So you're running an arts project that has lots of participants, artists and you - the organiser - and you want some way to use digital video to document the process. It can't mean a whole bunch of extra work though right? It has to be relatively easy and pain free… we've got some ideas!
Idea 1: Two minute interviews
Each day/workshop assign someone as the interviewer (it could be you).
At the end of day, each participant has 2 minutes in-front of a camera to talk about what they've been doing. They can say whatever they like, the only rule is that the video runs for exactly 2 minutes!
Make sure you're extra careful about file management of the videos. Create a folder on your computer called “2 minute interviews”. At the end of each session, save all the videos to a folder with the date, eg “2009-02-19” (year-month-day) and rename each video to the participants name. Eg jane-smith.avi
Equipment
Best to use a camera that you can easily transfer the files to a computer with. Something that records onto flash memory or a hard-disk. Something like a Flip or even a better-model digital still camera that has a movie mode (and a mic of course!)
Pros
- easy to do, no special skills required
- casual, informal
- Can give an insight into the perspective and attitudes of everyone involved
- Gives everyone in the project a voice
Cons
- projects with lots of participants will mean that the interviews could take up quite a bit of time at the end of the day
- file management, there'll be a lot of video footage at the end of your project. You'll need a clever way to publish it or archive it (check out our Video Publishing guides for other ideas)
Below is an example of a 2 mins interview:
Find more videos like this on All Around You
Idea 2: Hotseats
The hotseat performs as a daily diary with simple questions asked. It is performed at the end of each workshop with all participants and co-ordinators/artists.
Step by Step
- On the first day, decide upon 3 pertinent questions that you can ask each day. (ie What did you do today? What did you learn today?)
- Decide upon one additional question to ask only on that day. Each day, one day-specific question gets asked. This can be more fun and less formal than the other questions.
- Setup camera and frame subject. An interviewer stands to the side of the camera.
- Press record.
- The interviewer asks the agreed upon questions, the three that are asked everyday and the one new question for the day. The subject answers.
- Stop recording once the final question is answered.
An example of a hotseat below:
Find more videos like this on All Around You
Idea 3: Video Diary
Kind of similar to 2 minute interviews but only for organisers and project co-ordinators / artists leading the project. These are longer videos which consist of the subject alone, looking into the camera giving a wrap-up of the week. What were the highlights, what were the challenges, what's happening next, what are you looking forward to.
Perform these once a week, at the end of the week.
15 - 30 mins long.
Equipment
- A laptop with an inbuilt web cam is perfect for this kind of documentation because you can record your entries in private or if you're on the road
Inspired?
CuriousWorks is a tiny company in Sydney, Australia. We have 4 staff and no ongoing funding. Every contribution you can make to the toolkit - in your own way - will help us advocate, maintain and evolve it into a permanent resource for all of us!
Here are four ways you can contribute to the toolkit and help us keep it going.
- Let us know if you use any of these ideas, workshops or techniques in your community - simply comment on the posts you find most useful and share links to your work so we can check it out! If you want a private, community-minded space to share your media - and keep the copyright - check out CuriousWorks' portal for doing just that, All Around You.
- If you end up devising any projects in your community through the toolkit, we humbly request for you to share this little badge on your project's website.
- We'd love to post about workshops, ideas and tips that worked for you - if you'd like to contribute, please contact us at toolkit@curiousworks.com.au.
- Donate to CuriousWorks. As we're a registered Australian charity, all donations over $2 are tax deductible. Stipulate in your donation that you'd like it to go to directly to the toolkit and we'll make sure every cent is spent on evolving and maintaing this resource for the benefit of communities everywhere looking to tell their story.