Ngarrindjeri - Working on Country

Ngarrindjeri Media 2011 June - Murray Bridge - Raukkan - Coorong 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 4x 1-day workshops with Ngarrindjeri Caring For Country and Heritage Rangers at the Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting Depot.
During the production in Murray Bridge, Raukkan and Meningie members of the Ngarrindjeri Ruwe and the Raukkan Caring for Country organizations learned skills in film narrative, interview and editing techniques.

Find the training videos the Ngarrindjeri team produced here.

The project covered storytelling and camera techniques, shooting on traditional heritage locations, interview and event coverage techniques and editing. The resulting 10min film, Ngarrindjeri Ruwe – Working On Country, is available online and will be used by NRC staff for training, recruiting and PR. This project built on the success of the workshops in the last two years.

The NRC and its Heritage Rangers employed on a long-term contract have agreed to setting up a micro business and utilizing digital media as part of their everyday work. Already their rangers and Caring For Country workers are using GPS-enabled ‘Cyber-Trackers’ to map and track sites, re-vegetation efforts and link it with traditional knowledge. Recording knowledge by interviewing their elders will form part of the essential training over the next year.

Partners

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

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

Ngarrindjeri Heritage Committee

Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association

Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority

Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting

Ngopamuldi Aboriginal Corporation

Australian Refugee Association media training

2011 June - Adelaide SA

Change Media worked  with 16 new arrivals and young refugees from Buthan and several African countries as well as Australian Refugee Association staff over 2 days, to continue training in film narratives, interview techniques and digital media skills as part of our 3-year multi-arts project The Perfect Refugee.

During the 2 days, the participants engaged in comedy concepts and developed ideas for several projects.
Each team pitched their ideas as 5-point story plan. They also started creating their own digital storyboards and continued intermediate camera and interview training. Ideas presented included: How to Laugh in English?, Racist Car and Love Story Music Video.

Partners

Australia Council for the Arts

Australian Refugee Association Inc

Buthanese Community Association SA Inc

The Perfect Refugee - Theatre Games

2011 May - Carclew SA

Change Media worked with acclaimed director, actor, filmmaker and social animateur,  Shahin Shafaei, and 18 young migrants, to create new work as part of a long term project. The forum theater workshop ran over 4 days, using mixed theater and acting techniques with digital media skills, to prepare for a 3-year multi-arts project , The Perfect Refugee.

Find below the resulting 20 Forum Theatre Game examples:

Leading Noises

Leading Hands

Blind Buses

Bears and Tree Planters

The Plate

The Talking Ring

Human Bowling Alley

Energy Ball

West Side Story

Sword Leader

Images of a Struggle

Sculpting

Blind Sculpting

The Protector

Fox and Rabbit

Blind Cars Trust Game

Clapping in Time

Boxing

Glass Bottle

Forum Theatre Games Showreel

This Change Media project aims to build the creative foundations for an exciting and innovative collaboration with young migrants and Bell Shakespeare in South Australia. The training covered forum theater, image creation and screen narratives, storytelling, interview and reenactment techniques and documentary shooting. The team also recorded some of the behind-the-scenes documentations.

We were excited to work with Shahin Shafaei [Through the Wires; From Bagdad to the Burbs] to kick start our newest creative challenge for the community arts and cultural development sector – to create high profile work that bring mainstream art and marginalized communities together to explore the ruptures of our society and our mythologies around refugees, racism and integration through a classical lens: Shakespeare In Times Of Crisis – The Perfect Refugee…

Partners

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Australian Refugee Association Inc

Victorian College for the Arts Centre for Cultural Partnerships

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

Marlpa Holiday - Gumala WA

Gumala Aboriginal Corporation workshop - 2010 June - Gumala Aboriginal Corporation WA

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 worked with the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation in Tom Price to train local Indigenous youth and community leaders in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and digital media management and create a peer-produced DVD about issues of juvenile justice for Indigenous youth in the Pilbara region.

The production covered an introduction to screen narratives, storytelling for social issues, editing & file management and basic interview, shooting and editing techniques. The participants came up with strong story concepts and are keen to continue to make films. The workshop was the first of 2 projects as part of our 2-year community partnership with the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation in 2010-2011.

The challenge this session was to create engaging stories that raise awareness about issues of juvenile justice, drug and alcohol abuse, faced by young Indigenous living in Tom Price and the Pilbara area. The workshop focused on short innovative story techniques, fun camera and sound work, and editing and music production. Each team member worked together producing two films, recorded several interviews and training tools. They planned, researched, scripted and conducted several shoots and took part of the edit. At the rough cut viewing in the Tom Price Arts and Culture Centre, the Gumala representatives were impressed with the outcomes and discussed the potential for future media work for the participants through the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation.

The workshop was the introduction to a 2-year project planned for 2010-2011, to skill up the local community, Indigenous support staff in the use of digital media and create a series of peer-produced DVD resources. During the workshop the participants also identified the need to record their Elders in their community of Bellary Springs, about 40ks out of Tom Price.

The team managed to learn essential interview and editing skills and edited their own and their elders interviews during the workshop. They are now keen to continue their training with the aim to train other other communities in remote WA and build media archives to record traditional knowledge.

Partners

Apple

Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Australia Council for the Arts

Gumala Aboriginal Corporation

Office for Crime Prevention WA

Tom Price Community Arts & Culture Centre

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

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

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

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