UK Indymedia

IMC UK Video Page

Video activism | UK | Global | Encoding | Uploading | NewsReal

There is currently a vibrant culture of alternative and radical video activism in the UK - perhaps a result of the availability of affordable digital camcorders, cheap computers, video editing software and broadband Internet - or perhaps because people are increasingly frustrated with the crap on TV. This page aims to provide a starting point for those interested in producing radical video. Check out the 'screening projects page' for information about obtaining and watching radical videos. Another useful source of information is the VideoActivismFAQ, a work in progress on the IMC Video wiki pages.

IMC UK VIDEO can be thought of as a loose informal network of groups and individuals who use video as a tool for social change. There is no single 'IMC Video' group as such although sometimes a group will form around a specific collaborative project related to a specific event or issue. Recent examples of collaboration include 'Indefensible' a film about the 2003 DSEi arms fare and also the G8 indymedia video compilation. More often, IMC UK VIDEO is simply a resource, a way of tapping into a diverse range of skills, experiences and interests within the field of progressive video. Like-minded people use the imc-uk-video mailing list to communicate and it is a great place to find out what's going on, request or offer footage, or work with others on collaborative projects. It is a fairly low traffic list and if you film, edit or organise screenings it would be really good if you joined the list.

UK Video Groups / Individuals

These are groups / individuals and active in the UK. No doubt it is far from comprehensive. To request a link, email details to imc-uk-video@lists.indymedia.org. If there isn't somebody near you then perhaps it's time to form a new group - check out this possible manifesto for video activist collectives.

• SchMOVIES
  The video production side of SchNEWS, which makes films - short and long - covering mostly direct action in the UK (just like the newsletter). These films are mostly free to download, but SchMOVIES also produces and publishes DVDs including annual collections and longer productions.
• Undercurrents
  Famous for their video magazines in the mid ninties, they are now producing high production value features. They are now based mostly in Swansea with a bit of a presence in Oxford.
• Revolt Video
  Open to all, this collective based in Dublin's new Autonomous Social Centre "Seomra Spraoi". Their goals are the physical and virtual distribution of Irish activist video, workshops and skill sharing. Ambitious video projects chosen via consenus and tackled collectively.
• Camcorder Gorillas
  A Glasgow-based collective of independent, radical filmakers. They do training as well as producing and screening films on a wide range of issues.
• Real2Reel
  A collective of media artists formed in 2002 and currently most active in London. They organise training and produce short event based videos as well as occasional audio content for collaborative radio projects. Almost all are available online under Creative Commons licence. They produced annual compilations on VCD or DVD players. Vol 3 came out in Oct 2005 so expect a 2006 release after the summer.
• Fenceline Films
  A small video group based in the Midlands. Films made with and by people living with the impacts of environmental and social injustice. Alongside this, Fenceline Films participatory video workshops aim to give individuals or local groups the skills to plan and make their own films.
• Filmmakers Against War
  A national collective of activists, filmmakers and artists who are using their creative skills to help raise the awareness of UK and International War Laws.
• Kinokast
  Little known but prolific video production since 1994. Based in Brighton
• Dev'lish May
  London based videographer. Has a huge collection of raw footage of cops, street protest, UK and international summits.
• Rikki
  London based videographer producing quick turn around edits on the Indymedia newswire
• Doug
  Another London based videographer producing quick turn around edits on the Indymedia newswire
• Euan
  Another London film maker involved in Film Makers Against The War and also organises Indymedia cinema screenings.

Global Video Groups

It is obviously beyond the scope of this page to provide a comprehensive list of global video groups projects but here are some of the active collectives we know of. You will find a much bigger list of more diverse groups, organisation and projects on the Indymedia documentation GlobalVideoProject WIKI (which is editable so you can add or correct details). There is also a good list provided by VAN Media links.

• AK Kraak - Berlin video activists.
• Big Noise Films - Makers of 'Zapatista' and 'The Forth World War'
• Candida Video - Cool, stylish, Italian video collective, worked on 'Rebel Colors'
• Cascadia Media Collective - Produces Cascadia Alive! in Eugene
• Guerrilla News Network - of 'S11 Redux ' fame
• kanalB - Highly regarded Berlin video group & internet station
• Organic Chaos Network - Network of video-activists based in the Netherlands.
• Paper Tiger TV - Creating videos and contributing to big collaborative editing projects.
• Portland Indymedia Video Collective - Exceptionally active IMC video collective; compiling, editing, and screening videos as we speak.
• Toronto Video Activist Collective - Activist videos with mask of "journalistic objectivity"
• Whispered Media - Video producers and media activists, based in San Francisco

Useful guides and How-To's

Oh yeah, don't forget them old fashioned paper book things. The Video Activist Handbook is an essential read and can be bought from Undercurrents and various book shops etc.

Uploading your videos

The following is a list of the sites to which we would recommend you upload or link your videos. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of online video archives but if you think we should add something, please let us know.

• Indymedia UK Please place preview version on IMC UK and/or link to screening quality versions stored elsewhere. You can upload using the normal publish form but it is rescricted to 20MB. Alternatively you can uploaded via FTP to publish.indymedia.org.uk (anonymous login) then use the publish form to link your uploads to a new article.
• Indymedia Video Distribution Network One day perhaps this will be a one-stop-shop fully intergrated into indymedia UK. Until that time, upload your big files here.
• Clearer Channel, is a new UK based online video resource intended to act as a showcase for video collectives and bring the other resources together via media RSS. Check it out.
• Ourmedia / Archive.org Not an activist resource as such but they have unlimited bandwidth and storage so make use of it.

You might find useful this guide on how to upload a video to video.indymedia.org using Filezilla as the ftp client.

Transcripts and subtitles

Hey, there are people who don't understand english who might want to watch your videos. You can make life much easier for them if you provide english transcripts with timecodes that they can then translate and use for subtitling.
It's pretty simple but fairly time consuming on longer videos. On windows you can use a piece of software called 'Subtitle Workshop'. On Max OSX you could use 'Miyu'. This software is easy to use, you just watch the video and stop it whenever somebody talks and type in what they say. You fiddle around a bit with the duration of the text so that it appears are the right time and there is plenty of time to read it. Finally you export the transcripts as a timecoded text file in a format such as .smi .srt or .sub. These files can then be distributed with your video so that people who wish to screen them can organising translations easily and ensure your video is seen by as many people as possible.

 

Distribution projects

And finally, what about your audio?

When you edit you are naturally going to throw away the vast majority of what you filmed. How about separating off those long interviews or speeches etc as plain audio files and upload them as a resource for others to hear or use. There are a number of collaborative radio projects that could make use of such audio so why not create a mono mp3 (or ogg) of each speech or interview in full and upload it to radio.indymedia.org

 

IMC UK, 27.08.2004 00:00