AIMS: Activism meets art, information and education through entertainment - our work aims at being informative, entertaining, inspiring and empowering. Our hope is to convey hope, promote alternatives and ideas that facilitate positive change. However, we also recognise that video activism has two roles; not only to attempt fill the void left by filters of the mainstream media, but also a resonpsibilty to document events both as a historical record and also perhaps as evidence if required.

NETWORKING: Real2Reel is part of the blooming grassroots particapatory media movement and works within an informal network that is rapidly growing around the world. To find out more about the politically conscious artists and activists that are using video to support social, economic and environmental justice campaigns, check out the UK IMC video projects pages. Real2Reel regularly contributes to Indymedia UK, is part of the IMC UK Video group and also works with other video artists such as Undercurrents. We welcome being invited to film at events but prefer encouraging others to take control of their own representation and so are equally happy to provide training and workshops. Recently we organised a weekend long gathering of video activists and artists at the rampART creative centre and are planning follow up events.

SCREENING: Like all artists we are exhibitionists and obviously we like our work to be viewed. If you wish to screen our videos that's great, no need to ask for permission, just do it! Our films, or collaborative projects, have been screened at the BeyondTV and Brief Encounters film festivals as well as public screenings around the country. If you are interesting in arranging a screenings; check out these DIY guides from; VAN, ENR, and from Indymedia. Keep reading to find out how to get hold of our films and about our Creative Commons license.

LANGUAGE: Needless to say, as visual artists we ultimately hope to develope our ability to such a level that we can routinuely transcend the barriers of spoken language. In the meantime however, in order to make our work available to the widest possible audience base, we have made great efforts to provide english transcripts for our work. We encourage people to translate these into their own language for screening and distribution purposes and have set up a pilot website to help facilitate much wider collaboration on subtitling. Additionally we have run workshops on subtittling and are happy to share our experiences and skills.

ONLINE: Almost all of our videos are available online. Low bandwidth versions of modem friendly sizes can be found on Indymedia but are generaly not a high enough quality for screening.

We try to support and encourage the use of open non-proprietary formats while retaining a high level of practicial accessibility. For our earlier work we compromised with the use MPEG1 which play on most media players and even quite low spec hardware. Additionally these files can be burnt directly to VCDs compatible with most DVD players. You can find MPEG1 versions for download from www.ngvison.org and also from our FTP site provided by Commedia. However, now that DVD players are so cheap and universally available we have started to encode to MPEG2 for physical distribution and archiving. These are generally a little big for online archives so we tend to upload using some varient of MPEG4 to keep file sizes down. MPEG2 versions can be found on ourmedia.org / archive.org while MPEG4 (Xvid usually) can be found on video.indymedia.org. Occasionally we have upload unedited clips to the V2V Network when we have something that other people might want to incorporate into their own work (for example the Bush statue being pulled down in Trafalgar square).

We experimented with the VP3 codec and placed such content on the V2V Network but had too many complaints from people unable to figure out how to play the files. As soon as we figure out which is the most widely adopted standard, we intend to start providing our content in totally open source non-patent encumbered format such as the Xvid, H.264 or the Theora video codec in an Ogg or Matroska wrapper.

Some R2R videos online This is not an up-to-date or comprehensive list, do a web search using the terms 'Real2Reel' and 'video' to find our latest work.		transcripts translations	Indymedia HTTP	V2V P2P	NGVISION FTP	COMMEDIA FTP
	Rampart Street - 9 mins This video was quickly thrown together for a presentation about social centres for the European Creative Forum. This two part video covers a number of events that took place at the rampART Creative Centre and Social Space during it's first few months. Find out more about the rampART from www.rampart.co.nr	en de	.avi			90mb .mpg
	London Action Resource Centre - 2 mins A quick film about LARC which was made for an evening of films, presentations and discussion about reclaiming space. Find out more from www.LondonARC.org.		16mb .MPEG1			15mb .mpg
	Indefensible - 5'40" rough short & 28min full version Covering several days of colourful and spirited protests againt the DSEi arms fare held in Londons Docklands in 2003, this collabrative video was produced by the Indymedia UK video group and contains Real2Reel footage including the blockade of ExCel, and the waterborne action. Find out more about DSEi from www.disarmdsei.org	en es de nl		Full 28min version available to download from www.archive.org
	Big Brother - 2 mins The police seem to have an unhealthy interest in the activities of the Wombles and the comings and goings at their (now evicted) occupied social centre at 93 Fortess Rd, Kentish Town.		.mpg
	Super Trooper - 3 mins The cameras are out again in force as the wombles top the bill at the ex-Grand Banks, another occupied social centre (now evicted).		.wmv .rm
	Chalk Farm - 2 mins A squatted shop front provides the venue for a week long alternative art exhibition about big oil and climate change. See also, Art Not Oil, our video made a year later when the exhibition is displayed outside the National Portrait Gallery for the BP sponsored national portrait award ceremony.	en				25mb .mpg
	Buy Nothing Day - 1 min A short video montage as a reminder for Buy Nothing Day which takes place in November. The filming took place in Plymouth a couple of years ago.	en	.rm
	Love Bomb - 3 min Valentines days gets a face lift at Eros as Venus explodes her love bomb in Londons busy Picadilly.		.rm			21mb .mpg
	The trials and tribulations of The Littlemoor Four - 5 mins A sequal to the Pink Castle story. Four people are arrested while trying to stop a farmer from planting genetically modfied maize. Although they are aquitted when they go to court, the prosecution appeals and the high court orders a 'retrial'		.rm	90mb VP3 .MOV	pending	51mb .mpg
	Bayer Noise - 5 mins A noise demo by anti-GM protesters is thwarted by police using Section 14 of the Public Order Act. This video clearly illustrates the way the police unlawfully abuse the law in order to deny us our rights.		..rm	100mb VP3 .MOV		52mb .MPEG1
	Tractors & Trollies - 4'45" Farmers, campaigners and consumers travelled from all over the UK to converge on London on the 13th October to express their opposition to the governments plans to allow the commerciallisation of genetically modified crops.	en de es nl	.MOV .RM	140mb VP3 .AVI		49mb .MPEG1
	No Allianz For Bayer GM On 14th October, the offices of Allianz in London recieved a visit from anti-GM campaigns. Alliaz is the major shareholder of Bayer, the main company pushing for commercialisation of GM crops in the UK.	en de	.wmv	88mb VP3 .AVI		31mb .MPEG1
	Sky Roma Demo A rather amusing video of a demo held outside the Sky Studio in Rome on the 3rd October and attended by a media activists (and their footballs) from around europe and beyond.		.MOV	155mb VP3 .AVI	49mb MPEG1
	Modified Wheat Protesters in the UK remove an trial site of experimental wheat to try to disrupt research and commercialisation of genetically modified crops. These activists aren't shy about what they are doing and provide interviews while they pull.	en de es nl	..rm ..mov .wmv	100mb VP3 .AVI		48mb .MPEG1
	Independence FROM America An alternative 4th of July celebration. The historic Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, UK, hosts an unholy wedding between Bush and Blair to the unease of all present.	en	DIVX	150mb VP3 .AVI		60mb .MPEG1
	Bayer Blockade 2003 Another anti-GM action, in which a handful of protesters close to Bayers chemical plant in cambridge during a five hour blockade. This video was produced for a Direct Action training session.		missing			85mb .MPEG1
	GM Debate? - 25 minutes Our longest (and most boring) film to date. Dozens of people who attended the governments public consultation events on GM foods speaking out about what they thought of the process. Actually it's not that boring.		various	Available to download as screenable PAL MPEG1 from www.archive.org
	Troubled Times April 2003. When censorship struck in Totnes, Totnes struck back with its own newspaper. This short video tells the tale of the Trouble Times to the sound track of David Rovics.		missing			31mb .MPEG1
	Minstry of D'Fence This video will get you cheering in a whistle stop weapons inspection at USAF Fairford in the UK, one of the few airbases in the world from which the massive B52 bombers of the U.S. can operate. The airfield was used for daily bombing of Iraqi civilians during the subsequent invasion of Iraq.		.mov			62mb .MPEG1
	Soup Kitchen A protest in London at the introduction of changes to Asylum law. January 2003	en	mpeg4			46mb .MPEG1
	Scrap Trident Plymouth people demonstrate against refurbishment of a Trident nuclear submarine.		.rm			mb .MPEG1
	Farmers and the GM Maze A 10 minute mini documentary about GM Maize variety Chardon LL. Made especially for dairy farmers.		mpeg4
	Anti-biotic resistance is fertile / Hilton August 2002. When it is revealed that an illegal genetically modified organism has been unlawfully released into the countryside local people took direct action in an attempt to remove the threat.		mpeg4			74mb .MPEG1
	Stop Live Exports This quick edit of historic footage taken by one of the collective in 1995, was made in response to the resumption of exports of live animals in Dover in 2002.		various			31mb .MPEG1
	Convoy / Messages to DEFRA The first vido made by the group that became Real2Reel. Anti-GM campaigns journey to London from all over the UK to dump bags of trashed GM crops at the door steps to DEFRA.		.DivX			93mb .MPEG1
Note: Some rights reserved, see copyright info below. Videos are encoded in PAL and all are produced as 352 x 288 @ 25 fps (with the exception of low bandwidth versions).

OFFLINE: If you don't have access to broadband or can't be arsed to download stuff yourself, you will be pleased to know that we also produce video CDROMs, and DVDs. These can be obtained directly from us, or, if there is enough interest, we may start distributing via CultureShop (www.cultureshop.org)

We will require payment to cover the costs of the CD burner, blank media, labels, spoilage, cases, packaging, postage etc. We now have a bank acount so you can make cheques payable to 'Real2Reel'

Real2Reel Volume 1 - July 2002 to July 2003.

Messages to DEFRA (Convoy) [9 mins] Stop Live Exports [3 mins] Antibiotic Resistance is Fertile [7 mins] Scrap Trident [3 mins 45 secs] Blockade Blues [5 mins] Tridenting It [1 1/2 min] Soup Kitchen - asylum rights [4 1/2 mins] Ministry Of D'Fence [6 mins] Sir Ray Tindle Ate My Hamster [2 1/2 mins] Bayer Blockade 2003 [7 mins] Modified Wheat - Jeolotts Hill [4 1/2 mins] Independence FROM America [6 mins]

The videos are supplied on a PAL MPEG1 VCD which should play in most DVD players and the majority of computers. The disks also contain radio shows (buynothing day, drive time, independence) and PDF resources from some of the actions shown - leaflets, booklets etc. Obviously this extra content can only be accessed using a computer. Other formats may be available on request.

Real2Reel Volume 2 - August 2003 to Sept 2004.
Sky Demo Roma - 5 mins Tractors & Trollies - 4'45" The Littlemoor Four - 5 mins No Allianz For Bayer GM - 3'35" Bayer Noise - 5 mins Buy Nothing Day - 1'43" Water Sports - 3 mins Indefensible - 5'40" IMC UK Video Group project LARC the video - 1'33" Chalk Farm Gallery - 2'24" Big Brother - 1'35" Super Trooper - 3'19" RampART Street - 9 mins Love Bomb - 3 mins	The compilation also contains additional contect including; DSEi radio, Anti-war Radio, Buy Nothing radio, interviews, and various other bits and pieces. Obviously this extra content will only be accessable using a computer with the appropriate software installed. We made an effort to provide english transcripts and subtitle files in various languages. Feel free to translate further.

Real2Reel Volume 3 DVD - October 2004 to October 2005.

World Naked Bike Ride London 2005 London Critical Mass 11th Aniversary ride Green Machine (pedal powered washing machine) ParkLife occupation of Dept for Transport Art Not Oil - BP Portrait Awards Not Shoot To Kill - Justice for Jean Charles G8 Bike Ride The Basement (a social centre in Manchester) Our House (failed squat eviction) plus many many more...

As a bonus, the additional capacity available on the DVD has been used to pack in an additional 15 films from 2002 and 2003. These include such classics as the 'Ministery of D'Fence' film about citizen weapon inspections at Fairford Airbase prior to the invasion of Iraq; Message to DEFRA, Hliton Risitance and many many more old favorites. For the first time, all the films (including the bonus videos from our archives) have been encoded in full resolution high quality MPEG2 format ready for screening from any DVD player or DVD capable computer. The DVD contains additional material which can only be accessed by computers. This is mostly audio files from associated radio projects. We are currently working on english transcripts in order to provide subtitted versions of the DVD in the near future. Volunteers for translations would be appreciated.

COPYRIGHT: All our work, unless otherwise stated, is made available under the Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. . This basically means that you can copy and distribute our work freely as long as there is no profit involved. If you use our work, the licence terms must persist. Credit for our work is appreciated but not essential. Licenses for commercial use or broadcast can be negotiated (ask for our fee card). We are working on a collection of video loops for VJs and other video artists which will probably be released under a Creative Commons licence but without our usual non-commercial clause.

MONEY: Sometime we sell our footage or stills to the mainstream news services and any resulting fees/royalties received are feed back into the project to pay for travel, expenses, tape stock, blank media, equipment etc. Real2Reel is a not-for-profit organisation and does not employ anyone. The artists involved volunteer their time and efforts for free.Needless to say, we welcome funding or donations, both financial or equipment. Computers, large hard drives, microphones, used DV tapes, lenses, filters, tripods, batteries, additional cameras etc would all find a good home.

EQUIPMENT: Real2Reel had a bad year in 2004, with the theft of our wonderful Sony TRV900E 3CCD miniDV camera, telephoto and zoom lenses, microphones and our minidisk recorder. Appeals for funds to replace the equipment bought in under 10% of the amount needed and it left us feeling disillusioned. However, having dipped into our personal pockets we got back on track eventually. We are now looking to replace our aging second hand cameras as the heads are all worn out and frequently let us down. Now into 2006 we are looking into retro fitting firewire hard-drives to these cameras as a cheap alternative to the new hard disk based video cameras.

SOFTWARE:: When we started out we were not impressed by the provision of open source video editting systems so we stuck with commerical Micro$oft Windoze applications. We cut our teeth with Adobe Premier but got fed up with it crashing so we briefly flirted with Avid DV Express before settling down for a short but sweet love affair with Sonic Foundry Vegas (now owned by Sony). We used BBMPEG or TMPEGenc to encode mpeg1 and found VirtualDub indispensible. While we're recommending software, Media Player Classic and VideoLanClient are highly recommended! However, these days we've pretty much abandoned the Windows/PC platform. We are keen to help develop greater support and recognition for open source video application and have tinkered a little with Kino, looked in confussion and awe at Cinerrela and more recently got quite excited about LiVES.