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Using my powers for good
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I like to think I use my skills for good occasionally. I picked up a paper the other day and read that Laszlo Csatary has been indicted for involvement in sending nearly 12,000 jews to nazi death camps during WW2. Coincidentally, or maybe not quite coincidentally, I cut a 30 minute doc basically accusing the Hungarian government of supporting nazis (modern neo-nazis as well as war criminals), including our attempt to doorstep Csatary, which was transmitted last month. I don’t suppose my rambling helps, except to show that there are other paths if your problem is languishing over not achieving anything meaningful in your life.
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I’m somebody now – I’ve been insulted by Dr. Zelin. Woo Hoo!
Actually Chris, at the risk of ruining Bob’s reputation, he’s actually a nice guy. I know him both on-line here at the COW as well as have had the pleasure of hiring him to engineer and maintain my edit suites.
When reading his over-the-top comments, imagine him smiling and laughing – not scorning. Enough about Bob…
I do quite a bit of non-profit work and I can tell you that it very rewarding. The money is rarely what I can charge corporate clients, but many charities have a real need to communicate their story with emotion and passion to aid in their fundraising efforts. Since video is best at eliciting an emotional response in the viewer, it’s a match made in heaven. Here’s a piece we did for Make-A-Wish last year that I really like. It was played at a fundraising gala for an audience of about 1000 just before the MC did the “big ask.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kG0ss08HkU
Getting the work? Well, as Bob said, that’s the hard part. The really hart part. Every market is different and I don’t know of any short cuts – but look forward to checking out your link. Most charities are so used to seeking out donations that their mindset is firmly in the “can you donate your service” camp. That’s a great way to get a foot in the door so that you can build a reel, but you obviously can’t live like that – unless you’re already independently wealthy.
And if that’s the case, well… then that’s different 😉
Best of luck to you! 391
Production is fun – but lets not forget: Nobody ever died on the video table!
http://www.OmniNewMedia.com
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I thought this was going to be a thread about superpowers. Well to the folks who are passionate about a cause you may appear to have super powers if you can help them spread their message. In the YouTube era professional video skills are 50% in demand by volunteer organizations. I suggest finding an issue you care about instead of just throwing a dart at the NGO with a job opening. Imagine taking a position as the video guy/latrine digger/diesel mechanic for the International Skunk Preservation Society and realizing 3 months into a 1 year contract that you don’t care much about skunks or latrines. Your lack of passion will show in your videos too…
Why not find a local charity to help out?
Best of luck.
Mike Cohen
PS. Zelin rocks
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“I have been struck in the last 6 months by a powerful desire to go and work abroad for a while and as this thought has matured I’ve been more drawn to the idea of somehow getting involved in some charity/NGO work. Ideally I want to use my current skill set, so as A) to be able to bring some expertise and hopefully be more useful than just “another pair of hands” and B) to at least keep my eye in and not have a total black hole on my CV if/when I choose to come back.
Does anyone have any experience in making this move? Can anyone offer advice on finding work like this? Do jobs like this (I’d guess you might call it in-house videographer or something) even exist? As you can tell this is motivated more by a desire to work abroad than by any interest in a particular cause/charity so I’m very open minded.”
‘Abroad’ as in Asia? I’m not sure my experience will help but for what it’s worth:
I live in Mumbai, India, and 6 months ago I had the sudden urge to go help NGOs, producing videos for them. I’ve only recently started approaching them (it took a long time to get everything set up). What I’ve learnt is that:
They don’t care about my expertise or what I can offer. All they care about (and rightly so) is the pressing problem they have today. And mind you, I’m offering to pay for the videos out of my own pocket. It’s a slow process where I have to force myself to care, because Mike hit the nail on the head when he said:
“Your lack of passion will show in your videos too…”
NGOs in India, generally, are not as organized as they should be. Of course, there are many exceptions, but there are millions of NGOs. Some of these are not even registered, so it is extremely tough and frustrating because you can’t enter into a formal agreement with an ‘NGO’ if they aren’t ‘registered’. There are many ‘foreigners’ in Mumbai working for NGOs, some full time. They stay under the radar.
Three months ago I was all excited and positive. Now, I’m just positive.
Regarding your question of whether there’s a need for an in-house videographer. Sure, but who’ll pay? It’s one thing for an NGO to have a video, and yet another to be able to leverage it. Who’ll do it? Who’s got the experience to do it? Will you do it for them?
Just a thought: If you’re planning to return to impress people in the U.K. about work you have done, why not help charities in the U.K.? E.g., if I’m a volunteer waiting impatiently to import an expensive drug that somebody has thankfully sent from overseas to save a life, and have to knock on a hundred doors and spend many frustrating sessions with ‘officials’ who can’t care less, and have to worry about a million other things, and you show up with a smile wanting to help – I’ll ask you if you can help make my life a bit easier.
And if your reply is: “No, but I can film your life, with the latest Blackmagic Cinema Camera.”
I don’t know. But hey, I’m still learning.
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