Call for video submissions: Positive Trans stories.
Welcome!
The angry right wing has been amplifying stories of sex change regret, making it seem like it’s a common outcome of gender affirming care even though it’s a tiny percentage.
I would like to make a video providing a more representative sample, and that shows diverse successful forms we take on in our new lives. I’d especially like to include those who, like me, transitioned years or decades ago and thus demonstrate long-term success, but often disappear as we blend into our new lives and roles.
To this end, I’m soliciting brief selfie videos. I’m not looking for long-winded discussions of who we are, as there are plenty of those out there. I’m envisioning more a montage of short, positive bios, where in addition to the individual stories the sheer number of people speaks for itself.
While I am inspired to present positive outcomes, my personal commitment to the truth means I might include a few neutral experiences or stories of those who detransitioned but felt the experience was positive, as wisdom gained during transition was essential to understanding why it wasn’t for them, making it possible for them to move on. This would contradict the right’s claims that anyone going down the Trans path is unrecoverably doomed, instead showing the positive, healthy exploration it is for some, even if it’s not their ultimate path.
What to include
The “meat” of your video should be 12–15 seconds and say something about who you are, and what life can be after transition. (I can cut off leader or trailer if you’re doing your own camera work and need to enter the shot after starting the camera.)
That may seem short, but: write down what you want to say, see what’s most important, cut out the lesser. Rephrase things to be more direct. Consider also that you’re not limited to your words: the setting, what you’re wearing, whether you film portrait or landscape orientation, and whether you’re alone or with anyone, what activities you are doing on-screen. There will also be some on-screen titles saying something about you (see the bottom of the release form).
At the start of the video, you should introduce yourself. I may not use your introduction, instead relying on an on-screen title as introduction. But having it gives me flexibility to choose later, and also ensures I know which submission belongs to who.
Beyond that, it’s up to you. A plain video of you saying something is fine. If you want to pre-edit a clip together, I’ll try to work with it. If you want to submit a second video clip or photos (say, you playing sports or doing something), that’s fine too—I can overlay the images over your voice, or show them side-by-side as works. (Hint: recording the speaking video in portait orientation is more conducive to side-by-side, whereas recording in landscape orientation is more conducive to showing images in place showing you speaking. Secondary video should be landscape mode, with 16x9 best for overlaying voice, 4x3 best for side-by-side with you speaking.)
If you’re a couple (or more) and want to make a clip together, that’s cool tool.
Video format
Please submit your video on 1080P (not 4K please), ideally with variable frame rate turned off. But if you don’t know how to do that, or don’t have the right equipment, I’ll work with what I get if I can.
If you’re recording in landscape orientation, set the aspect ratio of your camera to 16:9.
Deadlines and such
I don’t know what kind of response I’ll get, or how quickly. If I don’t get enough material to work with, this may go nowhere; if I get inundated, I may not be able to use all I receive (unlikely though).
Please submit videos by mid-June, though sooner is better. I’ll update this when I know more; if I do have to set a deadline, I’ll announce it at least a week or two in advance.
Submitting
Please print out and complete the Release form for each person in the video.
Submit your video and a legible photo of the completed release form(s):
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Either via e-mail to positive@barella.org. I’d guess the maximum message size allowed is about 50MB, or 30MB of video (about a minute of video on my phone).
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Or via our web drop box. This will accept larger files. If it’s not working, drop me an email and I’ll check on it.
And in advance, thank you for participating in the project!