Media: parasite, or power to do good?

Working in media production, sometimes I feel like a bit of a parasite — using the camera to gaze and feed upon the stories of others. I’ve produced documentaries and current affairs segments, and have relied always on the energy and good will of subjects to share their stories and to give their time — and often, to lay their souls bare — so that I can produce whatever bit of media I’m working on and deliver it to an audience. It’s how I make a living. And the more I “get” from my subjects, the better “my” product is going to be. And I’ve had at least one subject feel uneasy about me “making a living off” his story.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe there is power in sharing stories, and I’ve worked most of my career on very worthwhile projects. These days my work with Journeyman is focused on doing effective media work for clients and their audiences, and occasional TV for general audiences, so I feel a lot less conflicted about “the gaze.” The measure for me, for TV or for web video, is — does this story ring true and does it contribute?

But there were times during our shoot in The Gambia last March where I felt like that parasite again. The Nova Scotia Gambia Association signed us up to create an educational video resource that would help Canadians re-think how we perceive Africans. For sure, a worthwhile project. We wanted to shoot a film driven by personal stories — and as soon as we landed in The Gambia, we began scouting, meeting as many Gambians as we could. We needed compelling stories that Canadians could relate to, and we needed people to give us a day of their time to tell that story. But we weren’t intending to pay them, hadn’t budgeted for this, and didn’t want money to be the motivation for participating in our project. It’s a lot to ask. And maybe a bit stingy.

We met Omar, an older man of 77, who has been a carpenter most of his life. He’s also been blind since age six. His story was compelling to us, but we knew we weren’t going to make his story a part of our film — we were going with another carpenter named Sheriffo, and we felt there wasn’t room in the film for two tradespeople.

Omar asked us about the film project and wanted to know how it would help The Gambia. Omar also wanted to know if we could help him. With money or tools. He’s poor, he has a family to care for, and his house is located in a neighbourhood that is slated for demolition when the city’s port expands. I felt very guilty to not give him money. I’m a trained carpenter myself, and I was pretty fascinated by his ability to do his craft. During our scouting in The Gambia, we knew we were going to meet a lot of people who might need money or other resources, and we couldn’t give to all.

But we figured that we could do something for Omar by using our camera to capture something of the man in his environment, with a plan to put a short online video on the web. We hoped that this might be better than receiving money from us.

We’re hoping this short vignette gets around and gets seen by the right person or organization. And that Omar might get a donation of tools or some other assistance as a result.

Did we make the right decision? After watching, do you think this brief web video would be enough to compel the right person to action, or have we just been parasites again? We’re interested in hearing other people’s stories of trying to use creative skills to help someone like Omar. Any suggestions for getting it out there even more?

This video is the first project edited by our newest employee, Nikki. Thanks Nikki.

– Mathew

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