On April 4th, the project presentation and call for participants were launched as part of the Info day, an event held at the headquarters of Venti di scambio (the local partner of ASTIPA) aimed at presenting the various projects, services, and activities planned. The event was open to all citizens. During the evening, the questionnaire on average skills, social skills, and local knowledge related to the project was submitted. The call was also promoted on the local association’s social channels.
From mid-April and for about two weeks, work was done on group formation, setting expectations, and defining the themes to be explored during the operational phase of the project: what did the participants want to tell? Who or what did they want to photograph and film?
From May to July, the basic training and production phase of videos, photos, and identifying content took place. During this phase, participants, guided by a team of experts, learned how to use the necessary tools (camera, smartphone) and, concurrently, created content.
Here is the detailed programme of the project implementation:
1st meeting: Tuesday 23 April
Introduction to the aims of the project, mutual knowledge of the participants
2nd meeting: Tuesday 7 May
Training of the group, team building and planning of the action to put in place
3rd meeting: Monday 13 May
Meeting with the experts (a director and a photographer): acquisition of basic photo and video techniques.
4th meeting: Tuesday, 28 May
Meeting with the experts (a director and a photographer): acquisition of basic photo and video techniques + planning of places, people and stories to be photographed and filmed. In an open discussion, the group selected a few places in and around the city. The criterion was not to select the best known and most ‘touristy’ buildings in the city (e.g. castle and cathedral), but to highlight more hidden corners. A typical recipe of the local gastronomic heritage was also highlighted.
5th meeting: Thursday 6 June
“Ciak si gira e si fotografa” (“Action!”) – The group, together with the two experts (photographer and director), went on a tour to take photos and videos. A programme of places, things, and people to be filmed and photographed had already been drawn up.
6th meeting: Tuesday 2 July
Completion of the previous session. The video footage was all shot using smartphones, following the logic of the project, which does not aim to train professional video makers, but to improve the community’s basic skills in illustrating and narrating their territory. Priority was therefore given to the training aspect and the narrative capacity (in this specific case, the participants’ effort was to link, in the video, the narration of the territory with that of the preparation of the typical product). Also, the group viewed the pre-edited video and selected photos, and together they corrected the work.
8th meeting: Monday 15 July
Selection of images that will be part of the final selection. Again, the photographs were taken with a smartphone, in order to tie the narrative to the use of everyday tools. Digital photos and some low-resolution prints are currently available.
The workshops and training activities were held at the Astipa partner’s premises in Conversano, via Gioberti 46. The photography and video sessions were held outdoors at selected locations.
Post production work (editing, audio, subtitles, etc.) will be completed between August and September. The working group asked to participate in an additional training session on the use of video editing programmes. The session will be held on 2 September 2024.
From November 10th to 12th, a public event will be held to present the results, which included setting up a photo exhibition and screening the videos that were created.
