Saya ingin membawa cerita Papua untuk dunia. Cerita dari Papua harus menginspirasi setiap orang untuk terus berjuang demi keadilan dan perdamaian! Saya memperkenalkan video-video karya Papuan Voices kepada para peserta SCFFI.

Ketika mengikuti SCFFI di Ubud, Bali, saya belajar bersama Jonathan Stack tentang story teling. Dan, SCFFI 2012 ini, saya belajar tentang memproduksi dan menjual ide ke acara Televisi dengan Dee LaDuke & Mark Alton Brown.

Ini workshop yang sangat menarik untuk saya. Saya mendengar presentasi dari Dee dan Mark tentang program Televisi. Dee presentasi, dan Mark sering menyelah diskusi Dee dengan para peserta workshop untuk melengkapi. Saya sedikit terkejut, ketika Mark bicara soal sosiologi film dengan menyebut Papuan Voices sebagai contoh pendekatan sosiologis di dunia sinematografi.

(Kiri: Mark Alton Brown ketika memberikan presentasi "Menjual Ide pada program Televisi" di Dillard University, New Orleans, USA)

Dalam workshop ini, saya menemukan beberapa ide untuk mendukung program Papua Voices dan Papuan Calling di Papua. Saya ingin memproduksi serial video Papua Calling dengan menggunakan pendekatan acara Televisi dan story teling. Saya pikir, ini sangat penting untuk melindungi dan promosi cerita kebudayaan orang Papua dan mengadvokasi berbagai persoalan keadilan sosial, lingkungan hidup dan hak asasi manusia.

Dan, saya juga bergabung dalam workshop “Perempuan dan Pembuatan Film untuk perubahan sosial”. Ini adalah sebuah workshop dimana saya bersama para peserta lain membicarakan tentang perempuan dan perang, pendekatan untuk media untuk meliput isu ingkungan, dan pengenalan screenwriting dengan penekanan lebih pada tema keadilan sosial. Saya banyak bercerita tentang situasi hidup orang asli Papua yang hidup dengan ketakutan di Papua. Bagi saya, orang asli Papua hidup dengan ketakutan, karena militer dan polisi Indonesia sering menangkap, menyiksa dan membunuh orang Papua yang dianggap tidak mendukung kebijakan Pemerintah Indonesia.

Selain itu, saya bergabung bersama tim yang dipimpin oleh Michael Yonchenko untuk merekam kegiatan SCFFI di Dillard University dan Loyola University. Selain saya, ada juga Fernando Barbosa dari Bolivia dan Jeremy Stern dari California. Kami menjadi tim yang kompak. Saya dipanggil sebagai saudara laki-laki dari Michael Yonchenko Fernando Barbosa, dan Jerremy Stern. Begitu pula saya memanggil mereka. Kami adalah saudara dari bapa dan mama yang berbeda.

(Dari kiri ke kanan: Wensi Fatubun, Fernando Barbosa, Michael Yonchenko dan Jeremy Stern)

Solidaritas yang dihidupi diantara tim yang dipimpin Michael Yonchenko ini membuat kami, anggota tim, untuk berpikir kreatif dalam bekerja dan memikirkan sesuatu karya. Kami bikin kampanye kecil tentang perjuangan masyarakat Indian. Kami mewawancarai Chief Warhorse. Michael Yonchenko, Fernando Barbosa dan Jeremy Stern menjadi juru kamera, sementara saya yang masuk di masuk dalam layar kamera.

Saya muncul di depan kamera, bercerita dengan Chief Warhorse, ketua Komunitas Indian Amerika. Ini pengalaman pertama saya bercerita dalam bahasa Inggris di depan kamera. Saya gugup, tapi situasi dan dukungan dari ketika saudara saya, bikin saya menjadi nyaman untuk bicara di depan kamera. Sesi bercerita ini pun menjadi sebuah dialog dari hati ke hati antara dua orang yang punya masalah yang mirip. Ini bukan lagi sebuah sesi tanya jawab. Saya membuka wawancara ini dengan bercerita tentang situasi di tanah Papua.

(Kiri: Chief Warhorse dan Wensi Fatubun dalam sesi wawancara di Dillard University, New Orleans, USA)

“Di tanah Papua Barat, kami, orang Papua, hidup dengan rasa takut. Hampir setiap hari, saudara kami, atau kawan kami ditangkap, disiksa dan dibunuh oleh militer dan polisi Indonesia.”

“Ok...saya bisa bayangkan”

“Tanah kami dicaplok. Kami berteriak sebagai protes, tapi Pemerintah Indonesia tidak mau mendengar, bahkan kami diberi stigma separatisme.”

“Hal ini sama seperti yang kami, orang Indian Amerika, rasakan. Kita punya pengalaman yang mirip

“Menurut saya, persoalan ketidakadilan yang dialami, bukan persoalan pembangunan yang tidak merata dengan daerah-daerah di luar Papua, seperti di pulau Jawa misalnya. Tapi persoalan martabat dan harga diri orang asli Papua yang sedang ditindas”.

“Bagaimana dengan masalah Freeport McMoran? Apakah apa yang kami, orang Indian, alami di New Orleans mirip dengan orang Papua?”

“Saya belum tahu persis. Tapi, PT. Freeport investasi di tanah Papua tanpa persetujuan kami. Kami dipaksa oleh Pemerintah Indonesia melalui militernya untuk harus menerima PT. Freeport, padahal kami belum resmi sebagai bagian dari Indonesia. Hal ini terjadi pada tahun 1967. Kami menjadi bagian dari Indonesia pada tahun 1969. Sekarang, ada beberapa kelompok aktivis di Indonesia yang minta untuk PT. Freeport dinasionalisasi. Saya kira mereka salah sekali. Seharusnya para aktivis itu berjuang supaya orang Papua tidak mengalami penindasan dengan kehadiran PT. Freeport, nasionalisasi bukan solusi."

Begitulah sedikit percakapan saya dengan Chief Warhorse.

Dan, selepas berbincang-bindang dengan Chief Warhorse, saya, Michael Yonchenko, Fernando Barbosa, dan Jeremy Stren pergi makan siang di Restoran Commel. Restoran Commel memang jadi tempat favorit kami. Pelayannya sangat rama. Kami pesan jambalaya. Ketika kami sedang menunggu jambalaya pesanan kami, Michael Yonchenko dan Fernando Barbosa memperkenalkan “Salam Bilogai” kepada para pelayanan restoran. Seorang pelayan tampak bersemangat sekali untuk mempraktekan “Salam Bilogai” kepada para tamu lain. Ini pengalaman yang luar biasa. Semua tamu restoran mempraktekan salam bilogai. Hal yang sama juga saya alami pada keesokan harinya, ketika makan pagi di Restoran Commel ini. Selain di Restoran Commel, saya dan Fernando memperkenalkan “Salam Bilogai” kepada para peserta SCFFI di Restoran Mexico.

Timing

• Subtitles should appear and disappear exactly when the words are spoken. However, ensure captions appear on-screen long enough to be read.
• There should be two lines of text on screen at most.
• Set the minimum time of display to 1.5 seconds for very short dialogs (such as an answer to a question, "Okay"). These minimums do not apply in some cases with rapid dialogs.
• It's best to consider whether the audience will be able to read through your subtitles while still following the events in the video.
• If a lyric is repeated, create a gap between end of first lyric, and start of second repeated lyric. This ensures that there is a 'blink' on and off visually between each line to indicate to the viewer that the lyric is sung twice.
• Use a separate subtitle for each sentence of dialog. Avoid ending a sentence and begin a new sentence on the same line, unless the second sentence is very short in length.

Meaning

• When translating from a different language, translate meaning and not just words, making sure to get the point across to the audience.
• Quotes by public figures should be captioned verbatim (word-for-word) whenever possible.
• Retain words like “but”, “so”, or “too”, as they are essential for expressing meaning.
• Ensure that all actual words are captioned, regardless of language, dialect, or slang.

Sound

• When speech is inaudible, put up a label explaining the cause. e.g. (traffic drowns speech)
• Show sound effect captions in lowercase italics enclosed in brackets. e.g. (dog barking) (child screaming)
• If there are multiple people talking, or the film cuts between people speaking, consider using the names of the people in the subtitles to identify the different speakers. e.g.

(John) What did you say?
(Sarah) I think this is great

• One method to indicate singing in a video is to have a space inserted after the beginning music icon (♪) and before the ending music icon(s). e.g. ♪ Buffalo soldier, in the heart of America ♪
• Another method used for music captioning is using a hashtag (#) at the beginning of each line to denote lyrics. e.g. # Buffalo soldier, in the heart of America #
• When people are seen talking, but there is no audio, caption as [no audio] or [silence].

Punctuation

• There are mixed views on including full stops / periods in subtitles. Film and TV productions generally do not use them, however many translators have found them useful when translating from original subtitles online and offline. Some believe that using periods at the end of sentences signals to the eye that it can go back to the image since there is no consecutive subtitle to anticipate.
• Question marks (?) and exclamation points (!) should be used to indicate a question or emphasis respectively, positioned right after the last character of a subtitle.
• Use a single space after commas, colons, semi-colons and mid-subtitle full-stops, on both sides of dashes (but not mid-word hyphens), before opening brackets and after closing brackets.
• Be consistent in the use of vocabulary that can be spelled in hyphenated form. eg. 'mid-level'.
• When a speaker is interrupted and another speaker finishes the sentence, the interruption should be conveyed by double hyphens or a single long dash.
• Use an ellipsis (...) when there is a significant pause within a caption. However, do not use an ellipsis to indicate that the sentence continues into the next caption.
• Use quotation marks for on-screen readings from a poem, book, play, journal, or letter. Also use quotation marks and italics for offscreen readings or voice-overs.

Capitalization

• Always start sentences in capital letters.
• Do not emphasize a word using all capital letters except to indicate screaming.

Numbers

• Long numbers should usually be presented according to relevant conventions, eg telephone numbers (xxx-xxxx; xxx-xxx-xxxx) or other long numbers in groups of three (10,000 / 100,000).
• Always spell out all numbers from one to ten, but use numerals for all numbers over ten. e.g. "Tom wants ten balloons". "Tom wants 54 balloons".
• Use numerals when referring to technical and athletic terms. e.g. He scored 3 goals in today’s game!
• Use the numeral plus the lowercase “th,” “st,” or “nd” when a day of the month is mentioned by itself (no month is referred to). e.g. Bob went fishing on the 9th.
• Indicate time of day with numerals only. e.g. “ I awoke at 5:17. ” or “You must arrive by 6:25 p.m. ”
• A decade should be captioned as “the 1980s” (not “the 1980’s”) and “the ’50s” (not “the 50’s”).

Line Breaks

• Subtitle lines should end at natural linguistic breaks, ideally at clause or phrase boundaries. e.g.

Incorrect
He said it would increase the
number of shareholders.

Correct
He said it would increase
the number of shareholders.

• Do not break a person’s name or title from within a line. e.g.

Incorrect
Bob and Susan
Miller are at the movies.

Correct
Bob and Susan Smythe
are at the movies.

Incorrect
Suzy and Professor
Barker are here.

Correct
Suzy and Professor Barker
are here.

• Do not break a line after a conjunction. e.g:

Incorrect
In seconds she arrived, and
he ordered a drink.

Correct
In seconds she arrived,
and he ordered a drink.

• Do not break an auxiliary verb from the word it modifies. Example:
  

Incorrect
Mom said I could
have gone to the movies.

Correct
Mom said I could have gone
to the movies.

Italics

Italics should be used to indicate the following:

• A voice-over reading of a poem, book, play, journal, letter, etc. (This is also quoted material, so quotation marks are also needed.)
• When a person is dreaming, thinking, or reminiscing.
• When there is background audio that is essential to the plot, such as a PA system or TV.
• Offscreen dialogue, narrator (see Exception 2 below), sound effects, or music (this includes background music).
• The offscreen narrator when there are multiple speakers on-screen or offscreen.
• Foreign words and phrases, unless they are in an English dictionary.
• When a particular word is heavily emphasized in speech. e.g. You must leave!
  

Phonetic Words

• When a word is spoken phonetically, caption it the way it is commonly written. e.g.
  

Original Narration
“www dot D-C-M-P dot org”
“eight or nine hundred”
“a thousand"
“one thousand”

Captioned
www.dcmp.org
800 or 900
a thousand
1000

Misc.

• Bold and underline are not permitted in subtitling.

To find our more about our online subtitling and translation project, and join our subtitling team, please visit our Lingua project page.

In June 2012, EngageMedia co-founded the Video4Change network with 14 other organisations. This year, we'll be working with the MIT Center for Civic Media and Open Documentary Lab to research how social-change video creates impact and how that impact can be measured. We'll also be developing v4c.org as a umbrella space for the network, as well as adding a host of video4change guides and tools. Lastly, the network will host a series of three regional or city-based convenings of video4change individuals and organisations. Locations are still to be determined but at least one will be in the Middle East/North Africa. Stay tuned for updates.

Papuan Voices is a series of home-grown videos from the troubled region of West Papua. Coupled with a set of background materials, it's a toolkit for educators and campaigners defending the rights of West Papuans. In late February, we'll begin an outreach program of screenings and discussions in Java and on Australia's east coast. We'll send through dates as they are confirmed.

Building on our Indonesian Migrant Worker Stories project from 2012, this year we will collaborate with Indonesian migrant workers and stateless people in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. We will produce a range of stories and curate critical video works documenting their lives and campaigns for greater rights, with the help of partner Citizen Journalists Malaysia.

Our Lingua project, which translates and subtitles human rights and environmental video in Southeast Asia, also continues. Last year, we signed up nearly 350 volunteers and translated more than 2500 minutes of video. Want to get involved? You can join the team here.

With Transparency International Indonesia we've just kicked off Moviemento, a program working with young creatives to produce videos and engage audiences around anti-corruption themes. We're currently touring Semarang, Balikpapan, Makassar and Bali to conduct focus groups to find the right participants. We'll begin the workshop series in March, followed by an engagement campaign in June.

In the coming weeks, we'll be launching a new Plumi and EngageMedia.org design along with a bunch of feature additions. Plumi is an open-source video-distribution system built by EngageMedia in collaboration with Unweb. We'll be doing a separate shout-out about that very soon.

If you want to stay in touch between newsletters, you can find regular updates on our blog and, of course, more frequent updates on Twitter and Facebook.

Lastly, we're always looking for support to build and maintain the initiatives described above. Your contribution helps create free and open media in support of human rights and environmental causes both in Southeast Asia and globally. You can donate here.

Wishing you a great 2013
Andrew Lowenthal
Executive Director