Project Resound: Amazing Places, Real-World Experience, Positive Impacts

(Editor’s Note: Cineaste, archivist, and activist, Jordan Dotson was asked to describe her work and experience with the non-profit social design consultancy, Project Resound. Here is her report.)

Before joining Project Resound in Nicaragua in 2014, I had participated as a videographer the year before in an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) Service Design project through my university alongside project leader Louis Baker. It was such a good experience that when Baker told me the following winter that he was putting together a group to go to Nicaragua, I jumped at the chance to once again be a part of his team.

I had traveled extensively throughout the United States, but this was my first time leaving the country. Because of my ASB experience, I knew a little of what to expect as far as project workflow in Nicaragua. For a week, we worked hard. It was hot. My equipment felt like it got heavier and heavier by the hour. Our team worked with the client all day; in the evening, we continued working in teams on what had been accomplished, what was and wasn’t working well, and how we could produce the best result in the time allotted.

I captured incredible moments and had a blast. For fun, we took excursions to historic sites and an active volcano (though thankfully it was dormant while we were there).

While filming inside one local’s home, I was asked if I wanted to try some meat she was cooking. Of course! I still don’t know what I ate or what animal it came from (neither one of us spoke the other’s language), but that’s part of the experience, right? When I asked to wash my hands, she led me to a concrete sink with a basin of water. As I plunged my hands in to rinse them off, I realized that there was a turtle in there! The homeowner seemed unperturbed by this, so I casually finished rinsing my hands with turtle water, said gracias, and promptly sanitized to my elbows when I got back to the worksite.

On another occasion, when I gestured that I wanted to take the picture of a grandmother in her yard feeding her chickens, she led me into her backyard. She wanted a photo, not with her chickens, but with her ginormous sow.

Those are the experiences I will never forget; experiences that made the trip all the more enriching.

Despite all the great moments, there were times when I didn’t get the shots I wanted, when my equipment died in the middle of a session, or when what I thought translated from the real world onto the screen did not.

I had moments of frustration and sometimes felt discouraged. But that was all right, because this experience allowed me to fail and then pick myself up, learn from it, and do better the next day. In our competitive culture, that’s something we don’t always get to do academically or professionally, but it is one of the best ways to grow personally and professionally.

Those two social design trips taught me the bulk of what I have learned about documentary filmmaking.

If I had to sum up the experience Project Resound provides, it would be that you will go to amazing places, gain real-world experience that has a positive impact not only on the clients you are serving, but yourself, professionally, creatively, and internally, all while being surrounded by creative professionals supporting each other as they grow and make a difference.