Week 8
Talleres de Capacitación Audiovisual
A/V Workshops with SEDOAC Members
SEDOAC organized a 4-week workshop series aimed at showing how to best use audiovisuals to amplify social justice issues. With the help of professionals, and kindly supported by the Casino de la Reina community center in the neighborhood of Embajadores, members of SEDOAC participated Saturdays between June 2nd and June 24 on interactive 3-and-a-half hour classes. Each session focused on a different skill pertaining video-recording, how to address the camera, techniques for public speaking, and how to adequately frame a shot.
1st Session (June 2nd)
The first session served as an introduction to the several techniques that would be showed throughout the workshop series. Key concepts in photography, like exposure, aperture, and depth of field were reviewed by the instructor. Following this, a series of videos were shown to the participants, which served as groundwork for the exercises carried out later in the day. These included how to frame a shot with their mobile phones, and how to manipulate the camera settings to get the desired end product.
To end the session, participants took to the grounds surrounding Casino de la Reina to practice framing and shooting with their mobile phones. SEDOAC member were asked by the instructor to account for outdoor light in order to get an appropriate frame. Participants were divided into couples to ensure participation in front and behind the camera.
2nd Session (June 9th)
The second session featured a more hands-on series of exercises. The first half of the workshop introduced the main functions of a videocamera to the participants, most of which had never operated with professional equipment before. Participants were able to shoot practice shots with among themselves, in order to get familiarized with the range of recording capabilities offered by the camera equipment.
Subsequently, members were asked to practice addressing the camera. Participants were asked to come up with a 10-second message to show solidarity with domestic workers in Spain who oppose Amendment 6777. They were given banners according to their group affiliation. SEDOAC members held up a banner with the organization’s logo and a message that read “For our rights: #NoToAmendment6777”, whereas the banner for the members of the MOPE (Organized Paraguayan Women in Madrid) read “For our rights: Domestic workers say #NoToAmendment6777”.
After the personal statements were made, the group went outside of the Casino de la Reina facility to record a group message. Finding resonance in the earlier exercise, the group voice their concern for their current status under Spanish labor law and declared their opposition against Amendment 6777.
3rd Session (June 16th)
The third session had a two-fold aim. The first one entailed a series of strategies on how to improve the quality of the participants’ social media presence. The instructor presented a slideshow that addressed each of the three most popular platforms and how to best use them to present a cohesive and suitable message for each outlet.
- For Twitter, the instructor emphasized the importance of having a direct and concrete message. It is also important to pay attention to the trending topics, post at an adequate time of the day, follow users with similar interests, and share links every so often.
- In the case of Facebook, the slideshow presented several pointers: post regularly, be mindful of spelling when posting, and like Twitter, follow users with shared interests.
- Finally, for Instagram, the main takeaway was to have a cohesive aesthetic, and akin to the advice given with the other social media platforms, posting at a strategic time of the day.
The second aim of the session focused on preparing participants to stand in front of the camera and talk about their experiences as migrant women and domestic workers in Spain. To do so, the workshop attendees were divided into three groups and were told to mock an interview. The equipment–which included a videocamera on a tripod–was fully operated by participants after the instructor showed some of the basic functions. Additionally, this session counted with the attendance of a camera crew from the European Commission, who had provided sponsorship to Alianza por la Solidaridad to carry out this workshop series.
4th & Final Session (June 24th)
The fourth and final session was divided into two parts. The first one entailed establishing an action plan going forward. To commemorate SEDOAC’s 10 year anniversary, an advocacy video filmed with professional equipment would be created. Therefore, discussing the themes that would be filmed in the final advocacy video to be shot a couple of weeks after the workshop was a central component of this session.
Following the roundtable discussion, which lasted around an hour, participants gave feedback to each other by displaying some mock interviews on screen. Attendees commented on posture, tone of voice, speed, and vocabulary, as well as other important details, like appearance and body language.
Finally, the participants were given diplomas as an acknowledgement of their participation during the four weeks of sessions.
Filming the Final Video (July 7th)
The four-week workshop culminated in a final video, where SEDOAC members demanded for better treatment and equal standing before the law. Alianza por la Solidaridad provided the facilities for the filming of the 4-minute advocacy video, which took place on Saturday, July 7th between 09:00 and 15:30. Some members of SEDOAC volunteered to participate in the video and voice their concerns and demands. Among their appeals were:
- A decent salary–a living wage–and to be able to register to the Social Security to obtain their pensions at the end of their working life;
- 8-hour workdays and the right to vacations and to holiday breaks;
- A Foreigners’ Law (“Ley de Extranjería”) that does not condemn us to precariousness, to exploitation and to live with fear.
The initial statement of the video was read by Carolina Elías, SEDOAC’s president. Her intervention asserted that domestic work and caregiving is a profession primarily carried out by migrants, granting the rest of the population with the freedom to partake in the formal economy and go about their own enterprises. She declared that even though their employers bestowed domestic workers with the trust of taking care of their loved ones and their homes, domestic work itself is invisibilized and devalued by society at large.
Ms. Elías mentioned how even the law categorizes domestic workers by depriving them from an equal standing within the Social Security; rejecting their right to go on strike or get unemployment benefits; denying them a sick or maternity leave; and not checking their working conditions. For these reasons and many others, Elías believes that domestic work is effectively slavery.
Following the introductory statement and the aforementioned appeals, the video ends with a strong demand:
We want equal rights and we wont rest until we get them.
I am constantly impressed by the commitment, innovation, and bravery of the women of SEDOAC. These workshops are so important to them organizing around unified messages that are regularly available in the public sphere. (I’m sure Habermas would be shocked by how much social media is the distinguishing feature of the public sphere today.) Having command of the tools of the public sphere — such as Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube (Facebook a little less now) — is perhaps the only way to have one’s political messages heard now. It’s not just about movement building, but about messaging. It seems clear that the women of SEDOAC have grasped this dynamic well. At the same time, it is REALLY TOUGH to maintain these accounts on a daily basis, particularly when you’re employed more than full-time. How will they handle this? Have you ever read this article about Twitter and the rise of BLM? Totally worth it and, I think, gets at just how demanding social media can be.: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/magazine/our-demand-is-simple-stop-killing-us.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer
Thanks for sharing the article–I have not read about it before. Its amazing!