Aviwe: citizen journalist

I was asked to find a citizen journalist and to teach them the importance of lighting when filming. I used Aviwe, an upstarter who is a dedicated scholar with a desire to learn as much as she can.

Once I taught her the basics of lighting I asked her to make a short film on her cell-phone about something that was important to her in her life. This resulted in a two-minute piece on the role of music in her life. On the day of filming she arrived with a story-board which helped her to organizer the general flow of the film. She started the piece with a short song, whilst including cut-aways of the word 'music' written on her hand and on a piece of paper, to show that it is a part of everything that she does. She then interviewed her friend, Sethu, about the role of music in her life. After the interview she asked Sethu to sing the song that she had initially opened her film with. This made the film circular with a definite beginning, middle and end. The use of a song and the cut-aways made it both aesthetically and audibly appealing.

This film is somewhat abstract as it focused more on one of Aviwe's hobbies, yet by using both her opinion and her friend's opinion, it made it seem less one-sided. The fact that she used her friend, an ordinary person as the star of the show, made it seem much more authentic. The theme of music is not a local issue, however she explained that when someone is upset, music is a suitable outlet. She explained that when Sethu's boyfriend dumped her, instead of "using drugs and getting wasted just to take the stress away, she just goes to her bedroom and listens to music to take the stress away". Thus for Aviwe she believes that music has healing powers. It is not just for negative situations as she explains that if a man proposes, listening to a love song will make the moment even more perfect. For Aviwe music takes her to her happy place.
When I saw Aviwe's story I was so delighted to see that she had used side-lighting as I had emphasized just how important magic hour and side lighting was. This helped the viewer to see the real message conveyed on Sethu's face. I was also excited to see that she had learned rule of thirds. However, Sethu's head was cut off throughout the film and she also battled to keep the phone still when shooting. In terms of advice I would tell Aviwe that she needs to make sure that there are no floating limbs or cut off heads when she is shooting as this just looks messy. I would also tell her to make use of natural tripods to keep the camera still for example using a table to lean on or the floor. This will help her to keep the camera relatively still whilst shooting.

Through this citizen journalism, Aviwe was able to set her own agenda, which helps the ordinary person to have a voice. This also helped to build horizontal bridges between us the journalists and the general Grahamstown community.

I thought this process was very rewarding not only because she was able to make her own agenda but also because she learned an invaluable skill. Aviwe has expressed huge interest in carrying on with filming and she says she hopes to document more moments of her life.