I've helped to create a short film for the 'My Crazy Passion' project with ABC Open and would love you to watch it! It's about a local couple who inspired me long before we started filming, and I have no doubt, will be inspring me for a long time to come.

They are Charlie and Fay Robinson, and frankly, we could probably have made at least ten short films about them, so diverse are their interests and experiences. This film is about their place at Baarmutha (just out of Beechworth) and particularly about food and sustainability. Ralph and I had visited their home on an open day in the past. The Robinsons are active with Beechworth Urban Landcare and Sustainability and have been guest speakers for many groups locally.

However, trying to capture their story on film gave me new insights, not only into what they do, but why, and just how much energy they manage to put into their efforts, and the delight they get from all they do. Their enthusiasm really is infectious!

My involvement in the film came about via a kind nudge from Lizette Salmon. Having created her own amazing contribution about her parents (please watch it here if you haven't already), Lizette was keen to see a film made about Charlie and Fay but was also ready to pass the baton to others. Hence, Jenni and Wolfgang Huber, Rosemary McConnell and I, all with pretty much zero film making experience, found ourselves making a short film mentored by the highly skilled and incredibly patient Suzi Taylor from ABC Open.

Photo: (L to R) Wolfgang, Jenni, Suzi, Rosemary, Fay and Charlie (I'm taking the pic!)

Believe me, this little baby took some time! But what a privledge to work with Suzi, and I learnt heaps from this experience in terms of how to develop the story, think through and capture the audio and visuals, find and use appropriate music (and background sounds!) and of course how to pull the whole lot together.

I'm sure Suzi will acknowledge we bumbled our way through, as you might expect from an inexperienced, but keen, crew. And she held our hands when there was heavy lifting to be done. I'm pretty sure the editing would have taken us weeks, had Suzi not been working her magic to ensure we had a clear idea of what we captured on film, whizzing about with shortcut keys and no end of clever ideas in the editing stage and getting us to think through exactly which stories we were trying to share.

The truth be known, even finding times that worked between four crew, Suzi and our two subjects was challenge enough. Then we were rained out (no good for filming but great for food growing!). And what great sports Charlie and Fay were throughout. I think at times being asked to 'wait' or 'go again' so we could work through a range of wide, mid and close-up shots, was rather slow-going compared to their usual fast-as-you-can approach.

I hope you'll enjoy what we've created ... and that you, too, will be inspired by Charlie and Fay, or perhaps even by our creation of this film, to grab opportunities you might find and to share such stories so others can gain from them as well.

The film runs for just under five mintues. You can view it below and/or on the ABC Open website (where there's also more about Charlie and Fay, and it would be the place to leave a comment, should you feel so inclined).

Lastly, some more happy snaps of us in action, during filming ... 

Update

on 2014-04-19 09:53 by Karen

In case you'd like to read more about the topic, please check out this ABC Goulburn Murray local radio web link, which includes more about Charlie and Fay, but also climate change psychology and local impacts of extreme weather. See Canberra to Beechworth: an extreme lifestyle makeover (same film, but different text in the article!).