incef

Written by Cynthia Moses and David Weiner

War-ravaged eastern Democratic Republic of Congo may be an unlikely place for a filmmaking workshop, but that is exactly what took place one week in May 2005. Armed only with digital video cameras, compact editing equipment, and a firm belief in inspiring conservation behaviors through locally made, locally relevant film, filmmakers Cynthia Moses and David Weiner set out to prove the power of the INCEF model.

THE SET UP

When the International Conservation and Education Fund. (INCEF) was asked by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund (DFGFI) to hold a video workshop with a group of conservation students in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) they realized there would be challenges.

In many places the war that began in DRC in 1996 never ended, and the eastern part of the country in particular has been intensely affected by continuing instability. Electricity, clean water and basic human services like health and transportation are almost non-existent. Up until a few years ago, conservation in the region had been pretty much at a standstill.

With so many needs to answer to, the relevance of introducing advanced technology in the form of digital video may seem like a luxury. But for Cynthia Moses, an award winning wildlife filmmaker and founder of Incef, it seemed anything but irrelevant. INcef is a newly formed nonprofit whose mission is to spread digital literacy focused on integrating conservation and health issues.

The time was right to introduce this technology into the on-going work in eastern DRC. Regardless of the instability that still exists, a group called UGADEC (Union des Associations de Conservation des Gorilles pour le Développement Communautaire à l'Est de la République Démocratique du Congo) has begun to bring efforts to preserve animals and the forest they inhabit back to life. Its eight community reserves protect large endangered mammals including gorilla, chimpanzee, okapi, elephant, and the owl-faced monkey. Its Executive Secretary Pierre Kakule envisioned a grass-roots effort that relied on the education and participation of local communities.

Under Kakule, and in collaboration with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and Conservation International, UGADEC founded the Tayna Center for Conservation Biology (TCCB) which provides college-level conservation education for students from all eight reserves in order to build a constituency of conservationists within the region. Following three years of study at TCCB each student would return to his or her respective reserve to work. INcef would be working with those students majoring in education and communication at the school.

Moses believes that conservation is still often perceived as an agenda imposed by rich foreigners. Video used for public awareness is often produced in America and Europe and much of what is produced doesn’t reflect cultural differences and peculiarities. “Wildlife and conservation films are not made for African audiences. They are made for broadcast in the developed world to audiences who can do little to save wildlife on a grass-roots level. Public Service Announcements are usually designed for people who have a great deal of television literacy. For the most part they are not seen in the remote areas that border reserves and parks and if they are, their messages are lost on these audiences. INCEF is committed to reach people in remote areas who can make a day-to-day difference.” According to Moses, “it is essential that films be made specifically for local populations; with messages they can relate to and in a language they can understand. My experience is that the power of video is a phenomenal tool and we are missing the most important audience. Our goal is to give those audiences authorship in their own public awareness efforts.”

Moses immediately enlisted the help of David Weiner whose 30 years as a filmmaker have been primarily devoted to advocacy and education for social change with an emphasis on the use of new technology applications. According to Weiner, “The fact is that producing persuasive, compelling media that viewers will relate to, with messages that will change behavior is harder than rocket science - but learning how to use the new generation of cameras and editing systems is not.”

“Our immediate goal,” Weiner says, “is to demystify use of the equipment so that attention can be focused on what is referred to as “the power of the better argument. We wanted to bring these students to understand how the power of video, produced for exhibition at the village level, can invigorate their public awareness work.”

TCCB is located in the remote mountains of North Kivu and open for classes although the school is still under construction. Moses and Weiner didn’t know what to expect except that a generator supplied the school with electricity for just 8 hours a day. It was enough to recharge camera batteries and run computers. There would be a classroom to work in, a bed to sleep in, and 34 very enthusiastic students to work with.

The only way to make the workshop viable was to rely on advances in digital video that have made cameras both smaller and higher quality. Also to use edit systems like iMovie and Final Cut Pro that can run off G4 Laptops like iBook, and PowerBook. Moses owned an iBook and INCEF had just purchased a PowerBook and loaded it with Final Cut Pro HD. An INCEF board member generously offered her PowerBook for the trip and that was loaded with Final Cut Pro as well.

Weiner and Moses had both started working in film and video when an edit suite took up an entire room, and cameras weighed well over 20 pounds. None of this would do for what they were about to embark on.

They had one vehicle to travel over the muddy, rutted road to TCCB. A local videographer Jean Luis Kakule Vagheni would be joining them along with Alexia Lewnes, the Africa Correspondent for DFGFI. A journalist and author of a book about homeless young people in New York, she had worked for more than a decade with UNICEF and would become a third instructor for the workshop. The airplane carrying them to the truck was a small two-prop airplane
and they were told that baggage would be limited. Everything they needed for the workshop fit into four medium sized cases.

THE ACTION

With thirty-four students enrolled, they spent much of the first day defining messages and brainstorming on how to transfer those messages to images and sound. Would they go for a fiction or non-fiction approach? How would they employ interviews, drama, or narration? How might they incorporate music and natural history footage? The students viewed short films and public service announcements and discussed their efficacy. What was the message of each short film or PSA? Did it call for action? Did it give enough information of what action could be taken? Would it be appropriate for the villagers in eastern DRC?

Subjects for their films varied from the role of women in conservation, to the endangerment of gorillas because of the lure of crops planted too close to the reserves. One group decided on documenting the activities of TCCB itself; another chose to investigate what local school children knew about conservation. In the final few days, the groups combined efforts to make their own version of a PSA they had seen so that it would be more relevant to the local audiences.

Shooting began the next morning. One group traveled to the nearby village of Kasugho, another left for the forest, and others filmed on campus. They took turns operating the camera and for those who had decided to use a dramatic approach, they dressed in costume and played roles. Videos were produced in both French and Swahili.

Once the filming was done editing began. Three edit stations were set up in the classroom using the three Macintosh laptop computers.
Footage was loaded using a fire wire from the dv cameras. The students began assembling their footage into structured stories. They mastered the computer skills in no time and turned their attention to the more interesting matters of intercutting and use of cutaways. The one thing they all had in common with the average new user of powerful post-production tools was a fascination with every possible transition effect they could work into their shows.

THE FINALE

On the final night, the classroom was packed as each group presented their films to professors, administrators and the student body as well as to members of the local community who had walked more than an hour from the local village. The films had been burned to DVD and were projected using a portable screen and an InFocus LP70 projector weighing just 2.2 pounds and could be powered using a 12volt car battery. Most of the students and local inhabitants had never seen television, never mind projected images. The response of the students and the surrounding community was not only enthusiastic, but the films raised questions and motivated discussion of the issues they addressed.

According to Lewnes, “It encouraged the students to think more carefully about the messages they want to transmit and more creatively about the ways they can use images to engage others in their conservation efforts.”

“Our surprise, frankly, was in seeing just how ready the students were for that.” Weiner says. “The typical image of the hungry African was accurate but the hunger was for knowledge and for access to the tools of the trade. Our one-week seminar barely skimmed the surface of the reservoir of ideas that they are eager to communicate. Despite having guided the production of five video projects in six days, it felt, when we departed, as if we were leaving in the middle of our work. Returning home without being able to leave any equipment for them to continue to explore and practice their new skills is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”

For Moses the workshop was just the first step. INcef in collaboration with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund hopes to raise funds for subsequent workshops that will enable students to master the skills they learned in order to grow more confident as communicators. The ultimate goal is to make video production a part of the curriculum by providing TCCB with three workstations including cameras and Macintosh computers equipped with Final Cut Pro as well as a projector and screen in order to take their productions out into the surrounding communities to motivate discussion. Once they return to their reserves, their job will be to travel to small villages where they will conduct village meetings to educate the locals on the importance of conservation. The films they produced and will continue to produce will be invaluable to encouraging and educating the villages they visit to understand the need for conservation measures.

In the end, it is not only the students who are expected to benefit from the workshop. Says Jean Pierre Kakule Katumwa, General Director of the TCCB, “The students have learned skills that they will use not only to help their own communities but will also benefit the whole country.”