$3,000 still needed for NIRV

August 18, 2017

We are getting close to our goal… help us fuel the learning!

Thank you so much to those of you who have contributed. We are now just $3,000 short of the funds needed to complete the first phase of the New Immigrant and Refugee Visions (NIRV) documentary filmmaking training, production and public engagement project.

Our trainees have made an impressive commitment to meet twice a week in very long and intensive sessions for 15 weeks. We all know that food is fuel for our brains – necessary for learning effectively and thinking creatively. So please consider a gift that will help them make the most out of their NIRV opportunity:

$100 – Brain fuel for one training day
$200 – Brain fuel for one week of training (2 days)
DONATEOR…
Contribute a meal directly and meet the trainees!
Please call or email us at (857) 415-0564 or info[at]csfilm[dot]org

Thank you for being part of the “community” in Community Supported Film. Enjoy the highlights below!


New Immigrant and Refugee Visions 
NIRV Highlights, Issue 1, August 14, 2017

Qin Li of China practices composition, while Michael Sheridan looks on. Braulio Tellez-Vilches of Cuba, Kiki Densamo of Ethiopia and Mohammed Arifuzzaman of Bangladesh inspect their camera for the first time. Thelimo Louis of Haiti sets up a long shot.

The Training begins…
Saturday, July 29th marked Day 1 of CSFilm’s New Immigrant and Refugee Visions documentary filmmaking training and production project.  Our ten participants met each other for the first time and even before the first session began they were chatting and laughing about parenting, quirky Americanisms and sharing stories of challenges and homelands.  No awkward silence here!

As the trainees shared their visions and voices from an incredible diversity of cultures and experiences, the formal introductions brought tears to the eyes of those who contributed so much and worked for years dreaming of this day.

The Shot (heard around the world…)
The training began with an introduction to the art and craft of recording shots – the building blocks of films (or “layers of the production cake”). This included a demonstration of shot types and how shots are gathered to construct a scene – the primary ingredient of stories.

The Mantra
When trainees felt overwhelmed by everything that goes into a good shot, Michael introduced his Mantra and the practice of finding your Zen state of mind while shooting, “There is often a lot going on in the world we want to document and we have to stay calm and focused or, instead of usable raw footage, we will end up with unusable raw sewage, so to speak.”

The Mantra: Focus, Expose, Compose and Hold

At the end of the first day, each trainee shot a scene of two other trainees playing cards.  They had great fun teaching each other games from their own country until it was time to rotate to the camera. Meanwhile, the camera person practiced two parts of the mantra: manual control of focus and holding their shots for at least 7 seconds. “Steady there, stay calm, don’t move… ooohhhmmm.”

… And this was just Day 1

FOR MORE: See the full version of NIRV Highlights, Issue 1 on the Community Supported Film website.
Or download the PDF for a printable version of the 4-page issue.
More photos! More details! and food from around the world!

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