UNTOLD STORIES

ASSIGNMENT 3

PROPOSAL

Working title: Emerging Communities

Form and medium: What form will it take? Where will it be shown/experienced? How long do you estimate it to be?
Several (3-5) short documentaries, posted onto a video streaming service (Vimeo or YouTube) and onto the Media Factory blog and the Living Museum of the West website.  Approximately 5 min per video, 15-25 min in total.

Short synopsis:
The Walker Close Community Centre has been providing the Western region with an incredible amount of support without any recognition.  Join us, as we shed light on the stories of people who found their community within the Walker Close Community Centre.

Longer synopsis:
The Walker Close Community Centre was started in 2004, and has been supporting thousands of people since.  Providing services for people of diverse locales, educational levels, and socio-economic backgrounds, they have been able to grow their resources to be able to help hundreds of people every day.

Starting with an introduction to the centre manager, Mr Ayelign, we will journey through several of the centre’s many resources and hear the stories of people who the centre has been able to help.  Through their individual stories, the audience will get a sense of the greater scope of the centre and how many more lives they have touched.

FILM 1: Introduction
Mr Ayelign, centre manager, talks briefly about the centres beginnings, as well as the story of a man who was helped by the centre.  We get to see how caring he is and important he finds his work, as he gives the filmmakers advice for their own education and future careers.  The centre is full of colour and life.

FILM 2: Karate
George Irevski tells the story of one of his past students who came from a troubled background but found discipline, ambition, and friendship through the not-for-profit karate lessons provided by the centre.  We see how far this child could go, as the senior class performs incredible feats of athleticism.

FILM 3: Mothers Group
An anonymous new mother tells the story of her pregnancy and birth.  This beautiful and moving tale shows the isolation and fear facing young mothers, but shows what a difference support and friendship can make on the experience.  The centre is empty, but the toys, medical rooms, and support group set up tell a tale in and of itself.

FILM 4: Migration Services
The story begins with community members receiving professional advice and guidance on migration matters. This simple premise then evolves to a beautiful montage of belonging and togetherness. The film tells a tale of a small group of people who are seeking to learn of ways that they can best help their family and friends to join them in their life in the west of Melbourne.

FILM 5: Cultures and beliefs: diverse community group
In this wordless piece, people from many different cultural groups get together to celebrate life!  Dancing, singing, and food galore, the entire centre is alight with movement and excitement. There is a mix of languages, ages, and means, but in this moment, everyone is together and is the same.

What is your individual role or component of this project?
Lindsay: Producer
Bridie: Director
Katia: Post Production
Liam: Site Manager and Casting

Visualisation: What will it look like? Use location shots, archival material, other projects that are similar. Think about what you can achieve and what skills you might need.
Location shots of Walker Close Community Centre and Brooklyn Hall.  Archival footage not needed. Interview footage used sparingly, with shots of the details within the space and the participants used more.  We want to provide a close look at the space and participants to give more information than we could otherwise get. Bright colours and whimsical, flowy movement will be used to give off the feel of the centre.

Rationale: 1-2 sentences outlining the basic premise, philosophy and purpose of the work. What do you want to make it? What should it be made?

Our project is focused on highlighting the positive impact that a community centre is having on the people who interact with it. We want to discover the communities and groups that have formed, and perhaps give some insights on the human condition in 2018.

Archival Material: What do you want to use from the archive? If you are not using anything, what do you want to contribute to the archive?
Likely no archival material will be used, however we hope to provide the archive with a new resource of previously untapped potential. Though we will only be providing a few stories, there are thousands that live within those walls that future contributors to the museum could access at any time.

Main participants: briefly describe the participants and what they contribute to the project. If you have yet to locate them, who would you like to include?
Mr Ayelign: Centre manager, the “heart” of the centre.  He will be the human embodiment of what the centre is. We have interviewed him.
George Irevski: Karate instructor, he will provide the story of a past student and explain why a sports and kids focused program is important.  We have shot preliminary interviews with him.
Anonymous Mother: She will provide us with our third story.  Not yet found, we have an access point through Liam’s mum

Setting: briefly describe your locations where you will film, record, shoot etc.
Walker Close Community Centre: Colourful main venue that will be the central focus.
Brooklyn Hall: Karate video, a simple hall with flags and not much else. But we see it come to life when the people arrive and fill the once empty space with colour and movement.

Research video/photos/audio: provide embedded links with a short description of what they refer to. For example: test footage with one of your interviewees, location footage, editing styles and approaches etc.

Karate Action test shots

We were happy with the action shots we got of the class. A fair bit of this footage will be used in the final cut.

George Interview Raw

In this footage we interview George one of the teachers from the karate class. Due to the interview being conducted during the class George didn’t have much time for us. The lighting wasn’t great and his answers at times are drowned out by the background noise.

Inspiration: provide embedded links with a short description of what they refer to.  For example: other documentaries, photo series, journalistic articles, etc

Guns Found Here
https://vimeo.com/255517926

This film takes a seemingly mundane topic and makes it engrossing. We took a great deal of inspiration from this documentary. The characters, the subject and the soundtrack all combine to create an entertaining piece about cataloging guns used in crimes in the USA.

6 Seconds

This short documentary has had a big influence on our project. We want to incorporate the ‘voice over’ format of the interview where we never actually see the interviewee talking to the camera. Instead, the viewers get to enjoy beautiful shots illustrating the character’s story. This approach to documentary making makes for an engaging and captivating experience. It also allows us to explore more artistic non-traditional documentary as well as allows us to  steer away from the traditional layout.

Production timeline

Thursday 24.08– visit to the community centre, talked to the manager AU

Friday 31.08– group meeting for the pitch

Monday 3.09– visit to the community centre, filmed the karate lesson

Tuesday 4.09– presentation + group meeting  

Wednesday 12.09– visit to the museum, filmed interview with AU and B-roll

Friday 14.09– discussion and planning

Tuesday 18.09– booking the equipement, printing the release forms

Wednesday 19.09– filming the dance lesson

Friday 21.09-  booking the equipment, printing the release forms

Saturday 22.09- editing together the rough cut

Monday 24.09- filming the mothers group

Tuesday 25.09– rough cut presentation + booking the equipement, printing the release forms

Wednesday 26.09– filming the immigration services

Friday 28.09-  booking the equipement, printing the release forms

Monday 1.10–  filming cultures and beliefs: diverse community group

Wednesday 3.10– start editing

Monday 8.10– finish editing + colour grade

Friday 12.10– screening in the museum