Based on experiences of Phase I (September 2005 ¨C April 2006), the organizers of the China Village Documentary Project decided to better plan and structure their activities.

The Phase II (2006) plan underneath is the result of this effort. The overall objective of the plan
for the upcoming phase is:

1.
To further empower the 10 selected villager filmmakers and 100 photographers by giving them more support in distribution/public screenings of the films or public exhibitions of the photographs completed in Phase I as well as in the production and distribution of new works; the 10 filmmakers should be able to complete their second documentary films by the end of Phase II; the 100 photographers should be able to complete their second series of photographic works.

2.
To select and support a new group of 10 villager filmmakers and 100 villager photographers.
The support they receive will be comparable with that offered to the first group in the first phase.

3.
To set up and support pilot documentary filmmaking/photography training and screening/exhibition owned and run by villagers in their home village. The objective is to deliver documentary films and photos on village lives to the people who live there and to multiply the impact of the project by training of "trainers."

Activities in the second phase of the project fall into seven subprojects in three different sections. As the continuation of Phase I, Section A emphasizes the sustainable development of the achievement of the previous phase. This includes:

Subproject A-1: Continuation with the 10 villager filmmakers from Phase I

In this subproject, all ten selected villager filmmakers from Phase I will continue producing a new documentary film. Each filmmaker will select a new topic to make a documentary film about. He or she will receive ten more blank video tapes as well as on-the-spot technical support and tutoring from three specialists. They will also be invited to Beijing to participate in a twenty-day training workshop on postproduction editing. Apart from editing their own films, the filmmakers will be engaged in workshops and discussions on their selected topics. A three-day public screening will
be organized in Beijing for the newly completed films at the end of the workshop.

Subproject A-2: Continuation with the 100 villager photographers from Phase I

In this subproject, the 100 selected villager photographers from Phase I will continue shooting photographs with five new rolls of film. Each photographer will receive 5 new rolls of film to shoot on a new topic. Two tutors will be sent out to the field to provide on-the-spot training and technical assistance. The project expects to receive an average of 4 completed rolls of film mailed back from each photographer. The film will be developed in Beijing and will be evaluated by an evaluation committee made of specialists and villagers.

Subproject A-3: A book on the works of Phase I

With this subproject, a book which collects all the journals of the villager filmmakers and photographers about their work, illustrated by pictures, will be published. It will serve as an important supplementary to the documentary films and photos.

Borrowing experience from Phase I, Section B doubles the size of the project by engaging a new group of 10 villager filmmakers and 100 photographers. This includes:

Subproject B-1: Film production by ten new selected villager filmmakers

In this subproject, another ten villager filmmakers will be selected from around the nation, using similar selecting procedure as Phase I. A call for proposals will be announced nationwide. A selection committee will be formed. The selection will be based on the submitted proposals and considerations of a rich diversity of age, gender and geographic areas. Each of the ten selected filmmakers will receive a new video camera, ten more blank video tapes and other accessories to complete a documentary film on the proposed topic. During the shooting period, four tutors shall be sent to
provide on-the-spot training. After they have completed the shooting, all the filmmakers will be invited back to Beijing with completed footages to participate in a training workshop on postproduction editing. Apart from editing their own films, the filmmakers will be engaged in workshops and discussions on their selected topics. A three-day public screening will be organized in Beijing for the completed films at the end of the workshop.

Subproject B-2: Continuation with the 100 villager photographers from Phase I

In this subproject, another 100 villager photographers will be selected from around the nation, using similar selecting procedure as Phase I. A call for proposals will be announced nationwide.
A selection committee will be formed. The selection will be based on the submitted proposals and considerations of a rich diversity of age, gender and geographic areas. Each of the 100 selected photographers will receive a new amateur still camera and four rolls of film to shoot on a new topic. Two tutors will be sent out to the field to provide on-the-spot training and technical assistance. The project expects to receive four completed rolls of film mailed back from each photographer. The film will be developed in Beijing and will be evaluated by an evaluation committee made of specialists and villagers.

Subproject B-3: A book on the works of Phase I

With this subproject, a book which collects all the journals of the villager filmmakers and photographers about their work, illustrated by pictures, will be published. It will serve as an important supplementary to the documentary films and photos.

Section C

Subproject C: DVD Room

With this project, a pilot DVD Room will be set up in the home village of a selected villager filmmaker. This Room will serve as the nation's first documentary film screening house set up and run by villagers. On April 23, five of the award-winning villager filmmakers were invited to Beijing to participate in a two-week training workshop on non-linear postproduction video editing. By the end of the workshop, the five filmmakers have mastered the basic skills needed to complete the postproduction editing of a documentary video. They have also started editing the footage taken between December 2005 and April 2006 into their second documentary film "I Film My Village."

During the postproduction editing workshop in April 2006, the organizer helped the villager filmmakers develop a strategy in setting up documentary film/photography training and screening/exhibition centres in their home villages. The villager filmmakers call this kind of centres "the DV Room."

The first pilot site will be set up by filmmaker Jia Zhitan in his home village of Yuanyichang in south China's Hu'nan province, with technical support from the Caochangdi Workstation. The centre, which will be owned and run by villagers themselves, aims at entertaining the villagers with documentary films and pictures made by villager filmmakers/photographers from across the nation. It will offer training to villagers who want to learn the skills of documentary filmmaking and photography. As according to Mr. Jia, the first filmmaker to propose the idea, such a visual art centre will serve the villagers as a "meaningful alternative to card-playing, mah-jong playing," which in many a village are the only two entertainments besides TV watching. Caochangdi
Workstation will continue to seek funding to support such an initiative and promote it in other villages where similar interest is on the rise.