proposed video page
Video activism | Screenings | Buy Videos | Download | Upload | NewsReal | UK Projects | GlobalThere is currently a vibrant culture of alternative and radical video activism in the UK - perhaps a result of the availibilty 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 either producing or screen ing alternative and radical video, as well as those who want to watch it.
Other sources of useful information includes the IMC Video Twiki pages.
To contact or join the IMC UK video subgroup, email the imc-uk-video list.
For a more global perspective and for details of other IMC video projects, you may also find it useful to checkout our global section.
Useful guides and resources for the video activist
If you have any questions relating to video activism in general, which are not answered on this page, check out the VideoActivismFAQ.
If you are interested in making radical videos, these guides may be of some help.
- NEW Lights, Camera, Direct Action! (PDF booklet)
- i-Contact Rough Guide to Video
- i-Contact Video Activist Survival Kit
- Fiona's Handy Camcorder Hints on Paper Tiger TV
- What You Need to Know to Make a Show
- VAN Basic Camera Tips and many more resources
- Camera Tips from the Ruckus Society
And there are even some videos that provide guides to making video. Check out www.witness.org for the Introduction to Camera Work and Video for Change, plus the Cascadia Media Collective for the Guerrilla Video Primer.
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.
If you know of other resources that we should list, please let us know.
Video Screenings
The best way to see radical video is LIVE with REAL people. Instead of sitting by yourself in front of a box, check out the IMC UK Cinema Page to find out about indymedia video screenings. You might also find out about screenings on BeyondTV or your local social centres.
If there are no screenings happening in your area then perhaps you would like to organise your own. Screenings are extrememly powerful, they inform and inspire and help to bring new people into active participation in progressive struggles. Get together with a few friends, find a venue and put on a film screening. There are no shortage of videos available (see below) and with the European NewsReal coming out every month, you can be bang up-to-date.
There are a couple of online guides you might find useful if planning a screening;
- the Video Activist Network's 'How to do a video screening'
- the global indymedia NewsReal Screening HowTo.
- Exploding cinema DIY cinema guide
Videos for Sale
There was a lot of video work at the 2005 G8 in scotland and many screening quality video were uploaded and put onto a daily DVD to video activists and screeners. These DVD's are now available from your local IMC.
Some UK Indymedia groups have videos for sale. UK Indymedia might still have one or two copies of Praha Rebel Colours from the Anti-IMF / World Bank S26 protests in Prague (2000) and Genoa Red Zone from the Anti-G8 protests in genoa Italy in 2001 . However, probably the best place to buy radical videos in the UK is CultureShop which was set up specifically to distribute activist video. and has a growing sellection which can be ordered online. If you have a video you would like distributed, have a chat with them.
While not wanting to promote a commercial company, Journeyman Films produce and distribute factual films and documentaries so if you have made such a film they might be able to distribute it for you. Amoung the videos available from them are 'McLibel', 'Drowned Out' and Undercurrents.
Most of the organised video activist collectives also distribute and sell their own videos. Undercurrents for example have a back catalogue of their video magazines (issue 11 out now), as well as some more recent features such as Globalisation and the Media. Real2Reel can also supply compilations of their activist news shorts on VCD. Check out the websites of other video groups listed below to see if they have videos to sell
Online radical video archives
Check out the IMC newswires for the latest videos.
If you have trouble playing a downloaded or streaming video, check out this VideoFAQ.
Indymedia UK rescricts the size of multimedia uploads to 20MB (not true for FTP uploads) so if you are seeking higher quality versions for screening or wanting somewhere to place your own high bandwidth video, you will need to look elsewhere. Check out the following online video archives which host radical video...
- The Indymedia Video Distribution Network, was inspired by V2V. It combines elements of V2V and NGVISION with the open publishing principle. It is hoped that IVDN will finally enable Indymedia to do massive online distribution of our video projects and integrate with local Indymedia sites to provide global syndication of video content.
- Clearer Channel, is a new UK based online video resource intended to make finding screenable videos much easier. It is currently under development and expanding fast.
- V2V video syndication
- An archive of activist video encoded using On2 Technologies VP3 codec. The project utilizes peer2peer filesharing systems to spread the load, you will need a p2p client that suports edonkey, magnet or bittorrent to dowload.Uploads are via FTP and require a password.
- New Global Vision
An archive of finished films mostly stored as MPEG1 but also some DivX. Uploads by anonymous FTP. They make and distribute CD compilations of the videos uploaded. - Independent News Archive on the Internet Movie Archive
Related to the 'way back machine' internet archive. As well as having an archive of public domain stuff like 50's black and white adverts and public education/government propaganda films, they also have recent activist stuff. You can register and upload your own stuff too. - Lulop.com - activism catagory
A site for independent spot news video coverage - mostly celebrity shit but they have an activist section. You will usually find unedited rushes rather than completed films. This is a commercial site which tries to sell footage that has been uploaded and takes a cut. - Demand Media
Describes itself as a collaborative video blog and it lists available videos with links. It does not actually host video on it's own servers. It provides a video newswire that can be incorporated into other sites. You have to register to submit entries. - BeyondTV
A UK based project with connections to Undercurrents and Indymedia. It provides a database of videos, projects, and events, etc. It does not actually host video on it's own servers.
Have you been making videos? Find out how to publish your own videos.
European Indymedia NewsReal
The European NewsReal is a project dedicated to establishing a European network to distribute and screen grassroots videos covering issues ignored or distorted by the corporate media. Based on the Global Indymedia Newsreal model it aims to distribute on CD a monthly half-hour video compilation.
If you produce videos you might want to think about joinng and contributing to this existing european wide distribution network (join the mailing list). And if you want to see what happening around Europe, just order the Newsreal. Some of the videos from recent issues have been placed on BeyondTV who also do the UK distribution.
Indymedia documentation for the project http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/EuropeanNewsReal.
UK Video Groups / Individuals
Here is a short list of some of the video groups / individuals and projects based in the UK (to request a link, email details to imc-uk-video@lists.indymedia.org). If there isn't a group near you (which is almost certainly the case) then perhaps you could start one - check out this possible manifesto for video activist collectives.
- IMC-UK-VIDEO
The IMC UK Video 'group' is an informal network of video bods who communicate using the imc-uk-video mailing list and the IMC Video Twiki pages, a collaborative document editing space for use by UK video teams. These are great places to find out whats going on, request or offer footage, or work with others on collabrative projects. One recent collabrative project was a film about the DSEi arms fare. - Undercurrents
Undercurrents aims to bring about positive social, environmental and personal change using various forms of media. They support, train and give resource access for both individuals and grassroots campaign groups. While they are not currently producing the video magazines for which they are best knowm, they are still producing features and have a distribution project called Ruff Cuts providing short videos on CDROM. They are now based mostly in Swansea with a bit of a presence in Oxford.
underc @ gn.apc.org - Beyond TV
Beyond TV aims to use film festivals, the Internet and other multimedia to reach a wider audience for inspirational campaign videos and other forms of alternative media features. The site consists of a user contributed database of events, projects, features and organisations. You can subscribe to the BeyondTV mailing list to hear about up and coming events, public screenings and new films. - Real2Reel Video Activist Collective (real2reel @ riseup.net)
Real2Reel (R2R) was formed in 2002 and produces short event based activist videos as well as occasional audio content for collaborative radio projects. Almost all are available online and they have also produced a couple of compilation CDs in VCD format (which are compatible with DVD players). Vol 3 out Oct 2005! - Dev'lish May
Has a huge collection of raw footage of cops, street protest, UK and international summits.
devlishmay @ videoactivism.org - PirateTV
Pioneering web based video and audio streaming, mixing up music, visuals and politics. - i-Contact Video Network, Bristol
A non-profit making group producing and supporting video work that tackles the issues the mainstream media ignore. Not sure if the group is currently active but there is useful stuff on their website.
i-contact @ videonetwork.org - Vision Machine film project
Founded in 2001,Vision Machine Film Project is a not-for-profit filmmakers' collective that seeks to create an international video production and distribution network to research, analyse and respond to the conditions and mechanisms of economic, political and military power. Producers of The Globalisation Tapes.
Global Video Projects
This is beyond the scope of the IMC UK Video page but we provide some pointers. Check out the old global IMC video projects page (very out of date) and the new improved global pages for video projects and the indymedia video channel (both unmaintained at time of writting).
Provided below are links to just some of the active video collectives around the world. You will find a much bigger list of more diverse groups, organisation and projects on the Indymedia documentation GlobalVideoProject TWIKI (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; compling, editing, and screening videos as we speak. - Video Activist Network
Resources for video activists - Sleeping Giant
Contributers to 'Showdown in Seattle' and 'Breaking the Bank' - Toronto Video Activist Collective
Activist videos with mask of "journalistic objectivity" - Whispered Media
Video producers and media activists, based in San Francisco
So you have filmed something you want to publish?
There have been several times when people have suggested writing a nice friendly step by step guide to capturing, editing and encoding your video, plus how and where to upload your finished video. For now we can simply recommend that you avoid proprietary formats such as .ASF, WMV, .RM,
- Create a modem friendly version of your video using a common cross platform codec and file format such as XVID or MP4. Keep it small (around 5mb for 5 minutes), use 12.5 or 15 frames per second and perhaps a resolution of 160 x 120 or 176 x 144. Keep audio quality low (11khz perhaps) and ensure it is mono. Upload it to indymedia UK using the indymedia UK publish form or the new FTP system.
- If you think people will want to screen your video and you have access to broadband, create a high quality version of your video. This should be at a resolution of 320 x 240 or 352 x 288 at 24 or 25 frames per second. Audio should still be mono if possible and 22khz should be fine but use 44khz if it is music rich. Some form of MPEG4 is a good codec to choose, either native .mp4 or xxvid which is free and open source.Upload to video.indymedia.org and perhaps other archives such as V2V (in VP3 format 360x288 25fps) and/or New Global Vision (in MPEG1 352 x 288 25fps).
- After uploading your video, add a link to approbriate article on IMC-UK and also to video directories such as DemandMedia and BeyondTV with links to the actual video.
Tips for creating mpg files. It's a good idea to use mpeg1 in PAL format. 253 x 288 resolution with 25 frames per second. Use VCD complient settings. A good program to use is TMPEGenc on a pc or FFMPEG on a mac. These files can be used to burn VCD cdroms that can play on most DVD players and computer systems.
Tips on uploading to v2v. Use your FTP client to connect to coyote1.kein.org. You need a password to upload video to the v2v ftp site, you can get this by emailing v2v@mail.kein.org. Go to the incoming directory and create a new directory with the same name as your video.After uploading your video you need to enter details into the v2v upload form. Now save and rename the resulting .info file and upload it via FTP to the same directory as your video. See also the help page on v2v.
Tips on uploading to ngvision. Use your ftp client to connect to upload.ngvision.org. You don't need a password, use anonymousas the user ID and your email as the password. Upload your video and fill in the upload form. You need to calculate and enter an md5sum checksum for the file you uploaded (sounds complicated but it's not really).
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 seperate 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 collabrative radio projects that could make use of such audio so why not create a mono mp3 of each speach or interview in full and upload it to radio.indymedia.org
ben, 30.09.2005 15:58