Due to the lockdown as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic the world of newsgathering has changed dramatically. Social distancing, quarantines and lack of worldwide travel has meant that we are relying more and more on Zoom, Skype and Facetime for interviews and verified UGC for a good portion of our meaningful content.
I have to say its frustrating not being able to go out and shoot every day and one way to keep busy is to volunteer for as much remote editing work that the office can throw at you. For this story I remote edited with Rajini and Peter from home using the video conferencing app Zoom.
The Story:
There’s growing anger over the brutal deaths of a father and son in police custody in South India. The family say the men were beaten and tortured by officers, after being arrested for allegedly violating a coronavirus curfew. At least a dozen people are reported to have died after police beatings to maintain lockdown. Police brutality against minorities in India has long been an accepted part of society. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the US, some are asking whether now is the time for Indians to stand up against it.
This piece was a particularly hard one for the team to get right in both tone and content. Some of the footage we managed to gather was very brutal indeed and it was a hard call not to use it. There are many cases showing the he reality of what is happening in regards to the extent of police brutality in India as there is around the world.
South Asia Correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan reports @BBCRajiniV
Produced by Peter Emmerson @pwemmerson
Edited and partly filmed by Lee Durant @leedurant
Equipment Used: MacBook Pro, FCPX, Canon C300 mkii, Canon 5D mkiv and Zoom.