How to Make a Participatory Video in 11 Simple Steps

To complete our series on participatory video in evaluation, this blog guides you through 11 steps to make a participatory video! Participatory video (PV) can be used by communities for,

• Sensitization on a topic the community considers important
• Advocacy for the needs the community has identified. It can be advocacy targeted at local policy makers, national policy makers, and international actors.
• Project evaluation, as part of a reflective peace process in evaluation PV can be an opportunity for the community to show what works and what does not. 
• Project communication to make a direct communication link from the community on the ground to development NGOs and donors who may be very far away. For example, this series of videos made for the Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation.

What Will You Need?
To begin, you’ll need,

• One very simple video camera, it could be the video option on a camera or even on a phone!  The necessary controls are only start/off, zoom, and pause.Having a device that accepts a microphone input is recommended, as even a great film can be ruined by poor sound.
• Large sheets of paper, post-it notes or colored cards and pens for organizing notes and narratives.
• A laptop with editing software to compile the videos and to show the compilation process to participants.
• A projector or laptop with external speakers to screen the final cut.

Eleven Steps to Make a Participatory Video
1. Familiarize yourself with your equipment. You don’t have to be a cinematographer! But you do need to make sure you have taken the time to learn the settings and options on whatever equipment you will be providing. Giving your participants options will encourage their creative process, and having ready answers to foreseeable questions will help build your credibility and the project’s efficiency.
2. Communicate in advance to the community about the project. You’ll be asking community members to spend several full days participating in this process. Give them enough notice to make time to take part! Also plan something to incentivize people to come, participants will be leaving their income generating activity for a few days, acknowledge that and make it easy and worthwhile for them to be there by providing meals and/or drinks. Avoid per diems unless involvement is likely to be more than a few days,  as it raises ethical concerns and would have consequences on your other future activities.
3. Keep participation open and voluntary. You may not have many participants on the first day. However, as the training and filming process progress, participants move out of the “safe space” of training and discussion and take the camera out into the community. Through conducting interviews and publicly screening draft footage (only with the consent of the core group of participants) knowledge of the opportunity to be a part of the video process will attract more and more participants.
Be sure you are providing project information so that community members may make an informed decision of whether or not to participate, and get clear consent from anyone whose story is being told or image is being used.
4. Train participants how to use the camera. So that the “class” size remains manageable train a maximum of 12 to 15 people. Gather the trainees in a circle, the trainer included. Show the first participant  how to hold the camera and to remain steady, how to frame the shot, check the sound and press record, then let them teach their neighbor. 
Though it’s an open process, you should set some parameters that anyone using the camera goes through the basic equipment introduction, let one of the other participants pass this knowledge on!
Everything participants shoot is watched back and discussed. In this way participants rapidly learn basic principles around light, sound, and framing, the trainer can prompt with questions to help the participants discover for themselves the key rules. For examples of the basic principles of filming, check out this list of filming tips from LifeHacker.
5. Be clear about the goal and the use of the video. This will help you gather relevant participants in the community and open a discussion with one clear question. For example, if it is part of a project evaluation, you may want to target project participants and ask them “What is working in your community about this project? What is not working?” or “What is the most significant change since you participated in X project?” (See a more complete and rigorous approach to evaluation from InsightShare here).
Before starting the discussion or filming, it is very important the community is either aware of the audience of the video (if you have a precise goal) or decides on the audience (if it has been left open). It will orientate the content, the tools used, and whether people want to participate. This clarity helps to create a safe space where participants feel confident because they are in control of what they do and don’t want to share.
6. Keep the camera in the hands of the community. Once you have explained the first steps, the facilitator/trainer should not hold the camera to film anymore during the whole process. Participants explain to each other what they have learned, the trainer is only here to facilitate. This follows the principle that people learn better when they explain to someone else.
7. Brainstorm with the community around the main question. Participants may discuss the main question and possible narratives orally, while the facilitator (you) takes notes on a flipchart. Or they may write it on cards that are then gathered to show what the common themes are. However you choose to do it, the participants should be the ones to select which stories will be filmed and best communicate the purpose of the video.
8. Plan the story board. Based on the selection of the stories, make a story board together with the community members or let them write or draw it if they can. Give them examples of how they may want to show their testimony/story: a one on one person interview, a background narrative while showing pictures, a short drama, a group talk, etc. Let them decide on each tool for every story/ testimony. Also discuss the narrative thread as a group (which story will come first, second, etc).
Keep the end goal in mind, If you have a precise goal for this movie, remind them of  the end result that is needed and refer to your discussions which focused on audience. For instance, if everyone wants to show their story/testimony through drama – great! Do not discourage them! But also keep in mind that if in the end you need a short video, it will be difficult to cut down a drama without losing clarity. Let community members decide, but also be clear about what is feasible. 
9. Shoot the film. Remember the community members you trained are the movie directors, and anyone in the community may intervene in the video to explain, share, or have a walk-on role. The more people are feeling engaged, the more the potential of the filming process to enhance constructive discussion over the topic and bring change.
10. Screen the draft footage. At the end of a filming day, show the videos first to the participants, and then if they agree, to the wider community and decide together what they prefer, or let them tell you whether they are satisfied or not with it – is anything missing? Should anything be removed? Do they want to start it over? All the way through the process of recording and filming and screening keep asking about consent and check that participants are happy with what has been shown and said. They need to be in complete control of the footage and the trainer should highlight any possible risks or problems that could arise.
11. Share the video to your audience and back to the community. Once the editing is completed, organize a public screening in the community, followed by discussion. Ask them who they think should see the film and if possible get filmed consent with community representatives stating they agree to it being shared broadly, or detailing restrictions they would like to impose. Make copies of the final video for the community (on CD, USB, etc). You may consider giving the camera to the community at the end of the PV although this should be carefully thought through to make sure broad use is made of the equipment and it does not get hijacked by any single individual or group. Encouraging participants to continue collecting stories and use it for their own purposes of sensitization, advocacy, or storytelling. This longer term capacity building is usually achieved over a series of stages rather than during a one-off participatory video intervention.

Tips

• Do not underestimate the time you need to prepare shoot. It may take many trials and reviews to have something that both you and the community find satisfactory. For a ten minute movie, plan on at least one day for preparation and training, and two days for filming.
• Do not be a perfectionist. Remember participants are not professional cameramen, nor professional actors, and you are not a professional moviemaker. Community members are joining you voluntarily; it is ok if it is not perfect. The process -including positive relationships with your participants – is as important as the end result.
• Encourage all of the community to take on the video camera. Women, the elderly, and  marginalized groups may be too shy to take the camera as they may not be used to having responsibility or influence over the community. Encourage them to join in the process and to keep trying. 
• Use PV as a tool for peacebuilding. Target diverse actors as participants so that even previously conflictual individuals may discuss and work together, this focus can turn a PV into a peacebuilding intervention. In this sense, the process in itself, additionally to the content, could show change in perceptions, attitudes, behaviors and/or relationships. Be careful to pay attention to community and conflict dynamics prior to encouraging this type of intervention through a PV.
• Shoot transitions for the film. Ensure that participants remember to shoot transitions,  for instance life in the community (film steadily a view of the community) or someone leaving after an interview/ drama session.
• Each video cut should last minimum 10 seconds to be able to use it.
• Alter shooting types so as to produce a visually engaging movie. Examples of different shot types are: short cut (very close: hands, face only), medium cut (people are aware that you are filming them), long cut (people are not aware that you are filming them. All of this can be taught in fun and engaging ways so that the participants test and discover techniques rather than need to be told by the trainer.

Recommended Resources
“This is not a video camera”, Tedx Talks, Insight Share.
Insightshare.org (including more examples of more participatory videos, including in French)
V.Bau, The Impact of Participatory Media for Conflict Transformation, DME for Peace (September 2014)
Building Peace through Social Change Communication: participatory video in conflict-affected communities, V. Bau
 
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Maud Bakirdjian is currently DME Sahel Regional Associate in the Institutional Learning Team of Search for Common Ground, based in N’Djamena, Chad. In 2014, she co-facilitated and realized a participatory video for the Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation. The PV focused on the benefits of a DCR for improved local governance.