Christie Walk - a piece of ecocity

2010 November - Adelaide SA

Change Media worked with members of the Christie Walk eco-housing project and Urban Ecology Australia to document and produce an exceptional  resource about Christie Walk as an example of sustainable urban development.
Over 4 days Change Media delivered training in digital media and created two inspiring documentaries about one of the only inner-city eco-housing projects in the world.

During the production in Adelaide’s CBD members of the Christie Walk community, alongside experts from Urban Ecology Australia involved in creating Christie Walk, shared their insights into sustainability, biodiversity and community living, and learned skills in film narrative, conducted interviews and took part in the editing. The result is an inspiring educational resource about one of Australia’s leading eco-housing initiatives.

The project was an overwhelming success. The team collected over 15 hours of fantastic footage, photos and interviews, and together with the community decided to make two different films instead of one: a 10 minute promotional short documentary and a 35-min educational documentary following two resident hosts on their guided visitor-tour through the project as they guide a tour group through the project.
Besides taking part in the production, the workshop participants learned skills in media literacy, production management, screen language and visual representation of ecological issues. The educational sustainability resource DVD featuring both films will be available in January 2011 at Urban Ecology Australia.

Partners

Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

CSR Hebel

Urban Ecology Australia

World in My Eyes - Unley Council

Unley youth video workshop - 2010 June - Unley SA

The Change Media Team ran 2x 1-day video production workshops with young people in the Unley district at the Fullarton Park Centre on June 20th and 27th 2010.
The participants developed digital media and film making skills and produce 6 short film and dozens of interviews.

The “Unley – World In My Eyes” films are a quirky expression on how young people perceive their council area. The workshops supported them to learn digital media skills, from storyboarding, to camera work, sound recording and editing and enabled them to record their experiences about living in Unley.

The Change Media team supported the participants to make an edit-in-camera film at the first workshop. The participants had the task during the following week to record additional footage using their own hand held video cameras / video enabled phones. The second 1-day workshop enabled them to learn basic editing and digital media workflow using the footage shot during the week and at the first workshop.

Change Media empowered the participants to create relevant snapshots of their life in Unley and its inhabitants. These stories encompass all ages and different cultural backgrounds. Change Media encourages participants to use popular culture references, mixed with the local environment, youthful ingenuity and lots of humour, as this often is a fantastic recipe for a successful empowerment campaign, to engage audiences in the subject matter.

The workshop brief was developed in consultation with the Unley City Council staff, to ensure it was suitable for the community and fit in with the community cultural development plan and to would improve relevance for the end users. The film concepts, video production and presentation were creatively driven and produced by the participants, under the guidance of the Change Media facilitators. The creative approach used satire, documentary and drama techniques and invited reflections from the participants, which also included teamwork, re-enactments and dramatizations.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Kiranari School

St Raphael’s Primary School

The City of Unley

Unley High School

Unley Primary School

Murrundi Ringbalin edit training

Ngarrindjeri Media - 2010 May - Coorong SA

   Change Media ran the fifth production workshop with the Ngarrindjeri Media Team to continue their training in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and train-the-trainer methodology. The workshop focused on the editing of the Murrundi Ruwe Pangari Ringbalin ceremonies, shooting of pick-up and and production of training tutorials.

   The training covered editing of multi-camera footage, shooting pick-ups on location, conducting interviews and creating peer-training video manuals. New team members entered the team and participated in a peer-training introduction to camera and editing basics. The shooting of pick-ups for the Murrundi documentary took place at the Murray River barrages and in Meningie.

   The team’s challenge for this session was to continue the edit of the ambitious river ceremony and water crisis documentary. They also had to train new members and create bite-sized, hands-on peer-learning tutorials, to share their skills and demonstrate their acquired skills. As a direct result of our collaboration, one of the participants has now commenced a part time position as media officer for the RUWE Ngarrindjeri Resource Corporation to document their Caring For Country processes. Her role as media officer will also support her to continue to train with Change Media over the coming years.

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

Tallstoreez Productionz

Recording Culture in Millicent

Ngarrindjeri Media - 2010 May - Millicent SA

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

The Change Media Team conducted a production workshop with members of the Tal-Kin-Jeri performance group,  Indigenous students and community members from across South East SA to train them in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and media management. The aim was to educate students alongside the production of a DVD about River Red Gum Care, which documents the technique of making a traditional Ngarrindjeri bark canoe by Ngarrindjeri Elder Major Sumner.

The project covered an introduction to working with a client on location, intermediate interview and event coverage techniques and editing. The peer-produced content [the peer-produced film Recording Culture and photo slide show] will form part of the educational Caring For Country River Redgum resource called Moogy’s Yuki, to be delivered August 2010.

 The challenge this session was to shoot and edit a documentary for the South East Natural Resource Management Board, including traditional cultural knowledge of the caring for rivergum trees, making a traditional Ngarrindjeri canoe and shield out of bark, let by Ngarrindjeri Elder Major Sumner. After a great introduction day with over 20 participants, we focused on documentation techniques and educational narrative. Each team member conducted interviews and was part of the canoe-making shoot.

 The biggest challenge was to be alert all day and have the cameras ready when the canoe finally came off the tree. The whole team was excited, the youth members were shooting incredible photos and the event became more like a community happening – just as Major Sumner said it would have been  in the old days, when western time restrains didn’t matter. After a long days work the canoe came down intact, the Change Media team shot over 20 hours of footage, including interviews with 3 generations of Ngarrindjeri participants, environmental and archeological experts and also recorded footage of the local environment and Penola Conservation Park, to highlight how the South East coastal area would have looked like in pre-colonial times.

The editing workshop had to be reduced to a one day introduction, due to the extended shooting days, but we managed to go through basic video editing and music production – and the team had a look at their footage, to see if it all worked out. All in all this production rates as one of our best projects, though we dearly missed our Ngarrindjeri Media Team members from Meningie and Camp Coorong, who couldn’t attend as their team leader is still in hospital.

Partners

Aboriginal Sobriety Group

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts Creative Community Partnership Initiative

Indigenous Coordination Centre SA

Indigenous Cultural Support

Millicent High School

South East Aboriginal Focus Group

South East Natural Resource Management Board

Tal-Kin-Jeri Performance group

Murrundi Ringbalin

Ngarrindjeri Media - doco training 2010 April - Meningie SA

Change Media ran the fourth production workshop with the newly formed Ngarrindjeri Media Team to continue their training in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and train-the-trainer methodology. The workshop documented some of the Murrundi Ruwe Pangari Ringbalin ceremonies, from Wentworth, NSW, down the Murray River to Meningie and the Coorong in South Australia.

The training covered shooting on location, conducting interviews and documenting night performances following the Murrundi dancers during the 3 ceremonies in Wentworth, where the Darling and the Murray meet in South West NSW, to Murray Bridge, SA and Meningie at the Mouth of the River Murray. The team also created additional content for the prototype Change Media Indigenous digital media training resource, to be delivered July 2010.

The team’s challenge for this session was to conduct night shoots, documenting the Murrundi Ruwe Pangari Ringbalin river spirit ceremonies, and produce a follow up documentary on last years success Nukkan.Kungun.Yunnan. Their final film includes traditional cultural knowledge of the environment and caring for the river and lake system; the additional editing workshop will focus on documentation techniques, final narrative, editing and delivery.

The Ngarrindjeri Media Team continue to work on their peer-produced films between the workshops.
It was an amazing and challenging journey for the whole team, over 1000km in 4 days, non-stop production from 8am to 10pm, three night shoots to document the performances under very difficult conditions. The ceremonies were only lit by small camp fires [in Wentworth and Murray Bridge] and the Ngarrindjeri camera team had to compete for the best shots with 2 other, external film teams, hired by the Murray Darling Basin Authority to produce a community engagement documentary and photo archive. The other teams were nice enough and ok to deal with, but it was an interesting challenge for the Ngarrindjeri’s to stand their ground and not get pushed aside.

Our team also tried their best not to impact on the dancers and keep a respectful distance – but this meant constantly to balance the respect for the traditional practice and the need to make a good film, where a wider audience could enjoy the ceremonies on DVD.

In Meningie the team found a great solution, they arranged for 4 big fires to be prepared, and this finally provided the necessary lighting.

The best outcome for us was that Change Media empowerment needs to focus more on producer’s training, to address power relationships, legals, negotiation and communications skills. More about this in our next newsletter in early June 2010.

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

Tallstoreez Productionz

Culture Shock - Aus Refugee Association

Australian Refugee Association - media training - 2010 March - Australian Refugee Association SA

Change Media worked with 15 new arrivals and young refugees as well as ARA / Pt. Adelaide Council staff over 4 days, to train them in film narratives, interview techniques and digital media skills. They created ‘Culture Shock’, a peer-produced, satirical documentary about their lives and the challenges of coming to Australia: Culture Shock

The training covered an introduction to screen narratives, file management and interview & reenactment techniques, documentary shooting and Final Cut editing skills. After an involved debate about the many issues faced by young refugees, the team (comprising of 15 young people from Kongo, Sudan, Bhutan, Belarus, Tanzania and Burundi) decided to use a mix of fun and serious examples of situations they were faced with as new arrivals. The team also created the original soundtrack in Garageband and recorded most of the behind-the-scenes documentations and individual interviews.

Bikram

AJ

Bunam

Damber

Devi

Graick

Kangimo

Maxim

Chris

Peter

Priyanka

Culture Shock

The team managed to create engaging stories that raise awareness about issues faced by young refugees living in the Port Adelaide Enfield district and wider Adelaide area. The participants hadn’t worked as a team were able to produce one film together; everybody conducted several shoots, interviews and took part in the edit and music production. By the end of Day 4 the team finished a rough cut of a funny and engaging documentary about appropriate / inappropriate behaviors and other challenges. The whole team agreed on the changes they wanted for the fine cut, for the Change Media team to clean up the edit, add title cards and insert the participants self-made music. We have already been approached by ARA to conduct another project soon, as the participants are keen to build on their new skills.

The workshop was a fantastic introduction to a longer term project planned for 2010-11, to create a social archive and reference video manual for new arrivals to Australia, to enhance cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect. Besides the fantastic 14min film, this DVD also includes rough cut interviews by the participants, which showcase their experiences as new arrivals and demonstrate not only their skills, but also their resilience surviving often horrific journeys. Again, a huge applause to the team – it was a very rewarding collaboration for our trainer team.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Australian Refugee Association Inc

City of Port Adelaide Enfield

ArtGate – iStreet Lab

2010 March - Clare SA

The Change Media Team worked for 2 days with Mervin Jarman from the iStreetLab and the Container Project, to compare our art and community capacity building practice in Australia and Jamaica. The workshop was the first stop  of Mervin’s Australia tour over the coming weeks. The workshop was broadcast live via iStreet Radio, with listeners in New Jersey participating live thoughout all sessions.

   During the workshop we developed a long term project for 2010-2012, to create an international community arts exchange workshop program and interactive hard/software interface, a social archive and reference video manuals for marginalized communities worldwide, to enhance cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect. Project officers Wallace McKitrick and Davina Egege, from the Indigenous Coordination Centre SA [DEWHA], took part in the discussion on the second day, to provide feedback and add to the feasibility of the project, in terms of relevance for Indigenous communities in SA. Francesca Da Rimini offered her vast experience in international collaborative new media work as observer/adviser. Rohan Webb, iStreet Lab educator,  youth mentor and educational researcher, logged in as a participant remotely  from New Jersey, USA – he was there for all of both broadcasts…regardless of time zone difference!

It was very refreshing to compare notes about both our projects with Mervin, and start immediately to collaborate on a new venture, that will combine Change Media methodology with iStreet Lab work in Jamaica and join up with Canadian artists Camiile Turner and Mike Steventon for the Canadian part of the triangle.

The following text is from Mervin’s blog at istreetlab.ning.com:

Tallstoreez/Change Media was host to discussions on the feasibility of developing a relevant and sustainable architecture for cross-cultural exchange. Carl and Jen of Change Media have been especially engaging in our examination of the broad scope of possibilities, potential challenges, risks, and social benefits. The discussions have been charged with high expectations, enthusiasm, and a profound sense of purpose. The context of the dialogue is based on the need to forge forward in demonstrating the relevance of our working art practices and the implications for community development. The central idea of how to make meaningful changes for both our communities is an enduring theme.

Cross-cultural exchanges, we agreed, are a potent expression of the need to find commonality between and throughout our communities with an aim to reducing marginalization. Using our art in a socially conscious way to make a difference through incremental change is already occurring. However, we seek to amplify this by creating opportunities for learning and synergy. This in many ways has emerged as our overarching theme.

This idea spawned conversations on a concept of expression through a “Xcolonial triangle” in which Canadian, Jamaican, and Australian marginalized/first nation communities work on developing a global village art interface (code name ‘Art Gate‘). Further discussion will ensue!!!

Mike Steventon’s idea/work was also introduced in the discussions as I am collaborating with him on his work on OCIS – Open Interactive Collaborative Space, which he introduces to me and I immediately saw as a practical and relevant community resource.

   It was exciting to nut out a community development project that invites the mentors to take risks as artists, and share their creative energy as well as mentoring to build the project.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the ArtsDarwin Community Arts

ICE Sydney

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

The Edge Brisbane

dLux Sydney

Ngarrindjeri Bush Tucker

Ngarrindjeri Media - hybrid storytelling - 2010 February - 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 third 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 educational narratives, editing and file management and intermediate interview and shooting 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 a promotional video for the Camp Coorong Cultural Centre, and edit a video documentation of the Camp Coorong Bushwalk, including traditional cultural knowledge of the environment, wildlife and plants and their healing properties, in Ngarrindjeri language and English; focusing on documentation techniques, educational narrative, data visualization. Each team member conducted several shoots, interviews and part of the edit and also kep working on their individual film projects.

The Ngarrindjeri Media Team continue to work on their peer-produced films between the workshops.

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