CREW REVIEWS

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.

The social aspect got hard, dealing with other people, but it was a life experience I’ll never trade. Robin and Aubrie, you made the trip better than just a “trip to make a movie.” I’m extremely proud of the films my team made and it’s because of your guidance and patience that we were able to do it right. Thank you, and if you need me to expound or you ever need anything from me, I consider you both good friends of mine now. Thank you again for the great opportunity.

P.S. If you ever need someone to talk up Actuality Abroad or you need a helping hand in Missouri, you have my number.

It’s an excellent opportunity to make a short film in Less than a month. We learn to work with a team successfully that we had never met. We ended up making a good movie despite the problems that we encountered, and it became fun and straightforward. Overall it was great. I sincerely recommended it.

Amazing experience working in Da Nang, Vietnam. I started with little experience or knowledge of film production and came away feeling confident to pursue this as a career, thanks to Actuality Media’s comprehensive and rigorous training programme. And what better place to learn than in a totally unfamiliar environment with a bunch of new people. Had a great time getting to know the various characters and personalities of the community surrounding our change maker placement, and even opted to stay after the programme ended and volunteer with this organization. Thanks AM!

My experience with Actuality Media was not what I expected – but what I hoped for. As a relative novice to documentary filmmaking, it was hard, stressful and frustrating work, but making a film with three other incredibly talented and intelligent women was so rewarding and an incredible learning experience. Also shout out to our incredible production supervisors who I would not have gotten through editing week without!

It is a beautiful moment if your dreams become a reality that you have created to yourself on your own. My documentary project in Vietnam was exactly like that. It was intense, full of passion and there were a lot of passionate people. It was an incredible experience and I am so glad I got to be part of it.

It was an awesome opportunity to meet and work with people across the globe from different walks of life and create something special. The program gave us access to people and stories that that we may not have been able to access on our own.

My 4 weeks in Belize making a film really helped give me an indicator of where my career and future projects are going. It was incredible to create an entire film, start to finish, and be proud of the end product. Besides that, I made some lifetime friendships. 9/10 too much Belikin.

Actuality Media provided such a great experience for me, to explore a different country and meet different people. I loved living and working with a small group of people who I could interact with and develop friendships with. The outreach also provided me with an incredible working experience as part of a film production team, and has given me a short film that I can be proud of, and that I can show to people and say “I made this”. I don’t know anyone else in my position that has had a learning experience as important and meaningful, and I believe the experience will give me an edge when I complete university and start applying for jobs in the media industry.