Ngarrindjeri Media - story training

2009 December - Coorong SA

Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website and video links may contain images and voices of people who have died.

The Change Media Team conducted the second production workshop with the newly formed Ngarrindjeri Media Team to continue their training in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and media management.

The training covered an introduction to film narratives, editing and file management and basic interview techniques. The team created content for the prototype Change Media Indigenous digital media training resource, to be delivered July 2010.

The challenge this session was to shoot indoor and outdoor interviews, with elders and community members;  focusing on research techniques, interview questions, making the interviewee comfortable, checking lighting, framing and sound. Each team member conducted several interviews for their films.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA

Australia Council for the Arts

Indigenous Coordination Centre SA

Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport

Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association

Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting

Ngarrindjeri Bushwalk

Ngarrindjeri Media - doco training - 2009 November - Coorong SA

Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website and video links contain images and voices of people who have died.

The Change Media Team conducted the first production workshop with the newly formed Ngarrindjeri Media Team to develop a long-term strategy to establish a sustainable Media Hub and train them as producers & trainers.

Over several meetings prior to the first production workshop the team developed plans for the long-term collaboration. During this workshop the team identified key areas where media would be useful in their community and then produced content for their films and the prototype Change Media Indigenous digital media training resource, to be delivered July 2010.

The participants started shooting on three stories from the 6 main film concepts they identified: a promotional/ educational clip about the cultural activities at Camp Coorong; documentation of traditional arts practices, (canoe making, feather flowers, weaving); a documentary about the Ngarrindjeri ANZAC’s; a documentary about Caring for Country, including sustainable water management; and training videos about how to podcast and use digital media to promote activities and engage young people.

The training covered an introduction to the new Ngarrindjeri Media Centre’s HDV camera, sound equipment, tripod and iMac computer.

The challenge this session was to cover a real life event as a 2-camera shoot with radio-mics (hand-held) during a cultural bush-walk with a large group of primary School students, hosted by Ngarrindjeri elder, Tom Trevorrow.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Indigenous Coordination Centre SA

Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport

Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association

Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting

Riverland Youth Theatre SA

2009 November - Renmark SA

Change Media worked with 12 participants from the Riverland Youth Theatre to explore innovative ways to incorporate digital media into their creative programs. The participants made three edit-in-camera videos.

We tailored the workshop to suit a range of skill levels and experience, our aim to share as much digital media knowledge as possible in a 1-day session: with one group we focused on comedy and satire, another expressed an emotional journey with objects and the third team wanted to tell a real documentary story – the Herculean challenge was to convert each concept into film, script, understand film narratives and angles, act, and learn how to shoot an edit-in-camera video we will all watch at the end of the day!
All participants achieved basic camera, audio and screen language skills.
We also explored innovative ways to incorporate digital media into the school curriculum.

Working with regional youth, arts and theatre practitioners was an exciting challenge for our team. The diverse team of young and not-so-young artists came up with a range of fantastic ideas for their edit-in-camera films: how does it feel to make a tree change, the politics of politics and bullying from the perspective of gym balls…
It was amazing to watch their films at the end of the day, shot in only a few hours.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA

Australia Council for the Arts

Country Arts SA

Riverland Youth Theatre

Y Art? - Propel Youth Arts WA

Propel Youth Arts video workshop - 2009 October - Propel Youth Arts WA

Propel Youth Arts WA created the PropFest project with support from Museums WA to explore how young people engage with the museums and galleries of Perth. The Hero Project worked with 15 young people and youth arts workers at Propel Youth Arts WA to teach them digital media and video production skills, so they could produce a film about this issue.

That is the question for two Gen Y’ers who set out to prove that Perth doesn’t need a YOUTH ARTS CENTRE. This tongue-in-cheek documentary reflects on Perth’s vibrant youth arts scene, how to revitalise galleries and museums, and of course mining, monster trucks and shopping.

The newly formed team spent a lot of time debating what art, culture and gallery spaces means for them as young people. They settled on one main theme and created a film in only four days to address an urgently needed service to support young artists in the community; a youth arts centre for Perth.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Lottery West

Museums Australia WA

Propel Youth Arts WA

I am a Rocket - Dfaces Whyalla SA

HYPER program workshop 2009 June - Whyalla SA

 D’Faces of Youth Arts Whyalla requested a professional development session to support them set up their youth media centre. They were also keen to produce a documentary about Port Lowly, but due to a last minute change in program, our team tailored a workshop with a group of young people from D’Faces and its HYPER Program to make a series of short films based on the theme, ‘What gets in your way?’.

One of the four co-created films, I Am A Rocket, was selected for the prestiguous Children’s FIlm Festival in Mumbai, India.

Through a series of brainstorming and hands-on sessions the teams produced 4 hilarious films: Abby follows her family tradition sky-high in I am a Rocket, soon-to-be hairdressers face it off in World War 3, two jaded rock stars mop up their success in Josh Burns, and a bunch of understated super heroes are in search for their necessary nemesis…meet the Failtaculars…
The message: Don’t let anyone get in your way to do what you want with your life!

Community art often has a mandate to voice overtly political and/or sensitive issues, which can impact on sponsorship deals along the arts funding pipelines. One strategy discussed was to request clear guidelines from funding bodies about how to deal with art content that potentially could upset corporate sponsors. It is important to identify how these funding relationships may impact on job positions and funding decisions.

The 3-day workshop was re-designed for 10 young people at risk from the Hyper Program, D’faces, with the challenge: ‘How do you see yourself in the future?’ The spontaneous answers: super heroes, rock-stars, a rocket and hairdressers! After a quick story boarding and scripting session, the teams interviewed each other to get the main voice-over for their films. Then on location at Middleback Theatre, TAFE hair and beauty facilities and a Deli.  In the hardware store Rocket Girl had the most weird and wonderful encounters. The TAFE youth worker was so impressed that he now wants to engage the young people to document local events..

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

D’faces of Youth Arts Whyalla and its HYPER program through the Attorney General’s Office SA

Middleback Theatre

SA Youth Arts Board

Mai Palya - Tullawon Health Service Yalata

Tullawon Health Service Yalata - Indigenous health campaign 2009 May - Yalata SA

Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website and video links may contain images and voices of people who have died.

C’mon kids, you look tired! Lets go cook something healthy to eat, it’ll give you energy to run and play all day.
Fish is good for the brain, vegetables keep you healthy and bush tucker like kangaroo tails keep you strong.  

Our team worked with the Yalata Anangu community and Tullawon Aboriginal Health Service to produce a short film addressing community concerns around healthy eating.

During the 4 day workshop with over 25 participants the group brainstormed, shot and edited their film to promote healthy and active lifestyles. To get the whole team on board, we moved focus from healthy eating to healthy living; as there was huge pride for their sporting activities; BMX biking, acrobatic back flips, playing footy. To showcase healthy food the group prepared and cooked easy to make meals in the bush and kitchen. On location the whole team filmed the preparation of damper and kangaroo tail at a camp fire. The outcome overwhelmed the whole community.

The project is a benchmark for us to show how digital media (from making snapshots to complex films), can bridge cultural and social divides.

One of our key aims is media literacy for liberation. However, as white media makers and educators, we are challenged to adequately offer support to an Indigenous community who have been forcibly removed from their land during the Maralinga atom bomb testing and must work hard to keep culture and maintain a functioning social structure. Dabbling in media can appear a secondary concern under these conditions.
Our experience with such collaborations is that using media can have a profound impact. We worked with the adult supporters to develop digital media tutorials that engage the community and raise expectations and self-esteem. It was encouraging for the adult supporters in the community to see participants who struggle to speak at all for several years, address the camera and spend hours shooting and editing their film.

As a result, the youth workers are now sourcing funding to get digital media equipment to continue the work.

Partners

Anangu School

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Indigenous Coordination Centre SA

Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport

Tullawon Health Service Inc

Yalata Aboriginal Community

Precious - Unley SA

Unley Seniors intergenerational workshop - 2009 May - Unley SA

   The Hero Project youth team worked with 30 aging Unley residents and Unley City Council staff to produce video content for the cross-media exhibition ‘Precious’ for the City of Unley.

   The Hero Project youth team recorded 30 interviews with aging residents across Unley.
Each of the old people brought their ‘precious’ object with them and told the team their story. The youth team set up interviews, recorded several frame-sizes and took digital stills to document the interviews. The video then was compiled for a public projection installation.

Partners

Apple

City of Unley

On the Move - Dungog NSW

Arts Upper Hunter Dungog workshop - 2009 April - Dungog NSW

Arts Upper Hunter invited the Hero Project to run a workshop titled ‘Portraits of Place’, to work with locals to create a film about Dungog. In their first film workshop together, 12 Dungog locals explored a seemingly quirky topic, yet controversial exposition of the hidden tensions in their town. Their film, On The Move, got selected for the renown Dungog International Film Festival and featured on ABC.

At first glance the country town of Dungog in NSW feels like any other quiet, small rural town. Driving down the main street, past the monument one would never suspect that the community is divided. The problem is the local icon in the middle of the main street. Is it a monument or an obelisk? A round about or a traffic hazard? And more importantly should it be moved?

Dungog locals explored how they could make a film that would portray their town and life AND do justice to all of their creative visions?! This resulted in several intense brainstorming sessions, teams conducting a series of interviews and a fabulous factory style editing suite as everyone crafted the final film. And finally it all revolved around the monument in the main street!

It is fantastic to see how the story evolved and everyone experimented with new art forms. Their project promptly attracted the interest of the local media, the Dungog Chronicle. The Arts Upper Hunter development officer was also keen to train up the 5 adult supporters, so they could keep producing their own films, with the aim to take part in the Dungog film festival as local artists… the final film screened during the Dungog Film Festival – so watch out, Bruce and Hugo, there’s home-grown competition!

Partners

Apple

Arts NSW

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Arts Upper Hunter Inc

Australia Council for the Arts

Country Womens Association

Dungog Shire Council

What's Yours is Mine...d - Gloucester

Arts Upper Hunter Gloucester workshop - 2009 April - Gloucester NSW

Arts Upper Hunter invited the Hero Project to run a workshop titled ‘Portraits of Place’, to work with locals to create a film about Gloucester. 20 participants from all walks of life decided very quickly they wanted to explore the impact of coal mining on their community and environment. Their film, Whats Yours is Mine...d, made in only three days, was screened at several local and national film festivals.

Join Eric Ingot as he shows Gloucester their future. With reassuring confidence and panache he identifies the multitude of benefits to enjoy from an open cut mine. “At Envira-Coal, we dig the future! “

The Gloucester team met for the first time at the Council’s youth centre. Within an hour, they had identified their story – the looming open pit coal mine, that is threatening to destroy their beautiful environment. Their biggest challenge: how to make a community film that depicts a possible threat, raises awareness and educates without scaring your audience? They created a satirical pro-mining advertisement, applying spin doctor messages to sell-up potential problems as benefits!  The diverse team, aged 14-65, learnt how to script and pace a comedic narrative, storyboard and film on multiple locations. 8 laptops formed a mobile edit unit, with every team producing a different chapter of the story, plus music, titles and GFX.

Partners

Apple

Arts NSW

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Arts Upper Hunter Inc

Australia Council for the Arts

Gloucester City Council Youth Centre

Wurramooka News - Warooka SA

Lower Yorke Peninsula schools workshop - 2009 April - Warooka SA

Warooka CPC-7 are developing a fantastic digital literacy program, and want the school to keep up with their 21st Century students, (who are surrounded by technology at home and see this as part of everyday life).

The Hero Project were called in to work with 26 students from Warooka CPC – 7, Curramulka Primary and Yorketown Area School to explore innovative ways to incorporate digital media into the school curriculum.  

Wurramooka News: Keeping Warooka in the loop, live from our studios at Warooka CPC – 7 School. Stay tuned for today’s headlines: Locals tell us why they want a Media Centre. On the spot reports about the Easter tourist invasion. Why home grown food is great! Weather, sports and school updates. And some tips on how to make your own films!

To incorporate as many of the students ideas as possible, the team decided to produce a news show. The Hero Project tailored the workshops to suit a range of skill levels: focusing on motion graphics, green screen work and compositing for the students we had previously mentored. Introducing basic camera and editing skills for the Curramulka Primary students – and the Yorketown High School students were asked to delve deeper into screen narratives and production management. It is a rewarding collaboration when there are computers with teams editing, creating music, animations, designing name plates, while others are out filming on-location, scripting the news items and preparing cue sheets and props for the performers sitting at the news desk.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Curramulka Primary School

Department of Education and Children Services

Warooka CPC – 7 School

Yorketown Area School

Pom Fiction - Hallet Cove SA

Hallet Cove Council youth workshop - 2009 February - Hallett Cove SA

Hallett Cove R-12 School and the Cove Youth Service asked the Hero Project team to work with their students to produce a documentary about their experiences coming to Australia, to support new arrivals from Britain.

There are many challenges for young British migrants when they first arrive in Australia. A group of teenagers from Hallett Cove have set out to demystify those first impressions: from flies, thongs, spiders, sharks, sunburn to football… Australia is different – but you are not alone!

The participants, who had only recently migrated from the UK, had a very clear idea how they wanted to proceed: create a tongue-in-cheek, humorous take on boring edu-videos. The adult supporters had a different vision about how educational material should look. The Hero Project brokered a viable compromise. This peer-produced documentary is full of heart-warming tips and tricks, to support new arrivals from Britain. It also keeps an upbeat and fun tone, no need to bore the students who watch this resource in school!

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Cove Youth Service Inc

Hallett Cove R-12 School

Marion City Council

Horse TV - Horse SA

Horse SA youth workshop - 2008 November - Cherry Gardens SA

Horse SA commissioned the Hero Project team to work with a group of teenage girls to produce a film about horse and land care. During the workshop the youth team met the challenge head on: in only 3 days they created Horse TV!

Welcome to Horse TV: This series of funny TV ads and soap spoofs raises awareness about environmental issues around horse ownership and addresses 5 key messages:
Healthy Pastures all year round spells healthy horses
Cheap Cheap Cheap: reduce dust and mud, horses hate cheap pastures
Purer Trough: safe, clean, easy water for your horse that doesn’t impact on creeks and waterways
Silver Service – A Ladies Companion to Classy Compost: Horse manure management 101
Horse CSI: Control your weeds before it is too late…

The workshop focused on training teenage girls and in the brainstorming session they decided to create a series of TV Advert spoofs as an upbeat way to share land care messages for horse owners. During the workshop the young filmmakers learnt all basic skills required for video production, including scripting, story-boarding, camera + sound work, acting, directing, editing and music production.

During the film making workshop the youth team met the challenge head on: working with a client brief can be difficult but they brainstormed lots of snappy ways to address the 5 key messages. They had to find appropriate locations, use horses as their film talent and keep to a tight deadline. The brief was developed during a 1-day ‘train-the-trainer session with teachers, parents and representatives from Horse SA and EPA.

Partners

Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Horse Owners of the Southern Mount Lofty Ranges

Horse SA

the Evironmental Protection Agency

the Melbourne Water Corporation

Mobilize This conference Darwin Uni

Darwin Uni conference 2008 October - Darwin NT

The Hero Project was invited to present its community empowerment at Mobilize This 2008 in Darwin.

Over 30 people attended our presentation at the Darwin University. We also managed during the conference to connect the Hero Project to Darwin Community Arts and Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, with the aim to collaborate in training Indigenous communities in the Northern Territories.
Big thanks to our friends at Formation Studios for setting this up!

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

University Darwin

Art at the Heart - Alice Springs

Regional Arts Australia 2008 September - Alice Springs NT

During the RAA’s (Regional Arts Australia) most recent bi-annual conference in Alice Springs, the Hero Project was invited to present its community empowerment work in a 1 hour conference presentation. We also were selected to run a 2-hour edit-in-camera workshop, introducing regional art workers and artists to our unique model.

We had a record number of participants: over 100 people attended our presentation and 40 people participated in the hands-on workshop on the second day. The 4 teams producing 4 great films. Feedback from the participants and audience was that it was one of the best presentations at RAA that year…

Above you find  links to the films made during the Saturday 2-hour  workshop at ‘Art at the Heart’ at CAAMA. 
(We found the ‘lost film’, yah) and couldn’t resist making some tiny-weeny changes to support your edit-in-camera film ideas (as we understood them), we hope you like our input… Again big thanks to CAAMA for supporting the workshop and offering their great space.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA

Australia Council for the Arts

Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association

Department of Education and Children Services

Regional Arts Australia

10x14 Bricks - stories from youth in lock-up

10x14 Bricks - stories from youth in lock-up - 2008 June - Cavan Secure Care Facility SA

Contact us here to buy your interactive DVD tool kit (2009 Winner SA Screen Awards for Best Multimedia). Find all videos below - the DVD comes with a crime prevention tool kit and interactive manuals.

10×14 Bricks – Stories from Youth in Lock-up was produced at Cavan Secure Care Facility (SA) and its Youth Education Centre [DECS] over a 5-week intensive workshop. Participants learnt essential 21st Century digital media skills to create relevant crime prevention messages for their peers. In candid meet-the-director documentaries and in their own films young offenders share their life choices about crime and the consequences.

Why choose to commit a crime? How far will you go?
Is it worth it? What is it like in lock-up? What would you do differently? What can you do to change?

This new peer-educational DVD offers relevant crime prevention strategies from the experts: Young offenders share their life choices, crimes and consequences in their own films and unique ‘meet-the-directors’ documentaries – made behind bars.

All 5 team members deeply engaged with the project, as they all had to make their own story AND be the production team and talent in their peers’ films. Through the unique ‘meet-the-director’ mini-docs we were able to delve deeper into each of their stories of crimes & consequences, and also showcase the incredible film making process.  

CHOICES:
Shane is 15, he knows it is not fun in lock up but he keeps coming back. What does he need to do to break the cycle?

ANGER:
Bayden is 17, after a drunken night he woke up in a police cell charged with attempted murder. What does he need to do to control his anger?

REGRET:
Sam is 18, he regrets committing armed robbery to finance a drug debt. What does he need to do to avoid future events that could lead to crime? What is the impact of your offence on you, your family, your victims?

HOPE:
Robert is 18, he feels like he is trapped in a cage, waiting for the day he can leave. What can he do to make his dreams become reality?

FREEDOM:
Greg is 17, he is ʻjust an Indigenous boy trying to get through life and come out on topʼ. What does he need to do to stay out of trouble? What support is available?

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Cavan Secure Care Training Centre

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

Department of Families and Communities

The Australian Government through the Attorney General’s Department

Youth Education Centre Cavan DECS

Artists not Aliens - Dfaces Whyalla

Dfaces Whyalla youth workshop - 2008 May - Whyalla SA

Artists not Aliens: Follow three aliens on their journey to find out if there is artistic life in Whyalla, a sports-mad steel town in South Australia. Whyalla has more sports facilities than you can count on your fingers and toes, but only a few places to do some art…

D’Faces commissioned the Hero Project team to run a holiday program. The Hero Project extended the workshop as part of their commitment to produce the Document Your World finalist films. 20 young people, aged 10-19, from Whyalla and surrounding communities were involved in this project.

At the beginning of the workshop James presented the initial idea he pitched to a large audience of professional film makers and broadcasters at the Document Your World competition, hosted by the Australian International Documentary Conference in February 2007. The group were excited about the idea, and had a great team of actors and crew to make this ambitious film work.

The Hero Project trained all of the participants in digital media skills to script, storyboard, film, record sound, and part- edit their film during the 5- day workshop. The group split up into teams to make it to all of their desired locations and apportioned roles and tasks according to age and ability – a fantastic team effort. Take a look for yourself, it is sometimes hard to grasp that they managed to have the same actor appear multiple times in the same scene…

Partners

Apple

Australia Council for the Arts

Australian Childrens Television Foundation

Australian International Documentary Conference

Country Arts SA Regional Arts Fund

D’faces of Youth Arts Whyalla and its HYPER program through the Attorney General’s Office SA

Every Drop Counts - Quorn SA

Quorn youth workshop 3 -2008 January - Quorn SA

The Hero Project team worked with 6 students at the Quorn Area School, supported by the Southern Flinders Ranges Health Service, the Quorn Area School, the local council and the Quorn Caravan Park, as a direct result of the 2007 Document Your World competition.

To create a short documentary that addresses environmental concerns arising from the ongoing drought in north SA.
The participants identified a number of relevant interviewees, great locations and found fantastic archival footage about a flood. This was the final production in a series of 4 workshops with the Quorn community; as a result the local school has taken up digital media as part of their curriculum and the community has a great team of young documentarians and upcoming journalists.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA

Country Arts SA Regional Arts Fund

Quorn Caravan Park

Southern Flinders Ranges Health Service Inc

Youth media - Aboriginal Family Support

Aboriginal Family Support Services youth workshop - 2008 January - Adelaide SA

Aboriginal Family Support Service (AFSS) commissioned the Hero Project team to work with a group of Indigenous young people to set up a youth media team and make a series of short films about their lives. During the workshop the youth team met the challenge head on: in only 2 days they created a film each!

I Love Animals

Hoops and Dribbles

Hide and Seek

Going Places

Drum It Up

Biggest Mob of Chips

The workshop focused on training teenage Indigenous kids and in the brainstorming session the team develop the concept ‘Where will I be in 10 years time? and created an upbeat series of clips to share their future outlook. During the workshop the young filmmakers learnt all basic skills required for video production, including scripting, story-boarding, camera + sound work, acting, directing, editing and music production.

During the film making workshop the youth team met the challenge head on: they were keen to work as a team but make a film for each team members, working together as directors, camera person, sound recordist, actors and extras. Each day they shot 3 separate locations across Adelaide, a huge achievement for this team, who met the first time for this workshop. Each of the team members edited their own films and created original music for it.

Their empowering films have been shown to Indigenous communities across Australia. The films were very well received during our presentation at the Federal Government State Managers meeting in Adelaide, February 2008.

Partners

Aboriginal Family Support Service

Apple

Arts SA

Derringers Adelaide

Distinctive Homes Basket Ball Stadium

Office for Premier and Cabinet Premiers Community Initiatives Fund

RSPCASA

Metropolitan Fire Service