Citizen journalists and those of you who want to be independent filmmakers, let me tell you about an incredible opportunity.  (And give you tips for winning the grand prize!)

You Tube, along with the Pulitzer Center and the Sony Corporation, are again sponsoring Project Report.

Project Report is a unique video contest that drew thousands of entries in its first year.  The sole winner then, Arturo Perez, used his grant to travel to Jerusalem and document the centuries old religious conflicts through the eyes of young people.

This year, they’ve increased the number of “first place” grants being awarded to five.  So this year there will be a total of five grand prize winners.  Each will be awarded $10,000 grants from the Pulitzer Center to make a documentary-style video of international interest.

Additionally, those five, plus five more, will be awarded Sony VAIO laptops and Sony HD camcorders from corporate sponsor Sony.

Here is how the contest is set up. First, you have to complete the assignment they give you:  Produce a video profiling a person you think the world should know about.

Producing a video to enter is a fantastic opportunity by itself if you ask me.  This post contains some top notch tips on how to make a compelling profile video, so keep reading.    

This Profile Video assignment is due by February 28.

All profile videos submitted by the deadline will be judged.  Prizes will awarded according to standards of journalism, visual storytelling and video production techniques.

If your profile video is one of the ten semi-finalists, you win the Sony HD video camera and laptop.    The top five will also be awarded the $10,000 grant and the ability to work with the famed Pulitzer Center.

Click here to read more about Project Report and how you can enter.  This is absolutely an incredible opportunity for some of you who regularly read this blog.  Working with the Pulitzer Center would be one heckuva way to break into the field.

The qualifying assignment they are giving is a perfect test, really.  Profiling an interesting individual is the core of documentary video making.  How well you can do that would say volumes about your ability to tell a more detailed story involving more people.

What Does It Take to Make a High-Quality Profile Video?

Obviously, you need an interesting “character,” but in addition to that you need to produce a visually-rich, personality-driven video that paints an accurate, yet entertaining image.

Good profile pieces often include more than one interview of the person.  If you do this technique, videotape the interviews in different locations.  Also think about using two cameras that are set to two drastically different shots.  For example, you could have one camera on a three-quarter profile medium shot and the second on an extreme close-up full profile.

Not all interviews should be sit down affairs either.  Get them up walking and talking.    Interview them as they work (or play) so you can get a demonstration at the same time.  This technique can take what might ordinarily be a boring talking head and turn it into something much better.

Add Visual Variety

In addition to the interviews, video your person in at least three different settings or activities.  Videotape sequences of them doing whatever activity is relevant to the subject matter.  If the person you are profiling is a mother and that fact is important to the story, videotape them playing with the kids, preparing lunch for the kids, and cleaning up after the kids.

If you get that much visual variety, then edit it together with narration and a script that ties all your important information together, you will absolutely have a top-quality video that just might win a contest like this!

Good luck.  Let me know.

Lorraine Grula

No tags