My Community Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is My Community?
My Community is a partnership among several state agencies, educational institutions, communities and students from across the state of Arkansas. The program provides a hands-on learning experience to students as they produce short documentaries about their communities.
2. Who is eligible?
Students from elementary school to college are eligible to participate. Students can also be from private schools or church groups.
3. What is a community?
A community could be a town, area, county or region within the state of Arkansas – whatever the student feels is his or her community.
4. How can I get in touch with the government and business leaders in my area who may advise me about local areas of interest?
Contact Dori Polk at (501) 682-5123 or dpolk@ArkansasEDC.com for local community contact information.
5. What if someone else is shooting in my community?
No problem! The goal is to involve as many participants as possible in the My Community program. Two or more groups will possibly have very different perspectives on the same community.
6. What are the requirements for the videos?
Videos must be 2 to 10 minutes long, in digital format. The preferred formats are MPEG-2, MPEG-4, QuickTime and Windows Media. Voice-overs are recommended, but videos will be accepted without audio.
7. What kind of equipment is needed?
Digital camcorder; PC or MAC video editing software. If you don’t have access to your own equipment, you can contact Ron Hardy at (501) 371-5016 or ron@eastproject.org. He will work with the program partners across the state to provide the necessary equipment for students working on the My Community project.
8. Do I need to be enrolled in a film course?
No. If you would like to enhance your video production skills, a FREE online course is available at http://www.video101course.com
9. Will there be an awards ceremony for the winners?
An awards ceremony will be held April 30, 2008 at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock, AR.
