It’s a Wrap! International Nonprofit Health Video in Africa
Washington DC video production company Dorst MediaWorks just wrapped an international health video for SIGN Fracture Care International, a nonprofit organization.
SIGN works with skilled surgeons in some of the poorest countries to heal patients with badly broken bones.
Typically, before SIGN shows up, people suffering badly broken bones may fail to get appropriate treatment, and then face a lifetime of disability and poverty. But SIGN is working for equality of fracture care around the world, and Dorst MediaWorks is supporting that through video production.
Impactful Nonprofit: Accomplished Surgeons Are Chief Changemakers
By providing implants and training for surgeons, SIGN empowers surgeons in developing countries to provide timely care for patients. SIGN has trained 5,000 surgeons in 50+ countries.
Dr. Billy Haonga, Muhimbili’s Head of Orthopedic Trauma Surgery, began with SIGN in 2008: “SIGN has really helped me to remain at the hospital,” Haonga says. “As a surgeon, it helps to have safe, working equipment and tools that are easy to use.”
The nonprofit’s work to build orthopaedic capacity in Tanzania has spread beyond Muhimbili. SIGN Surgeons like Dr. Haonga train other surgeons to use SIGN Techniques. Then the newly trained surgeons work with SIGN implants in their own hospitals across the country.
With an approach that focuses on empowering skilled surgeons with training and implants, SIGN Fracture Care has developed sustainably, with skilled surgeons driving growth.
“SIGN has helped many people from falling into poverty after breaking a bone,” says Dr. Haonga. “I thank SIGN for that.”
In 20 years, SIGN’s global footprint has expanded to more than 50 countries, with SIGN-trained surgeons having healed more than 237,000 patients.
Washington DC Health Video Production
Tanzania’s film office is stingy in its award of film permits of late, so Dorst MediaWorks hired a local crew for this video production. The talented Eugene Kiliwa and Esther Atanasi shot on location at Dar es Salaam’s Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute.
Back in Washington DC, the Dorst MediaWorks editorial project team ran point on the post-production storytelling process. First, we received the footage from our Tanzania crew; second, we commissioned translations for the Swahili interviews; third, we compiled a transcript that we shared with our nonprofit client. Together, we collaborated on the story. After all, in documentary, we tell the story from the people we film, highlighting their perspective and experience.
Dorst MediaWorks invited the SIGN Fracture Care team to give input on a draft scripts before we launched editing. Then we edited a rough cut and then a fine cut, all the while working closely with the client team to make sure the story was working for them. Finally, we did color-grading, did a final audio mix, then created high-quality video files for event and online distribution.
As Washington DC’s top video production company for international organizations that do good, Dorst MediaWorks has a lot of experience working in other languages and telling impactful documentary stories that show results on the ground.
So if your organization has a story to tell about its programs overseas, Washington DC’s Dorst MediaWorks is a video production company that should consider. We’ve worked in more than 50 countries, with some of the most impactful international development and humanitarian relief organizations out there.
Dorst MediaWorks’ post-production editing facilities are located in Washington DC just a few minutes from the DC Convention Center and the Mt. Vernon Square metro station. We’re a short walk or ride share ride from hundreds of international nonprofit organizations, associations, and government agencies.
My experience working with SIGN is that they do a lot with a little. Their website reads, “95 percent of our budget goes directly to supply the SIGN Surgeons with the implants and training needed to care for their patients.” That’s what I inspired me to donate to their cause after working with them.
