Better Days are Coming: Boyu’s Story
The journey to Buduburam refugee camp is supposed to take 45 minutes. It took us five hours. After taking a tro tro from Labadi to Circle, the main transportation hub of Accra, Boyu and I waited in a snaking line for two hours, during which not a single bus came. The mood of the line went from open and joyful to exhausted and impatient. We finally gave up and split a four seated cab, with three friends of hers that we ran into in line. We drove for two hours, more »
Bearing Our Souls: Our Reel
I’ll never forget when I realized the power of storytelling. I was twelve. I watched The Deep End of the Ocean, a movie about a woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) whose son is kidnapped during her class reunion. Ironically and devastatingly, she realizes when he is a teenager that he has been living a few streets down from her for the past ten years. I remember sobbing, internalizing the weight of her pain- and my three sisters mocking me for being a crybaby. That night I couldn’t sleep. Michelle’s agonizing loss was incomprehensible more »
You Will Have A Story To Tell
Happy Friday! As all of New York City panics in glee over the imminent hurricane headed our way, we’re preparing to spend the next few days inside (and probably filming the rainy action as much as we can) since we are releasing several videos in the next few days… so keep an eye out. But I have to say, I love paying attention to how events like the hurricane become so much about storytelling. The earthquake earlier this week catalyzed a whirlwind of online (and then later, in-person) storytelling- everyone more »
How to Create Successful Nonprofit Campaigns
Recently I was lucky to get to attend the Social Media for Nonprofits conference here in NYC. The room was bursting with enthusiasm, passionate energy and unparalleled multi-tasking aficionados - which the live twitter feed at the front of the room only fueled. By the end of the day my eyes were blurry but I was wonderfully full of really useful ideas. A lot of the speakers talked about how not for profits can run successful campaigns, which I found extremely useful. Here are my takeaways: Position the Problem- Every campaign needs a more »
Tips for Storytelling
Yesterday, we talked about the questions you should ask before you begin storytelling. Today we are going to dive into how to use some of the strategies we suggested as well as some other tips to keep in mind. 1. Go Light On the Stats- Statistics demonstrating large-scale problems are virtually meaningless to the human mind. We cannot comprehend such numbers, so we cannot connect to them. If you want to use a statistic, find a unique way to help your audience visualize it. 2. Tell the Stories of Individuals- more »
How To Tell Your Organization’s Story
Hello and Happy Monday! We are thrilled to be back in our studio editing this week after a powerful week filming Achievement First’s new teacher training all last week. You know you are doing something right when you miss your work all weekend. This week we will be sharing our top tips for telling your organization’s story. These tips apply to a wide range of communication avenues like newsletters, brochures, websites, videos, blogs etc. Let’s jump in- Today we’ll start with what questions you should ask and answer before a single more »
Stories Worth Sharing- Swimmers, Artists & Miners
Happy Friday! Sending blessings to all on this hot (and stinky here in Chinatown) day. May your day be filled with iced drinks, cool water and AC. We’ve been editing up a storm in our studio this week and we can’t wait to show the fruits of our labor in the coming weeks. Until then, enjoy these stories… I absolutely love this story made by California Is a Place (which produces stories in-you guessed it- California). It begins as a story of a synchronized swimming team but expands to explore more »
Things We Won’t Do. Part 1.
Use the word SAVE. When audiences of not-for-profit media are told that they can save someone else, it perpetuates the unequal power dynamics that sustain the inequality and injustice of our world. It establishes those served by the not-for-profit as recipients instead of agents. ‘Saving’ appeals to the desire of the donor to feel needed, but in doing so, it preserves the idea that people in the (homogenized) ‘developing world’ are incapable of creating change themselves. It positions the donor as powerful, while those served by the not-for-profit appear helpless and more »
No Boundaries
You know something is powerful when all of your dreams revolve around it. Last night we attended a tribute to Tim Hetherington titled No Boundaries at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. We watched Diary, his reflection on his experience as a war photographer (watch it on vimeo). It an incredibly inspiring and evocative piece which affected me deeply. It surreally explores the nature of memory and experience as he spent time in life threatening circumstances and then returned to everyday life. Although we do not do war photography, the more »
Circle Connection- The Power of Multiple Narratives
“Isn’t there a lot of poverty in Africa?” asked a girl on the first day of our Circle Connection workshop in New York. We had asked them if they knew where Ghana is located. Most of the kids gave blank stares but one girl raised her hand and asked if it is in Africa. Although it wasn’t surprising to me that the only reflection we got about Ghana was that Africa = Poverty, it convinced me that the work we are doing is very important. To read the rest of more »
