Imagine navigating war-torn streets – not as a soldier, but as a health worker.
That’s exactly what Dr. Yulia Tatianchenko and her driver, Dmytro Korobenko, do in Ukraine. With their mobile clinic, a van supported by the Alliance for Public Health and the Global Fund, they deliver essential health services (including treating and diagnosing HIV and TB) to communities caught in conflict.
At Rooftop, we thrive on storytelling that blends creativity with impact. When the Global Fund approached us to highlight their Stop at Nothing campaign, focused on delivering healthcare in crisis zones, we saw an opportunity to bring that mission to life.
After weeks of planning, spotting the right story, developing a creative vision, and aligning with the Global Fund team, we partnered with a Ukrainian film crew who spent three days capturing Yulia and Dmytro’s work on the ground.
Back at Rooftop, senior video editor Brett Gieseke led the post-production, working with our wider team to shape hours of raw footage into a three-minute film that informs, moves, and inspires action.
We sat down with Brett to unpack his creative process and what it took to craft this powerful story…
Dr. Yulia Tatianchenko and her driver, Dmytro Korobenko in Ukraine
Question: Every edit is a puzzle. What were the biggest storytelling challenges in crafting this Ukraine film, and how did you solve them?
Brett Gieseke: There was a lot of content to work with. I wish this could have been a 20-minute documentary! The biggest challenge was cutting it down to three minutes without losing the parts of the story that I loved.
Working with pacing to “show” rather than “tell” was one solution.
Compressing action into short montages seemed to work well to do that. Rather than going too deep into the personal lives of our protagonists, it meant carefully choosing fewer stronger moments that could achieve the same emotional energy needed for viewers to connect to Yulia and Dymtro’s personal missions.
Q: You have spoken before about using overlays, artificial camera shake, and reverb for impact. Can you walk us through how these elements enhanced the film’s emotional tone?
BG: Yulia recalls a harrowing ordeal about missiles flying overhead during one of their missions. It’s an impactful line that we used to open the video. Editing effects like lens overlays, colour adjustments and camera shake made it feel like a bit of a flashback.
These are intentional effects that add drama to the video and set the tone for what’s to come.
“Editing effects like lens overlays, colour adjustments and camera shake made it feel like a bit of a flashback”
Q: The film had to resonate with viewers who have been seeing coverage of Ukraine for three years. How did you work with (or challenge) the audience’s preconceived ideas about the conflict?
BG: We’re not really showing visuals that people are used to seeing in news coverage. It’s quite refreshing to see individuals at work making a difference in these communities on the frontlines. That already set the story apart before editing even began. In the film, we get to see a more intimate view of people’s lives and how the destruction around them, along with some pretty harsh living conditions make it extremely difficult for them to access healthcare.
There are some powerful moments that, when cut together, just feel emotive…
…a sequence of portraits at the end of the video, a moment where a husband glances over at his wife as he receives healthcare, and some incredible footage showing Dymtro and Yulia in war-torn environments.
I don’t think these moments need to be edited in a fancy way to challenge preconceived ideas. They just show what it’s like in the most honest way, and when placed in the edit at the right time, over the right line of dialogue, they’re super impactful.
“In the film, we get to see a more intimate view of people’s lives and how the destruction around them…”
… along with some pretty harsh living conditions make it extremely difficult for them to access healthcare.
Q: There are moments where the film just lets shots breathe, with no talking. Why was that important?
BG: It is a very short film, so these moments are relatively quick but if I had to pick a few I’d say that there’s a driving shot past a block of destroyed flats in the opening that’s quite powerful.
My favourite moment is a sequence where Yulia is conducting a home visit. The man being assessed glances over at his wife. There’s something in the way he glances over at her that feels so honest and real. It’s a demonstration of how powerful a moment without dialogue can be at conveying a feeling.
Q: With so much footage to choose from, how did you decide what made the final cut?
BG: I always start out by categorising all the footage so that no shot is missed! This takes a good few days, but I know that it’s the best way to start formulating ideas.
Again I wish this could have been a longer documentary because there’s just so much good material.
I had originally edited a long cut that dived into Yulia and Dymtro’s personal lives and their connection to what they do in their work on the frontlines. We had to trim the whole video down to only three minutes, so I had to sadly cut a lot of the moments that I had connected with.
One way I tried to maintain the best moments that I had started to love was to compress time by means of pacing. Rather than show Dymtro at home engaging with his family, driving through Kyiv and packing the van to prep for a mission – I used quick percussive cuts that jumped through these moments in a stylistic way. It became more about conveying the feeling than showing these long drawn-out moments that are better suited to a longer documentary.
Q: What role did sound design play in shaping the emotional impact of the piece?
BG: I love adding sound design into any edit. I add it in from the first draft so that the client gets to experience the story in the fullest way possible. The opening sequence that I mentioned was a prime candidate for stylistic sound design where we get to dramatise sound to convey a feeling (in this scenario, anxiety and energy).
Sound design is also used in the film to make moments feel real. Where sound helps to convey the icy climate (cold wind), the difficult driving terrain (tyres on snow) and things people won’t notice (sound of walking, clothing rustling etc).
Our sound engineer and composer, Kayly Miskin, took the video to the next level by composing an original soundtrack for the piece that really adds drama, tension and relief in key moments.
I provided a draft of the edit with sound design to her, and she presented music options that the team was able to give feedback on. She’s super talented so it didn’t take long to get to the final soundtrack.
Q: Editing for impact: What techniques do you rely on when crafting a film that needs to move people to action?
BG: I need to believe in the story, and the edit needs to be an extension of how I feel about it. I need to enjoy the editing and any techniques that I use to move the story forward.
Editors are the first audience.
So, I make sure to look out for moments – where a feeling is conveyed through body language (man looking over at his wife), the way an interviewee reacts to a question or shows a vulnerability in the way they speak or react.
These are key for a documentary-type video because they are unique to a story and can help people connect and hopefully move them towards empathy for a cause or group of people.
Q: What do you think makes a Rooftop edit different?
BG: Rooftop is involved in the storytelling approach right from the beginning at pre-production. Editors sometimes get the opportunity to be involved early on in the process and that goes a long way to inform the post-production stage.
Rooftop can handle everything in-house so we really enjoy collaborating with other specialists in the company to create an end product that stands out and is as excellent as possible.
Our co-directors, Ingrid Van Der Walt and Tom Collins set up the project for success by establishing a clear vision for the film and saw it through to the final cut. Our project manager, Michela Formento kept things on track with clear communication and a pre-to-post production schedule that made sure we met our client’s important deadlines.
It was especially valuable to work with Melanie Sharpe and Vincent Becker at the Global Fund. Their excitement for the project and creative input made my job easier. We had the freedom to experiment in the edit with the comfort of knowing that they would keep the project focused on the most important themes.
Q: What’s one moment in the edit that you’re particularly proud of, and why?
BG: There are two very quick montages that combine first-person point-of-view (GoPro style) footage with moments of action, like driving and movement.
It was an idea I had from one of the original drafts to create this cutting style to align with the key idea behind the series titled ‘Stopping at Nothing‘. It just appealed to me and the footage kind of called out for this approach. I guess it’s a feeling and a personal style that comes through in this video.
Q: You’ve been with Rooftop for nine years and edited 150+ videos. What keeps you excited about this kind of work?
BG: We get such great opportunities to challenge ourselves as editors. Every project is a new story that requires concentration and dedication to tell it in the best way possible. It’s never a production line, and that’s exciting for me because we’re constantly pushing our work to be better and to create impact.
Experience Yulia and Dmytro’s journey firsthand – watch the full film here.
