06 – Hostile filming protocol
Hostile environment training often includes first aid training, but your team should be aware of additional medical risks that you could face and how to respond. The Committee to Protect Journalists has created a checklist of first aid items. You can access this resource and others in our resource database.
Team members should be assessed to ensure their health level is appropriate for travel to a hostile environment, including the risk of being separated from life-sustaining medications. If you aren't confident you'll be able to secure medication in the country in which you're traveling, do your best to pack a sufficient supply (that does not exceed customs regulations) and bring a letter from your doctor and the medication leaflet with details of the active components. Leave details of your prescription with a trusted colleague or friend who can help out in the event of an emergency.
Your mental health is as important as your physical wellbeing. Independent documentary filmmakers can be at particular risk as they're often immersed in their work for long periods of time. Consider mental pressure and stress in the development of production schedules, travel, and hours at work. Build in rest periods and make changes as necessary.
Look out for signs and symptoms among your colleagues on the team: unusual mood swings, irritability, poor concentration or memory, increased emotional reactions, fatigue, headaches, nightmares, flashbacks to past upsetting events, social withdrawal, survivor’s guilt, impulsive risk taking, substance abuse, panic attacks, and changes in attendance.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is rare but can occur when early symptoms aren't resolved and become entrenched. Symptoms — such as depression, anxiety, grief, guilt, anger, flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance, and distraction — vary and often appear within six months of the triggering event.
Don’t be distracted by bombs and bullets at the expense of more mundane ways of getting hurt: nearly all of the injuries that can be sustained on a frontline can be replicated in a road traffic collision; and the consequences of drinking dirty water are as potentially serious as those that arise from being shot. Adding two different ways to purify drinking water to your equipment list can be as essential to a production as packing your camera’s media cards.