Lessons on video shooting

So a couple of days ago, I attended the Divine Word University Missioning Ceremony. It was great to see these young people get commissioned by the university and transition out in to the PNG workforce. This year I had taught 3 groups of Year Four students. They were in the Communication Arts Department, Health Management Department and Social and Religious Department respectively. That would be around 40 to 50 students across two semesters this year. Since the Missioning Ceremony was coming up, I thought is would be best to capture some their memories through a video. Of course, they were all in their best attire as this was such a momentous occasion for them. It has been four year journey and now they have reached the end. This ceremony marked their transition from being students to fully fledged professionals in the PNG workforce. 

I decided that it would be a good opportunity to use my cannon camera that had been sitting idle around the house. So I shot the video and uploaded it onto my YouTube Channel:

 

After shooting the video, I began to realise some of my shooting mistakes during the video editing phase. Since I used the AV mode and automatic focus on the canon camera during the different stages of the ceremony, I needed to click on the camera screen to create the autofocus. At times, while looking at the camera screen, I could not make out if the camera was on focus. It only became apparent when I downloaded the video clips to edit on my computer. Therefore, some of the clips were a bit out of focus. Its a lesson I have learnt here.

I think another huge lesson I have learnt too is that I need to get a good directional mic. There's a part in the video where I am recording a speech and there are background noises of these flying foxes up in the trees near to the building. So a good directional mic such as this one from Theodist is a good one. I have to save up though. Look at the price!

Well I still put the video together. You can see my mistakes in some parts of the video but wanted to showcase the event for the students. Let me know what you think of the video and comment below. 

Community based rehabilitation for PWDs is a need

 As the PNG economy faces a downtown, many people in our country are going through tough times. Yes the price of goods and services is rising rapidly and many services like health and education are becoming unattainable for many people in our country. But spare a thought for People with Disabilities (PWDs) who continue to suffer most. If able bodied people are having a hard time and consider themselves 'suffering' then what more can we can for people living with disabilities! They are even facing a situation far more worse. 

I met two staff of the Madang Creative Self Help Centre who visited PWDs along the rural north coast road villages in Madang as part of their community based rehabilitation program. I tagged along with them as they travelled to the north coast of Madang to conduct their community based rehabilitation program for people living with a disability. We visited villages along the north coast road such as Megiar, Dylup and Tokain. 

I believe one of the saddest part of our trip was hearing that two of the PWDs had passed away recently. One was a PWD that has mobility issues - the PWD did not have a wheelchair so that person crawled using their hands.  Usually the PWDs with mobility issues would have wheelchairs but I think you also have to note that many rural areas in PNG are not suitable for wheelchairs as the ground surface is uneven and jagged in many places. There needs to be more innovation in developing mobility equipment for PWDs that fit the PNG landscape. 

The Madang Creative Self Help Centre can do so much as it is also limited in its capacity. The Centre runs two programs a) A community rehabilitation program b) Inclusive Education Program. The inclusive education program is one where children within the Madang town vicinity who have a disability can get an early childhood education. The program is supported by the PNG Government through the National Department of Education. The Community Based Rehabilitation program, on the other hand, is run by the centre and is entirely voluntary. Its focus is on supporting the inclusion and participation of PWDs in Madang's development and livlihood.