NGOs – Learn to use Video!

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Alice Wilson

For NGO's video is important in storytelling and giving campaigns greater impact.

Video is important for NGOs when it comes to storytelling and giving campaigns greater impact.

Here are 5 reasons why:

1. With the rise of social media and the internet, NGO’s have never been so equipped to campaign and connect with their audiences as they are now.

2. Video is important in storytelling and can give campaigns more impact.

3. Videos can create more interest, meaning more people will support your initiatives.

4. Video can encourage sharing as people are 21 times more likely to share a video on social media than text, says a study by Hubspot. This creates further knowledge of your project and encourages new and potential supporters.

5. Campaigns which involve video are more likely to go viral – for example the ALS ice bucket challenge last summer was seen by millions.

Spectacle offer a short film making course which is designed to suit NGO’s, Charities, Start ups and SME’s. The training is not technology specific but allows you to make use of the equipment you have available and use low budget techniques. This is more cost effective than hiring a film crew.

We also offer an intensive 4 day course attended by NGO, charity and communications workers.

If you are interested in booking either course visit the How to Book page.

For information on other Spectacle training courses

Or contact training@spectacle.co.uk

If you would like more information on future training opportunities at Spectacle sign up for the Training Newsletter – tick the box if you would also like Spectacle’s general newsletter.

Video Marketing For The Web Training Course

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Alice Wilson

Spectacle offers a variety of different training courses. If you work for a business, start up, NGO or charity this might be your chance to learn how to use digital video for marketing purposes.

Hiring film crew or attending a training course to learn video skills can be expensive. However, Spectacle’s video marketing for the web course is affordable and can help you to boost business.

If you work for a business, start up, NGO or charity then our course could be beneficial to you, by offering advice on using digital video to advertise, target and fundraise.

By 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic according to a study by Cisco. Online video is quickly becoming a key means for people to satisfy information and entertainment needs, and has become the future for marketing.

Video has the biggest potential reach on the web, Youtube receiving more than 1 billion unique visitors every month. Meaning Youtube receives the second most visitors on the whole of the web, after Facebook.

We schedule courses at our premises in London regularly over the year but are also available to come and teach at institutions. The course has recently been taught at Cambridge University Press and several Borough Councils. We have received excellent feedback.

Freelance Marketer Ella gave excellent feedback and said :

I was looking for a cost effective course to extend my marketing skills to be able to offer short digital video production for my clients. As a freelancer, a lot of courses I looked at were too long, with content I didn’t need, and frankly too costly. Of course, part of me thought the Spectacle course was a suspicious bargain, but testimonials were strong and I liked how ‘real world applied’ the content looked.

I needn’t have worried. Mark has a skill to extract exactly what you need from the course and flex content to suit you. My photography skills were basic at best, and decades old, but very swiftly updated! Hands on use of high quality camcorders straightaway means that you fly out of the blocks on that, and find yourself filming around Clapham getting the feel of things very quickly indeed. By the end of day one we’d interviewed, reviewed framing, focus and exposure issues, and – most eye opening to me – got the hang of how to record broadcast quality audio. Not to give too much away, by the end of day two we were in post production…

For me, the key was Mark’s ‘mindset’ approach. So, of course, my technical skills will need hours of practice over the next few weeks, but unless your training gives you the mindset of a film maker, you might as well work your way through the manufacturer’s manual. Mark covers how to keep swapping your hats, from thinking like a sound engineer to how to capture plentiful footage that’s filmed in a away that doesn’t prompt a performance or reaction, to maintaining the story thread (and safe files) through the edit process.

On editing, I have even less background than photography. But there’s hands on time again, and most importantly a really in-depth comparison of software you can use, with differing tools and screen layouts. The same goes for kit options – there’s no pressure to buy any one brand or configuration, and Mark discusses what you’re likely to need specific to your setting. I have confidence now to choose what will suit me best, and even where to hunt for 2nd hand, which is a quantum leap from where I was

Would I recommend Spectacle? Only grudgingly – it’s my secret support system now, and I’m not sure I want to share… I shall definitely be going back.

If you are interested in booking the course visit the How to Book page.

For information on other Spectacle training courses

Or contact training@spectacle.co.uk

If you would like more information on future training opportunities at Spectacle sign up for the Training Newsletter – tick the box if you would also like Spectacle’s general newsletter.

An insight into an internship at Spectacle

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Alice Wilson

I have just completed a month long work experience placement at Spectacle, an award winning independent television production company. Spectacle is a small, friendly company with a positive office atmosphere.

As an intern my tasks include promoting Spectacles training courses in video production through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and the Spectacle blog. Through this I have learnt how to use TweetDeck a useful tool to line up tweets, improved my ability to use WordPress and learned other transferable social media skills. I have also been involved in writing Spectacles monthly newsletter.

As Spectacle is a small organisation there is the opportunity to become involved and receive a greater insight into the company. For example I have had the opportunity to be on the film set of one of Spectacles current projects. I do not have any past experience in the film making industry so this was interesting and valuable.

Another benefit of working for a small company meant that my ideas and opinions were valued and my actions made more of an impact.

I am currently a student at Bournemouth University studying Communication and Media and needed to complete a four week summer placement as part of my course. I came across Spectacle on my university careers website, which can be used by both current students, graduates and members of the public looking to further their career.

To find out more about Spectacle’s work experience placement opportunities.

Digital Video Production for visual anthropologists and social researchers

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Chloe Evans

In social research using film raises many questions, some of which
have been explored and addressed in previous articles:

The relationship between visual anthropology and documentary film

Academia’s disengagement with the media: elitism or fear

However, film can add substantial depth to social research as it can
be used as reference material for write-ups and articles, examples or
illustrations of particular concepts as well as bringing ethnographic
data together in an understandable format that can be understood by a
wider audience. However, to produce a film for social research one
must have the necessary skills in participatory techniques, interview
techniques and working in the field. Most of these things will be
addressed in Spectacle’s weekend training courses:

In order to make sound documentary films for social research you will
need to have participatory techniques that engages the person or
people you are filming. Participatory techniques involve participant
observation, field notes and interviews. Participant observation is a
fieldwork technique that is used in ethnographic research in which the
anthropologist or sociologist joins in with the activities with a
group of people, rather than merely observing and watching from afar.
They take part in the daily activities, rituals and interactions with
a group of people. This is helpful for social research as this
enhances the quality of the fieldwork data.

Field notes are the records of the social data collected from
participant observation, they are used to record observations, day
events and informal interviews which does not seem overtly intrusive
like a camera would be.

Interviews are vital for social research and make up most of the
qualitative data. There are informal interviews where the interviewer
is casually asking questions in a relaxed environment and formal
interviews when the researcher has explicitly asked for a formal
interview as a specific time and place. Semi-structured interviews
involve a list of questions and prompts that will try and aim for all
topics to be covered. The success of the interviews for data
collection can vary greatly as it depends on the willingness of the
interviewees cooperation and their interest in the project.

From using these techniques you will provide the foundation for social
and ethnographic research that can be utilised with film. Recording
interviews, events and other social data with film can act as another
tool for research for later analysis or become a documentary or a
piece of work in itself. Participatory media which involves the
interviewees, allows them to see if they are being represented
properly. This can be done through working closely with the
interviewees and letting them review the footage that has been shot or
asking them what they want to be filmed and not filmed.

Filming for social research also brings up questions of ethics; mainly
issues of misrepresentation and power. Is the filmmaker and social
researcher exploiting those being interviewed and filmed? Will they be
misrepresented in the edited versions of the films and write-ups? To
solve these issues there are precautions and regulations in place that
if followed will give the interviewees more rights. For example there
are permission waivers that try and make sure that the interviewee
knows what they are agreeing to. Participatory filming with the
communities concerned will also help to make it more equal in terms of
power relations.

Follow link for next scheduled course

Digital Video Production for Visual Anthropologists & Social Researchers

Short, Sharp, Affordable. Aimed at those are interested in using film within their social research and want a fast way to acquire detailed and concise digital video filming skills.

Click here to book

Or contact training@spectacle.co.uk

For information on other Spectacle training courses

Academia’s disengagement with the media: Elitism or Fear?

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Chloe Evans

The typical image of the academic is usually of an old eccentric: hidden away in an ivory tower studying the composition of beetle shells. In other words, far removed from the rest of reality. There has been a gap between the general public and the interests of academics. University departments want their subjects to be studied but it is difficult to reach an audience if they themselves make it hard and inaccessible. However, science programmes have become part of the routine TV schedule, with shows like Brian Cox’s ‘Wonders of the Universe’ and David Attenborough’s ‘Life’ series helping to popularise the
sciences. The media offers useful tools for engagement with the wider public where ideas can be presented and published and discussed.

However, there has been a backlash against media outlets by some academics. A primary reason for academics’ general distaste for public engagement is the fear of being misquoted, misread and misinterpreted by the media in news programmes and therefore creating a bad impression of themselves and the rest of the academic community. Many academics feel that if they engage with the public that they are putting themselves at risk of their reputation with their peers.

Professor Alice Roberts Professor of public engagement in science at Birmingham University and BBC TV presenter argues that ‘public engagement should be part of academic life’ and advocates actively reaching out to the public to make academic issues accessible. If academics are afraid of misrepresentation by media they should find ways to bypass this by producing the content themselves. Through films and social media platforms academics have a direct route to communicate to a wide audience. Using films for social research or as part of research can add depth to a research project as well as making it accessible and understandable to a wider audience.

Academics and researchers should embrace the newer platforms for public engagement and accessibility as this will lead to more interest in their subjects and subsequently more students learning their subjects.

If you want to know more about this issue watch Alice Roberts’ opinion on this video

Spectacle’s new weekend course Digital Video Production for visual anthropologists and social researchers:

Aimed at those are interested in using film within their social research and want a fast way to acquire detailed and concise digital video filming skills.

Click here to book

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Video Marketing For The Web Training Course