Initial Ideas: Greenpeace and Video Activism

Following on from my initial ideas one area I wanted to pursue was to develop was working with Greenpeace. I am a fully paid up member of the organisation and advocate for their good work and rather than simply donate thought they may be able to utilise my skill-set.

To this end I contacted my close friend Ben Stewart who is Head of Media and Special Projects at Greenpeace. He said he would see what he could do but warned that there are often lots of hoops to jump through as it is such a big organisation and how he was not too sure how many of the right doors he could open. So I left that with him.

With Ben we discussed possible areas within the field of video I may be able to work in that Greenpeace have used in the past.

• Direct action campaigning.
• Promo corporate style videos for causes/campaigns.
• Videographer for events.
• Videographer for direct action.
• Viral campaigns.
• Video updates on where Greenpeace money went.
• Video and video installations at Greenpeace events.

From this list I had to be very careful about any direct action as I cannot afford to be locked up due my job and commitments for any covert direct action campaigns. We kicked around some possible ideas from within this and I decided to look into the potential of some of these while Ben spoke to the powers that be at Greenpeace. The areas that interested me most are below. Timescales, budgets and working relationships pending.

• Direct action campaigning. This would be skirting the law and campaigning through video projections about issues and campaigns that Greenpeace are working on. I will need to investigate the logistics and technology for this as well as liaise with Greenpeace about current political and environmental hot potatoes to use as inspiration of the work.

• Video and video installations at Greenpeace events. Greenpeace sponsor or are affiliated with  a great many events such as Glastonbury of events of their own doing. I now have some experience in video installations which they exhibit at these events and also some galleries. I am already looking into global warming and developing thematic ideas and concepts for this as potential new pieces for my MA anyway. Again I will need to investigate the logistics and technology for this as well as liaise with Greenpeace about current political and environmental hot potatoes to use as inspiration of the work.

• I have also made it known to Ben that I am available for any other promo shoots. This is sometimes celebrity hook ups to promote causes, covering events they organise and even little promo or viral shoots.

I will tentatively keep exploring these ideas and see if they bare any fruit long term. However Ben said these relationships can take a huge amount of time to get going and to build the trust and working relationships. So it may be a long term project and this may simply be a case of sowing the seeds for this at the moment.