Week 1: New Work, New Culture

Topic: Organizational Culture 

One week ago, I landed in Paris. Stepping off the plane with my camera gear in hand, I was filled with excitement and nervousness all in the same breath. It was my first time traveling to a foreign country on my own for work; while I had studied abroad in Morocco last fall, this was different. There was no program advisor to pick me up at the airport. There was no family who would welcome me into my new homestay.  There was no cohort of 14 American students who would be by my side through everything. This was my first true taste at independence and as happy as I was to have the opportunity to do something I love, not going to lie, I was nervous.

This first week has been an interesting week because I have not yet met the main character of our documentary, Amal Bentousi. I will meet her in the coming weeks with my director Aida Alami when we go to interview her and follow her around on her new journey in law school. My assignments this week have been more independent. Because Aida wants me to get comfortable shooting in Paris, she has sent me out to five different neighborhoods across the city to capture “ethnic Paris.” As simple as that may sound, there is a lot that goes into capturing populations gracefully, with caution of not being obtrusive.

From the get-go, I’ve known documentary filmmaking is a unique industry as unlike Hollywood, there are no “sets.” There are no acting “characters.” In a way, my “organizational culture” is that of the city of Paris. I am sure when I begin working more closely with my director and the editing team, they will add to my understanding of organizational culture. However, for the time being, as an independent filmmaker, my job is to go out into the city and to capture locals in their natural element – to capture buildings, architecture, nature, events, etc. in their natural elements. As such, I am trying to become familiar with the Parisian culture as a whole.

In order to do this effectively, I let my camera be my guide. Instead of going into a place with an idea of what I want to capture, I just explore the place, observe what I see, and let my intuition guide what is most compelling. I scout out locations and take still shots on my own before going on specific filming assignments to feel comfortable shooting in a new, foreign place. I go on walks around town to get a feel for the people and the spaces they consume, what they do in those spaces, and what the mood is of those spaces. I read as much as I can about race/racism in Paris to try to understand a social context I am unfamiliar with. These little things matter because how much I understand my subjects and topic shine through in how I frame a shot and how I execute the camera movement in specific scenes.

So far, I have noticed that parks and cafe culture are a huge part of the social culture. The most interesting thing I’ve noticed is these two spaces seem to bridge all generations. I have seen multiple times, old women sitting outside cafes sipping coffee and talking to the young people across the table. Likewise, parks are always filled with old couples, families, young adults, teenagers, and kids. I have also been pleasantly surprised by the amount of diversity I have seen in these spaces. However, one thing I have noticed is that different races seem to stick to people of their own race, specifically the older generations. Young people seem to be more inter-mixed. The next couple of days of shooting, I hope to be able to capture more compelling shots that really capture the essence of Paris’s diversity and hopefully witness more racial intermixing across different generations.