I was sitting in the room across Bree and Scott. We were discussing a film we wanted to create on the story of our local producers. Everything we had in mind was workable. There was definitely a story worth telling and we were excited to capture and tell it through a film. But there was a problem. We thought, “How tough is it going to be to get farmers to talk on Camera?”
We were working on this project for the Bundaberg Region Council. Their mission is to showcase and champion the local industries of the Bundaberg area. The council focuses on helping businesses and enterprises in the area while Bundaberg Vegetable and Fruit Growers, whom we were also working with, focus on supporting our local farmers. They contacted us to create a film on the producers showcasing how strong our agricultural section is to seek out new investment opportunities.
Soon enough I was in a room with Bree Grimer and Scott Coleman. We started thinking of ways to showcase the region’s local agricultural sector. We wanted it to be professional and profitable, but true to its origins. The best way we saw fit was to tell the story through the voices of the farmers. But how do you get a shy group of rugged men and women to become comfortable with the camera?
We were thinking that this project would probably be a challenge, facing many revisions and iterations until we would arrive at the right output (or at least something as close as possible to it). On top of that production day actually came as a challenge.
During the creation of the film, we had the tough time of juggling a dozen producers, organising the weather and doing all of this outside the usual growing season. Not to mention that when we shot, nothing was in season. But when we got it back into the edit bay, there was more than enough interview footage to tell a great story. We came in expecting the farmers to be shy and awkward in front of the camera. But they surprised us as they were excited to share their story! Not to mention that great directing and building rapport helped too.
The Outcome: No Revisions!
The outcome of the film was more than we had imagined. Because we had all decided on telling the story from a fresh new pair of eyes- not from the perspective of council members and middlemen, but that of the source- we had a great film coming. In fact, the client was so impressed with the final output that there were no revisions. Yes, zero revisions. Nada. And that was a first for us. Here’s the final outcome of that project.
Not only has this film helped showcase our region and been displayed in parliament but it’s also had a heap of positive engagement from the community. In the short two months, it’s been out on social media, the film feature has reached over 91,000 people, gotten over 36,600 views, 4,300 reactions and 821 shares on Facebook. It increased the engagement of the region’s social media account, which still has implications to their accounts today.
More importantly, people who needed to be heard were heard. And that reminded me of why we do what we do. It’s not just to be filmmakers who show up on set, take a few clips and slap it together. We want to tell meaningful stories that will impact the community and even change the people around them! And that’s what we felt this project did.
Why Stories Matter
The best thing is, all this was before we finished our mentoring with Muse Storytelling. Since then, I’ve worked one on one with 5 time Emmy award winning filmmaker Patrick Moreau and his team. This has shaped our films in a way I never thought possible, but damn is it rewarding. We’ve had the chance to study the science of story and get one on one mentoring from industry experts (in fact we’re working together on another project right now.) But now, because we have been taught to tell stories and to tell them right, we ended up bringing more value to our client.
It’s amazing that we get to tell amazing stories like those of the farmers through the sponsorship of Bundaberg Regional Council and Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers. We’re excited to tell more stories just like this! We have more coming soon so stay tuned!
