On a cool summer’s morning on a quiet street in the town of Nhill, in far Western Victoria, Karen community members gathered alongside CFA members to start planning for a new fire safety film.
Film script workshop
The film project, funded by CFA’s Summer Local Initiatives 2017-18 program, is a partnership project between the Nhill Learning Centre, CFA and the University of Adelaide. It's a unique project as it aims for CFA and the local Karen community to co-design a film.
The room at the Nhill Learning Centre was almost full to the brim last Thursday morning (15 February) with eight Karen community members (including two local interpreters), four CFA members (two from Nhill Fire Brigade, one from CFA District 17 and one from CFA HQ), two from the Nhill Learning Centre and a researcher from the University of Adelaide (who will be evaluating the project).
The group gathered for a workshop to plan a new fire safety film about fire restrictions and Total Fire Bans. But unlike any film CFA has been involved with before, this one was led by the Karen community who decided how they would want to help others in their community better understand fire restrictions.
Dr Scott Hanson-Easey from the University of Adelaide posed some thought-provoking questions to the group. “How would your community normally communicate important information? What kinds of stories and words would you use? What are the cultural factors affecting communication in your community?”
Film script workshop
Then the local Karen community worked in small groups to come up with some film scenes and plot lines that would help share the key messages CFA needs to communicate.
Ideas for showing how to safely cook along the river and in backyards, and how to safely dispose of ash were all woven into a series of story lines that involved a new Karen family coming to Nhill. Then as a whole group a film storyboard was created with the Karen community confirming what would be meaningful and relevant to them.
Trevor Schwartz from the Nhill brigade said, “it was a really good workshop to get all the ideas from the Karen community about the film. I can see how much better this is going to be coming from them”.
The film will be produced in the local Karen language, Sgaw, with some English subtitles. The local Karen community will be the actors in the film alongside the local CFA brigade members.
In early March, the next phase of the project will see a further workshop to develop the film scenes, and then the actual filming of the video. Between now and then the Nhill Learning Centre will work with the local Karen community during their English classes to develop the script.
CFA will ensure the content and key messages are correct, but otherwise it is all up to the local Karen community how to shoot the film and make it relevant to them.
Author: Angela Cook