Comrades

One of the missions of the VJ Grab Bag is to find and develop a community of content producers. I identify most strongly with the Video Journalists. But I believe that the core philosophies of Video Journalism (one-person production, intimate and experimental storytelling) allow in projects which are wildly different in style and tone. For this reason, I hope to see submissions which askews the cinema-verite heritage of Video Journalism. This can take the form of animation, mockumentary, music videos, etc.

We are on the verge of something new. The form is rough, and remains to be determined. But there are many encouraging examples out there. Take a look at these two sites:

Alive in Baghdad

Alive in Baghdad was formed to counter the sound-bite driven, “Live From” news model. Through the work of a team of Americans and Iraqi correspondents on the ground, Alive in Baghdad shows the occupation through the voices of Iraqis. Alive in Baghdad brings testimonies from individual Iraqis, footage of daily life in Iraq, and short news segments from Iraq to you.

Alive in Baghdad gives cameras to Iraqis (recalls Voices of Iraq), lets them shoot the footage, and then has an elaborate but (apparently) effective way to cut the footage together into very compelling video pieces. Spend the time, watch some.

Another online video site is the Venice Project. The details of the site are being kept quiet. (feels like mumbo jumbo hype-building advertising - which is something of a turn off). Depending on what you read/hear/believe, the Venice Project is an online web portal for tv programming. Sound familiar? It should. That is the direction we hope to he be headed towards with our Grab Bag game.