A Storyteller's Reponsibility

The man with a video camera is called a media member. The term "media" is spot-on. I am a medium. I am a method of communication, transferring a message from one person to another.  It is my responsibility to tell that story accurately and in an interesting way. I feel humbled to be the bullhorn through which another person's story is told. I cannot express how seriously I take that duty.

Recently, I finished a four-part video series about Women in Science at Saint Mary's. You've probably heard that there are fewer women with professional careers in the science fields. You may have also heard that the women who do work in these fields are paid less or treated unequally when compared to men in similar positions. It's true and it's a real crisis.

Saint Mary's is actively battling against this problem in classrooms and labs. I profiled three outstanding students and put together an overview of how the issue is tackled at SMC. This is ameaningful project for me. These students are doing great work and with such optimism and confidence. I spent a lot of time in the edit room to be sure that the stories were authentic. I wanted the soundbites that I used to be true to that student. The videos were shot over the summer and were just published this week. I'm proud of how they turned out.

A few days ago, I sent an email to all of my interview subjects from the series to let them know that the videos would be published soon. I closed the email with a sincere note:

Thank you all for your cooperation, energy, and patience. Mostly, thank you for the work that you do. My greatest honor in this position is to be able to tell the stories of the outstanding endeavors and character of our people. Thank you for doing what you do and allowing me to share that with more people.

I have never been able to put into words exactly how I feel about this profession. That passage above is as close as I've ever gotten to expressing it correctly. A few hours later, one of the students wrote back to me:

The video is incredible. I cannot believe how well it turned out. Wow, I'm just speechless. Thank you so much for this opportunity. It was so much fun and I'm honored to have been a part of it.

I will cherish that response. That is one of the reasons I love being a filmmaker and tell the stories of real people. And it's one of the challenges I embrace for every project that I work on.