At Actuality Media, we coordinate international service-learning and study abroad trips for students interested in media. We take them to developing communities around the world and teach them how to make short documentary films about changemakers working there. Producing social documentaries is an ideal way to have an international experience as the students truly get to know life in a foreign community, they make a meaningful documentary about important issues, and a media tool is created to assist the film’s subject in raising much needed awareness about their work.

In addition to the independent programs we offer, where any student can sign up on their own, we organize faculty-led custom programs for Colleges and Universities. You choose the location, number of traveling days and goals of the program. We handle all the logistics such as transportation, lodging, food, film subject research, curriculum outline and day-to-day itinerary. You or your designated faculty member then has the freedom to focus on supervising the students’ work and helping them produce the best quality film they can. Some faculty members that have traveled with us in the past pursued their own photography or videography projects while on location in addition to working with the students.

One of the biggest challenges for study abroad production programs is having enough time to make a high quality film. We have developed, through process of trial and error, a effective system to structure the program and organize the films’ stories so that even the most amateur student filmmaker can return home with a film they are very proud of. You can view some of our students past work at www.actualitymedia.org/films.

If you are interested in discussing the possibility of designing a faculty-led program for your department please complete the form below to receive links to detailed program summaries and an example proposal. You can check out behind-the-scenes photos right now.

Are you interested in encouraging your students to tell stories that matter in your community? Actuality Media is embarking upon a campus tour to do just that. Click here to find out more.