new media center_kuda.org

Center for New Media_kuda.org, Novi Sad, Youth Center CK13, Novi Sad, and the association Restart from Zagreb is announcing a competition for participation in a three-day workshop on video activism entitled:

"DON'T HATE THE MEDIA, BE THE MEDIA"

1. Text of the competition
Since video is the most influential medium, we decided to show interested people how to use basic video equipment to produce their own information, wanting to encourage them so that only by recognizing local problems, their activity should not stop. With a fairly simple application of camera and editing and the basis of information presentation (news, reportage), it is very easy to make a report that can be presented to the public through public screenings, CD editions, or VHS, without "having to" be television.

As one of the major problems in humans, we recognized the so-called. "Fear of technology", and a concrete encounter with it and learning specific skills, will enable participants to become a medium themselves and thus take a concrete role in changing and correctly informing society. In this way, an alternative is created to the "mainstream" / corporate media, which for various reasons do not want to "cover" some news and events. The workshop consists of two phases - projection, presentation, and performance of the workshop, which in turn includes an intensive basic three-day course of introduction to the camera, editing, and the basics of journalistic "assembly" of the story.

The deadline for applications is December 31, 2008.

Duration of workshops: from Friday to Sunday (around 8 pm)
Number of participants: min. 6, maximum 12
Age of participants: up to 25 years

The application should contain:
- a short biography
- name and surname, year and place of birth
- occupation (if you are a student, please write which schools/faculties)
- place of residence and contact (phone and e-mail)
- motivation letter
- previous work experience (camera, editing, directing, journalism)

Applications can be:
- brought to kuda.org, on working days from 10 am to 4 pm
- send by mail
- send by e-mail to [email protected] subject: video activism competition

2. Workshop program
First day
16h Arrival of people, presentation; program presentation, conversation, interests, expectations. A short theoretical section on the importance of activist video (scheduled to be completed by 6 p.m.)

18h Camera: camera theory, camera terminology, technical part, shots, recording.

8 pm Commenting on the recording (planned to be completed by 9 pm)

Another day
10h We are in space, time and plan to go to the field. A short talk about local issues, finding a topic to be covered in the workshop. Journalistic part, watching short films and TV reports with comments (finding interlocutors, shaping the topic - general part, organization of filming).

12h Departure to the field/recording of the agreed topic (planned return by 14.00).
Break (about 2 hours)

16h Assembly: program basics, assembly basics, material selection. Inserting material with parallel comments - basics; introduction to editing; editing terminology; Parallel - storytelling / director's part (planned end: around 8 pm - 9 pm)

Third day
10h Continuation of installation; all mount.
13h Commenting on what has been done so far (planned break: around 14h).
16h Continuation of installation. The story of the distribution of materials, public screenings; evaluation (planned completion: around 18.00)

The schedule and program are subject to change in agreement with local partners and workshop participants.

Why is media activism important?
Media activists end up where the mainstream media cannot and thus create news and content about events that have been neglected or misinterpreted and that pose a challenge (neutrality) to the mass media. The idea of ​​media activism is based on the desire to encourage social change not through alternative ideas but through the process of production itself so that the observer becomes a producer and eliminates the difference between professionals who create the culture and its passive consumers. New media are never neutral. They provide unlimited possibilities for communication, but the utopia of a fully networked society is slowly giving way to the question of the value of the content we exchange via the Internet. Media activism was born out of the knowledge that the mass media is controlled by the social and political elite, sources of financial support, and hierarchical structure, although it is claimed to serve the democratic interest of informing citizens. It is important to find an alternative to these practices by including the perspectives and needs of ordinary people and groups from the margins and regulating the production process that should be democratically and non-hierarchically organized.

Organizers:
Center for New Media_kuda.org, Novi Sad, Youth Center CK13, Novi Sad and RESTART Association, Zagreb.

The realization of the project was made possible by the support of the National Endowment for Democracy Foundation, Washington and the Open Society Fund, Belgrade.

info: www.kuda.org
www.restarted.hr

For any additional information, please contact [email protected]

Center for New Media_kuda.org
[email protected]
Mogin Brothers 2
as per. box 22, 21113 Novi Sad, Serbia
tel / fax +381 21 512 227