A four-minute feature on migrant children in Beijing shows how photojournalist Dan Chung can create evocative news videography with minimal equipment. I’ve written previously about Chung’s work in digital video, including a short feature on a summer night along the city’s Nan Luogu Xiang street, shot with a Canon EOS 7D camera.
On 15 March, Chung and correspondent Tania Branigan of The Guardian reported on the children of immigrants who move to China’s large cities in search of work, and the complications of the hukou system. This household registration process divides citizens into urban and rural dwellers and assigns rights and access to educational, health and social services. Migrant children inherit the same — lesser — rights.
On this project, Chung used a Canon EOS Rebel T2i digital SLR, which at $800 is half the price of the 7D. Chung writes that equipment is no longer a barrier to creating news videography. The obstacles are learning digital SLR skills, coupled with old-fashioned journalism.
Above, a still image from Dan Chung’s 15 March piece on Chinese migrant children in The Guardian.
