Ancient and Future Filmed
The shoot would include interviews with the students, teachers and Aboriginal elders, and cover classroom activities, boardroom meetings, activities at the Brewarrina Fish Traps, Aboriginal sites and the town. This meant working out the best equipment to capture all the different elements to best tell this story. We recognised a drone would be important to show the distance between the school and the cultural location. The drone would also show the Brewarrina Fish Traps in an interesting and dynamic way and capture the students and teachers using the technology at the location as well.
Multiple cameras would be needed for the interviews to allow us more editing freedom as well as to capture students in class learning about the technology and on location for their practical aspect of using the technology at the Aboriginal heritage site.
Co-ordinating travel to a remote area with all our film equipment was the next step in the process. We needed a vehicle appropriate for outback conditions, which would fit all our filming equipment and personal luggage. We had to book local accommodation for four days that was close to the shooting location as well as flights in and out of the closest airport. Organising excess baggage was also necessary as some film equipment is oversized and overweight for the smaller aircraft that travel to Dubbo.
Once on location, we introduced ourselves to the teachers and students so they would feel comfortable with us filming on their school grounds.
We documented each section in the process chronologically as this made the most sense to show the students learning about the technology in class, then applying that theory and know-how in the outside world, at the Fish Traps.
The interviews were conducted after the activities to gain the best insight into the experiences of the students, the teachers and the Aboriginal elders.