Introducing visualBrum – a video project for Birmingham on n0tice

Is birmingham a visual place? Guest blogger Franzi Bährle is certain of it. Here she explains a new initiative she’s launching on n0tice – VisualBrum.

 “Small digital video cameras are the Gutenberg’s printing presses of the 21st century” (Rosenblum Institute)

This is definitely one of my favourite quotes when it comes to what I want to do for a living: video journalism. It means to be a one-(wo)man-band: filming, interviewing, editing, texting on your own – and it’s a lot of fun.

With small digital video cameras everyone is able to shoot videos – not just those who learnt to film with big TV cameras, and it’s not only up to teams to produce one. Just grab your camera and “head out and find a story” – another quote from the Rosenblum Institute, not because I’m being uncreative, but because that’s what it’s about.

Video journalism is a fascinating area and it’s not limited to a circle of experts. So go out, find a story, film it and publish it on n0tice and if you’re from Birmingham, publish it on visualBrum.n0tice.com .

visualBrum will be a Birmingham-based community, posting videos and audio slideshows on n0tice.

There is not that much video coverage about what is happening in the second city, yet. I’d like to change that by helping hyperlocal bloggers and passionate videographers and all those who want to become such together.

The aim is to develop an informative n0ticeboard, covering what’s happening in Birmingham with videos (and audio slideshows, which are also a great and fascinating way to tell a story).

Possible contributions are not limited to reports about recent happenings. As long as it’s newsworthy and based in or around Birmingham, it’s ready to be posted on visualBrum. Therefore it could also be e.g. documentaries, interviews or portraits, there’s no default length. Videos can be edited, but if contributors just shot a sequence of a certain happening, visualBrum is also the place to post it.

However, the community should be more than a group of people posting their contributions. There will also be a forum where everyone can share their experiences, questions and feedback. The aim is to help each other develop their skills. There’s no need for contributors to have fancy equipment or certain video skills – that’s what the community is there for.

No matter if you’ve got no experience or already are a passionate videographer. No matter if you’re shooting with an iPhone, Flipcam, camcorder, DSLR or a bigger video camera, if you got editing skills or not: Everyone is welcome to take part, the more, the merrier, not only in terms of the amount of videos on visualBrum, but also regarding the community itself. The more contribute their experience, questions and answers in the forum, the better.

I’m very much looking forward to get the community started, I think this can be developed into a great project, interesting for those who are contributing and those who are visiting visualBrum on n0tice to watch their contributions. The “kickoff” will be on March 26 – if you’re interested in joining us on visualBrum or want to know more about it – let me know, I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

• You can contact Franzi via the comments below, on twitter @visualbrum, via her blog www.franziskabaehrle.com or message her via n0tice. If you’ve got a get project starting on n0tice we’d love to hear about it.