Tag Archives: documentary

maré em foco videos

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After 2 months teaching the youth media course, we ended up with some amazing documentary videos! In late July, we held a film screening for the community where we screened 7 short films documenting the lives of each student with an emphasis on an aspect of play in their life. Each kid filmed most of their material and directed the structure of the film, while the teachers came in at the end to do the editing.

The idea of play takes on many meanings – from its literal definition in boxing and judo, extending to theater, video gaming, religion, and more. In these videos, it becomes very clear how sports can change a person’s life and how it provides strength and hope in times of difficulty and stress.

Check out our students’ documentaries and the work we did with them this past summer on the Maré em Foco Blog page. Most of the videos are still in Portuguese but will be subtitled in the very near future so stay tuned!

 

JOGAR = to play

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This summer, I’m working with other students in the International Field Program from The New School in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One of our projects is conducting a youth media class in the favelas, to teach media/filming skills to the kids of these communities. My group is working in the community Nova Holanda, in the Complexo da Maré. It is about an hour van ride from Copacabana, and is a fascinating favela, still un-pacified.

We are working with youth (13-17 years old) who are part of the organization Luta Pela Paz. We have met with our students about three times now, and there is a lot of potential there! Our objective in this program is to teach them the basics of shooting and editing  documentary films. Throughout the course, they will watch clips from documentaries, learn how to use the equipment, and have a chance to make their own mini documentary.

In this final video, we want them to work off of the theme “JOGAR” which means “to play”. In the first lesson, we workshopped this word, to explain that it can have many interpretations. It is our hope that these students take this idea and explore what it means in their lives in a way that is transformative and thought-provoking. Already we have started to see how different forms of play have affected their lives – judo, boxing, theater, etc.

youth documenting / documenting youth

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An important part of a youth media program is media literacy – the goal isn’t simply to have kids make movies and documentary films, but to have them consciously choose a technical style and to form a plan of how to transmit their message. Likewise when adults make films about youth, the style chosen becomes the means of representation. In Introduction to Documentary, Bill Nichols lays out various documentary modes that can guide a documentary film.

An overarching theme in the work with youth is participatory media – in that the kids are doing the filming, as a form of citizen journalism. This type of media is extremely eye-opening because it is made by the people as an alternative to the dominant mainstream media. This is how someone can take control of their story and tell it exactly how they want, rather than having a film crew decide what to film and how. Youth media programs like the ones at Reel Lives aim at equipping students with the technical skills and vocabulary for them to then navigate the world of media.

A few traditional documentary styles are observational, expository, reflexive, and performative. Any subject can be filmed in any of these styles and more, but there are definite benefits to some over others. As I work on a mini-documentary about a youth sports program, I’m taking a mixed expository/reflexive approach. This means my film will have a narrative voiceover commenting on the action and arguing in favor of sports as a positive force for youth development. Meanwhile, since expository styles are more manipulative, I want to balance it out with a reflexive component in which I recognize the filmmaking process as a barrier between myself and the action. From the start of the planning process I knew I wants to have my “voice” come through in the film, literally and figuratively. When working with youth, I think media needs to go beyond the observational format and be more engaged with the subjects.

With sports, however, a documentary film could also be more performative in nature, especially if the focus is on the physical action and the game preparation. My focus is more on the transformations that comes about by being involved in youth sports programs, so a commentary is very useful in analyzing the images. The Media That Matters film festival is a great place to see some youth media and the work of young filmmakers who experiment with various documentary styles.