Film Volunteering in St. Petersburg: Barriers and Drivers

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of volunteering in the field of social filmmaking on the example of the social film studio “Giraffe” in St. Petersburg. The aim of the study is to identify incentives and obstacles for young people to volunteer in NGOs, including in the field of social film production. The central concept for the study is considered in detail — film volunteering. The main research method is a focus group interview.As a result of the conducted research, it was determined that the youth of St. Petersburg is not informed about the possibilities of film volunteering, which are provided by various organizations. However, the respondents noted a desire to participate in volunteer activities in the field of social filmmaking. The main reasons for the interest in the field is the opportunity to get acquainted with the structure of film production from the inside and join the professional community, participate in solving social problems, as well as the overall uniqueness of the field of volunteering. The main obstacle was the lack of immediately visible results of assistance.Based on the results of the study, recommendations were developed for organizing a volunteer search system using the example of a social film studio: the need to create a documentthatenshrinestherightsandobligationsofboththeorganizationandvolunteers; conducting team-building activities to form a permanent volunteer staff; using non- standard methods of attracting young people and stimulating. Further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of the recommendations received. The directions of further research can be a detailed study of practices among Russian volunteers in order to further classify them; the study of the social characteristics of Russian cultural volunteers in order to draw up a portrait of a cultural volunteer. In connection with the hypotheses of the study, the study of the involvement of volunteers by organizations is relevant. It is also possible to consider organizations involved in attracting volunteers in comparison with organizations in other countries.