Workshop Coordinator: Jorge Lozano
Instructors: Guillermina Buzio, Jorge Lozano The workshops emphasize conceptual thinking using video as a tool and the need to synthesize visual narratives in order to produce 2 to 3 minutes works with few resources in a short time. Our aim is to produce works of high aesthetic quality, technical value and depth.

We start the workshops screenings videos made by contemporary independent local and international artists, as well as viewing the works from the other workshops we have previously produced in Canada and Colombia. These screenings act as catalyst that help the participants to identify similar concerns and expose them to different techniques. After developing "visual scripts" we take the participants through the whole process of writing scripts, production, post-production and the screening of the final products. Each participant writes, shoots and edits her/his own video.The 2005 and 2007 workshops in Canada have been organized with the financial support from the Ontario Arts Council. Our 2008 workshops with Latin Youth and Latin Queer community is financially supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. While doing these workshop we have identified the need in our community to learn other disciplines in media arts. We are beginning to put together a pool of possible workshop instructor starting with the talent of people from aluCine.

Alexandra Gelis: Photography, Web Design.
Sinara Rozo:  New Media, Animation, Blogging and Intro to Mac.
Julieta Maria: Intro to Interactivity (Max/Msp/Jitter).

• Writing an outline and a script to initiate a video project;

• Camera techniques;

• Lighting techniques;

• Basic editing methods using non-linear editing software (Final Cut Pro, Premiere, etc);

• Overview of animation software (After Effects) (if needed);

• Sound Composing and Editing, Cubase, Reason, Live;

• Outputting work for Screening

Southern Currents will provide the necessary equipment for the realization of the project, which includes: two G5 Macintosh computers, microphones (shot-gun, boom pole) lighting kit, and 2 digital video cameras (3-chip professional broadcasting cameras).

BRIEF HISTORY

The SELF-REPRESENTATION YOUTH VIDEO WORKSHOPS project is a continuation of video workshops with the Latin community that we have been doing since 2002. The workshops began in an individual bases as a response to our lack of access to production facilities because of the economic reason and language barriers that members of the Latin@ Community were facing at the time. aluCine’s equipment and talent were always available for free, to members of our community that wanted to create a video piece, had an idea and didn’t know how to make a video. The most outstanding production made at that time was a video called Samuel y Samantha, a collaboration with Samuel Lopez, a well-known “drag queen” activist in the Latin queer community. This video helped to put in the map the gay club scene that existed on College Street in what it was called then The Pink Triangle between Euclid street and El Convento Rico.

In our next workshop we worked with Sinara Rozo as instructor in collaboration with Gricel Severino to make Papi, a video that was invited to Inside Out, New York Gay and Lesbian Festival amongst others. In order to avoid the “revolving door” effect we decided to work with some members of the Latin@ Gay and Lesbian community again to do an advance workshop. We started with Gricel Severino, who’s work Entre Piernas (Between my Legs), was shown at Inside Out. Marlon Moreno made The Winter Garden, a experimental work dealing with HIV.  It was shown at "Arte a las Calle" in Mexico DF amongst others. Many of the participants from our workshops have gone into producing more pieces and have been invited to festivals in Canada and to International festivals.

On 2004 we taught a Production Video Workshop for First Time Video Makers (6). Each person created their own piece. In 2005 we facilitated a very successful workshop with Latin Youth in Conflict.  We worked with 6 youth to produce a mix of personal and social documentary about violence in Toronto called Street is a Mutha. This video has been shown at many community centers and schools with the participation of the video-makers. Some of the participants created their own production company after the workshop.In 2006, with the support of the OAC we worked with ten Youth, many of them with legal problems. We produced ten videos in twelve days (see support material). An exhibition of these works and a round table with the participants was organized for the 8th aluCine Toronto Latin Media Festival at the Innis Town Hall (U of T), June 1st to June 9th. 

In November 2006 and 2007 as part of aluCine Tour of Independent Canadian works in Colombia, we taught a five weeks video and sound workshop for Youth from poor neighborhoods in Cali.  As part of our teaching material we used the videos from Latin Youth in Conflict Workshop, in Toronto. The main theme was self-representation. The 25 works produced in Cali in these two workshops have an important political and social component as well as a strong technical and aesthetic proficiency. A selection of works from Colombia and Canada were exhibit in the 2007 Merida Niennale in Mexico.