Syrian journalists trained in mobile-phone film-making
Related project
The Syrian media incubatorIn late May 2015, Syrian media incubator in Gaziantep (Turkey) played host to around a dozen Syrian citizen-journalists at a workshop aimed at drafting the screenplay for their films, which are to be shown in Syria at the Pixel Mobile Film Festival.
Since the start of the Syrian revolution, the mobile phone has been the Syrian people's favourite method of filming and recording events and violence. Filming with a telephone is undoubtedly more accessible, but it throws up a number of challenges.
"Filming with a mobile phone offers a lot of advantages: it is more accessible, discreet and portable than conventional cameras, which allows "improvised", spontaneous filming in emergency situations. This suits the Syrian context, in which the situation is always changing", explains Mezar Matar, a member of the Al Shareh collective behind the festival.
"Filming with a mobile is not easy. There are fewer opportunities for taking shots and it is more difficult to achieve a quality sound track. This means that film-makers need to approach filming differently and be more creative. What is more, several of the attendees already had filming experience, but did not know how to write a screenplay or to structure their film, which are two basic skills", adds Yasmin Fedda, the trainer at the workshop.
To be selected, each participant had to submit a draft screenplay for a film 3 to 7 minutes long. The idea was to provide those taking part with a range of knowledge, from writing the screenplay to sourcing funding, and including techniques of filming and editing on an iPhone.
Most of those attending the workshop picked social and humanitarian subjects: the phenomenon of children enlisting in armed groups, the impact of the conflict on children, etc. Others focused on the development of initiatives by the Syrians themselves at local level: creation of cultural centres, development of "civil defence" groups, and so on.
One participant opted for the topic of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence in Syria.
Upon completion of the training course, everyone received remote mentoring during filming. In early July, all the participants will work on editing their films at a second workshop, prior to screening during the Festival Pixel du film mobile. This event will primarily be aimed at the Syrian "domestic" population, since these films will be screened in Syria, particularly in Aleppo, Idlib and Al-Qamishli.
