IRAN INSIDE OUT

Since I have been a silent blogger and will admit feel a bit behind of other RV grantees who have impressed me with their dedication and great work–I am now taking some time to catch up and report a little on what is going on with the Iran Inside Out project.

One update is that two videos have been made, subtitled and ready to be uploaded and embedded on to the site which I hope will be launched very soon. One of the obstacles in getting the videos up has been that the filmmakers have encountered many problems when trying to compress their files and then upload or email them. The main issue is that they all use different editing software and that a standard mechanism needs to be created and made accessible for the participants to make it smooth and straight-forward. This will encourage more videos to be made and more time spent on the creative side.

I have not been in the country for 6 months now and have been running much of the project remotely. But the good news is that I will be in Iran in one month and am spending a good portion of the summer on solving this problem and making other advances in the project.

What would be useful before then is for me to have a framework prepared and information gathered on various technical issues concerning compression on various editing software, quality control of videos, and upload/email issues using medium to low internet speeds. This is something I am working and if there are any links or relevant material you suggest I read, then please do let me know. Id be glad to learn from your experiences…

Stay tuned for the launch of the site and the presentation of the two videos…

Dear all RV bloggers,

I am delighted to have gotten your feedback since the last post I wrote and have taken note of your interests. Hip hop in Iran, the lives of children, these are all very interesting topics, which I hope the participants will find interesting and accessible to make videos about.

In the next few weeks the Iran Inside Out site will be up where videos will begin to be uploaded. I hope that you will continue to give your valubale feedback then so that the filmmakers will remain inspired and in interaction.

Thanks for your encouraging words and time put in to write comments!

Shaghayegh

Iran Inside Out is preparing the launch of its website in the next coming weeks. The aim of this blog post is to 1) share some of our milestones and obstacles 2) ask you what you expect to see and what kinds of stories interest you?

Since the fall, Iran Inside Out has reached out and built relationships with organizations and networks of filmmakers in Iran, which are increasingly becoming involved in the new media space and are eager to share their stories through the new mediums offered online.  For them the most important motivation is the chance to be seen and recognized by an international audience and to receive feedback on their works.

Since our first workshops in the fall, many filmmakers have approached us asking to learn more about the online video space and the different ways they can be apart of it. We hope to have the resources to educate and help them to make films for Iran Inside Out and for other platforms and purposes. Our next workshop is scheduled for July and we aim to have between 5 and 10 more films up by the end of the summer.

In the next two weeks we are launching our site with two short videos by young up-and-coming documentary filmmakers.  The two films were produced exclusively for the Iran Inside Out website. One is a snapshot of the underground heavy metal scene in Iran and the other is a personal reflection on the looming idea of a US-Iran war.  While we are really excited to show these videos, we believe that the real merit of these stories lies in the eye of the beholder and how the audience reacts to these films and whether their understanding of Iran is enhanced, or at least their curiosity aroused.

Film and video have a great potential to break barriers between people and are a great medium for sharing emotions and information.  But dialogue requires an EXCHANGE of ideas and in this case YOUR feedback.

On the other side, we are working on creating an effective way for filmmakers to respond to comments online and to share their experiences making videos for the web.  Our main obstacle in implementing this component is the language problem, which we are hoping to resolve by acquiring a site translator/facilitator.

Hence I dedicate this post to a question for the readers:

What do you want to know about Iran? What stories interest you? What suggestions do you have for our filmmakers? Do you think Iran is misunderstood? What issues need better explanation?

Cant wait to hear your ideas!