Learn to Make Videos that Make Change: Tyee Master Class

A few weeks ago, Kai Nagata was surprised to receive a summons from Hollywood. The celebrity-studded Environmental Media Awards had named his firm Deep Rogue Ram a finalist in the Digital Content category, citing their short video in which puppets sing their climate action urgings to Barack Obama.

Nagata, a former CTV on-air reporter who resigned to explore other ways to do rewarding media, says it felt a bit "weird" to be invited to rub shoulders with Matt Damon and other green glitterati. But the fact that "Mr. President: A Plaintive Plush Plea" had garnered such attention at the centre of the media universe did, he admits, help to validate his move away from network TV and into DIY video making.

Another sign he made the right move? In his team's first year producing satirical videos, they racked up 1.3 million hits on YouTube.

This Saturday, Nov. 16, you can spend a day with Nagata learning the tricks of his quickly evolving trade. The name of the class says it all: "Online Video for Social Good: Stories that Change Minds".

As the Tyee Master Classes web page explains:

"This seminar-style workshop offers concrete strategies for increasing the impact of your video content online. Nagata's insights -- borrowed from evolutionary biologists, corporate newsrooms, oral tradition and web metrics -- can all help you stack up more hits on YouTube. But with new tools and techniques come new questions: Who are we trying to reach? What do we want them to do? And how will we measure success? Defining those goals will make your videos better, guaranteed."

Nagata says his class is for a lot of people who aren't necessarily in the video game. You are invited if you are a filmmaker, to be sure, but also if you are a fundraiser, organizer, activist, journalist -- "anyone who believes in the power of stories to inspire positive change."

You won't need to bring a camera crew and editing suite to class. Just "a laptop or notepad, and some video links for discussion -- it can be stuff you love or stuff you hate, but preferably stuff you made."

Delicious way to spend a day

Kai Nagata was The Tyee's Writer in Residence from September 2011 to June of 2012, and continues to contribute journalism to The Tyee. He is in fact a member of our newly formed National Pool of political commentators. As we mentioned earlier, Nagata is also the co-owner of Deep Rogue Ram Media, a strategic communications firm working for First Nations, environmental advocates and select political clients.

The Tyee Master Class website notes: "As a documentary filmmaker, Kai and his team got growled at by grizzlies for the film Bear Witness and followed a blind, lute-playing motorcyclist across three countries for Renaissance Man (a 2012 selection at the DOXA Festival). Trained in journalism, Kai worked as a radio and television reporter at CBC, serving briefly as Quebec City Bureau Chief for CTV. In his spare time Kai runs media workshops for youth."

Join Kai Nagata for a fascinating day in Vancouver designed to equip you with skills and insights needed to be more effective in making, assigning or evaluating online videos for social change. The conversation will be delicious, and so will the included lunch provided by Choices and sips of B.C. wine by Clos Du Soleil.

Find out more with an opportunity to register for "Online Video for Social Good: Stories that Change Minds" by clicking here.

Find out more about our two remaining Master Classes for fall, one on video data mapping and one on digital book publishing, by clicking here.