Our step by step guide will help you create your home videos.
Story narrated by Fauzia Khan
If you’d like to record and share a story of your own, please upload the file onto a google drive and share it with us at apalamchapalam@leher.org or DM us via our Instagram page if you have any questions before you partake.
It would be great if you can share your name, the city where you live, the name of the story or poem you are reciting and its author if you know it in the email copy as well. We would include this in the caption area and title for your piece on youtube. We’ll also be happy to upload it on the channel if it meets all the guidelines.
Story narrated by Safdar
Here’s our suggestions and guidelines for uploading the best possible video from your own home right now:
How
Get someone in your house to help you out with this if you can. If you don’t have anyone who can help you, place your phone on a sturdy surface after choosing your background, hit record and do it yourself so it’s a stable frame. (If there’s a little bit of a lag before you start, we can edit that out for you!)
Please make sure you start reciting your poem/ reading out your story within the first 10 seconds of the video, so the children are immediately engaged. If you would like to say anything about the story, the author’s name, your favourite insight etc, you can say it after the narration, towards the end of the video.
Background
Find a nice spot in your house – maybe with an interesting background, something colourful
and nice to look at if it’s possible. Remember, it’s for children, so colour is always welcome!
Light
Pick a spot with good light and try to ensure it’s falling on your face so that your expressions are more clear. Whatever you do, make sure the source of light is not behind you!
Performance
Your audience is largely going to be children, keep them in mind when you’re reading out the stories. Treat this as a performance and think of what might keep them engaged!
To begin with, introduce how you came to love this story (maybe your grandmother used to read it to you as a kid, or maybe your children used to love it when you read it to them and now you’d like to do the same) then jump right into the story. When you’re done with the performance, you can share any context or story about what you just read, discuss who wrote it etc. if you like. This way we can keep the children’s interest as a priority.
You can read the story out from a book, or you could do a dramatic reading from memory–whatever is more comfortable for you is fine with us.
If you want to take it a step further, find a board in your house and draw something for them! Even better, make sock puppets! If you want to make it a joined theatrical performance with another member of your house, go right ahead. The canvas is totally blank.
Time Limit
Try looking for a story that is going to take you under 5 minutes to narrate. However, if you do find a story that is longer but very close to your heart and you absolutely want to share, we’re open to those as well. Remember, you’ve got to engage the kids, regardless of the length of the story)
Language
The two languages that we are focusing on right now are Hindi and Marathi as our immediate distribution network is for children in Mumbai chawls. You can find a story in either one of the languages. Or you could translate your favourite story from a different language if you’d like.
Sound / Audio
This one’s really important! Most of us don’t have any good recording equipment at home, so you have to make sure your phone is capturing the best possible audio. Besides making sure you’re speaking loud and clear, try to record in a closed room, with windows and doors all shut to cancel out external noise. Switch off the fans and see if you can choose a time when the house is a little quieter. If your walls are thin, request other members of your family not to play the television or make loud sounds for the few minutes you are recording.
Quantity
Finally, if you’re in the mood, you don’t have to stop at one! We’d be thrilled if you sent up more than one video! Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Apalam Chapalam is a travelling story channel for urban, underprivileged children between the ages of 6 – 14. Created for Leher by a community of creatives and storytellers, it encourages collaboration between people from all walks of life and ages to keep children’s curiosity alive while drawing inspiration from India’s rich tradition of oral storytelling. It was born out of the desire to provide some leisure during lockdown, but will live on in the hearts of both the tall tellers and little listeners. To know more about the initiative click here.
