I was watching the news and I was really devastated on what had just happend to the country of Haiti. More than 200,000 Haitians are dead. I mourn with them all. What if that happened to us? Are we prepared on such catastrophe? As I write my term paper for school regarding government policies, I wonder how government should act or react on this situations even if it is not our country that has been affected. What I mean is that every country should help others in this time of crisis especially if that country is a third world country who depends on other countries for much needed help and assistance.

Kindly follow the tagged link and see the latest design for publicizing CBCF amongst young guyz. Kindly submit your comments if you can, of what we can do to make it better and target specific.

Sorry, I was meant to sent this a while back but i didn't. Please find attached the proceedings of a meeting I had with some of my friends that joined me in production of the forest film series that we named "Planet 2099". This and more to be posted in time should create first a general outlook on what is on what we have been working on as well more specifically in time, what is currently happening. 

I hope to suppliment much more shortly to highlight where we are at right now.

Kind regards 

Njuguna Elijah Chege

CBCF Trainer and Technical Officer

Cell: +254 725 711 057;+254 750 474 837

Skype: elijah.chege

Main email: ellychess@alumnidirector.com

Other emails: asahchess@gmail.com; ellychess@yahoo.com

http://conservationfilms.org/

Your candle looses nothing when it lights another,

Light Africa Bright Green with conservation films.

WE bbyt (We believe beyond your time) 2099.

Heya, this is from Elsie Kariuki who is leading an effort to produce a CBCF manual. Please can you provide your comments, questions, and/or additions on the proposed outline?

Thanks!

Proposed Sections of the CBCF Project Manual

Acknowledgements

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction - A background to the project/ Information on the Darwin Initiative grant. Richard Brock's philosophy on making films for communities, and the support of bright green sparks.
1.2 Purpose of the Manual - Perhaps talk a bit about the success of the project, highlight key achievements and thus the need for a manual that would help interested parties duplicate the project.
1.3 Best Practices: Focus of the Manual- Here we could highlight the key areas we would like to focus on in the manual. This will become clear once we have agreed on what should be contained in the manual

Chapter 2: The Film Making Course

2.1 Course Start-up - To include information on how the project was introduced into East Africa, how partners, trainers, trainers are selected. Also include information on the start-up workshops
2.2 A guideline to the curriculum - This will include a breakdown of topics covered during the training course. Some of the topics that we have covered in recent courses include

• Introduction to Conservation film making
• Selection of film topics
• Introduction to story telling
• Introduction to basic camera operation & filming skills
• The filmmaking process
• Creativity in filmmaking
• Camera & Computer Maintenance
• Story structure
• Mind mapping
• Script writing, narration and research
• Media ethics & guidelines
• Practical lessons in filming
• Capture, download, logging & viewing footage
• Introduction to editing with Final Cut Pro
• Editing tutorials
• Use of fillers and stock footage/Proper crediting

*As there have been changes in the curriculum from trainer to trainer we may have to agree on a standardized curriculum to present as best practice. Also a lot of our teaching material comes from websites, books and may not be copyright free for replication. Please advice.

Chapter 3: Making a cost-effective conservation film

3.1 Introduction to freelance film making - In this chapter we thought it good to give step by step advice to people who may not necessarily want to conduct a training course but may want to make a film. This section would also be an important reference point for trainees who've completed the course and would like to make their own films

3.2 Development- How to develop an idea into a script and finally a film. Resources/people that may be of help. How best to present an idea to enable one raise funds for filming. Various funding sources.

3.3 Pre-Production - Budgeting for film, potential hidden costs. Where to find the necessary crew and cast for your film. Where and how to find contributors for your film. Where/how to buy/hire filming kit. Selecting locations for your film.

3.4 Production- Recording the raw elements of film, how to optimally record both video & audio.

3.5 Post-production- Resources for creative/effective film editing Finding a good film editor

3.6 Sales and Distribution - The use of various distribution channels including, Cinema & TV screenings, DVD sales, film festivals, other Media such as the Internet, IPods etc

3.7 Goodwill/ Use of Film Archives - Finding creative ways to exchange your services for other services needed e.g. making promo videos for organizations that could support you in kind. Promoting the re-use of footage, especially that donated by professionals, to cut production costs

3.8 The legality of film making - Copyrights, releases, permissions, the use of local musicians to promote local music

Chapter Four: Conclusion/Lessons learnt

4.4 Lessons learnt- We could find a better title for this but this section is meant to basically highlight what challenges the project has faced and what lessons have been learnt so as to ensure that anyone implementing a similar project will know pitfalls to expect and how to avoid them.

Please comment below.