Proof of concept: Solo video can be great
I saw this video — about a family returning to Rwanda — in July when I attended the Travel Channel Academy training. The story behind the story (as I remember hearing it) was that the videographer, Victoria Holden, had recently undergone a longer version of the same VJ training — a style sometimes referred to in TV news as “one-man band.”
Holden was a print journalist working on a story about Rwandans in Britain, and she met this Rwandan woman and her young son, and they were going back for a visit. Most of their family had been killed in the genocide. It would be their first reunion with the other survivors.
Holden thought it would be fantastic if she could travel with them and document their experience. The Rwandan mother said it would be okay. No one was going to pay the reporter’s way. So Holden, convinced of the value of her story, and bold with her brand-new video skills, found a cheap air ticket and financed the trip herself.
You can see the results (8 min. 13 sec., and worth every nanosecond). See if you agree with me that the narration is brilliant. Storytelling is everything.
(Note: The original, “Rwanda Revisited,” was listed as 9 min. in several video festivals. I don’t know what was cut, but it looks like the end got snipped off in this version.)
Categories: storytelling, video
I was wondering – was Holden able to cover her expenses in the end? is there a business model for such independent ventures?
I don’t know the answer to that, and as I mentioned, the story is based on my memory of what we were told at a workshop — Holden was not present.
If you are interested in making short documentary videos, see the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and the Directory of International Film and Video Festivals.
It is my understanding that funding does exist for these videos. But I would guess that you will have to fund the first one on your own.
What an excellent, excellent story, wonderfully done. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Mindy. Now I know what I want to achieve with my films one day…
In my experience there is no “business model” for such stories. You just do them because you feel you really really have to. And it will show. In the end you might be able to raise the money and (hopefully) get some awards. But if you start out thinking about stories in terms of their “business model” first I think journalism might be the wrong business for you.
I believe that Holden did not finance this herself but was funded by her news organisation. It is a brilliant story, not one funded individually, you have that part wrong.
We were told by Michael Rosenblum that the BBC — Holden’s employer — declined to fund her trip to Rwanda and so she bought her own plane ticket and took vacation time to do it. I have not fact checked that with Holden herself. She was working on the story in England with the BBC’s approval, but when it came time to fly, they turned her down.
Just for the record I was working at the BBC at the time I made this film and it was completely funded by them. The family were an inspiration to work with especially 10 year old Roger.