'Capturing the Vernacular' - Video Workshops with Youths of the
Children's Cultural Centre, Luang Prabang
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Thus far, there have been three workshops led by Wu Wen Guang (Beijing) and Angel Shaw (New York City). With the renown chinese independent documentary maker, Wu, the youths began first with stills, 1 minute short films and 3 minute short films. This expanded into basic editing with two video cameras (rather than expensive editing equipment). By the second workshop with Wu, the young people had begun to tell stories centering on a main protagonist, someone from their everyday lives. Many chose to tell stories of strong women figures who held their families together, grandmothers, mothers, sisters and aunts. When Filipino-American Angel Shaw visited, she focussed even more on sound collection and the concept of the interview. She divided the students into working groups of three: the interviewer, the camera/sound person and another camera person to capture the environment surrounding the interview.
The last workshop will be with young TV documentary maker Jason Lai (Singapore) who will work with the youths to capture the revival of the Laotian Ramayana.
Artists Reports