What a Cinematographic Year

The dream is always the same. Every child has one. Some never realize their dreams for their parents force them to go for careers that offer a quick presentable income. Follow your dreams. That’s why at Kibera film school if you knock the door will be answered.

 

Trainees and graduates pose for end year photo

Aristotle is not a Mexican. The central message of Buddism is not “every man for himself ” and filmmaking is not a man’s only field. That’s what we at Kibera Film school encourage and emphasize  to our trainees.

Join us at Kibera film school and learn the art of cinematography as some say its  nothing but the art of painting with light. Light can be gentle, dangerous, dreamlike, bare, living, dead, misty, clear, hot, dark, violet,  falling, straight, sensual, limited, poisonous, calm and soft.

Not only cinematography but learn the craft of screenplay writing, photography, production directing with industry experts the likes of Serah Mwihaki, Wanjiru Kinyanjui and many others.

Trainees enjoy skype sessions with filmmakers from around the world. One on one coaching like recent visit by award winning Hollywood writer/producer/director Dwyane Johnson-Cochran

As Swedish legend Sven Nyquist, cinematographer  says "The art of cinematography is nothing but the art of painting with light". But artistry apart, Cinematography is also a highly technical field. This you get from our training as its an intensive hands-on.

A good Cinematographer needs to know the behavior of light how its reflected/deflected, laboratory processing, the electronics of video cameras and the relation between shutter speeds, ISOs and apertures.

If ever there was a profession that did have a marriage ages ago of the arts and sciences, it is the profession of videography as some refer to it fondly as ‘cinematography’. It is the DOPs (Director of cinematography) who become the "eye" of the Director, transposing her/his vision into unequivocal images that leave indelible marks on our audiences/critics.

We at Kibera film school prepare our trainees to be able to do photography or videography in all kinds of shooting conditions, be it outside, studio based shoots or a combination of interior and outside lighting conditions.

We also train them to work as a team and be able to communicate with each other and understand requirements of any production. In order to achieve these we invite motivational speakers, industry experts, filmmakers, couch/counselors like Tazim Elkington every Friday. 

As Sven Nyquist  said “Light gives me a feeling of spiritual atmosphere. Light is with you –you do not have to feel you are alone.”  We at Kibera film school are with you.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND SEE YOU IN 2013. AND THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Evaluations For Kibera Film School Trainees.

We were evaluated on all the skill sets that we had learnt in our three months of training and trust me it was not easy, from script writing to video editing, photography to production.

Shirley's evaluations.

Clarence Editing Trainer taking notes.

Shirley was on the chopping board and she was sweating bullets as Clarence our Editing trainer evaluated her. Did she do great?

Shirley Tensed!!

Clarence gets right to it.

Clarence is impressed!!

The evaluations were tough but we were up for the task and we know that we passed them all. 

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Kibera Film School embraces Citizen Journalism

Kibera Film School added another feather to it's cap as two people were selected for an intensive citizen journalism workshop at PAWA254 http://www.pawa254.org/

Noreen Kombo(Trainee at Kibera Film School) and Joash Mageto (Trainer) were selected for the three day Journalism workshop which was facilitated by Mr Roy Gichuhi an experienced Journalist in the Kenyan Media.

Mr.Gichuhi taught on the code of conduct for the practice of Journalism in Kenya,the new constitution in relation to Kenyan Media laws and professional writing.

The event was graced by Jackie Lebo,a Filmmaker,writer and photographer who showcased Gun to Tape- a documentary based on the pre-Olympic training activities of Kenyan athletes.As the Producer of the documentary she explained to us the challenges involved in making of the documentary and promised to visit us at Kibera Film School soon for a possible screening.

The Media Council of Kenya was also at hand to provide additional information for upcoming Journalists. http://www.mediacouncil.or.ke/

We are now  working on our second project under Kibera TV and the workshop could not have come at a better time.

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Do you celebrate your toilet?

Kibera Film School and Community Cleaning Services (CCS) http://communitycleaningservices.org/ an emerging Kenyan nonprofit social enterprise teamed up last week in preparation for the World Toilet Day.
This is an international day of action celebrated annually on November 19th aiming to break the taboo around toilets and draw attention to the global sanitation challenge.http://www.worldtoiletday.org/index.php

The CCS team was in Kibera,Ayany estate primary school on a mission of cleaning 600 toilets in Nairobi by November 19th.
Elizabeth,a quality assurance professional at CCS was kind enough to take us through their community programme.The cleaning team from Mathare area had fun interacting with the trainees from Kibera Film School.

CCS Mathare Team member

Elizabeth briefing the Trainees

Martin working the Flip Camera

Noreen and the Flip Camera

Mathare CCS Team at Ayany,Kibera

The Film trainees covered this event in preparation for their next project in Kibera T.v which involves producing positive news stories from the community using the Flip camera.




 To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

UK Creative comes back home

Nadeem Rajwani was born and raised in Kenya. He has worked in the advertising industry in Kenya and later branched out into film 10 years ago.
He is a seasoned screenwriter and Filmmaker having studied in Canada and currently based in the UK.Nadeem took us through his journey as a film student and why he is back home.After a lengthy discussion,he encouraged the trainees to pick up writing in addition to their favorite subjects at Kibera Film School.

Nadeem Rajwani shares a point

Nadeem Rajwani in class with us.

He is currently looking for producers to help him make his feature film “City in the Sun”.We look forward to work with him next year when he returns for various projects.
To connect with Nadeem Rajwani look him up on http://ke.linkedin.com/

 

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Sound Design at Kibera Film School

This week we started the sound design class with our trainer Stephen Okoth.

 Sound Design trainer Stephen Okoth

Demonstration of sound tracks on Final Cut Pro.

Introduction to the boom stick.

Michael going through the ropes

Demonstration

The next class will be in the field work and we are very eager for the next class.




To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Kibera celebrates President Obama's re-election

Breakfast at re election party

Porridge served in a calabash

Loyal fans at the Railway line

Kibera TV's best shot

USA flag at Kibera

Godfrey-2012 Film Trainee

Breakfast assembly at Kibera

Film trainees Godfrey(in blue)and Isaac(in red shirt)

Photos courtesy of Kibera TV


To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Another Award For Hot Sun Foundation from Operation Smile Mission in Kenya

Certificate of participation

Since 2011 Hot Sun Foundation has had the pleasure of working with Operation Smile Mission in Kenya  http://kenya.operationsmile.org/.

Grishon Onyango

Grishon and colleague at work

Grishon Onyango a former trainee at Kibera Film School has been working as a volunteer photographer.

Sight seeing in Kisumu

Operation Smile team In Kisumu 

 Photos courtesy of Grishon Onyango



To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Goodbye October.Hallo November!

Happy November to all our friends and supporters!
October was a busy month at Kibera Film School.The last quarter of the year seems to have brought good tidings to our school and the Kibera community in general.

We had the pleasure of hosting Mr Bjorn Maes the Programme Manager at Africalia.
Through its three-year programmes, Africalia supports professional organizations and networks in Africa that contribute to the flourishing of artists, that in turn play their social and societal role in strengthening democracies.
Mr.Maes came to check on the progress of the programmes being offered at Kibera Film School. He was impressed with our curriculum and our trainee projects including our recently concluded 'My World' short films.

The trainees challenged him to come another time as a volunteer at Hot Sun Foundation where he can be able to mingle freely and see how we live and work on a daily basis.Learn more about Africalia on:
http://www.youtube.com/user/africalia
 www.africalia.be

Photo by: Ronald.ronics

We also hosted Mr Mathias Antonsson and his Kenyan colleague from GESCI as they were gathering information from different institutions on the use of ICT to promote Digital Media Arts in Kenya.
The Q&A session with the GESCI team and Kibera Film School trainees was a bit weird at first as their questions were technically formulated. We had some moments of silence and the questions had to be re phrased to simple English in order for them to get the right answers. The time was not enough for us to have in depth discussions but it was a meeting of creatives and ICT professionals which was worth our lunch break.
For more on Mr Antonsson's experience and GESCI  work in Kenya have a look at:
http://www.gesci.org
http://www.gesci.org/a-new-experience-in-kibera-by-mathias-antonsson.html

Many visitors are always surprised once they enter through our gates they do not know what to expect.We love to see their surprised faces when they learn we are just normal trainees at school doing what we love.
Our environment does not discourage us from being the best,instead it pushes us further to be the best class of Kibera Film School 2012.

Karibuni Kibera Film School
Welcome to Kibera Film School

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Work and play at Kibera Film School

When you come to Kibera Film School it’s not all work and no play. We have fun when inspiring people like Tazim Elkington or seasoned media personalities like Mr. Richard Crompton drop by.

Former Kibera Film School trainees working in the industry also encourage us when things get tough.

No two weeks are ever the same at Kibera Film School.

Tazim Elkington the 'paradigm shifter'

 

Richard Crompton at Kibera Film School

Volunteers,well wishers and donors always surprise us with equipment and offer free advice on film making.Some do not want to be recognized for their efforts as they do it out of love and not for recognition.In addition to our studies,we also attend random functions happening around Nairobi in relation to our training.

This month we attended the screening of PUMZI an award winning short film, written and directed by Wanuri Kahiu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanuri_Kahiu

The event was hosted at PAWA254 a unique hub that houses, fosters and catalyzes creative and community-driven projects for social change across Kenya. http://www.pawa254.org

Kibera Film School trainees at PAWA254

Wanuri Kahiu

We thank each and every person or organization that is shaping our career in terms of contributions, trainings or equipment. We cannot thank everyone personally but your contributions in our lives will not go to waste.

Asante Sana (Thank you very much)

Photos courtesy of PAWA254 and Kibera Film School trainees.

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page