Farm Aid is creating a montage of farmer faces and voices to be part of our annual festival (details coming soon!). Additionally, farmer voices will be shared with Farm Aid’s large social media and farmaid.org audiences. We need your help to showcase how essential family farmers are, not just for our food system but to our democracy, and that we all have a role to play to ensure their success!
What We’re Looking For
Our goal is to collect video and audio bites for a quick-paced montage that represents a wide range of farmer voices. We believe that showcasing the many diverse voices of individuals involved in agriculture will be educational, impactful and inspiring. We have created the below prompts to encourage you to speak about your life on the farm; COVID-19’s impacts on your farm, farmers and our food system; the connection between food and racial and social justice; and more.
We ask you to react to a prompt/question with a 1-2 line response. You can respond to all or just ones that seem relevant to you. Of course, feel free to add something new. Please keep the answers short, clear and concise, as we want to use as many farmer voices as possible.
Prompts
I farm because….
I started to farm because….
Given all the obstacles I continue to farm because….
This pandemic has had a great impact on my farm …
The immediate challenges we face are….
When faced with the pandemic we…
My community has always experienced obstacles (for instance, discrimination, access to resources, etc), COVID-19 has made that even more evident…
My vision for the future of agriculture is….
I believe today’s biggest agricultural challenges are…
I believe a more equitable and just system of agriculture can exist in this country by….
Food justice means …
Farm justice means…
Farmers are essential because…
I connect to the land…
I love to grow…
Deadline
The deadline for submissions is August 21, 2020, to allow time to edit the spots and request additional material as needed.
We’ve extended the deadline until midnight at August 24, 2020!
Thank You!
Thank you for participating in this effort. While we can’t guarantee that all submissions will be included in the montages, we will do our best to use as much as possible. Please know that we appreciate each one of you for taking the time to do this, and for all that you do to create a just and equitable food system in this country.
Technical Details
Please read carefully.
About Filming
- We need clear video with good clear sound, which most mobile phones are capable of providing. Please shoot in high definition at the best quality. If you don’t have a phone that you think will work, maybe a friend or family member does.
- Have the camera/phone close enough to you to capture clean audio (no need for a separate microphone). A tight shot of your face is good. Your head and shoulders should fill the frame. It is best to hold the phone horizontally, not vertically.
- You could either do a selfie or have someone film you.
- Listen to your surroundings. Is there a truck going down the road? Is there a loud fan or refrigerator in the background? Be sure the area is as quiet as possible.
- We want to see you! You can shoot inside or outside, but avoid having bright sun, a lamp or a window directly behind you to avoid appearing as a silhouette. Sun or light to the side is good, or shade.
What You Say
- Please include the prompt (i.e. Don’t just list the reasons you farm. Start with “I farm because…”).
- Your statements should be deliberate and spoken relatively slowly. Try to be as clear and succinct as possible. We want people to feel the impact of strong voices.
Submitting
- Try shooting once, then review what you got. Try again if you’d like. You can send as many takes as you wish. It is best to start and stop the video between takes so files are smaller and easier to email.
- When you send your video(s), please include a few still photos of yourself, your farm, your farm stand/store/farmers market/restaurant, family, surroundings or whatever seems relevant. Having still photos offers us more options while creating the video spots.
- When you are ready, please send the video and photos to our film director Susan Steiner at steinerpix@gmail.com. You may be able to do this from your phone, but you may need to download the video to a computer and send from there.
- If files are too large to send directly, use a free website called WeTransfer. At wetransfer.com:
- Upload the file
- Enter Susan’s email steinerpix@gmail.com
- Enter your email address
- Click Transfer
- WeTransfer will then email you a code. Check your email, enter the code where prompted, and click Verify. That should do it!
Note: Files cannot exceed 2GB. You can send more than one file per transfer, but each transfer cannot be larger than 2GB. If a file is larger, you will need to send a second email from WeTransfer.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Farm Aid’s film director Susan Steiner via steinerpix@gmail.com or 978-852-1713.
