The project is a participatory video workshop and production to enable the urban poor to tell their own stories and make their own videos. These communities of the urban poor participating in this project are those victimized by demolition, displacement and disaster in the last three years, making more severe the more permanent conditions of joblessness and hunger they suffer. The project aims to (1) teach the urban poor to tell their own stories and make their own videos and (2) publish and share the video and materials produced and lessons derived.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Metro Manila – Caloocan City and Manila
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
The issues of these communities cannot be found online or in print right now. There are little and less or none written on them or on their perspective on their issues, from the ‘climactic’ event to their everyday travails that makes them, in a humanitarian sense, in need of help than of displacement and demolition or simply more strife in their lives.
These communities are also not users of Internet and social media and have no video production capacity (skills and equipment) to tell their stories. Many of the urban poor, save the youth, have no e-mails, no social media accounts and do not read news on the Internet. They do not have Internet connection at home and are able to access the Internet only through computer rental shops or ‘piso net’.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Facilitators and assistants:
Lady Ann Salem (@ladyannsalem) and Krystel Jen Dumapit (@KJDumapit)
Flor Chantal Eco (@chantaleco) and Jessamin Montuya (@sammontuya)
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The output of the project will be two participatory videos: one set on Tala, Caloocan City and one on R10, Tondo, Manila. What the videos will exactly be about is still to be determined by the participants, as they will be more decisive (than the facilitators) in forming the storyline. The length of the video, style to be employed and other aspects will also be determined by them.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established or plan to establish that will contribute to the success of the project.
The partner organizations are people’s organizations from the named urban poor communities. The group in R10, Tondo, Manila is Samahan ng Magkakapitbahay sa R10 (Neighborhood Association in R10) and the one in Tala, Samahan ng Mamamayan sa Tala. These groups will help form the group of participants from their group or from the whole community. In Tala, Caloocan City, the proponent would also like to collaborate with the group of medical professionals and workers in the Tala Leprosarium Hospital as well as the local parish church. In R10, Tondo, Manila, the group would like to seek possible collaboration with local civic groups, village government unit and the local parish church.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
There can be at least 50 people to be trained in citizen media, social media and Internet and video production in each urban poor community. But the actual participants of the video production may be fewer, numbering to 20, to ensure that all have definite roles or parts in the project.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
The project organizer is adept in video production and training beginners or commonfolk with the use of technology tools related to video production and distribution via the Internet. Assuming or expecting limited exposure to video production and the Internet and limited resources, the group intends to equip the urban poor groups or community members with the skills to shoot with any kind of camera, to produce video with relatively good broadcast quality camera and still limited editing or post-production tools. The type of video they can produce they can watch on their video players or upload in the Internet for the public to view. Members of the project organizer also has had experience with conducting participatory video production with women workers.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshops will be held in a roofed space in the community. The video production workshops will be held using the project organizer's own equipment, such as desktop computers, laptops and projectors (as needed). The participants will be trained on the video equipment acquired for them and to be released to them. Wireless internet (4G or LTE) shall be used, as needed. At times, computer shops may be rented for the social media and Internet training and the post-production demonstration and training. For all other needs, the project organizer will use the community and the urban poor group's facilities.
What is your current relationship with the community with whom you plan to work? What makes you the most appropriate individual or organization to implement this project?
We have featured the R10, Tondo, Manila community in some of our newsreels regarding the demolition issue in their area and the call for search, relief and rehabilitation for the victims of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in November 2013. We have been in touch with the Tala community in different years and projects, 2008 for People’s Caravan for Truth, Justice and Change, 2010 and 2013 national elections and 2011 on the demolition threat to the community due to the Tala Business District plan. We have worked with these organizations on the issues we want to work with them in these project. These groups also know the work we do. It would be easy for us to connect and jumpstart the project.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
The project is exploratory in nature. There are no popular or commercial experiences or outputs that we can base our experiences on. Academics references are also scanty. We will mostly be using our own knowledge and experience in trying to implement the participatory video production. However, we find this method can serve the dual purpose of (1) training the participants in video production and (2) allowing the people to reflect or confront their issues in the process of telling their stories via video. We will also be able to contribute to enriching the experience in participatory video production in the country.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Along the way, success of the project can be determined if the participants are able to produce the video, join the online community fray and learn to engage in the Internet and distribute the video output via the Internet. Moreover, success can be measured when the participants are able to document and report their own stories or make their own videos on their own in the future or with very little help from the facilitators.
The process and the output of the video are contributions to knowledge, experience and output in citizen media and participatory video production. This can spiral more participatory video productions or localized video productions that feature the subject’s stories from their own perspectives.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
June 2014 – Talks with the community, module and materials development
July – Building participants for the video workshop and video production
August and September – Workshops (video production, computer literacy)
September and October – Production
November – Post-production and distribution of output (post-production workshop)
December – Workshop on Internet use and social media, creation of blog and website
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Module and training materials development = $ 100
Module and training materials reproduction = $ 100
Facilitators’ allowance $ 150 x 2 facilitators x 4 months = $ 300
Facilitators’ assistants allowance $ 150 x 2 facilitators x 4 months = $ 300
Workshop venue, equipment and other logistics – $ 300 x 2 = 600
Video production equipment (2 sets for the 2 communities) – $ 800
– video camera (ex. Canon Vixia FS 400) – $ 225 x 2
– monopod – $ 25 x 2
– memory cards/ extra storage – $ 40 x 2
– extra battery – $ 25 x 2
– camera bag – $ 25 x 2
– external hard disk drive – $ 60 x 2
Internet access – $ 50
DVD Reproduction of final video – $ 50
Website – $ 200
Total = $ 2500
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Rising Voices can assist us through helping share and publish the project updates, outputs, etc. as the project goes along. Rising Voices may also know of resources of best practices or good examples that can help guide the implementation of the project. We also welcome the participation or exposure of any member of Rising Voices in the chosen communities or in the projects.
Contact name
Lady Ann Salem
Organization
Tudla Productions
