We recently produced this short video for the Washington Home & Community Hospices to highlight their “Caregiver Relief Program”. The program supports primary caregivers by providing home care relief, so the caregiver can continue to work outside the home. For Alvin, a Prince George’s County Fleet Mechanic, the program provided “peace of mind” that his dear sister Arlene was taken care of while he worked to support them. This was a delicate and challenging story to film because Arlene was dying from cancer and these were her last days. Alvin could have readily said no to filming, and we would have very easily understood. But instead, he saw this as an opportunity to share his story as a way to help others. Aside from the fact that he’s an especially brave person, I think one reason is because he felt empowered. He wasn’t just a “subject” in this video; he was a part of our mission on behalf of Washington Home & Hospice.
Empowering your subjects to feel part of the mission is not a scheme to gain entry into people’s intimate lives. It’s an ethos that drives all of our films, one that was especially important with this particular video. The more your subjects feel a part of your mission, the more invested they are in the production process, the more authentic and fair the story is to them, and the more likely you are to achieve your goal. It really comes down to building relationships and being effective and compassionate communicators. In the weeks ahead of filming, we spoke with Alvin on the phone several times, using those opportunities to learn more about Alvin’s story and clearly explain what our goals were: to emotionally communicate the role of hospice and the caregiver relief program in his life through the story of his relationship to his sister. We regularly reminded Alvin to be open about his reservations and what made him uncomfortable. Asking for the limitations of your subjects and even sharing your own allows you to collectively come up with solutions. Ultimately, these stories are meant to help people, and it’s not just through your audience. In the years we’ve done this work, we’ve found that storytelling is a revelatory and therapeutic experience for our subjects as well. And so empowering them, in addition to documenting them, is a key part of our process.
