Camera, action!

I started shooting today. It felt like a good progression, cause I am giving multimedia the necessary attention it demands. It wasn’t very extensive and most of it was B-roll material but I feel confident about what I have so far. I inquired with Luke Mabiala (my main subject and character) about reaching out to his acquaintances who have married South African woman illegally to gain citienzship. Obviously, his appeal to them to speak to me was met with much apprehension and in some cases just downright refusal.

I understand their fears and since they have went so far in efforts to stay in the country they would not risk jeopardising a future they have toiled so hard for. On my side however, I feel that pursuing these people for my multimedia package would be such a great angle. For privacy purposes I would be willing to conceal their faces, and use pseudonyms to protect their identities. This is an important story to tell and I really want to do it- foreign nationals who buy South African identities masquerading it through the institution of marriage. More interesting would be to get hold of the South African women in these desperate economic circumstances to engage in these deals. I have been thinking about the potential dangers of pursuing such an angle,I am not perturbed enough to give up on it just yet.

I have also realised that for the purposes of my feature and multimedia package it would be important to acquaint myself with the immigration laws of South Africa, which I have neglected up to this point. I have also decided that instead of a video, I want a multimedia package, I am still brainstorming the best way to do this creatively and in the meantime I am watching old in-depth multimedia to get an idea.

Yeoville is fast becoming quite familiar to me, in ways I didn’t imagine but I suppose you hang around for long enough and the research location will breed a sense of community in you.