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External Photo Resources: There are a number of
valuable external resources that can also provide guidance
on how to take good photos.
•• How to take photos (Seven tips from a Reuters
photojournalist)
•• For examples of good visual storytelling:
Social documentary photos
Magnum photos
Capturing Film
Broadcast Cuts
Increasingly, video is being used to illustrate the impact
of projects on the ground. The expansion of video
websites like YouTube and Vimeo has provided an
important opportunity to reach a growing new audience
and communicate about the project achievements and
success stories.
Once a video is collected, one way to enhance interactivity
and use of media would be to create a broadcast cut from
the footage to share these stories on UNifeed: http://www.
unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/
Filming Suggestions: When defining the focus of the
film or identifying where to start, these considerations
may be helpful:
UNifeed is the UN wire service that gets sent to more than
800 broadcasters worldwide, which means that news
agencies will likely pick up a story and get more views for
videos, knowledge products, etc.
•• Film each shot for at least six seconds before
stopping.
Check out UNifeed’s stories
•• Keep the shot steady, do not zoom in and out, and
keep your subject in the centre of the frame.
•• Stay away from disparate light sources, i.e.
windows, bright fixtures, mirrors, etc.
•• Keep the background simple and not too busy -
7 tips from a Reuters journalist.
a plain wall is fine, as long as the subject being
filmed is not right up against it. Distracting
movement and/or colours (e.g. children playing in
the background of a talking-head interview shot)
makes for unsuitable backgrounds.
•• If they use it, show it - if the subject is using their
hands, keep their hands in the frame
•• Err on the wider side, rather than framing the
person too close - you can always crop the image,
but once it’s shot, you can’t go wider
•• Try to film somewhere quiet and without a lot of
background noise. Be careful not to fidget or make
noise yourself - the microphone can pick you up
just as easily as the person you’re interviewing.
•• Make sure to capture cutaways shots to facilitate
Social Documentary Network
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the editing process (close ups of hands, detail
in hair, glasses, flowers near interviewer, etc –
anything you can later use when you need a shot
to help you change to another moment of the
video)
GENERATING CONTENT ON CCAF NATIONAL PROJECTS: GUIDANCE FOR CAPTURING AND CREATING STORIES, PHOTOS, AND FILMS
A video showing activities and results of a climate change adaptation project in two provinces of Cambodia.
Click here to view the video through YouTube
GENERATING CONTENT ON CCAF NATIONAL PROJECTS: GUIDANCE FOR CAPTURING AND CREATING STORIES, PHOTOS, AND FILMS
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