Reflection
This is my first attempt at making an impact documentary. At first, I thought it wouldn’t be much different from a regular documentary. But as I did more research, I found out that impact documentary is “a film-led communication designed to inspire positive social change and make a lasting impact” by focusing on addressing specific issues (Damodharan, 2024). Therefore, my ideas have changed throughout the semester, from the perspective of how to precisely convey a personal story to the perspective of how to provoke actions and raise awareness by resonating the audience through the film. In our filmmaking process, despite filming the interview with the student, we also arranged an interview with the social worker, Jenna, from RUSU. This not only provides the audience with detailed facts about the housing problem from an objective perspective but also motivates more our target audience, universities administrators and policymakers, to take action by showcasing Jenna’s commitment in her role.
To further explore these ideas in the future, I would like to delve more into the audience engagement strategies for the film, such as, organizing screenings beyond the campus, delivering speeches at exhibitions, or hosting an immersive exhibition related to this topic. I am curious about how these promotion strategies would make a different impact on provoking actions.
I hope our final work could engage with its target audience by shedding light on this pressing issue. The aim of this documentary is to raise awareness, inspire action, ultimately drive positive change in policies and support systems for international students. As the research shows 67.5% of international students reported that the cost of accommodations impact on their negative well-being, subsequently worsening their mental health issues (Corney, n.d.). Thus, I would like to see our final work make a positive social impact on the specific issue.
During the process of filmmaking, we had faced lots of challenges. Initially, our communication with Manu, the international student we interviewed with, was not smooth, leading to him speaking continuously for 20 minutes. Our original plan was to ask him one question at a time to facilitate easy responses. However, he preferred to start with the first question and then seamlessly transition to the subsequent ones. Thus, he went off track sometimes and the responses were not ideal. Also, we tried to hint him to wrap it up, but he just immediately ends up what he was about to say. What we might do differently next time is to conduct a better communication with the interviewee, telling him how we want the interview to be done and how much time we only need for one question. I believe this would alleviate much stress and time for the editing.
Moreover, we encountered difficulty in securing an interviewee from supportive services. Despite reaching out to organizations such as Study Melbourne, Trinity College, and The Couch, we received no response. Subsequently, our emails to the counselling service at RMIT also went unanswered. Eventually, we took the initiative to visit RUSU’s office, where Jenna, one of the social workers, graciously agreed to be interviewed. This experience taught me the importance of proactive engagement in documentary filmmaking. From the research, Amelia says “we must proactively start making contacts early to give ourselves the best chance of success,” (Dewi, 2021). It’s crucial not to hesitate in reaching out to people; if email correspondence proves fruitless, don’t hesitate to approach them in person.
In terms of audience engagement, I’m considering organizing a screening in the school theatre and creating a digital flyer that offers a brief overview of the film along with its key message, accompanied by some compelling stills. By including a QR code, viewers can easily access more information about the film. The combination of captivating imagery and concise text aims to effectively convey the housing issues faced by international students to the audience. Additionally, we’ll establish an Instagram account for the film’s audience to follow, where we’ll share experiences and stories of international students, along with updates on housing in Melbourne. This platform will serve as a space for international students facing housing issues to seek assistance, with the hope that policymakers and university administrators will take notice as our social media presence grows. Additionally, we can make this crisis visible to other countries, where might occur the same issue as Vakhtin says ‘Social media planforms break geographical barriers, allowing film promotions to reach audiences worldwide instantly.’ (Vakhtin, 2023). Furthermore, it’s a cost-effective option, ideal for university students like us who may have limited budgets for promotions. Hence, our primary focus will be on promoting our film through social media channels.
In terms of the engagement outside of the campus, I’m considering screening our documentary film at various universities in Melbourne, including the University of Melbourne, Deakin University, RMIT, and Monash University, as well as organizations that provide support to international students, such as The Couch and Study Melbourne. The aim is to expose the film to more university administrators and international students. Additionally, I found out the Melbourne International Student Week, which took place in March 2024, presents an excellent opportunity to showcase our film (Melbourne International Student Week, n.d.). This festival gathers a diverse array of international students, offering a platform for our film’s publication. Moreover, we plan to set up a collaborative booth with RUSU, where we’ll provide counselling services specifically related to housing issues and financial stress, reinforcing the tangible actions we aim to take in addressing the crisis.
If I were to continue working on the documentary, I would coach the interviewee to provide a more detailed story of their housing experience, ensuring that their narrative forms a coherent and compelling storyline. While editing the film, I discovered that Manu’s context lacked a complete narrative. To further develop the documentary, I would extend the film’s topic to international students’ housing problem across worldwide. As BONARD states, “In 2023, BONARD researchers observed rent levels increased more significantly than in 2022, both per region and tier city in Canada, Europe, and Australia. Based on the statistic, Canada’s rents increased the most (15% year-over-year) followed by the UK (12.9%).” (Student housing crunch worsens across Europe, Australia, Canada, 2024) This data highlights the urgency of this issue, which prompting to become increasingly prevalent worldwide. I believe it’s crucial to delve into how international students manage financial strain while securing suitable housing through the film.
In terms of collaboration, I believe our group fostered strong teamwork consistently throughout the semester. Throughout our filmmaking process, we have always allocated the roles for each of us effectively, for instance, while preparing the pitch, we easily discussed and allocated roles amongst ourselves. However, we not only accomplished our roles, but also helped each other to spark more inspirations and ideas. On the shooting day, though we had our roles for the production, we still switched the roles sometimes to help others. For example, Jeffrey, our director, was sick on the day of shooting. Thus, I took the responsibility of communicating with the interview and conducting the questioning. However, during the moments when I was setting the camera for the next shot, he would step in and engage with the interviewee, ensuring they were informed about the upcoming proceedings. On the other side, Lachlan and Ashley were managing on the second camera, lighting, and setting the scene. Moreover, we were struggling to come up with ideas for b-roll footage since our issue is a bit abstract. However, we took the initiative to book an editing suite to review the interview footage while sharing our own ideas and ended up with lots of compelling ideas. Overall, our communication went smooth, and each of us was proactive during the filmmaking process, resulting in excellent collaboration.
Reference list:
(No date) Melbourne International Student Week. Available at: https://www.misw.org.au/ (Accessed: 17 May 2024).
Corney, T. (no date) Relationship of accommodation to wellbeing, INTERNATIONAL STUDENT HOUSING & MENTAL WELLBEING & THE RELATIONSHIP TO ACCOMMODATION. Available at: https://universitycollegesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/International-Student-Health-and-Wellbeing-and-the-Relationship-to-Accommodation-UCA-Forum-November-2021.pdf (Accessed: 17 May 2024).
Damodharan, K. (2024) Impact films, Moonshine Agency. Available at: https://moonshine.agency/impact-films/ (Accessed: 17 May 2024).
Dewi, A.R. (2021) The 3 factors that drive success in film industry, Medium. Available at: https://amelia-dewi.medium.com/the-3-factors-that-drive-success-in-film-industry-9b5e5d1acf46 (Accessed: 17 May 2024).
Student housing crunch worsens across Europe, Australia, Canada (2024) ICEF Monitor – Market intelligence for international student recruitment. Available at: https://monitor.icef.com/2024/02/student-housing-crunch-worsens-across-europe-australia-canada/ (Accessed: 17 May 2024).
Vakhtin, D. (2023) The impact of social media on film promotion – filmustage blog, Filmustage. Available at: https://filmustage.com/blog/the-impact-of-social-media-on-film-promotion/ (Accessed: 17 May 2024).