Video Republic
How young people are changing Europe
Production companies and broadcasters no longer hold a monopoly over moving-images - instead, a new theatre of public information has emerged. Spread across the internet, television, festivals and campaigns this emerging ‘Video Republic’ is a messy, alternative realm of video creation and exchange, dominated by young people. Who inhabits, shapes and regulates the Video Republic?
Berlin. 24-25/03/08.
at 3:59pm on Tuesday, 8th April 2008
On 24th and 25th March I spent two days at the marvellous Schlesische 27, a youth arts organisation in Kreuzberg, to the south east of Berlin. It's nestled in a set of buildings off Schlesische street, in an area with growing numbers of artists and an established Turkish population.
There were six young filmmakers in the workshop, all aged between 17 and 22. Thanks, first off, to the facilitators and filmmakers for being so welcoming. I was only there two days so unfortunately I haven’t yet had a chance to see how the ideas developed and how the films turned out.
It was a really different experience to the workshop in Helsinki. A couple of main thoughts struck me during the visit.
Firstly, it struck me that the value of the workshops themselves can differ greatly. The role of the facilitators, and the things that the young people draw from the workshop, are certainly not always the same. These workshops are not always just about making good quality videos; making a statement, or defining yourself through the video you get to make. It can sometimes, initially at least, be more about the confidence and skills the young people get in the workshop - and in the words of one of the facilitators, the ‘journey’ that each young person takes or begins.
This might complicate the idea of comparing videos made in different places by different young people, who may have wildly different experiences of media consumption and production, education, other Europeans and places. That said, it is really interesting to see young people start to use audio-visual media on this journey.
The second point is really related to this. The area where the filmmakers were drawn from sits near the old border East-West Berlin. I wondered whether the generation aged now around 20 years old differed in any significant way from older generations given that for them, the 'wall' and the divisions associated with it are in some respects a part of history rather than lived experience.
Opinions seemed to differ in the people I spoke to, but what I heard seemed to underline how different young people's experiences are. It's a really obvious point, but it is pointless talking about ‘young people’ as a monolithic entity.
And it is worth reminding ourselves of that when we look to new media, and video making. None of this changes the value that audio-visual exchange can have for intercultural understanding in the slightest, but this kind of detail helps us understand the varied experiences of media production and exchange.
We’ve certainly been thinking about how that changes what video workshops offer different kinds of young people; how that changes what kind of videos they make; how that changes how we can compare the outputs across Europe.
We’re off to Romania in a couple of weeks (23rd-28th April). If you would like to talk to us about our work – in particular any of these research visits – do get in touch with us, either below in the comments section or by email.
There were six young filmmakers in the workshop, all aged between 17 and 22. Thanks, first off, to the facilitators and filmmakers for being so welcoming. I was only there two days so unfortunately I haven’t yet had a chance to see how the ideas developed and how the films turned out.
It was a really different experience to the workshop in Helsinki. A couple of main thoughts struck me during the visit.
Firstly, it struck me that the value of the workshops themselves can differ greatly. The role of the facilitators, and the things that the young people draw from the workshop, are certainly not always the same. These workshops are not always just about making good quality videos; making a statement, or defining yourself through the video you get to make. It can sometimes, initially at least, be more about the confidence and skills the young people get in the workshop - and in the words of one of the facilitators, the ‘journey’ that each young person takes or begins.
This might complicate the idea of comparing videos made in different places by different young people, who may have wildly different experiences of media consumption and production, education, other Europeans and places. That said, it is really interesting to see young people start to use audio-visual media on this journey.
The second point is really related to this. The area where the filmmakers were drawn from sits near the old border East-West Berlin. I wondered whether the generation aged now around 20 years old differed in any significant way from older generations given that for them, the 'wall' and the divisions associated with it are in some respects a part of history rather than lived experience.
Opinions seemed to differ in the people I spoke to, but what I heard seemed to underline how different young people's experiences are. It's a really obvious point, but it is pointless talking about ‘young people’ as a monolithic entity.
And it is worth reminding ourselves of that when we look to new media, and video making. None of this changes the value that audio-visual exchange can have for intercultural understanding in the slightest, but this kind of detail helps us understand the varied experiences of media production and exchange.
We’ve certainly been thinking about how that changes what video workshops offer different kinds of young people; how that changes what kind of videos they make; how that changes how we can compare the outputs across Europe.
We’re off to Romania in a couple of weeks (23rd-28th April). If you would like to talk to us about our work – in particular any of these research visits – do get in touch with us, either below in the comments section or by email.
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