Roofless Realities:

Roofless Realities is a documentary that follows the story of Manu Felipe, an international student from the Phillipines who shares his story about the struggles and uncertainty when it comes to finding housing both affordable and acceptable whilst also balancing studies as an international student. The documentary also shares insights from an industry expert who works with RMIT’s RUSU wellbeing department. Jenna shares her thoughts about the current cost of living crisis, what support services are available and how these issues impact international students. Roofless Realities shares a impactful look into the lives that many international students face.

Whilst making this assignment I learnt the importance of communication when working with a team to create a large film project. I found that our group had a high level of communication and teamwork which made the production process somewhat seamless especially when we weren’t working in class together. I did learn however that planning a long way ahead of time helps with future issues such as limited b-roll available and allows more time if re-shoots are needed.

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‘Leftovers to Landfill’ is a transformative impact documentary that shines light on the ever growing issue of household food waste. It follows Seth’s journey as he explores the complexities of food waste in a society where it often goes under the radar. Through the film, viewers are invited to reconsider their relationship with food waste, discovering that small changes in behaviour can yield profound results. As the narrative unfolds, ‘Leftovers to Landfill’ empowers audiences with actionable knowledge, highlighting the simplicity of solutions that can lead to significant environmental benefits. By showcasing Seth’s efforts and the broader implications of food waste, the documentary inspires a movement towards a more sustainable future.

Throughout the process of making this work, I was able to explore a topic that I am passionate about and thoroughly enjoyed the research portion of it. It challenged me to reconsider my own relationship with food waste, highlighting how there are always small changes we can make that will further help the environment. I enjoyed expanding my skills as a producer, uncovering the complexities that come with developing a film, such as scheduling, budgets and distribution. Despite some components feeling rushed due to scheduling issues and differing views on aesthetics, we still had an abundance of great footage that was brought together in a cohesive way, shining light on the topic of food waste and hopefully left viewers feeling inspired to minimise their own waste.

Our documentary looks at the renting and mental health challenges faced by international students living in Melbourne. Through in-depth interviews and research, we reveal the true plight of these students: high rents make them unaffordable, while a lack of adequate mental health support makes living in a foreign country stressful. During the production process, we experienced difficulties in finding suitable locations for filming and the effects of adverse weather. But each challenge became an opportunity for us to learn and grow, and to appreciate deeply the complexity of documentary making and the importance of collaboration. In the end, this documentary is not just a work, but a journey documenting our collective efforts and struggles.

You can watch our final documentary on the MediaFactory Vimeo account at the following link:

‘Leftovers to Landfill’ follows Seth’s journey to uncover how household food waste impacts the environment. He reworks his relationship with food and waste management, inviting viewers to do the same, proving that even small actions can create the biggest change.

The audience follows Seth as we meet 3 separate individuals/companies and their roles in the cycle of food waste: The producer of produce Muz with the Market Boys, consumer and climate activist Mia, and finally the party that extends the life of food waste, Chris with Moving Feast. Due to the fact that all four of the group members were not present at every shoot, we had to go back and do several reshoots throughout the process, but doing so allowed us to have as much footage as we had possibly needed in order to fill the gaps. I grasped a better understanding of camera and audio equipment throughout this assignment, and know for next time to set up two separate cameras positioned much closer to the subjects during interviews to have as much diverse footage as possible, so as to not solely rely on additional b-roll footage.

Seth adds: In this process I gained networking and communication skills, demonstrating an ability to communicate with organisations to achieve communal goals.

Concrete Jungle explores the Seagulls and Pigeons who call Melbourne’s CBD home, and the negative impact Victorian’s have had on their welfare.

The Impact Documentary focus on the narration of Wren Hartley who outlines the beauty of our two largest birdlife in Melbourne’s CBD, Pigeons and Seagulls. Hartley explains how the State Library is one of the few green spaces where birds can search for food safe from traffic and busy streets. Then shared is some of the ways humans negatively impact the birdlife in the state library, such as feeding them human food in which can make the birds incredibly sick. Hartley then puts the audience in the perspective of a Seagull or Pigeons to help sympathises with these small vertebrate animals.

What I got out of making this documentary was learning how to promote an animal activist camping through filmmaking. I found it interesting designing the impact goals over the semester, I was able to engage in current campaigns and used those as inspiration to form our own.

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).