VIDEO PORTFOLIO & DESIGN & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PORTFOLIO

POWER WITH Anthology

Storytelling for health justice with the RELATE Lab at OHSU Family Medicine

Two people wearing medical masks look towards a computer monitor in a healthcare setting

ABOUT

I co-produced the POWER WITH Anthology with Elaine Waller Uchison in my capacity as a multimedia intern at the RELATE Lab at OHSU Family Medicine. Working both collaboratively and independently, we created short films about community members’ experiences with health and healthcare.

We harnessed the power of stories to impart understanding, break barriers, and offer solace. By employing less-extractive reporting methods, we created space for people to share their stories in a manner that is healing and affirming. With our Storytellers Bill of Rights, we affirmed that interview subjects are the ones in charge of how their story is told.

By telling individuals’ stories, we intend to promote understanding of the complexity of identity and lived experience, to help people to feel less alone in the challenges that they face, to foster connection, and to humanize multifaceted issues in healthcare and society.

Now, the POWER WITH Anthology is being used by the RELATE Lab as a teaching tool to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in healthcare spaces.

PROCESS

Our approach can be best described as scrappy and resourceful. We pitched and pursued our own stories, seeking out community members in our networks and through intensive research.

When it came to capturing footage, we were similarly dogged. Whether it was hanging out the window of a moving vehicle with a C70, switching to an unimposing iPhone when folks are nervous about being filmed at a free vision clinic, or simulating a two-camera interview after driving 1.5 hours before realizing one camera has dead batteries, we always found a way to get the shot.

Post-production was evenly divided, with one of us taking lead on every other story. Each film went through multiple reviews, including input from our larger steering committee.

I developed the POWER WITH illustration style to unite the series’ diverse stories into a cohesive whole. Rotoscoped line drawings created visual interest while also slightly obscuring identity. This decision allowed viewers to examine their assumptions about the person depicted in the thumbnail after experiencing their story (Did they expect the man in the lab coat to be white? How did it feel to realize he wasn’t?) and, perhaps, to put themselves in the shoes of the person whose story is being told.

POWER WITH Trailer

Produced by Jenni Denekas

Videography by Jenni Denekas & Elaine Waller Uchison

Animation & Illustration by Jenni Denekas

I spearheaded the creation of this trailer, creating it in line with the POWER WITH brand standards that I developed to unify the series.
The trailer poses the question: What does power mean to you? I chose to begin here because this question prompts the audience to consider their own definitions of power, introduces something that each storyteller in the POWER WITH Anthology has been asked, and hints at the ethos of the series.
This question is followed by a series of motion graphics I created to evoke power in its various forms: nature’s raw power, sharing resources (the umbrella), gathering together, and a speaker occupying a more traditional, powerful space at the podium.
To complete the narrative arc, three storytellers illuminate different facets of power, ranging from individual demonstrations of power to systemic ways in which power is wielded or withheld. Ariah, the first and closing speaker, concludes with one of the quintessential dilemmas of medical professionals: How does one balance idealism with the rigorous demands of the field? I selected this footage to hint at a core question that our series will tackle in the coming months.

Toren, a POWER WITH story

Produced by Elaine Waller Uchison

Videography by Jenni Denekas

Animation & Illustration by Jenni Denekas & Elaine Waller Uchison

I was the director of photography for this piece, filming both the interview and b roll on site in Stayton, Oregon. Throughout the two-hour interview, I captured different angles of Toren to simulate a two-camera setup. These changing compositions not only provide visual interest but also heighten the emotionality of certain parts of the conversation.
Capturing clean audio was a challenge in an outdoor setting with kids playing nearby and the occasional walker or runner crossing the bridge on which we conducted the interview. I successfully zeroed in on Toren’s voice and minimized other sounds.
B roll was filmed immediately after the interview, with careful attention to the conversation we had with Toren. Visual elements that related to his childhood were a priority (the creek where he played as a kid, the playground, his schools), as were “pensive landscapes” and nature shots that would evoke a sense of contemplation and emotional depth.
Elaine took the lead on post production. I contributed feedback and created the introductory animation and thumbnail image for the film.

Ricardo, a POWER WITH story

Produced by Jenni Denekas

Videography by Jenni Denekas, Aaron Horowitz & Elaine Waller Uchison

Animation & Illustration by Jenni Denekas

I got to stretch my wings with Ricardo’s story, handling the interview, collecting b roll and archival imagery, and taking lead on post production.
This was a rewarding process, particularly working closely with Ricardo. In addition to getting to know him through our 1.5-hour interview, Ricardo and I connected to film b roll around OHSU. He also gave me key suggestions for sites to film in his home town and clarified for me exactly which La Luz in Michoacán was his father’s hometown (apparently there are many). These ongoing points of contact further illuminated Ricardo’s character and guided the way that I constructed the story arc.
That said, paring down a far-ranging interview and arranging it into a seven minute film was a challenge. I learned a lot from this process, particularly the feedback that my team provided in the early stages of production. From there, I built the story using three acts; those delineations helped to corral my (well, Ricardo’s) ideas into a coherent order. Another key challenge was processing the audio. Although we used a similar approach to Toren’s interview, with a wireless lav mic, I had a lot more background noise to contend with in post production. It was not ideal, but I was able to employ some editing tricks I learned in audio storytelling courses earlier in my master’s program.
More important than technical aspects is the fact that each POWER WITH story is rooted in the Storytellers Bill of Rights. On the production side, this entails close collaboration with our storytellers (subjects) beyond filming. Ricardo and I put our heads together to choose/create imagery that highlighted key parts of his story. He kindly scanned family photos to use in the film, provided input on animations, and reviewed the story before we released it. The most rewarding feedback I could possibly receive was being told Ricardo watched what ended up being the final draft with his parents, and they were all happy with how the story was told.