CREW REVIEWS

Life in San Jaun La Laguna is worlds away from my comfortable life in Sydney, Australia. Everything from the people, food, transport, down to your bathroom faucet being the penis of an angel statue, is different and exciting! What made the experience was learning exactly how and why the world of San Jaun La Laguna works in this way, and we had the inside scoop as documentary makers in the town. People are more than happy to share their life with you, but always for a small price. Lesson 1; Nothing is free, not a photo, chat or even pausing too long when looking at one of the talented textiles ladies scarves. You always end up giving them something for their time. Arriving to meet our change makers only to find that they are currently in a power struggle that has divided them, and has the doors to their association chained shut. Lesson 2; These people seem to lead such different lives, yet they suffer from the same basic struggles as all humans. Power and money. These woman who may be fighting over something much smaller than who has power over a country or International Corporation, but their passion and work for their industry and basic struggle to make a living end up having them act like many deceitful politicians that I am sure we are all well acquainted with. Finding a new change maker a week prior to filming week, and therefore lacking the time to get to know them as well, and more importantly lacking the the time for them to know and trust you. Lesson 3; People, even lovely old Guatemalan ladies, don’t just trust a group of Caucasians promising to make a documentary about them. Our struggle to gain her trust so close to filming week proved to be a difficult task, one which we unfortunately didn’t achieve until the end of editing week when we showed her the finished product. All in all this was a month of challenges, and the ways in which I found myself overcoming these daily obstacles was the basis of the many lessons I learned. If you are bored in your everyday life and are looking for a challenge, Actuality Media can definitely help you find this. Or even take it a step further and go out and make your own documentary in a foreign country. The lessons you can learn are endless. Internship Placement: I feel there was different amounts of support for different roles. Editors – great support, great instruction. Very much shown from the progress in Yao and Ru’s editing. Cinematographers – Good support, was generally easy to get help when needed. I feel there could have been some more access to equipment in pre-production that would have helped us to iron out some errors that were instead made during shooting week. Directors – Support was readily available when asked for, I feel little instruction was given to them on their role other than the story telling instruction we received (which was very comprehensive and I found to be very beneficial, you are very talented at this Aubrie). In saying this, in the case of my group any instruction you could have given would probably have made no difference to the actions of the director. In general all directors had a good prior knowledge in which to conduct themselves, so this was not problematic, but more guidance on their directing skills may have had them walking away feeling as though they pushed themselves harder or potentially with a better result. I also believe that directing a documentary has extra elements involved than directing a short film or feature does and most directors found themselves diving in the deep end with this. This could just be done in an hours tutorial with just the directors, but I feel needs to be done before the first meeting with change makers. Producer – I feel we had a lot of support from you guys and more instruction than other roles, mainly because a lot of our job was actually done by you guys. My role felt somewhat void as a lot of the logistics etc had to be organised prior to getting there. Not necessarily a negative but I feel I would have learned more had I been more apart of the earlier production work. There could be more instruction for Producers on how to tackle each stage of the documentary as well. This may have had us more involved. Overall, I think it would be beneficial to sit down with each role on Monday’s (more important for directors and producers, but could still be helpful for the others) and outline exactly what they need to focus on that week to achieve what you want from each group by the end of the week. Cultural Immersion: Was a good cultural immersion for a big group of Westerners. You both had great knowledge of the local area to offer to everyone as well which kept us from falling into tourist traps. Program Administration: Generally well administered, generally well organised especially considering Guatemalans run on a terribly relaxed clock. I found the finding of the change makers to be a little disappointing. I understand that things happen that can’t be helped, but I also feel that some of the issues that 2 of the groups had could have been found out earlier had some further research been done. There were a few times where I believe the teams needed more support than was given. Most notably the final week, when we were re-working stories for editing. In my opinion Aubrie really needed to be there at this point, as this is her forte, in no way criticising Robin, as his forte is more on the technical side of things. It was disheartening and frustrating to work on a story for 2 days, and then be told at 9pm our story had to be re-worked, rather than being told that at 10am on Monday morning, before hours of editing had been tackled. Health and Safety: I never once felt in danger, especially in the situations that were required for making the documentary. Social Life: I found everyone on the trip very interesting, and all people that I really enjoyed their company! Good work on picking such a great bunch of people!

My trip to Guatemala was very satisfying. From the stay at the hostel, to the trips around town I enjoyed every minute. Our overseers Robin and Aubrie Canfield did an amazing job as tour guides and were very professional teachers. Living Situation: I absolutely loved the homey feel of the hostel we stayed in. The staff was amazing and I would definitely visit again. Cultural Immersion: This trip satisfied my idea of what a complete cultural immersion should consist of.

Incredible opportunity with a group who understands the issues they want to help present with all the tactical know how of getting the films accomplished and seen. Internship Placement: I learned quite a bit about the entire process of Documentary Film planning. Anyone can shoot a film, but it takes a lot to create the story and piece it together. Living Situation: Cesar’s Hostil was an incredible place to stay and even though my class mates and I were packed in tight, the situation was made very easy because of the food. Cultural Immersion: Guatemala is a great place. tough not knowing enough spanish but it was easy to get by.

Actuality Media is extremely good at what they do. The program is unique, dynamic, and highly instructional. Overall, an excellent experience. Internship Placement: All the lessons and guiding from instructors was invaluable. Also, the fact that we were given the opportunity to learn from our own mistakes was important.

I learned so much from Actuality Media. There were great lessons and discussions and I can’t wait to apply what I have learned. There were many difficult things and things that I had to get used to but those challenges created opportunities to learn. I am most grateful for all the difficulties because of what I have learned through them. The overall cost of the program was reasonable. I loved the trips we went on and that we were able to work with locals. There was a great amount of freedom with a balance of guidance. I love traveling, filmmaking and meeting new people and with this program I was able to accomplish all three. Internship Placement: I learned a lot both by doing and in the lecture and watching the documentaries shown and discussed. Living Situation: Living situation was good it was surpassing how well it worked with 6 people in one room Cultural Immersion: Great cultural immersion

Actuality Media is run by Aubrie and Robin, an awesome pair who will let you independently explore your ideas like no classroom setting would. Everything you learn is relevant instead of busywork, and they are open to answering any sort of questions you have always been wondering. Program Administration: Robin and Aubrie are the coolest people ever! Health and Safety: I didn’t experience any problems.

Overall, this was an experience that left a strong impression on me. I’ve learned so much while being in Costa Rica with Actuality Media. From the classes on how to structure a documentary film to the cultural immersion to learning how to work with a multitude of people, this outreach has challenged me to reach farther than I ever have before. I totally think traveling with Actuality Media is worth the trip. You will grow and have fun while doing it! Internship Placement: The approach with which we made these docs helped with planning the film before hand in a very meticulous manner. This proved invaluable in foreseeing what the finished product should be. However, I do feel that this method can potentially stifle a more organic approach which would allow for events to unfold themselves. There is a temptation to force a story to take shape, thus neglecting what is actually happening. Nonetheless, our structured attack of how to tell the story ultimately caused us to create a well-told story through our film, “¿Que Será del Caribe?” Living Situation: We were in a good place. The hostel, Kaya’s Place, was right across from the beach, Playa Negra, where we could always go for a swim in the ocean when we wanted to take breaks from work. We were walking distance from the town which we were next to. Great staff that worked there. Cultural Immersion: We were knee-deep in the culture of the Costa Rican Caribbean coast. Fantastic people to interact with, wonderful foods to try, and everything just seemed like an adventure! Program Administration: Aubrie & Robin Canfield ran the outreach program with a level hand and solid leadership. All of us in the program felt a great level of trust in the two of them and their ability to guide the making of our films. Health and Safety: I mean, like anything else, you just have to keep your eyes open if you’re out at night. Don’t be stupid and just go with anybody from the bar at 2 am. But we walked the streets late at night many times, and things were fine. No issues, no worries. Social Life: The people of Talamanca were so open to hanging out and making friends. Getting around the language barrier wasn’t too difficult, because the area is accustomed to American tourists.

Actuality Media made my first time out of the country very comfortable. I loved the program and the experience. Would tell anyone to jump on board with them. Internship Placement: The lessons we had with the Production Coordinator taught a lot of filmmaking and storytelling. Living Situation: The hostel we stayed at was fanstastic, safe, and fun. In reference to the living arrangements, we were lucky to have had only 4 to our room – 6 would’ve been tight. Cultural Immersion: Being there for a month allowed us to start living like the locals do. Program Administration: Had everything together and in order. Health and Safety: They gave us tips and information about the area we were staying.

A really good course that was practical and hands on. I learnt alot throughout the program, in particular practical skills that are best achieved by doing eg. Camera operation and techniques. I had a great time on this program, made life long friends and produced a worthy film in this short period of time. Living Situation: Really comfortable living provided, nice hostel in a good location Cultural Immersion: Working with locals where relevant good experience Health and Safety: Safety in numbers. Just don’t go looking for trouble. Social Life: A small community of travellers; everyone meets everyone!

Travelling with Actuality Media has been the most inspiring and best experience I have ever had. I found that the amount that I learned was so much in the comparison to the amount of time that I was there. The production supervisors were excellent to work with and the intimate amount of students provided an efficient student-to-teacher relationship which made the academic learning easy and exciting. Along the hands-on experience of filming, there were classes run by the production supervisor that I found were extremely parallel to the classes from my professors at university. These classes on filmmaking and storytelling helped us when we went out to film. Our progress on our learning was constantly tracked as we had to show the footage we took every day to the production supervisors. She would walk us through the positives and negatives of our footage and show how we could improve the next day. Whenever we needed help with the documentary or encountered problems, the production supervisor was extremely helpful and spent her time with us to assure that we were on the right track, understood and were comfortable with how the film was going. The feedback of the production supervisor was extremely helpful and was open and suggestive and we always decided on our own decisions, as a group, and this created a certain guided independence which was very good for beginning filmmakers under the guidance of the experienced. Working with the other students on the outreach was a great experience; as they were there to learn and work. Ideas were collaborative and our we had a healthy group work ethic. I had no negative experiences with Actuality Media and definitely recommend this program for those who enjoy learning, studying, filming and travelling. Internship Placement: The content I learned through the outreach was extremely similar to how and what I was learning in my university classes, except with more intimate classes which allowed everyone to add their opinions and have a good relationship with Aubrie, who was teaching them. As well as the hugely hands-on learning that was involved in the outreach, the academic learning was extremely effective and rewarding. Living Situation: Really nice hostel! Very open and I had never been in a hostel before but I am now planning to make it my means of travel. Cultural Immersion: I was constantly immersed in the culture of the country I was travelling in and enjoyed the personal time we had to immerse ourselves in the city and constantly be part of the culture everywhere we went. Program Administration: Very well organized and an extremely effective program. The intimacy of the small amount of students enhanced this as well as the great personalities of the administrators that worked so well with the students. Health and Safety: I felt completely safe even though I had heard lack of safety stories about muggings far from the city. But, I felt secure the entire trip and very safe when travelling with people. Social Life: There were many opportunities we had to meet other travelers since we were staying at a hostel. We met many wonderful people from all over the world and would go out with them when we were not working.