Learning the art of digital storytelling

A handful West Arnhem Regional Council’s (WARC) Community Services team members came together to be trained as film making trainers for West Arnhem by the vibrant Amy Hetherington of Amiable Communications recently.
Two days of filming, editing and learning, 12 budding filmmakers have emerged ready to take their skills back to their home communities to train up others in what they learned. The idea is to build the digital storytelling skills of West Arnhem and create high quality, home-grown films.  
In March next year, the team will get together again to participate in the inaugural West Arnhem Film Awards and further refine their new skills. Each community will have its own, locally created manual for how to make a film, so the knowledge can continue to be shared. 
Participants agreed that ‘getting creative’ and working alongside diverse members of the Community Services team with the fantastic facilitation of Amy were the favourite parts of the workshop. 
WARC Community Engagement Officer Noni Eather  said, “Working with media is a great way to share stories, build our skills, document stories and to pass information to the next generation – you could be the next entertainment or news reporter for your community and in your language”.
Amy’s interactive, fun and comfortable style allowed everyone to feel safe to experiment and try new things. By the end of the workshop, each group had created two short films that showcased the humour, storytelling skills and digital prowess of the team.
Jabiru Library Coordinator Jillian May said she particularly enjoyed the ‘green ant’ video, created by the Gunbalanya team Stevie Wurrkgidj, Laura Shipp and Kellum Steele. 
Specific skills learned included how to use media equipment, caring for equipment, capturing different angles, syncing audio and visual, footage and dialogue and the complexities of exporting footage to social media. Ethics, permission and consent was another important topic explored. 
Laura commented that Amy was, “fantastic, engaging, fun and in tune with how people were learning. (She) explained things clearly and is a great communicator”.