This article is part of a series called Backstory where I reveal how feature and in-depth stories were crafted. You can find more with the Backstory tag by searching “Backstory” in the search bar.
(Featured photo courtesy of Lindsey James.)
The original story was published here:
https://capitalcurrent.ca/dog-2/
The video assignment took about two weeks to craft, a week to shoot, and a week to edit. I had the pleasure of working accomplished photographer Jen Osborne on this mini documentary about, Bernie, a dog who lost both hind legs but found a new life with Lindsey James, who adopted him.
Jen lives in a remote part of Vancouver Island, and so does Lindsey. But neither of us were allowed to go and shoot the documentary in person because the producer forbade us from close contact with our subjects. So, Jen handed a GoPro to Lindsey and instructed her on the kind of shots we needed to help illustrate the story. The interview via Zoom and editing the whole piece together afterwards was done by me.
But even before I did the interview, before Jen passed a camera to Lindsey, and before we planned what we wanted to shoot, we had to figure out what the facts were. Jen did two pre-interviews with Lindsey to help her craft the storyline for the visuals and help me craft the questions to help Lindsey recall those same answers and emotions for the real on-camera interview.
I also had to do a bit of digging to find out where Lindsey got Bernie from and how to get in touch with Kelsey Kanhoffen, the person who rescued Bernie from Mexico. It was easy to coneect with her while she was still in B.C. but got more difficult when she went on one of her regular trips to Mexico to rescue more dogs. I had to make a list of all the photos and footage I needed from Kelsey in the few short days before her departure.
Putting the documentary together was all about planning, timing, and workarounds with pandemic restrictions – but we pulled it off.
