Filmmaking in the Field
Over the summer, the Gulf South VECTOR (GSV) filmmaking team launched a new field production effort in Louisiana. Our crew was led by Virginia Tech (VT) Professor Rachel Lin Weaver and guided by New Orleans filmmaker Zen Omi, with three VT Creative Technologies program students in secondary camera, color grading, and behind the scenes documentation roles, and one program alumnus. The experience provided these emerging filmmakers with an opportunity to work on the ground in New Orleans and participate directly in a professional interdisciplinary public health project.
For some context, the footage we captured supports a series of forthcoming videos designed for social media and public education. Our goal is to create unique media projects that reflect the realities of vectors in the Gulf South, and make information about vector-borne diseases more understandable, visually engaging, and useful for reaching and informing many demographics.
Photo by Rachel Lin Weaver.
Documenting Vectors & Public Health
Over ten days, our team traveled far and wide, capturing hours of original footage and documenting disease vectors and vector control efforts. We also interviewed a member of the New Orleans community who had survived a harrowing experience with murine typhus.
We initiated projects examining rats as reservoirs for disease, which we hope will help audiences understand the interdependent relationships between commensal species, vectors, and what human communities can do to mitigate disease spread.
Learning Through Production
The Virginia Tech student crew gained extensive hands-on experience working within a real-world public health communication initiative. They participated in documentary storytelling alongside professionals, deepening their interdisciplinary knowledge of public health and vector control, while also learning the steps required for successful interviewing, and deepening skills in cinematography, observational filming, and production logistics, and grappling with the challenges of making complicated ideas visually accessible.
Photo by Rachel Lin Weaver.
Photo by Rachel Lin Weaver.
Photo by Zen Omi.
Behind-the-Scenes Adventures
Our project was not without the usual wild adventures and mishaps that come with filming documentary projects in the New Orleans summer. Absurd moments ranged from shooting in the swamp at dusk while battling mosquito swarms, stalking rats after dark amidst broken trash cans and spilled trash, dealing with a production van flat tire at midnight in the middle of a thunderstorm, and trying to keep cameras (and crew members) from overheating while capturing footage of tire dumps and waste areas in New Orleans East in 110 degree heat.
Experiences like these make for good stories and fun memories, and the whole team is excited to come back to the Gulf South for more videography soon.
New Videos Coming Soon
Be on the lookout for new videos (being edited now) which we will launch in the coming weeks.
Photo by Zen Omi.
Contributing Author
Rachel Lin Weaver
Associate Professor of Creative Technologies
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
