A Week in the Life of a Refugee Assistance Organization

The vignette for each project starts with a paused screen with the title of the project backed by the first scene of the section. Each vignette ends with a frozen screen shot of the final frame of the section, which gradually fades out before the next piece begins. The next vignette then starts in the same way. In this way. different projects are clearly separated.

It should be noted that during production, a balance was deliberately struck for gender, age, rank, nationality, and ethnicity as far as was possible. Further, locations, project staff and beneficiaries are almost entirely different for each project. As a result, each vignette of the film is visually very varied.

The approach taken by the film includes narration backed by appropriate shots with natural sound from each shoot location that help tell the story. Each section also features at least one interview with relevant personnel filmed in the environment of the project being profiled. There are also a several pieces that partially take an observational approach.

It is hoped that this visual approach gives the film a compelling, dynamic feeling of an organization at work and is very also very watchable.

Feedback!

I welcome any feedback at all on any aspect of the film that could help make the film better from people with a proven track record in documentary.

However, when doing so, please take into consideration the following:

• This was my first film, and this version of the film was made over ten years ago pretty much without any kind of outside support or mentoring.
• When I see it now, I would have more information conveyed through interview and observation than by voice over.
• For the final version, I plan to make changes to the voice over to make it not time and location specific, and not stating the national identities of the refugees.
• In the final version of the film I intend to do a more 'upbeat' and compelling sounding voice over.
• The feel of the film as it is at present is more like a ‘jigsaw puzzle’, the individual pieces of which, when put together, give the viewer a complete picture of what the film hopes to communicate, than a story with a main protagonist’s journey, separate acts, and a central conflict.
• Do you think there is any way the film could be reworked to include the following eight classical story telling elements?:

1. A protagonist
2. An antagonist
3. A desire
4. An inciting incident
5. A journey
6. A crisis
7. A climax
8. A resolution