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here are some important personal stories to tell about the current economic times all over the world.
Some of those stories are being told in Michigan though citizen journalists Cynthia Harrison – this is her blog, and also Joe Maggioncalda.
They have helped contribute to a report which will be broadcast this weekend on the BBC World Service. Be the first to listen to this by clicking on the BBC Your Story homepage.
Andrea Fouks from Portland in Oregon has also contacted the BBC with her story from the point of view of someone who has lost her job but is trying to see things from her employer’s perspective and who is looking to become a boss in the future. This is what she writes ..
I was laid off 2 months ago by a boss who also owns the company (a firm of about 15 people total). It was very clear that his decision was a difficult one to make (I ended up telling him “everything will be OK”). I liked my boss quite well and loved my job, and I do not blame him for the company’s lack of projects coming in. However, I think his position as the owner AND the one who runs the show is different than just one who runs the show. He cannot help but place his financial interests first as it is not just his salary at stake. I think many things could have been done in more of a team spirit to defer or delay lay-offs, such as all employees taking a cut in pay or reduced schedules, but that was not the approach taken. For this type of lack of “we’re all in this together” perspective, I do blame bosses.
On the up side, I am taking this time to become my own boss and start a business myself, and I think many people are taking this path as they find themselves without jobs.
Are you a boss? Do you have to tell people that they’re out of a job? How do you feel about this? How do you feel if you’ve recently lost your job? It would be good to talk to some of you about this.
This is a more detailed guide for shooting web video. Here’s Part 1. If you are a citizen journalist and want to send something into the BBC World Service citizen journalism project – it could be used by the BBC on air or online. Please send me your video using the webform on the Your Story homepage – alternatively you can upload your video onto vimeo and make bbcyourstory your contact.
if you have trouble doing this, then let me know by posting your comment on this blog – thanks and I hope this is useful.
Before you start shooting – know what your story is and plan what you are going to do. It’s helpful to write this down and have in your mind what you are aiming to do. Also think safety. You must always make sure it is safe to film before you even think about pressing record.
Get your shots – there is a five shot rule – Shoot the person, the thing, then the person and the thing and then some extra shots. Film these shots in sequence. This allows you to piece it together at the end.
Keep the camera steady and film each shot without moving for about two – five minutes.
NO zoom shots – they look amateur.
How to operate your DV camera – if you are inexperienced then choose a camera where you can mainly operate on auto settings. I usually use a Sony Z1. A short “show and tell” video on how to operate it is coming up on Your Story so keep checking back on this blog – we’re planning on doing it in March 2009.
Sound quality is so important – so make sure there is not too much noise. That there is no sound distortion – this happens when microphone levels are too high and the voice too loud. If levels are too low – this is also unusable. Always listen to the location and try to reduce unwanted background noise. Traffic, machine hum, music and door-slams can all spoil your soundtrack. Avoid echoey acoustics.
Background movement – as I said on the previous post – make sure there is not too much background movement – this is like trees moving or a busy road with many cars passing. This creates problems when the encoding process happens.
Using auto focus – “auto” is great at focusing, but terrible at knowing what to focus on. So you may have to use the manual focus. For an interview, zoom in only as far as you need to get your subject large in frame.
A well framed shot is a pleasure to look at and helps tell your story. Poor framing can distract the audience away from what’s important. The most useful ‘rule’ to remember is: “If it looks good, it is good – if it looks bad, it is bad!” An interviewer should be close to the camera lens, so the subject gazes just off-camera.
Set white balance – Our eyes perceive ambient light as white. But to a camera, daylight looks blue, most artificial light looks yellow, and fluorescent looks green. So you have to adjust white balance on the camera -
- Point the camera at white paper lit with the same light as the subject.
- Zoom in so that the paper fills the frame.
- Do an auto exposure.
- Press the white balance button (the paper should look white)
When you have recorded your interview and shots, you can pull them together using a simple programme like windows movie maker. Then upload your video to one of the video sharing sites.
I have been trying to find someone to work with from Southern Sudan as it is not always easy for us as a news organisation to get on the ground reportage and personal, local stories from there. The idea was first raised by the editor of Outlook - Gavin Poncia.
A great woman called Eman has been helping me out and she says that she will be forwarding me some more names of people who might be able to help. We’ve found out it’s not safe to give a recorder to someone living in a camp – there are also some bureaucratic hurdles to be overcome before recording can be done in some places.
My colleague, David Whitty just got back from Southern Sudan- see all his photos on flickr
His advice was that Juba might be the best place to find someone who is an English speaker with access to a good internet connection and with local links to the area.
Then I had a quick look on twitter. You can follow Your Story’s twitter updates here. I found a guy known as one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” – he has quite a story of his own – read more about him here – and he has been studying in the US but who wants to return to his home country to help with giving medical treatment. I’ve emailed him to see if he is planning a trip there anytime soon and if he might want to do a Your Story citizen journalist report.
I also have been in contact with my Chicago high school students so hopefully I will get some audio from them this week.
Also been in contact with the very popular Afghan blogger, AfghanLORD.blogspot - who has been posting about Your Story on his blog, see the entry here.
He forwarded me a contact from someone who has recorded a harrowing interview with a woman who suffered domestic violence. I have seen some of the photos – which I still need to make some extra checks on so have to hold off on posting here yet.
If you would like to spread the word about Your Story on your blog, I am looking to expand my links into the blogosphere. If you can help, please let me know by posting here.
I have not written on this blog for a short time because there are some changes coming to the Your Story blog.
The blog is going to become more closely related to the World Have Your Say blog – and the global conversation that is broadcast every weekday on the BBC World Service.
This means that I will be talking to the community who already post on there to see if they might want to work with me on developing their stories so that we can get them on air or onto this blog.
That doesn’t mean that I will stop working with other citizen journalists who are already contributing or thinking about doing so – oh no! It would still be great to hear from you.
There have been a couple of people who have contacted Your Story who I am in the process of sending recording equipment to so that they can start talking to the world.
The first is an experience of sexual abuse and cover up within a strict Islamic family in Abu Dhabi.
The other is the issue of racism in Ukraine.
I am in touch with someone who brought the death of Nigerian Shefiu Salawudeen, to our attention. Although as yet, there is no proven motive for his death – see the facebook page set up in his memory here.
I am always interested in the issue of racism – having experienced it myself many times throughout my life. But especially now in 2009. At a time when the president of the United States – the man who has the most power in the world, is a man of colour, how does it feel to live somewhere where you are still being judged by the colour of your skin, not in a polite or politically correct way, but in an overt and scary way.
Now back in London I would just like to extend a huge thanks to all those citizen journalists, guests and friends who helped to make the radio and online material work so well over inauguration, in Detroit and Chicago.
I look forward to hearing from you all again and working with you on stories in the future. So please do keep in touch.
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