CREW REVIEWS

It was a great opportunity to work with the local community while also having the chance to explore the area and culture. Overall, it was a fresh and great learning experience that everyone should try out.

This experience did not feel like school/work at all, Instead it felt like a genuine experience that helped me collaborate, create, and personally grow. I opened new doors to trying new things and I feel very fulfilled with this trip.

It was an incredible experience.

This was a great experience meeting some wonderful people and telling really important stories. However, I did expect to learn a lot more practical skills than I did, most of which I already knew. For the price you pay I was expecting better equipment and also to gain new skills. If you have studied filmmaking or documentary already I would weigh up if you think you would learn anything more as I feel like i covered a lot of what I learnt in my 4 years of study.

Travelling with Actuality Abroad was an all round fantastic experience. I had amazing support from the company and met the most amazing people while staying in Vietnam. As a learning experience it was the perfect balance between detailed tutorials and just straight up being thrown in the deep end. I also liked that the program is so centred around making positive changes around the world and supporting local businesses.

LOVED THE EXPERIENCE! The crew was wonderful, the stories and adventures we shared was one of a lifetime! It was truly something I would love to do again and intend to share with people around me.

We had a lot of independence which was really nice because we got to learn how to make a documentary but also carry a lot of responsibility. The place we stayed was very accessible and it was very easy to get to different places. Overall it was a great experience and very well planned. I really liked watching documentaries with everyone.

I greatly enjoyed almost everything we did and saw. I really liked having the oppurtunity to play multiple roles in the movie making proccess that I might not have been able to try anywhere else. I got to direct an interview and mini doc at Ak Tenamit, create B roll at most locations, improve my drone flying, and learn so much everyday.

I also liked the oppurtunity to do some footage review at the end of the day, I found it very helpful because I have limited expirence making videos.

I made some incredible connections with the people and groups we talked to and hope to return next summer for a longer solo visit to see them again and volunteer. Thanks for the incredible experience! I think I learned more in those three weeks then I did all of the last two semesters in university.

Traveling with likeminded and lively people was an amazing experience outright, but it was also fantastic getting to interact with the locals in a more organic way and experiencing new culture through a more first hand method. For me, I came from a place where I was already very familiar with narrative story telling, character arcs, etc., so the earlier crew briefings often felt too heavily focused on elements of storytelling that I was already familiar with. While some narrative focused content felt important —like Chimamanda Ngozi Adochie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” Ted Talk for example— I feel that my time in crew briefings would’ve been better spent learning technical skills or hammering out early narrative plans with my crew. While this is a personal experience, I also found that many of my peers on the outreach agreed with this sentiment.

Traveling with Actuality Abroad helped me feel comfortable being in an unknown place with new people. The scheduling for our week was set prior to starting on our first day which helped with planning my days out accordingly, even when dealing with unexpected delays caused by road closures & protests. Feeling safe was a big part of why I enjoyed the trip and I believe our mentor had a lot to do with that. Our mentor (Robin) was so kind and understanding when it came to exploring the city, trying new foods, working on a set, or even answering all our questions to the best of his knowledge. He was very attentive to making sure we arrived and departed safely and conveniently by helping us book taxis to and from. I just want to thank Actuality Abroad for the opportunity, I will be talking about my experience for the rest of my life, in hopes of being able to attend another expedition in the future.