Video Narrative: Why Dublin?

During the Online Journalism class we were asked to produce a short film with the theme Movement and Progression. Having looked at various examples in class about how to tell a digital story I decided to make my video narrative about foreigners who have moved to Dublin. 

The idea came up from my own experience of living in Dublin as an expat. It is funny how you can notice peculiar habits, that seem natural in a culture, when you look at it from the outside. Moreover, I also wanted to take the opportunity to express how glad I am to be here and how beautiful Dublin is. My project is a 3 minute long film speaking with people from four different nationalities explaining what they like and dislike in Dublin and the reason why they are living here. 

O'Connell Bridge

Methodology

            First thing I did was to gather people to take part in my project. I contacted some friends from Germany, Spain, Denmark and Brazil. After that I thought about what kind of questions to ask them and what type of things I would like them to talk to me about. Then I got together the necessary equipment, which were a tripod I borrowed from DBS, and my camera. I shot the short film in three days. In the first one, I met with the people in Phoenix Park, because It’s a quiet place. So it’s good for the audio, it has beautiful scenario and it represents Dublin well. On the same day I shot the last person in another park in the city centre area. Then on my second and third days I took some pictures and shot some clips of parts of Dublin. Parts that, in my view, symbolise Dublin, and that were mentioned by the participants of the video. Then, I edited everything on Windows Movie Maker. I used royalty free music from the website called Incompetech, which was also edited on Windows Movie Maker.

Equipment used

Camera Canon 500D

Tripod

Windows Movie Maker

Youtube

Trial and error

The first problem I encountered was to see that you can’t count always on people. I had two other friends who agreed to take part in the video and everything was set. But on the day they didn’t show up. So I had to find other people to replace them in the last minute. Also another friend was called into work in the afternoon we were supposed to shoot the video, and I had to reschedule another time to meet him during the day. It was very hard then to find a place that would fit to the atmosphere of the video and wouldn’t be very noisy. With this I learned that it is always good to be prepared for anything, have a plan B and to have one or two people more than necessary just in case.

Secondly I had a problem with the audio. In some parts of it there were a lot of background noise. I had to shoot the last person in a different park, which is located in the city centre. What wasn't a great idea as there was a lot of background noise. Also some time I did some mistakes with the frame. In this way, the hair/head of one of the participants was a bit out of frame as he started moving while he was talking. From this I learned, that I always need to leave some space on the frame because the person will move and probably come out of frame. Another problem I had was learning how to use a tripod. It was hard in the beginning to leave its legs all on the same level. It was the first time that I used one, but with the help of a friend I managed to get it straight.



I really enjoyed producing this video narrative. In the end it was simpler than I expected it to be. I certainly feel more confident to produce other videos in the future.

Here's my short film:

Image Analysis - Essay

Vulture Stalking a Child - Kevin Carter

           


              The Iconic photography I chose is the ‘Vulture Stalking a Child’ taken by the photographer Kevin Carter in March 1993. Kevin Carter traveled to Southern Sudan, more specifically to the village of Ayod, to register the famine-stricken conditions of those people. Soon as he got there he started snapping photos, when he noticed a tiny girl struggling to make her way to the feeding center. She stopped to rest as she was about to collapse, then he approached her to take a picture when a vulture landed behind her. Carter said he waited for about twenty minutes hoping for the vulture to spread its wings, but it didn’t happen. After taken the picture, he chased the bird away, but didn’t help the girl because journalists weren’t supposed to touch the dwellers to prevent the transmission of diseases. The picture was then published in The New York Times and caused a wide reaction on the audience for being such a strong picture; hundreds of people contacted the newspaper overnight wanting to know what happened to the girl and if Carter assisted her. The photo became quite controversial then, and Kevin Carter came under strong criticism for not helping her. In 1994, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his disturbing photograph, however Carter had been feeling very bad for all that and some personal problems, committing suicide a few months later.

            This photograph is very important for its historical evidence and context. It represents not only the demise of a little child, but also the demise of hundreds in a Country. It is an evidence of the five years of Sudan's decade-long civil war and its effect. It is a proof of the high rates of death because of starvation - There were at least twenty deaths per 10,000 population in February and March 1993. Analyzing this picture, in its formal quality, we can see that Carter was able to angle the photo in a way to appear that the vulture was only few centimeters away from the child when actually it was much further away. He used natural light and there’s not much contrast in it when talking about colors. Cater positioned the elements in the picture using the rule of the thirds. The fact that the vulture comes from the back and somehow almost observing the child from the third top of the image enhances the feeling for the audience to think the vulture is going to attack the child in any minute. The title of the picture is also quite broad, not making reference to any particular country or place. Letting it open to include and represent not only the people from Sudan, but also all the people who are going through starvation and poverty all around the globe. The fact that the title is broad also helps to make more people to sympathize with the child and her situation. The photography also serves as a reflection to the audience. It makes people to stop to think about their lives’ conditions, and that they should be grateful for what they have because there are people who can’t have not even one fourth of what they’ve got. It also works to increase awareness of the people from rich countries to remember those ones who need their help. It makes the audience to feel empathy for them. This image is a reflection of the injustices in this world.

            I believe this image is so Iconic because of the immediate impact it gives to the person who is looking at it. The content is very strong. The child is basically compared to a piece of carrion, which the vulture is just awaiting for her death and then he will attack and eat her. It shocked the western world because this is far to be the conditions of an ordinary child. It’s inhuman. The appearance of the emaciated child nearly only bones, lying on the floor, struggling to live, is heartbreaking. Moreover, the polemic fact that Kevin Carter waited twenty minutes to chase the bird away, prioritizing then the search of the perfect picture over the well being of the little girl made the audience to feel shocked, which drove even more attention to the picture. Therefore, This picture wasn’t ‘just’ another one of a starving person from Africa, it went beyond that showing the degradation of a human being, compared to a piece of carrion, forgotten by society.

Bibliography:

• http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/vulture-stalking-a-child/
• http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00020363.htm
• http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/photography/articles/2845/title/kevin-carter-consequences-photojournalism