Jocelyn: Who or what has influenced you the most as a filmmaker?

Brooks: In general, music, concerts, documentaries, and documentaries about musicians. I was really into music before I really got into filmmaking and documentary filmmaking. It was a general transition from just watching bands and concert DVDs to naturally discovering some documentaries and saying, “Oh, there's more to the art form than just documenting a live event.” A specific thing that really inspired me was Sam Jones, [who’s a] photographer and filmmaker. He does a lot of stuff in black and white, and it's just a little something different. His film on Wilco from 2002, it was such a good combination of good music and also telling a story through a documentary. There's more to it than just the music. That's what really got me into it. 

Jocelyn: What are you working on now?

Brooks: I just finished a big campaign for an in-house creative team with an organization called CARE. It's a nonprofit that does humanitarian work in different countries. We actually did start some programs in the US this year because of COVID. Every year, we have a focus on women and girls strategically within the humanitarian sector. So International Women's Day is always a big campaign moment for us every year. This year, our campaign centered around the song “I'm Every Woman.” We got Shaka Khan, the original creator of that song, to do a remake with Idina Menzel. We got the original music producer, Tina Clark, to come and do it with them. So it was like remaking the song. I just worked on a music video for that and the whole campaign just wrapped up last week. Getting that released has been cool to see. 

Right now, I'm coming off the back end of that and transitioning more towards the stuff I usually do. Work varies a lot; from social media ads, and especially now, we're doing a lot of these virtual events. I have been developing more of a role in helping out with and facilitating that. 

Jocelyn: What did a normal pre-covid look like for you?

Brooks: Pre-COVID, we would typically- myself, a video editor and production person- we travel usually once or twice a year out of the country to document projects or interview people. Usually if we're coming from the US and going somewhere, it's something very specific like a project is ending and the funder wants a wrap-up or something [similar]. A lot of our news type stories, we get that from in-country producers and videographers. 

Even pre-COVID, we only traveled maybe once or twice a year but that was a good part of the job. Being able to shoot a little bit and see other countries was fun. It's funny because- with regards to the ethics of storytelling and especially when you're talking about another country and another culture- in a lot of instances it's preferred to have someone local tell that story. Then, we can help distribute it, share it, produce it. I'm looking forward to eventually getting back to that. 

Jocelyn: Do you have any tips to give to anybody who is trying to tell a story that is not their own?

Brooks: It can be tough because it's a balance. Most filmmakers, especially documentaries, have limited resources. So, you don't have all the time in the world to just shoot for hours and hours. Trying to focus and approach a story with an idea of what it might be, that’s one side of the spectrum. The other side is we want to let the story be told by the person without any preconceived notions. We don't want to guide them or ask them leading questions. It's almost second nature to have that story in your mind already. You have to check yourself.

One way to do that is to let the interview breathe and have prepared questions, but don't be afraid to stray and to let the interviewee just find their way around certain questions. If you get into a situation where you find yourself thinking, “Oh, they're about to say something that would make this story really good,” try not to focus on that because it's not always that simple. It's not everything to have that preconceived notion. So, just let the interview breathe. Also, the idea of informed consent, informing them is just the half of it. We don't want to get consent for the sake of it. We want to make sure that through language or culture barriers that this person understands the purpose of the story. CARE is not a news organization. We want to make sure to let the interviewee tell the story they want to tell. 

Jocelyn: What advice would you give future filmmakers?

Brooks: Go out and shoot stuff and experiment. Don't worry about getting it perfect. Don't let perfect get in the way of something good.

I think that speaks to some people who have more of a perfectionist mindset. Maybe that's not as much of a challenge for people today, just because of the availability of filmmaking tools. In some ways there's less barriers, but in other ways, how do you block out all the noise and figure out what you want to do? And again, you got to try different things and not get hung up on what you think a certain style of filmmaking is. Try it out, or read more about it. There's a lot of really interesting things you can read out there. I always enjoyed the critical studies side of UNCW film studies. However, people let that stuff fall by the wayside because it's easy when you're not in school anymore to forget about. Try to keep that side of film in mind.