Calperum, WoC Forum, April 2012
CHALLENGE: The Change Media team spent five days at the end of April at the inaugural southern Working on Country Forum at Calperum Station just outside of Renmark, SA. The Forum was a national meeting of minds for Indigenous rangers to improve their skills and to make (or maintain) national relationships. Over 120 rangers from SA, NSW, TAS and VIC, gathered to learn about the unique challenges faced by their counterparts, with significance to traditional culture and maintaining our lands and waters.
Change Media was there to document every step of the way, from canoeing, quad bike safety, water quality monitoring, to basket weaving and digital media workshops, and you couldn’t turn a corner at Calperum Station, without seeing the roving media teams gathering pixels.
During the 5-day production the Ngarrindjeri media team trainees learned how to document a major event and take supporting roles in two hands-on training workshops.
They learned advanced skills in film narrative, interview, camera and event coverage techniques.
PARTNERS: This Change Media project was funded through the Australian Government, Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport; and the Australia Council for the Arts Creative Community Partnership Initiative; supported by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities; Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority; Indigenous Coordination Centre SA; Ngarrindjeri Land & Progress Association; Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting; Ngopamuldi Aboriginal Corporation Raukkan; Australian Landscape Trust; Tallstoreez Productionz
Working on Country Forum 2012
Click on the image above or the link to watch – Indigenous Working on Country Forum 2012.
If your device can’t play the clip, click here to watch it on Vimeo.
OUTCOMES:
Change Media founders Jennifer Lyons-Reid and Carl Kuddell ran two 3-hour workshops during the five-day event, to demonstrate hands-on how the rangers and their organizations can use digital media and set-up small media initiatives in their communities. It became clear to the participants they can share important stories and knowledge for future generations, with some excited rangers even rallying for funding to start their own productions!
Meanwhile, the Change Media trainers and Ngarrindjeri media trainees managed the pressure of covering an event, (dozens of parallel activities you can only shoot once, noisy generators, and sand in your camera’s focus wheel, to name a few!). To increase the challenge, the team also agreed to shoot and collate footage for the Department of Sustainability media kit, (including interviews, overlay and photos) to be delivered midway through the forum.
SCREENINGS & AWARDS: Stay tuned for updates!
IMPACT & FEEDBACK:
During the edit workshop in May 1-4 at Camp Coorong, the Ngarrindjeri trainees said that shooting a documentary about the Working on Country forum gave them a deeper understanding of Working on Country, as they had to engage with the workshops and knowledge shared on a different level, as media makers and as WoC rangers.
It was brilliant on the job training, from scheduling interviews and events, shooting on the fly, ferrying media from the on-the-field camera teams to HQ editors, to upload, edit and export in under 2 days – short of building a time machine they couldn’t have been more effective…
This Change Media initiative is a collaboration with the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority, and their rangers were involved in all aspects of the production, as they want to independently run their own media hubs in Meningie, Raukkan and Murray Bridge. The forum was a great hands-on environment for them to test their skills, and the fun isn’t over yet. In early May, the Change Media trainers have run another four-day workshop at Camp Coorong, this time focusing on editing, and all the joys and intricacies of media file management!
They honed their editing prowess using the footage they shot at the WoC Forum! So, the whole thing comes full circle! And the final step is for the team to make training videos of the rangers learning their new skills, so they can do it again and train others. Perhaps someone can film the filming of the filming, the Gordian knot of sharing knowledge…
Finally, a big thanks to Fiona Frazer and Katharine Sale from the Indigenous Programs South East and their team at DSEWPaC, Grant Whiteman and his fabulous colleagues at Calperum, ALT, and all the rangers and supporters who worked with us on this project, especially our Ngarrindjeri partners. We are looking forward to doing more amazing work with you all!
Tags: conference, environment, indigenous, pathways, regional, remote, Sustainability, training
This was an exciting project to be involved with, and it added a new dimension to the WOC Indigenous forum. It was great to see Ngarrindjeri film crew capturing the different forum activities, and they were able to do this in a sensitive, non-intrusive way that made everyone feel comfortable. I noticed a few rising film stars as people enjoyed working with the crew! It was also inspiring for other Aboriginal rangers to see what is possible with film, and the power of media in conveying messages and sharing stories about country. Well done!