CREW REVIEWS

I really enjoyed my time in Tanzania with Actuality Media. For the most part, everything that we learned was pre-planned and thought out. I never felt in danger, and the program directors knew the best ways for us to get around.

Although the program and experience in a foreign country were amazing, I think there is still some room for improvement in the vetting process of the students to participate in the outreach. I will forever be linked with the change makers and even our hosts, but regret having to work with some of the individuals that were paired with me.

This eye-opening program allows you to do good in a foreign country of which you may have no prior knowledge, but leave having made an impact on a local organization, with great memories and connections.

Doing Actuality’s outreach course in Guatemala is an experience I will never forget. We came out the program with a film we are all so very proud of, yet the journey in creating it was not an easy one! The trip was filled with many highs, and many lows, although the highs most definitely prevailed!

An amazing life changing experience! Whilst learning great filmmaking skills, I made great international lifelong friendships and created a documentary that will change the landscape of water of in Guatemala.

Even though I had read countless reviews on this program, I could never have expected the impact it would have on me until I partook in it. Just days in, I had felt like I belonged. Everyone was coming from different places in search of a great experience- and that was what we got. Even if you have never travelled alone before, this is an opportunity you shouldn’t miss. Actuality Media arranged a great hostel for us to stay at, and food was provided there during lunch. The production supervisors are always there to help, even in non-film problems! The process of making the documentary was incredible: seeing the change that an organization is doing in people’s lives and being able to document it is the most fulfilling part about this trip. On a technical note, we were provided with the basic equipment tools, but did end up using our own dslr. Another thing that should be stressed is that each group should bring external hard drives, as that became an issue when wanting to bring the film home to edit (because one week is not enough!). Overall, this month-long program is one that will stay with me for life.

My experience with actuality media was overall rewarding. I gained a lot from my living experience in Kuala Lumpur and meeting local Malaysians in the organizations and elsewhere. I also really enjoyed all of my peers. We were all from different backgrounds, but the entire group got along really well. I feel like a program like this can be really up to luck of the draw; the experience is shaped by who you end up with in your group and which organization you choose. All 3 groups had very different experiences and each seemed to have their pros and cons. I learned a lot from working with my group, but there were times we did not seem to have the same vision. Also because of the rushed nature of the program there are things I would have liked to do differently story-wise, but I also understand the benefit of keeping it down to 1 month. We probably worked a lot more efficiently knowing we had all of those deadlines. I do think it was also rewarding in retrospect that everyone in my group was coming from different levels of experience, but I did have a member of my group who seemed to feel more advanced than the rest of us and was feeling like the program was a waste of his time, which did affect my experience. I think I also was pretty unsure myself coming into the program whether or not everyone would have the same level of experience as me (I guess I would call myself beginner/intermediate). I don’t know if it would ever work to have different trips for different levels…or somehow to make it more clear that everyone is at a different level coming into this. The classes sometimes felt a little tedious. I think it had a bit to do with the teaching style. But it felt like the topics could be covered in shorter amounts of time or more thought provoking ways. I took out of this that I would like to continue traveling and working on documentary film in the future.

Overall I would rate my experience extremely high. I feel like there were times where tensions got high with crew members but that comes with the territory of being thrown into a work situation with people you don’t know. However, I think these tensions were quite character building and taught me a lot about myself. Additionally, at times I felt like I was being given information, technically (mostly in terms of camera), that was ill-informed. I am a cinematography student at UNCSA and some of the advice my crew and I received on camera operation was completely false. I feel very rewarded to have walked away from my time as an Actuality Media crew member with a documentary I am proud of and a myriad of experiences that have changed me as a human being. Additionally, I feel rewarded to have helped a group of people who deserve all the success in the world and are making a genuinely positive impact in their country. The bonds I have made with them will last a lifetime. In summary, my time with Actuality Media was a very fulfilling experience that I highly recommend to anyone with a sense of adventure and a love for filmmaking.

The program was fantastic and I learnt a lot of valuable things about making a documentary. It also made me realise how easy it is to do and gave me the confidence of doing something similar for myself in the future. The people I met and the connections I made was by far the best part of the outreach. The real opportunity to be a part of the lives of our change makers was also incredible. The outreach, however, was very expensive for what it was and I don’t think I’d pay money like that again for something like this because I’m not really sure if it was worth it. We also got to filming week and one of our mics was broken, our headphones barely worked and our computer had a few problems with it too. I understand that this stuff happens and it’s good experience to learn how to work on a budget, but considering how much each of us put into the program, we certainly shouldn’t have been on a tight budget. I also saw the program as a way of connecting you with a good topic to do the documentary on and when we got their our organisation had nothing going on. And considering Actuality Media had already signed a contract with them we were constantly struggling to integrate this organisation into our documentary when it wasn’t really necessary. It just would have been nice to have walked into an organisation as planned and find a story within it. However, in the end I was really happy with the story we found and the topic we had. And it was a good experience overall.

The program is good for a beginner. It is not a good program for the experienced filmmaker looking for an internship. However, it is a unique experience filming in another country and helping communities.