/ YOUTH MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

CONTENT CREATION WORKBOOK

April, 2020

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WELCOME CONTENT CREATORS!

About this workbook: There is nothing more powerful than storytelling.

Stories are among the oldest and most effective ways of communicating.
With this workbook, we want to give you the tools needed to create and
share your own stories, by teaching you the fundamentals of
documentary filmmaking and some best practices of sharing stories on
social media.

Who we are: We are CLICKON, a collective of filmmakers partnered with

Special Olympics since 2018 to tell the stories of the Unified Generation.
Through this partnership, we have had the honor of creating many
pieces of content, which you can find on generationunified.org.

We hope you enjoy this resource, and by the end, feel empowered to go
out and share stories that inspire you!

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00 / Table of Contents
This workbook will take you through the fundamentals of creating
powerful stories on your own.

Our hope is this: after working through these pages, you will be excited
about storytelling, confident enough to make your own videos, and
empowered to share them with your community.

Workbook Table of Contents:

1) Introduction
a) Thinking About Storytelling - Page 5
b) Documentary Filmmaking - 6
c) Vocabulary - 7
2) Pre-Production
a) Purpose & Goals - 9
b) Message / Lesson - 9
c) Audience - 9
d) Planning - 10
e) Camera - 12
3) Production
a) The Filmmaker’s Tools - 19
b) Coverage - 22
c) Interviews - 25
4) Post-Production
a) Editing - 30
b) Dailies - 33
c) Making Selects - 34
d) Radio Edit - 36
e) Putting it All Together - 37

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00 / Table of Contents
5) Distribution & Strategy
a) The Opportunity of Social Media - Page 45
b) Step 1 - Select a Platform - Page 46
c) Step 2 - How to Make it Stand Out - Page 48
d) Step 3 - The Technical Details - Page 49
e) Step 4 - Selecting Hashtags - Page 51

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01 / Introduction

Thinking About Storytelling

● Stories are powerful tools that can connect us emotionally to

people we’ve never met, places we’ve never been, and things
we’ve never done. They do this by focusing on the things that all
people have in common: hopes, fears, joys, regrets, and dreams.
The best stories are the ones that remind us that no matter where
we’re from or what we look like, we all have more in common than
we might think.

● Everyone has a story worth telling, including you! People don’t

need to be famous or have some extraordinary talent to be
“worthy” of having their story told. Everyone has a perspective and
experience that deserves to be shared. There are stories all
around you, you just need to have an open mind.

● It’s important to be curious! If you have a question, always try to

find the answer. The more questions you ask, the more stories
you’ll find, and the better those stories will be! One very important
question to ask yourself is: what story am I trying to tell and how
do I want my audience to feel about it? A follow up question: How
do I make my audience feel the way I want them to?

● These days, all you need is a camera and an idea to go out and
start telling stories! You have the power to share stories with a
global community in an INSTANT. That means that you can have an
influence on people you’ve never met before. So, by telling stories,
you have the power to effect real change.

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01 / Introduction

What is Documentary Filmmaking?

Documentary filmmaking
documents people and events in
the real world. These stories rarely
use actors or special effects and are
as close to the whole truth as
possible.

There are many kinds of

documentaries, and some of them
break the very simple rules listed
above. But for our purposes, we will
be thinking of documentary as a
way to tell truthful stories through
the craft of filmmaking.

It should be noted that these

lessons can be used outside of
documentaries. The fundamentals
of filmmaking are the same for
documentaries and Hollywood
blockbusters. Use this resource to
become a better filmmaker, a more
informed film viewer, no matter what
films you make or watch.

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01 / Introduction
Vocabulary

● Alt Text: a short phrase that’s used to identify images.

● Aspect Ratio: the dimensions or shape (width and height) of a particular screen.

● B-Roll: The extra footage captured to enrich the story you're telling and to have
greater flexibility when editing.

● Call-To-Action: any device designed to prompt an immediate response or

encourage an immediate action from a viewer.

● Close Up Shot (or Close Up): A camera angle that fills the screen with part of
the subject, such as a person’s head/face.

● Composition: refers to how the elements on screen such as people or scenery,

appear in respect to each other and within the frame itself.

● Copy: this is what we call the text that is within a social media post.

● Coverage: The various camera angles filmed during a single scene.

● Dailies: The raw, unedited footage from one day of filming

● Distribution: This is how you get your film out in the world and seen whether it
be on social media platforms or screened in person.

● Engagement: when viewers like, comment or share items on social media.

● Frame: a still image within the moving film itself

● Medium Shot: A shot that typically frames a person from about the waist up.

● Post-production: The time when filming is finished and you are editing your
project.

● Pre-production: The time before filming when you plan out your story,
characters, schedule, tools, permissions to film, etc.

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01 / Introduction
Vocabulary

● Pre-production Document: This is an outline of all the logistics involved with

filming; schedule, contact information, location information, etc.

● Production: The time when you are filming.

● Project: The overall project file in your editing system that houses everything
from timeline to bins to sequences

● Radio Edit: This is an edit only of the audio so that you can weave together the
verbal portion of your story. Once you are happy with your radio edit, you can
then apply the appropriate visuals.

● Selects: The “greatest hits” of your dailies; footage that you think might make
make it into your final edit.

● Sequence: These are projects within your project. Each has its own timeline.
This way you can have multiple versions of your project. Note: You can also use
a separate sequence as a place to lay out your favorite b-roll or favorite audio
so that it’s easy to grab and copy into your final sequence.

● Track: the area in a project timeline where audio, visual, effects and music
elements are edited in their own space.

● Thumbnail: the smaller photo or cover photo that gives a preview of your
content.

● Timeline: The area where you see video and audio tracks laid out in order and
you are able to start rearranging, cutting, etc.

● Treatment: A document you create that shows what the dialogue and visuals of
your film will most likely look like.

● Wide Angle (or Wide Shot): A camera angle that shows a wide range of
environment and characters. This shot often sets the scene and our character’s
place in it.

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02 / Pre-Production
Now that we’ve talked a bit about storytelling & documentary film, your
mind is probably busy brainstorming films that you want to create.
Maybe you already have a story in mind. So, let’s jump in and start
planning your project. Before heading out to film, it’s time to go through
the pre-production process to set your film up for success.

Purpose & Goals

Identifying the purpose and/or the goals of your film is the first step.
Without outlining these, it will be difficult to film and edit. Think of the
purpose and goals of your project as its bones that hold it all together.

Message & Lessons

Next up is to think about what message or lesson you want your viewer
to come away with. This may be very similar to the goals and purpose
you outlined or it may be something more specific. Think about what you
want your viewer to learn about from your film. How do you want them
to feel after watching it? Is there something you want them to be
thinking about after they watch it?

Audience

It’s wise to think about who will be watching your film. That way you can
tailor it to how they consume content. For example, do they watch
content on Youtube or Instagram? Do they like to watch short or
long-form content. The answer to these questions will offer you more
guidance during production and post-production.

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Planning

Once you’ve identified your goals, purpose, message & lessons it’s time
to dive deeper into planning out your production. This preparation will
make it possible to proceed to the next part of pre-production.

Sometimes you will already know what your story is or who you will be
filming and you will need to go back and identify your goals, messaging
etc. That is totally fine. As long as it’s all outlined prior to filming and
planning your production.

Now it’s time to identify who/what your film will be about if you do not
already know? It’s a good idea to have as many conversations with the
people that will be featured ahead of time so that you learn more about
them. It will also help to make your subjects more comfortable with you
while filming.

A tool that we highly recommend using is something called a

‘treatment.’ This is a document that you write up that explains your
entire film. Within the treatment you write out what you think the subject
is going to say and the visuals that will go along with that. Once you
have interviewed your subject and filmed, your project may not look like
what you wrote down in your treatment. However, a treatment can act as
a great guide while you are in production.

Next up during the planning phase you will need to outline all the
logistics of your production so that things go smoothly while you are
filming. Where will you film? When? Do you need permission to film at
that location? Do you have permission to film that person? What is the
exact schedule? Having all of these particulars noted down in a
“pre-production document” will help you and anyone involved, stay
organized and on track.

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Planning

Another vital part of pre-production is to write out all of your interview

questions. Look at your treatment. Look at your goals and desired
messaging. These will help you figure out what questions you will need
to ask your subject in order to get the dialogue that will lead your piece.

We will discuss interviews in more detail later on in the workbook. For

now, focus on writing down all of the questions you will want to ask your
subject.

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Camera

Before you head out to film you’ll need to figure out what equipment you
will use.

Nowadays, cameras come in all shapes and sizes. You might even have
a 4k camera on your phone! 4k is when the image quality is very sharp,
with a horizontal screen resolution of around 4000 pixels.This means
that you can make high quality documentaries with equipment you
already have available.

We recommend looking up guides online for your camera or phone, so

you can use it to its full potential. The internet is your friend here.

You might have to look through random forum posts and threads, but it
will be worth it if you find a new trick that helps you tell your story.

Even more important than that, though, is to go out and use your camera
as much as you can! It doesn’t have to be for a specific project, and you
don’t have to film anything “important,” but the more you use your
camera the better you’ll get at capturing stories.

Takeaways:

● As long as you have a device that records video and sound, you
are ready to start making your own content.

● Don’t worry about fancy camera settings. It’s more important to

focus on coverage and interview skills.

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Pop-Up Worksheet

Use the following questions to help guide you as you plan your project.

Why do you want to create a film / what's the purpose? What is the
goal?____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
What message do you want/need to convey? Is there a lesson you want
the audience to learn?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Who is your audience? Who do you want to deliver this message to?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Where will they watch it? What platform? Or in-person?
________________________________________________________
What is your story about?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Who is your main subject/subjects?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
When/where will you be filming?
Location 1: _______________________________________________
Date/Time: _______________________________________________
Location 2: _______________________________________________
Date/Time:______________________________________________
Location 3: _______________________________________________
Date/Time: _______________________________________________

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Pop-Up Worksheet

Use the worksheet below to gather your thoughts and questions before
an interview session with your subject.
Date of interview:__________________________________________
Location:_________________________________________________
List out personal questions you would like to ask the subject.
1. Example: What are your favorite hobbies?
2. ___________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________
6. ___________________________________________________

List out questions related to your film.

1. Example: How did you first get involved with Unified?
2. ___________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________________
6. ___________________________________________________
7. ___________________________________________________
8. ___________________________________________________
9. ___________________________________________________
10. ___________________________________________________

Keep in mind...
● Ask “who, what, why, how, when” questions.
● Get as many details as possible.
● Reassure your subject that there is no wrong answer.
● The best interviews feel like relaxed conversation with a friend.
● Let them ask you any questions they have.
● Put yourself in their shoes.
● Take your time and let the conversation go beyond your questions.
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Pop-Up Worksheet

What equipment will you use?

____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_______________________________________

Checklist
● Have you written out a treatment?
● Have you created your pre-production document?
● Have you written up all of your interview questions?
● Do you have release forms signed by your subject/subjects?
● Do you have release forms signed for locations where you would
like to film?
● Have you checked to make sure your equipment is working?
● Do you have extra batteries, tape, etc to bring along during
filming?

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02 / Pre-Production: Practice Exercise

PRACTICE EXERCISE

Goal: Go out in your school or community and create a short film about a
person who has a job that is all about the theme of Inclusion.

For this first exercise, go through the pre-production process discussed

using the Pop-Up Worksheets as well as the steps below. Use this time
to practice the upfront organization of logistics that will set you up for
success.

Step 1: Type out answers to the questions below:

● What is the story?
___________________________________________________
● Who is your main character? _____________________________
● How is this story related to the topic of inclusion?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
● What footage do you need to shoot with your main character in
order to visually tell the story?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Step 2: Type out interview questions for your main character / subject.
Here are some examples:
● What type of work do you do?
● How/why did you start doing this work?
● How does your work relate to inclusion?
● What does inclusion mean to you?
● Why do you think inclusion is important?

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02 / Pre-Production: Extended
Resources

Camera Settings

Regardless of what camera you have, composition is one of the most

important things to learn. The link below is a quick video of REALLY
important ideas about composition. You must practice, practice, practice
composition. Practicing will help you to tell your story better, while also
feeling more professional.
Composition Tips

For Phones, if you have $15, it’s worth investing in the FilmicPro App to
have more control over your image. Here is the link:
More Technical Phone Settings with Filmic Pro

If you don’t have $15, don’t worry about it! One thing you could do for
making the iphone look more cinematic is changing your frame rate to
24fps (frames per second). Here is a link that shows how to change the
frame rate:
Change Iphone to 24fps

If there are two things to think about when shooting, it is your STORY,
and your COMPOSITION. You can get fancy with slow motion, time
lapses, camera movement, but those are all secondary to story and
composition.

If you’re having trouble knowing how to use the basic functionality of

your camera, do some research.

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02 / Pre Production: Extended
Resources
Pre-Production

BEFORE THE SHOOT

● Identify your story.
● Identify who your characters are and ask if they are willing to film
with you.
● Identify where you will film and be sure to get permission to do so.
● Create a schedule: when will you film and in what order?
● Prepare your equipment: camera, notebook with interview.
questions, microphone, tape, batteries and/or charger.
● Prepare your interview questions and bring them in a notebook or
on your phone.
● Over-preparing is always a good idea!

BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

● Talk to your subject before you begin the interview, WITHOUT the
camera. It’s important that they know you as a person a little bit
before you record them. This will make them more comfortable to
be on camera.
● Make sure you get permission. Some people are uncomfortable
with being filmed.
● Write down a large list of questions you would like to ask. Make
sure none of them are “Yes or No” questions.
● Start questions with the following words or phrases: How, Why, Tell
me about, Please explain….

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03 / Production
Welcome to the Production phase! This, for most filmmakers, is
probably the most fun. You get to pick up your camera, start shooting,
and spend time with interesting people. Let’s get going.

The Filmmaker’s Tools

● Filmmakers have many tools to tell stories and emotionally affect

audiences. When thinking about these tools, it’s helpful to break
them into two major categories: Visuals and Sound.

● Film is a very visual medium. The word “movies” comes from the
idea of “moving images.” The choices you make about how those
images move can change the way an audience understands and
feels about your story. Always think about what your shots are
focusing on whether it's a person's face or a pen writing a speech.

● Are you using multiple close up shots quickly edited together?

That might raise the tension in the scene. Are you using a wide
shot that lasts a long time? That might make the audience calm.
Are you using text to tell an important part of your story? That
might save time, but could be less emotional than if you have
someone explain it in their own words.

● Your sound is just as important as your visuals. This can include

sound effects that focus the audience on a visual (like a door
closing), music that can make a scene more emotional, or
interview audio that relays an important piece of information.
Sound often sets the tone of a film and can get the audience to
focus where you want them to.

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Seeing in a New Way

● Watch the first minute of this film: Tajha's Moment

● How did it make you feel?

● What did it do to make you feel that way?

Watch once more and pay attention to the following:

● Visuals
○ Camera angles
○ Light / Color
○ Text / Titles

● Sound
○ Music
○ Dialogue / Voice Over
○ Sound effects

Follow Up Questions:
How were visuals and sounds used to tell the story in an engaging way?
How did watching the second time change your perspective?

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Visual Building Blocks: Coverage

Filmmakers use the term “Coverage” to describe a variety of camera

angles captured during a scene, examples of this could be different
angles of a single person giving a speech or getting different
perspectives of two characters having a conversation.

In each scene that we film, we try to capture multiple camera angles that
can be used in editing. This includes close ups (focused on a face),
Inserts (very close shots focused on a body part or an object), medium
shots (where most of someone’s upper body is shown), wide shots
(where someone’s whole body and some background is shown), and
even extreme wides (where maybe a whole auditorium is shown).

Coverage is important in all kinds of filmmaking, and it’s something that

should always be on your mind when shooting a documentary. Without
it, you’ll find yourself stuck in the editing room. That’s why it’s very
important to get coverage in every scene that you film, to give yourself
options. So always think about what coverage you need from a scene,
before, during, and even after you shoot it.

Coverage is also needed to move the story forward with visuals. If you
want to show that your character is in a new location, using a wide will
be a quick and effective way to do so. Maybe you want to focus only on
a character’s emotions in a scene, so you’d better get a close up! Maybe
you want to focus on what a character is doing, but then want to show
the location afterwards. Well, you’d better have some close ups and
some wides.

This might be hard to understand just from reading, so let’s move on to

some visual examples!

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Coverage

Watch these two examples:

Peanut Butter Falcon (Keys)
Tajha's Moment (4:40 Loretta)

Notice how many different types of shots are used in order to

communicate the desired information.

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Coverage

How you use coverage affects the way an audience feels and also how
they understand your piece. Below is a breakdown of some shots in
Peanut Butter Falcon, which is an example of a fictional film. Think about
what information each of these shots gives you and how each makes
you feel. Watch the clip again after watching thinking about this
breakdown of shots.

WIDE INSERT/B-ROLL

This informs the viewers of the setting. This has the viewer focus on the keys.

MEDIUM CLOSE UP

This shows the reaction a third character has to

This has the viewer focus on the dialogue between
the conversation.
these two characters.

MOVEMENTS
Pan
The way the camera moves also changes the
feeling of the scene. Panning, tilting and
Tilt tracking are different movements that can be
implemented. Think about these movements
while you are thinking about your coverage.

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03 / Production
Coverage

While Peanut Butter Falcon was fiction, Tajha's Moment is an example of a

documentary. Do you notice how similar their coverage is? Again, think
about what information each of these shots gives you and how each
makes you feel. All of these shots were captured with one camera and one
camera-person. That means you can capture a scene like this on your
own!
WIDE MEDIUM

This shows the viewer the setting is a school The viewer is informed to focus on Loretta
auditorium. Claiborne.

OVER THE SHOULDER CLOSE UP

This gives a different perspective of the same speech. The viewer gets a better sense of the emotion being
shown by Loretta.

WATCH:
This video further explains the concept of ‘coverage’.

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03 / Production
Essential Sound: Interviews

Interviews are often the backbone of your story in documentaries. The

dialogue you capture from interviews is like the thread that weaves your
story together. It is a way to convey information and emotion.

It’s also a way to incorporate your subject’s face, and their voice, into the
piece, allowing them to describe themselves and their story in their own
words. This means it’s important for your subject to be comfortable and
talk naturally. That’s why the best interviews are often like conversations.

WATCH:
This video will walk you through the basics of conducting successful
interviews.

Examples:

Reality TV
Rashaan's Moment

Whether or not we see the interview frame (the face of the person
giving the interview), their voice gives context to the story.

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03 / Production
Interviews

Again, it’s important to make your subject feel comfortable and forget
about the camera. It’s often a good idea to establish a relationship with
the subject in advance.

Sometimes, we conduct an interview that is 2 or 3 hours long, for a film

that’s only 7 minutes. It’s important to interview for a long period of time
to make sure that all of your questions are answered.

Take your time. If you need to ask the same question multiple times in
order to get clear, usable answers from the subject, that’s ok! Just let
them know in advance that you may ask repetitive questions.

A technical thing to remember for interviews is to make sure you get

good sound. There are a number of ways to capture high quality sound..
Consider purchasing a lavalier microphone that can plug into your
phone or camera. A lavalier mic is one that is very small and attaches to
your subject’s shirt collar. A lavalier mic offers better sound recording
than most Internal mics on most cameras but there is nothing wrong with
using your camera’s mic if that is all you have.. Another option is to place
your phone close to a subject so you can get crisp audio!

Takeaways:
● Get written permission to film from your subjects or their
parents.
● Build a relationship with your subject in advance.
● Don’t be afraid to ask the same question multiple times (in
slightly different ways).
● Make sure your subject repeats your question in their answer.
For example, if you ask “What’s your name?” make sure they say
“My name is Megan” instead of just answering “Megan.”
● Make sure your subject answers in complete sentences.

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03 / Production
A.M.C. (Always Make Choices)

We can’t stress this enough: the more active choices that you make
when creating a film, the more powerful the film will end up being.

Even in documentary films, choices are made at every step of the

process about how the story should be told. The audience is always
on the filmmaker’s mind.

Do you want them to feel the happy, sad, anxious, inspired? Then
make sure you are intentional in how you shoot it to accomplish that
goal! Think about the music you might want to use before you even
begin editing. It’s important to prepare, even if the film you end up
with isn’t exactly the film you imagined making.

To help with this, it’s important to watch as many films as possible,

trying to understand the choices other filmmakers and video creators
have made to tell their stories and how you can use them to tell your
own.
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03 / Production
Pop-Up Worksheet

Think about your coverage: what different coverage strategies will you
use and when? Sometimes it is even helpful to sketch out different
options on a piece of paper.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
List out all of the different shots you will need to go with your story:
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Think about sound: are there different sounds that you would like to
capture during filming: cheering, cars, a sport, etc.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

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03 / Production: Extended Resources
Production

DURING THE INTERVIEW

● It’s important to have a QUIET space for the interview. Background
noise such as talking, music, traffic will destroy your audio.
● Ask your interviewee to speak in full sentences, this will make
editing easier.
● Ask your interviewee to repeat your question in their answer.
● Try to be conversational. You’ll have your list of questions written
down, but do your best not to always be looking down at it. Be
looking your interviewee in the eyes, nodding and using body
language to show you’re an engaged listener.

● Don’t talk over your interviewee! You don’t want your voice in the
final piece, so don’t let out the “mmhmms” or say “ah I see” until
they finish their answer.

● Ask more questions than you think you need to. You can never
have too much material.

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04 / Post Production

Until you edit, your movie doesn’t

exist!

Editing is the process of taking all of

your material and turning it into
something cohesive. Your material
can be a combination of footage that
you have filmed yourself or footage
and images that you have acquired,
such as old photographs.

This section goes through the

chronological process of editing and
uses Adobe Premiere Pro as
examples.

If you have a different editing

software, that is just fine. Most
software has similar functionality.
You will just have to do more
research online to learn about your
particular editing system.

WATCH:
This video will walk you through the
basic steps covered in Section #2.

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Software Layout

Typically, the main screen of editing software is broken up into four

parts.

In the top two windows you will see the “Source” and “Program”
monitors. Source is how you preview clips, and Program is how you
view the project you are creating on the timeline.

You’ll notice how there is a “project window” where you can organize
all of your footage and materials.

Editing programs all rely on the idea of a “timeline” which is a layout of

tracks that can contain video and audio playing together at the same
time.

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Now let’s outline a process for doing a basic edit! Keep in mind that all
editors work slightly different, and that this process is just how WE do it.

Import Your Footage

Before we begin editing, ensure
that all of your footage and audio
files are uploaded onto your
computer where you will be
editing. Next, you will need to put
all of that media into your editing
software project file. This process
will vary depending on the
software you use.

Now that you have all of your

media in your project file, it’s time
to start creating sequences.
Sequences are like the little We like to place our footage into
working project files within your organized “Bins.”
larger project. For example, one
sequence can be for your
interview, another can be for your
favorite shots, and another can be
where you put it all together.

Create a Couple of Sequences

We like to start by creating a
sequence just for the interview.
Then we create another sequence An example of some labeled
for each day of footage, otherwise sequences.
known as “dailies” (Described on
the next page).

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Dailies

We refer to the original, unedited version of our footage as “dailies”.

Before diving into an edit you will need to watch EVERYTHING that has
been shot.

To do this we create a sequence, and put all of the footage from a

particular day into that sequence. The below image shows an example.
So, if you shoot on Saturday and Sunday, you should have a sequence
for “Saturday Dailies” and “Sunday Dailies”.

**Pro tip: To make things even easier, during production, write notes at the
end of each shoot day about what you shot, who you interviewed and any
important other thoughts that will be useful during the post-production
editing phase.
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04 / Post Production

Making Selects

While you are watching dailies, you’ll notice there are a lot of great
shots, and probably a lot of shots you don’t love.

The process of making “selects” is choosing moments in your footage

that you think might be good enough to make it into your edit. For
example, if an important part of the story is about your subject playing
soccer, you will want to select a few good bits of footage of them playing
soccer.

Different editors have different ways of doing this. We prefer to “cut” out
the moment of footage that you want to use in your edit and drag it up
onto a new video track, making it easy to see what shots you like.

One way to make selects is to cut moments out of your dailies sequence and
drag them up to a new track as shown in the image above.

Again, there are many different ways that you can organize your selects.
You could just cut them and put a note above. You can copy them all into
their own “Selects” sequence. Whatever approach you take, be consistent
and organized.

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 04 / Post Production

Think about your goal

Now that you have organized your

project, watched all of the footage,
and chosen some selects, it’s time
to think again about the purpose of
your piece. What might be the
beginning, middle and end of this
story based on the footage and
sound that you captured?

What message do you want the

viewer to come away with? Look
back at what you outlined during
pre-production.

Reminding yourself of the overall

goal of the video will guide your
choices, from when to cut, to what
dialogue to use, to the music you
select. All of these elements serve
to get your message across within
the your video.

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04 / Post Production

Creating a Radio Edit

Once you have thought out the purpose of your piece and have a
general idea of the beginning, middle and end, a good next step would
be to create a “radio edit.”

A radio edit only focuses on editing the interviews you have in order to
tell the whole story. It's called a radio edit because once completed it
should sound like a story you hear on the radio. It tells the entire story
just through soundbites, so it could play on the radio and you would still
understand it.

Creating the radio edit first is a good way to structure your film before
you put in any visuals, and also a good way to figure out what might be
missing, be it a scene or a topic you didn’t cover in the interview.

This is not the only way to make a documentary. If you want to begin
another way, you can. This is just a solid first step that will keep you from
getting stuck. It will also keep you on track with your end goal.

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04 / Post Production

Putting It All Together

Now we dive into the full edit! Don’t be stressed out by the unlimited
possibilities, embrace it!

First, start a new sequence called “full edit” and start by copying and
pasting in your radio edit to this sequence. Next, you can begin pulling in
selects from the footage that go well with the audio from your radio edit.
At this time you can also put in background music. It’s common to use
placeholder music and you can also switch it out later to something that
works best with your final edit.

Don’t worry, it always starts out sloppy so if it feels messy at this point
that’s okay. Think of it as a “rough draft” and every time you go back and
change something, you’re working towards your “final draft”.

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04 / Post Production

While Experimenting, Serve the

Emotion of the Story

Filmmaking is much more than just

information, it is emotion. The
decisions that you make in editing
will affect how your audience feels.
Again, focus on the story.

What does it FEEL like when you

choose to make fast cuts rather than
slow, long cuts? How might that be
useful? How will it make the viewer
understand your story differently?

What happens if you use fast piano

music in your edit as opposed to
slow cello music?

Decisions like these should be

crossing your mind all the time. Be
thinking: “How do I want my
audience to feel? What do I want
them to take away from this film?”

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04 / Post Production

Additional Thoughts

● There is no right or wrong in editing. Filmmaking is personal taste.

It’s an art form.
● You WILL get better the more you practice and the more you
experiment.
● Learn from every piece you make and learn from those around
you.
● Watch other films for inspiration. Notice the choices other editors
make and feel free to use their ideas if you like them.
● If you get really stuck, take some time away from the edit and talk
to someone about it. Show what you have done thus far to get
other opinions that you value whether or not they are
“filmmakers.”

Feedback
One of the best things you can do is to ask for feedback. You don’t have
to take to heart everything that people say about your project. The
purpose is to open your mind and take into consideration other
viewpoints that you may not have thought about on your own.

As hard as it is, don’t take what’s being said personally. Also, don’t
ignore someone’s opinion if they point out an issue without suggesting a
good solution. Finding solutions is your job since you have been with the
project from the start.

Ask them questions about how the film made them feel. Try to see the
film through their eyes. See if their answers match the goals you set for
yourself with this project. This will make the film better.

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04 / Post Production
Pop-Up Worksheet: Structure & Messaging

Use the worksheet below to gather your thoughts about the sequence
of your film.

What message do you want the viewer to come away with? What do you
want them to learn from your film?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

How will the film begin?

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

What will be the middle of the film?

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

How will the film end?

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

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04 / Post Production
Pop-Up Worksheet: Feedback

Use this sheet to gather feedback during the edit process. Feedback
from friends and family will give you a good idea if you are on track with
the goals you wrote out previously for your piece.

Questions to ask:
1. What did you learn from the film?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
2. How did the film make you feel?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
3. What do you think of the music?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
4. Is there anything that was confusing?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
5. What do you think the main message of the film is?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

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04 / Post Production

Software

You WILL run into technical things you don’t understand yet. We’ve been
doing this for years and we still run up against challenges with software
all the time.

Look up tutorials online for your specific editing software to better learn
how it works. Our motto is “figure it out”. When you get stuck, remind
yourself that you CAN search for the answers and move forward.

However, if you get totally stuck and need to run questions by us please
don’t hesitate to email [email protected] for help!

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04 / Post Production: Practice Exercise

Editing Your Film

Use the footage that you shot so far to start editing a piece together! If
you feel you need to shoot more, by all means go out and do it.
Sometimes during the editing process, you realize, “Wait, I know what I
could film to make this scene work better!” and you can go film more.

Step 1: Start a new project file in your editing software and import all of
your media (the footage you shot, images, music, etc).

Step 2: Pull and organize your ‘selects’ (put this in a sequence of its
own).

Step 3: Create your ‘radio edit’ (put this in a sequence of its own).

Step 4: Put it all together into the final edit (put this in a sequence of its
own).

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04 / Post Production: Extended
Resources
Youtube

Here are some slightly more technical videos for popular editing
programs:
Getting Started in Adobe Premiere Pro
Getting Started in Final Cut X

We don’t recommend editing on your phone, it’s much harder to keep

track of files and to navigate the edit, but if it’s your only option, you
could try:
Adobe Rush
Filmmaker Pro App

There are TONS of videos on YouTube that will help you out. Search
away.

Copying Footage to Your Computer

ALWAYS make sure that your footage is copied to your computer or hard
drive before editing. If you shot on a camcorder or DSLR, you’ll have to
copy the footage from the SD card (using a card reader) to the computer.
We recommend putting your ENTIRE project within one folder, and within
that folder, have a “Media” folder that you put all your footage.

If you shot on your phone, you can copy footage to your computer like
this:
Copy from iPhone to Computer
Import from iPhone into Final Cut X

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05 / Distribution & Strategy

The Opportunity of Social Media

Now that you’ve created your film, it’s time to think about putting it out
into the world.

Social media can be the perfect way to digitally distribute your work and
help spread important messages.

We will focus on sharing via social media in this workbook however, you
can think about other ways to share such as at an event or hosting your
own screening party. We focus on social media because it makes it
possible to reach a wider but also more specific audience.

Some questions to go through:

- What social media platforms are you on?
___________________________________________________
- Who are your favorite people or brands to follow?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
- Why do you enjoy following them?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

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STEP 1: Select a platform

One of the major keys to getting your content seen is to select the social
media platform where your desired audience spends most of their time.
Between Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more, there are
many places to distribute your story.

Think about where your target audience is spending time on social

media. For example, if you’re trying to reach your fellow students,
consider using the social platforms they use most regularly. If you are
trying to reach out to teachers, the platform they use may be different.

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05 / Distribution & Strategy
STEP 1: Select a platform
There are so many to choose from but below are some of the more
popular ways to get content out there.

Instagram
- Many ways to post content: feed post, Instagram Stories, IGTV
(examples below!)
- Feed posts can be any aspect ratio, but Instagram Stories and
IGTV content should be vertical.

TikTok
- Best for a younger demographic; fewer adults use the platform.
50% of TikTok’s global audience is under the age of 34.
- Most videos are shorter, about 15 seconds but longer 60-second
stories are possible as well.

YouTube
- Best for longer form content
- Horizontal aspect ratio

Facebook
IGTV
- Easiest place to target a specific audience
- Good for short to medium length content

Instagram Feed Instagram Stories

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STEP 2: How to make your content resonate!

The first thing to do when thinking about how to share your story with an
audience is to go through the below questions:

Why will a viewer be interested in this story?

________________________________________________________
What will motivate my desired audience to watch?
________________________________________________________

The Virality of Storytelling “Going Viral”

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was created in 2014 to promote
awareness of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and encouraged donations to
research for a cure. The challenge raised $115 million in 2014 and
continues to raise tens of thousands of dollars every year. It thrived on
social media because there’s a distinct, visual call-to-action.

How will your content stand out? Motivate? Captivate? What is your
hook to get people to engage?

Why does some content resonate with viewers and others don’t?
- Authenticity
- If content doesn’t seem genuine, it will get ignored. With any
non-fiction content, it is important to be true to who you are
or who your subject is.
- Personal connection
- Think about your favorite viral video. What personal
connection do you feel with the content? It could be a
common interest, shared emotion or similar background.
- Passion
- A message that is conveyed with passion will always earn
more attention from viewers than if that story is told in a flat
way.

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STEP 3: The technical details

Beyond the content itself, when you are editing and posting to social, it’s
wise to consider the following elements:

Length: What length should your piece be? Remember that most of the
time it is good to keep it short and simple. If it gets too long, you may
lose the attention of your audience.

If you already edited a long form video for YouTube, you can always
re-cut the video into shorter segments for platforms like Instagram
where shorter content works better.

Aspect ratio: Depending on the platform where you choose to post

your story, you will need to edit your piece in a different shape or
“aspect ratio”.

If you’ve already captured video in a particular format, there’s still an

opportunity to adjust the aspect ratio to fit different platforms.

WATCH:
This video shows an app that makes changing aspect ratio a breeze.

Captions: It’s very common for viewers to watch content on mute, so, it
may be wise to incorporate captions throughout your piece.

Copy: When posting to social media you always have to write a caption
below your content. This caption will be part of why a viewer will decide
to watch. Look at captions that grab your attention. Think about what
words will motivate a viewer to click ‘play’ and watch your story.

Thumbnails: What image or thumbnail will be shown on your post?

Just as with the copy, this image will either draw a viewer in or turn them
away. So, select an image that is intriguing!
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05 / Distribution & Strategy

More about captions...

Did you know that 92% of users view
videos with the sound off on mobile
devices? Captions are important for
ensuring videos are accessible to all
viewers.

There are multiple ways to add captions

to videos:

Burned-in subtitles: The captions you

see in this episode of The Moment were
added prior to posting in Adobe
Premiere.

Text or reference subtitles files:

Facebook and YouTube allow users to
upload or edit SRT files (“SubRip
Subtitle”), which will overlay captions on
top of the video.

WATCH:
This video walks you through how to
edit an SRT file in Facebook.

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Alt Text:

Alt Text is another important tool for accessibility. It’s a short phrase
that’s used to identify images. It serves two primary purposes:
1. Image recognition for screen readers, allowing individuals who are
visually impaired to hear a description of the image.
2. Alt Text is used by search engines to rank search results. If you’ve
ever searched for an image on Google, you’ve seen Alt Text in
action!

To edit AltText for a video or photo on Select the “Alt text” option on the left hand side. Add your
Facebook, hover over the image or description text in the box beneath the “Add alternative text…”
thumbnail and tap the edit feature. prompt. Don’t forget to hit save!

STEP 4: Selecting the right hashtags

Hashtags and keywords can help expand the scope of your social media
reach. Instagram posts with at least one hastag average 12.6% more
engagement than a post with no hashtags.

On YouTube, keywords can be a great way to have your content

discovered beyond your immediate network of followers.

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Practice Exercise
Use your edited project from Section #2 and distribute it to your
audience on social media. Use copy to help create context wherever it’s
appropriate. Use hashtags to expand the scope of your audience.

Step 1: Select the appropriate platform to distribute your video on.

Step 2: Determine the appropriate length and aspect ratio for the
platform you select. Do you need to make adjustments to your edit?

Step 2: Create a captivating title and copy to introduce your content.

Select the best thumbnail to represent your film.

Step 3: Add captions to your project when appropriate.

Step 4: Choose hashtags that will expand your audience.

In this Facebook
example, a square
video was selected.
The onscreen text
provides an
eye-catching
thumbnail.

The selective use of

capitalizing “IMPACT”
grabs the user’s
attention.

The copy starts with a

question followed by
a strong statement.

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Helpful Apps!
Here are some mobile apps
that can help you optimize
content for social media. Most
of these apps are free to
experiment with, though some
may have paid tiers to unlock
enhanced functionality:

Clipomatic: a smart video

editor that turns dialogue into
live captions.

InShot: enables you to trim

clips, split video, merge clips,
adjust speed, etc. InShot also
enables you to instantly
reformat video to different
aspect ratios.

Mojo: Instagram Stories

application that features
several animated templates.
Includes several dynamic text
options to add titles or
captions.

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Video Specs
Here are some helpful articles
that can help you stay on top
of the ever-changing
landscape of social media
video specs:

Sprout Social’s Always

Up-to-Date Guide to
Social Media Video Specs

Falcon’s 8 Awesome
Social Media Video
Formats You Need to Try
in 2020.

Hootsuite’s How to
Optimize Video for
Different Social Media
Channels

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05 / Distribution & Strategy

Changing Aspects Ratios

Changing Aspect Ratio in

Premiere

Changing Aspect Ratio in

iMovie (you need to
actually do a bit of a hack
for this one)

Changing Aspect Ratio in

Filmora

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Campaign Creation
In this section, we’ll talk about the impact of creating social media
campaigns and how to measure their impact.

Campaigns allow content creators, like you, the ability to build a

compelling narrative over time instead of just relying on one piece of
content on its own.

Like your favorite television series, content campaigns can help build
and sustain interest by enhancing the viewer’s emotional investment.

“Serializing” a campaign (creating a theme and generating a series of

videos reflective of that theme) can give you time to explore why your
topic is important.

Over several episodes, you can showcase different facets of Special

Olympics Unified Champion Schools programs, for example, you can talk
about your Unified club in one video and your Unified Sports team in
another rather than pack everything into one video.

For example, The Moment Series, asks a simple question, “What was the
moment you decided to live a life of inclusion?” Each video in the series
spotlights a different individual and their unique story.

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Grab the Popcorn

Watch Tajha’s Moment and Megan & Patrick’s Moment.

https://www.generationunified.org/v
ideos/noahs-moment/

https://www.generationunified.org/vid

V eos/megan-and-patricks-moment/

Let’s Discuss
What’s the overarching theme that connects these two videos?
________________________________________________________
What are some examples of brands and content creators who have
created a long-term campaign to connect with an audience?
________________________________________________________
Do you have a favorite example?
________________________________________________________

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Measuring Success
You might think that likes or video views are the most important metric
for evaluating your campaign or post performance, but these
engagements don’t tell the full story.

Increasingly, social media platforms have downplayed likes and views by

hiding them completely. The most important thing is that your videos are
a true reflection of your experiences and beliefs.

People will connect with your authenticity. However, it’s still important to
set goals that can be tracked; that ultimate objective may dictate how
you choose to frame your narrative, how you write your copy, and what
social platforms you choose to post to.

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05 / Distribution & Strategy

Step by Step
Step 1: Setting Goals
Think about the outcome you hope to achieve. Let’s say you are creating
a series for your Unified program. Is your goal to raise awareness?
Increase participation in a particular sport? Inspire your peers to spread
the word about Unified Champion Schools? All of the above?

Step 2: Select a metric

Now determine if it is possible to track that goal. For example, if your
objective is to increase participation in a Unified sport, you can create an
online signup form. When a viewer is done watching your content they
can click on the link to the sign up form to get involved. That way you
can see if your content is serving its purpose.

If your goal is more abstract such as “growing awareness” you can use
tools such as the number of ‘comments’ and ‘shares’ to see how many
people are engaging with the content and passing it on to others.

Step 3: Making adjustments

Once you post your video, look at the way viewers are reacting to
determine if you should make any adjustments.
Consider what you can change about the post to invite more
engagement.
- Perhaps you can pose a question (i.e. “What does inclusion mean
to you?”)
- Add a hashtag (i.e. #unifiedgeneration)
- Personalize the copy (i.e. “Unified Sports changed my life”).

It’s important to experiment and see what works best. Never be afraid to
try something new.

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04 / Post Production
Pop-Up Worksheet: Feedback

Use this sheet to gather feedback during the edit process. Feedback
from friends and family will give you a good idea if you are on track with
the goals you wrote out previously for your piece.

Questions to ask:
1. What did you learn from the film?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
2. How did the film make you feel?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
3. What do you think of the music?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
4. Is there anything that was confusing?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
5. What do you think the main message of the film is?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

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Create a Campaign
Using the footage you've collected in previous practice exercises, create
a series of content that will help support your school’s Unified
programming. Devise a distribution plan to get your content seen by the
right audience. For example, you may choose to release one video per
month throughout the school year, or multiple videos a week if you’re
trying to encourage more Unified club sign ups during a particular time.
Determine how you’ll evaluate the success of the campaign i.e. signups,
email addresses collected, shares of your content, etc.

Use these questions to guide you:

1. What is the goal of this campaign?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
2. How many pieces of content will you need to make?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
3. Who is your desired audience?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
4. Where will you post the content and when?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
5. How will you track the success of the campaign?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

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Campaign Videos & Social Media Measurement

Watch The Moment series on YouTube

Watch Inclusion Weekly on Edmodo

Buffer’s 10 Ready-Made Spreadsheet Templates (the social

media report card will likely be the most useful!)

Sprout’s guide to social media measurement: how to figure

out what works

62
Thank you for participating in this
workbook!
Throughout your storytelling journey we are here for
you. If ever you have questions about content creation &
distribution, please email us at [email protected]. We are
always happy to chat about filmmaking and want to help
you on your way to becoming storytellers!

63
Thank You

CLICKON New York

124 N 4th Street, Brooklyn,
NY, 11249
T: +1 347-491-3953
E: [email protected]

CLICKON Los Angeles

2101 E El Segundo Blvd
El Segundo, CA, 90245
T: +1 323-576-4087
E: [email protected]

CLICKON London
9-11 Kingly St, Soho,
London, W1B 5PN
T: +44 (0) 20 3868 8954
E: [email protected]

CLICKON Singapore
T: +44 (0) 20 3868 8954
E: [email protected]

clickon.co

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