WASHINGTON, DC, 17 June 2013 — This video was produced, shot, narrated and edited by Romina Nicaretta, whom I tutored over the past few days. She came to my home with no training in documentary film making and left yesterday afternoon after posting this video. Pretty impressive.
You can see the film HERE.
Romina works for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where there is a growing consciousness and consensus about the importance of using video as a means to communicate not only within the institution but also with the world outside the institution.
One way to effectively use video to communicate is the methodology that I refer to as backpack video journalism.
WASHINGTON, DC, 14 June 2013 — Nick Ray (left) and Bruce Jones labor away to ready the Online Video Journalism Workshop that we hope to offer in the next few days. This is an online version of the events that I’ve been conducting since 2008 and that we’re offering for the first time over the Internet.
WASHINGTON, DC, 14 June 2013 — Sam Meddis, the former head of USA Today’s video department in Washington, DC, reviewed my Essential Video Journalism Field Manual on Amazon.com, saying, “it teaches the fundamentals of the craft.” Sam, who recently retired from the newspaper business, said, “the book comes alive with teachable moments.”
To read the whole review, click HERE.
WASHINGTON, DC, 13 JUNE 2013 — I gave a presentation at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) on backpack video journalism to 21 working professionals visiting from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. What an incredible group of motivated people eager to learn of new ways of practicing our craft.
I showed them a film I made years ago about a prison in Alabama. They were astonished at the access that I enjoyed while making the film. I explained that my access was partly a function of the fact that I used a small, pro-sumer camera that the prison officials found completely inoffensive.
WASHINGTON, DC, 6 June 2013 — This is a film conceived, shot, written, narrated and edited by Diego Silva, one of the participants in my recent Video Journalism Workshop for the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
A story about a classical radio station and its employees in Guatemala City, the title means, “The Sound of the Time.” You can watch the piece HERE.
What a pleasure it was to work with these Guatemalan storytellers. It reminded me, once again, of the proper use of the tools that too many of us take for granted.
WASHINGTON, DC, 5 June 2013 — This is a film conceived, shot, written, narrated and edited by Eslly Melgarejo, one of the participants in my recent Video Journalism Workshop for the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
The story of a blind child’s refusal to accept defeat despite his handicap, the title means, “A Glow in the Darkness.” You can see the film HERE.
What a pleasure it was to work with these Guatemalan storytellers. It reminded me, once again, of the proper use of the tools that too many of us take for granted. Too often.
WASHINGTON, DC, 5 June 2013 — “News Photographer” magazine, the “official publication of the National Press Photographers Association” (NPPA), has published a two-page review of my “Essential Video Journalism Field Manual” in its latest edition.
Written by Bruce Young and titled, “Time To Get Fitted For a Backpack?” the review is spread across pages 50-51 in the latest edition of the NPPA magazine. Below are scans of the magazine cover and of the review:
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, 30 May 2013 — It’s over. My Video Journalism Workshop at Nancy McGirr’s Fotokids ended with a big ice cream cake and this group shot. Great way to end two weeks in Guatemala, the first conducting a workshop for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, and the second for Fotokids.
(Photo by a camera on a tripod!)
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, 29 May 2013 — Reporters, photographers and editors gather for my presentation on backpack video journalism. I was pleasantly surprised at the receptiveness at Prensa Libre, one of the largest circulation papers in the country. Many of the employees here seemed open to the idea of working the craft.
I’ve been in Guatemala conducting video journalism workshops for the Thomson Reuters Foundation and for Nancy McGirr’s Fotokids.
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, 29 May 2013 — This is a film that Danny Shack, one of the participants in my video journalism workshop, put together last week. It’s a chilling tale about the “XX” patients in local hospitals. XX means the patient has lost his/her memory and is stranded in the hospital until family or friends can be located. The workshop was funded by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and hosted by Nancy McGirr’s Fotokids.
You can watch the film HERE.
