- Karaoke Human Rights Videos from Cambodia Face Censorship As you belt out 'Living on a Prayer' on a Saturday night have you ever thought how karaoke could be used for human rights?
- It Gets Better: Collective and Individual Voice in Video Advocacy Recently a number of public figures in the USA have added their voices to the "It Gets Better" campaign, which aims to share hopeful messages with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth who may be wondering if life will always be bad.
- Must Watch: Activist Video Showcase at DIY Video 24/7, 2010 Two years ago I had the pleasure of participating in 24/7: a DIY Video Summit, a jamboree of DIY and DIWO (doing-it-with-others) video creators and thinkers at the University of Southern California, where I shared some ideas from WITNESS about human rights video in this environment.
- Learning From Innovations In The ‘Highrise’ Project: 360 Degree Filming and More Last week, the National Film Board of Canada launched 'Out My Window' an interactive exploration of highrise living around the world including 360° (degree) filming and immersive tapestries of audio stories and photographs from Havana to Toronto, Phnom Penh to Istanbul. It is part of a larger exploratory film project called "Highrise."
- When Can An Advocacy Video Blow-Up Children? My colleague Chris' post on successful advocacy videos and the failures highlights the recent 10:10 UK campaign video, which ("spoiler alert") begins with a scene in which children are blown up when they don't commit to take measures to reduce their carbon footprint.
- Follow-Up: When an Advocacy Video Misses Its Mark This is a follow-up post to When an Advocacy Video Misses Its Mark, which focused on two advocacy videos that attempted to use comedy to raise awareness to address domestic violence and climate change. Please check the original post, videos and thoughtful comments first...
- When an Advocacy Video Misses Its Mark I've seen a lot of advocacy videos - three years ago I helped start the WITNESS Hub and have been scouring the web for creative, innovative and effective advocacy videos ever since. Throughout, there is one genre of advocacy videos that has always has been the most polarizing: comedy.
- Video Report on Reproductive Rights in the Philippines The Center for Reproductive Rights released a powerful video to accompany its report Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban.
- Presumed Guilty: Documentary Puts Mexican Legal System on Trial Toño Zúñiga was just your average aspiring rapper and break dancer who made a living running a small electronics repair stand.
- Live Streaming Resistance: A Replicable Video Advocacy Model During April in the United States, 92,432 homes were repossessed. Only one homeowner got a weeks' worth of news coverage. Read how he used video and why his model is worth replicating...
- Video Testimony from an Untelevised Trial Always on the look out for new and interesting uses of video in human rights campaigns, I came across this innovative use of testimony and video by the Courage Campaign. They're fighting to keep the proceedings of the legal challenge to Proposition 8, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, public. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cameras could be barred from the trial.
- #Video4Change: Flash Mob + Remix of Lady Gaga Song = Viral Advocacy? A fantastically creative advocacy video from San Francisco Pride at Work, a coalition between the LGBT community and UNITE HERE, a union representing over 300,000 hospitality and manufacturing workers across North America, has been taking over my Facebook feed this week - and for good reason. Check it out...
- Groundbreaking Use of Video Helps Win Case for Indigenous Endorois People in Kenya In 1973 the Kenyan Endorois community was evicted from their land. In 2009 their case was taken to court, and with the help of WITNESS, they produced a film about their story which ultimately helped lead to a decision requiring the government to restitute their lands with compensation.