Lights, Camera, Community Video

Book excerpt: Citizens in towns across America have long struggled to find ways to discover and articulate a common vision for their communities. Our high-speed, hyper-individualized, Internet- and TV-dependent culture only complicates this struggle, making it difficult to invigorate the community spirit of the American town. In an effort to rejuvenate the community spirit, the Orton Family Foundation developed Community Video Projects to stimulate community dialogue and inspire citizen participation in community issues. A community video project uses the power and excitement of video to encourage residents to convene publicly to discuss the issues and opportunities facing their community and to consider choices regarding their future. Lights, Camera, Community Video will show you how to use video technology to both stimulate and document a community visioning exercise. It will guide you through equipment needs, getting the word out to the community about your video project, scheduling interviews, choosing filming locations, editing, and more. When the video is completed the community can come together for a public screening. This event will serve as a great opportunity to get feedback and to discuss the future of your neighborhood. This report includes pertinent information and ideas from the authors' own community video projects combined with additional reference sources. Also included is a list of references to help you produce your own video, regardless of prior experience. This report, sponsored by APA's Northern New England Chapter, includes a DVD containing the community videos from Swanton, Vermont, and Fruita, Colorado.