In April of this year, The Feed set out to capture stories from around the globe, documenting the ways in which people have coped throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
The result? ‘Story Line’: a collection of crowd-sourced stories that have played each week on SBS for the past seven months.
Nothing tears a community apart like fear, yet nothing brings it together like hope. At a time when people were more isolated than ever before, ‘Story Line’ showed Australians they were not alone and gave us a new way of sourcing heartfelt stories in a locked-down, COVID-world.
The far-reaching impact of COVID-19 restrictions presented a particularly unique challenge to video journalists; to tell visual stories from a physical distance, mostly from home.
The Feed set up a dedicated hotline (1800 THE FEED) and directly approached affected communities to ensure a diversity of voices was heard.
The Feed collected your COVID-19 stories during lockdown. Source: The Feed
The Feed Hotline received over 732 calls, adding up to over 12 hours of voice messages.
The audio from some of these calls and messages were combined by The Feed with home videos, personal photos and archival vision to give intimate glimpses into the many and varied impacts of COVID-19.
These one-minute documentaries are short, stylised videos that tell intimate stories of hope, humour and resilience.
The stories told to us included that of Murtaza, a year 11 student and former refugee, who arrived in Australia just two years ago; Shamira, a young nurse from Melbourne who spent most of 2019 on a ventilator and most of 2020 hoping she wouldn’t end up back on one; and the heartbreaking story of Zeinab, who was prevented from fulfilling the dying wishes of her father due to the pandemic.
Year 11 student and former refugee, Murtaza. Source: The Feed
The ‘Story Line’ project was particularly powerful in sharing some Australians’ lived experiences with other viruses; David Crawford who contracted HIV in the 1980s, Leah Keh who was in Singapore during the SARS outbreak and Sonia Mehrmand’s story of her grandfather who survived the Spanish Flu.
The project also highlighted the impacts of Australia’s tumultuous climate as we heard from Maddy from her family farm in South East Queensland, who worried about drought-stricken farmers’ mental health after rural pubs closed their doors, and Derrick, who was looking forward to finally rebuilding the home he lost to the bushfires in Malua Bay.
Shamira called The Feed Hotline and told us her story. Source: The Feed
The most frequent callers were elderly Australians seeking companionship and someone to listen. We heard from Peggy, who nursed her husband at home before he passed away during lockdown, Dilene from Regional Victoria who shared her concern for people living in aged care facilities, and Pauline who simply wanted to share her thoughts on sourdough.
But for every story that broke our hearts, there was another that reminded us of the good in the world.
Samara called The Feed Hotline about her wedding planning troubles. Source: The Feed
Erielle called the hotline to tell us how she and her boyfriend in Melbourne were able to keep their romance alive, Samara told us that about the wedding she thought wouldn’t happen, and Sean discovered a new love for baking cakes.
This year has brought out the best, the worst and, sometimes, the weirdest in people -- and we’ve captured it all through ‘Story Line’.
The Feed has started a new weekly segment: ‘Advice For My Younger Self’. If this year has prompted you to reflect on what matters most, you can still give us a call on 1800 The Feed (1800 843 333).
The Feed's Alice Matthews completed our first instalment of 'Advice For My Younger Self' Source: Supplied
We want to know who you are, where you are and most importantly - what advice would you give to your younger self, and why?
