By ANN-MARIE KHOR
brats@thestar.com.my

INNOVATIVE social enterprises in Malaysia – which are often overlooked or underrepresented in mainstream media – took centre stage in the British Council’s “Journalism for Social Good” video journalism competition.

Speaking of social good, the competition also offered a three-day training workshop to all seven participating teams.

Four lucky BRATs were given the chance to take part in the workshop last week at the British Council office in Mutiara Damansara, Selangor. To conduct the workshop, two experts from Pioneer Post, an online social enterprise news organisation based in Britain, were brought over to Malaysia – assistant editor Isabelle de Grave and photographer Matthew Herring.

The workshop included sessions on pre-production, interview techniques, shot composition and video editing, as well as an opportunity to produce a video on two social enterprises. It was a truly interesting experience.

One of the workshop participants, Ze Ru Eng, 23, said prior to the competition that he really appreciated the exposure to journalism.

“It was a good introduction for me, especially since I studied mechanical engineering. The sessions were really useful as we touched on analysing the structure of videos and documentaries, as well as the soft skills needed to make our video interviews successful,” said the Curtin University, Australia student.

He added that he also loved how he got the opportunity to network with the other teams during the workshop.

Participants of the Journalism for Social Good video journalism workshop at the British Council getting hands-on with their cameras during a workshop session.

The workshop participants comprised a diverse group of people, too – from bright, roving and annoying teenagers (you know who we’re referring to!) to people who are actively involved in social enterprises and various NGOs.

Each team will receive access to video recording equipment, video editing facilities and a RM1,000 grant in the course of the competition.

In between the informative sessions, as well as the provision for necessary equipment, each team will now have all the tools at its disposal to produce a stellar video in the next five weeks (ending April 30).

Their task? To highlight local social entrepreneurs and their works.

Among the social enterprises which will be covered by the participants of the competition are: Biji-biji Initiative, EPIC Homes, Eats, Shoots & Roots, Tandemic, The Recovr, Pink Enterprise, Eye Project Management and Social Enterprise Alliance Malaysia.

The winning team can look forward to a three-month internship with Astro Awani, Malaysia’s leading broadcast news agency.