We produced this short impact film for Restless Development, who help run the International Citizen Service (ICS) for the UK government. Projects are run throughout the world but our brief took us to a rural community near East London, South Africa. The film demonstrates the impact of a volunteer-led HIV scheme on a community by featuring one local girl, Siri, who speaks directly about her experience and learnings.

By focussing on a single individual telling her own story, the film remains tightly focussed without distraction. Such a format is heavily reliant on the contributor being open and relaxed on camera so we allowed for this in the schedule and ensured Siri was comfortable and familiar with the filming process. We allowed her to tell her own story, in her own words and supplemented this with footage of her doing what she normally does. The shoot was scheduled over four days during which time we recorded two interview sessions and various video sequences, the main bulk of which was during an HIV session led by volunteers and attended by other members of the local community.

We chose to shoot on the Sony FS5 as the compact nature of the camera makes it more discreet than others and also offers many creative capabilities, including the ability to shoot off-speed slow motion. This seemed to work well beneath the voiceover.

We are proud to have made something that endorses the valuable work of ICS volunteers and illustrates the positive impact that the scheme can have on individuals and wider communities.