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ABOUT US

Real Time uses Participatory Video (PV) and creative storytelling to drive change processes.

 

Real Time’s tried and tested approach to unearthing novel insight, developed over more than 35 years in a wide range of settings, involves groups in communicating their own stories on video. In turn, this can build awareness about what prevents change happening, and what needs to be done.

 

Real Time was founded in 1984 by Dr Jackie Shaw, now Research Fellow at IDS (Institute of Development Studies), University of Sussex and Clive Robertson, Real Time’s current creative director.

In 1997, Routledge published Participatory Video, a comprehensive guide to using video in group development work written by Real Time's founders. 

 

 

'Used in a participatory way, video can be a powerful tool, which allows people to examine the world around them, gain awareness of their situation and become more actively involved in decisions which affect their lives.'

OUR STAFF

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Clive Robertson

Creative Director & Founder
Clive has over 30 years' experience using Participatory Video to deepen community insights and
communicate them to decision-makers. Clive has worked in corporate, educational, statutory and voluntary sectors. Including time as Co-Director of London Video Arts he has delivered hundreds of video and media projects in the UK and abroad. He is an experienced trainer and consultant in the participatory use  of video and digital media.

Tom Zajac
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Producer
Tom, a Bournemouth University graduate, studied TV & Video Production and is an experienced filmmaker,
camera operator and editor. He has worked in the independent sector as a freelancer for over 25 years on a wide range of productions and is responsible for overseeing all Real Time's content outputs. He is a flexible producer and editor who sees the value in creating positive working relationships with his clients from the very start, often working alongside people to conceive, research, script and produce their films.

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Alex Winfield

Communications and Social Media Coordinator

Originally starting as an intern in early 2020, Alex has built an engaging online network at Real Time and is passionate about sharing our projects and initiatives with the wider community. Alex holds a degree in English Language and Applied Linguistics from the University of Reading and is the previous Head of Social Media for The Spark newspaper. 

Our Trustees
Real Time has an outstanding board with many years of experience covering a wide range of disciplines

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Larry Watson 

Chair of Trustees

Larry Watson is a hugely experienced community arts practitioner with over 30 years of experience. He is currently Director of the Rising Sun Arts Centre, a volunteer-driven organisation and a unique arts space firmly grounded in the community - achieved through the dedication, vision and ability of a hugely diverse group of people who want to provide a creative space appropriate for everyone in Reading.

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David Wall

Trustee

David is an experienced Tutor/Mentor with a high degree of success in helping young adults and professionals in achieving qualifications and finding roles into their chosen vocation. He has proven skills in creating and delivering employability courses having delivered courses for apprenticeships, SSR, SSU, NEETs and college students in England and Canada. Other achievements include being a trustee for Real Time, consulting on internationally funded projects and developing/delivering workshops for ERASMUS participants from a variety of European community groups engaging hard to reach adults and refugees in finding employment.

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Anne Marie Carty

Trustee

Anne Marie is an experienced community film producer, documentary filmmaker, visual ethnographer and social researcher specialising in Welsh rural contexts but applying experience gained in Africa, Asia & Europe. She has over 25 years working in film and video production, alongside participatory video and community video work and training and lecturing in media production.

 

She is currently writing up new methodologies that she has been developing to use film as a tool for community engagement and development for a PhD at CREAM, University of Westminster, using film to look at experiences of representation, identity, belonging and community resilience in rural Wales.

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James Gormley

Trustee

James Gormley is a Technical Teacher at the University of Birmingham Business School. James is an experienced AV Specialist editor and producer. He has over 30 years of experience in video production and has worked with many of the UK’s leading video artists while working at South Hill Park Arts Centre and London Video access. He has edited video art pieces for channel 4 and for exhibitions in the Tate and National Portrait Gallery.

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Suzanne Wilson

Trustee

Suzanne is General Manager at Home Instead. She is an experienced leader and manager with a demonstrated history of working in the care sector, with a Level 5 focused in Leadership and Management from Bracknell & Wokingham College. She has a background in the arts as a dancer and worked as Real Time's project manager from 2007 – 2011.

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James Pyle

Trustee

James is an experienced youth worker, with a commitment to young people. He also works for Reading Refocus, established in 1973, to address the needs of BME adults, in and around Reading, involved in the criminal justice system. They also work in prevention, and working with socially-excluded children and young people by giving children and young people diverse and constructive learning experiences through high-quality mentoring relationships. This provides them with the ability to make informed choices and rise above their circumstances.

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Liam O'Brien

Trustee

Liam is a highly experienced audiovisual specialist and Director of AV Events, a corporate conference production company. They specialise in providing technical support for events and have worked with a wide range of

corporate, educational and non-profit organisations.

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Natalie Pallier

Trustee

Natalie is a Senior Operations and Projects Manager who has led community based services and transformation projects across the voluntary and social care sector, most recently at Macmillan Cancer Support and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

 

Before becoming a Trustee, she worked for Real Time where she led and co-produced numerous Participatory Video and public art projects.

Co-founder

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Dr Jackie Shaw

Founder
Jackie is a skilled participatory facilitator, project leader, senior lecturer, international consultant and
multi-disciplinary social researcher, with more than 30 years' experience using visual methods such as participatory video to mediate and drive participatory action research, social dialogue, collective action and communication processes in a wide range of community, development, and health contexts.


Her work has prioritised collaborations with the most marginalised and disadvantaged communities, such as people living in poverty, women, refugees, people with disabilities and mental ill-health, elderly people, sexual minorities and homeless people. Jackie has provided tailored practitioner training and accompaniment input for professional groups, NGOs and communities in the UK and internationally since 1990.


https://www.ids.ac.uk/person/jackie-shaw

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