Going into this assignments I had my doubts about being able to produce some sort of citizen journalism video and within the 48 hour period nothing in my experience offered any sort of opportunity whatsoever. Going into Tuesday Night I realize that if I wanted to be able to post anything worth capturing, I would need to either stage a scene or go out of my way to an area guaranteed to produce something, anything remotely interesting which was simply something I couldn’t do.
In the end I did not record any video, but this did not deter me from gaining a lot from the experience. This gave me true insight into what manifests this type of media, and that is the spontaneous nature of environments where there is little to no prior warning of what unfolds. I offer that time frame to account for the arrival of news organizations and the battery/memory limitations of smartphones. I also believe there is a specific mentality of the kind of person who records these events as a citizen. Not only must the decision be made quickly to began recording, but a sense of heroism and distrusts are key ingredients. I also believe that urban environment’s seem to produce more of these situations as there is way more content in a concentrated area.
Despite my failure, I did not want to rob the class of a video, so I am posting this one that has leaked rather recently and felt like it would be a prime example to show since it is almost a reversal of the videos we had watch in class on Monday. It is a rather peculiar situation and not one I am sure occurs frequently which in my mind makes it much more revealing. It is also interesting to hear the camera man speak at the end where he states “I doing this for everyone’s safety”. This is the icing on the cake for me as I am definitely interested in the mentality of the cameramen or camerawomen involved in these “works” and that it takes place in a college building with all students involved.
Here it is:
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UPDATE: Just now in class I realized I had an old video I filmed from where Professor Rhudy was leaving Lafayette which I was able to catch on film the last day of class where we broke out in song.
I really appreciate your thoughtfulness on this post. Super hard to film citizen journalism- I guess as a professor I was more interested in the attempt than the result. The video you posted is super interesting. It shows how issues of race and power play out in so called neutral environments. Are wearing dreadlocks political? And what does it mean when students call our other students on style or a perceived offense?