Journalism Workshop course. You’ll enjoy an intensive 14-part immersion in the craft of learning how to make documentaries.

The course on making video documentaries covers the gamut of the storytelling craft from the genesis and shaping of story ideas, to shooting powerful images that drive the story, to capturing and using sound. You learn about script writing, narration, and editing with portable computers and modern editing software. Please visit the Video Journalism Workshop home page for more details.

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