March 28, 2013
Some of the oldest storytellers in the world will soon be using some of the latest technology to tell their tales, thanks to a digital media project starting soon in the South Burnett.
The Cherbourg MoJo (“mobile journalist”) project will be training young people to research, write, shoot, edit and upload short video films.
Run in conjunction with the Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE, the program will also have a serious side … helping to make literacy and numeracy training fun for young people who need these basic skills to gain employment.
At least five TAFE teachers will also be trained with the aim of making the project self-sustaining after the initial 10 weeks.
Cherbourg MoJos will be run by Ivo Burum, CEO of Burum Media and a former executive producer at both Channel 9 and the ABC.
He’s been in the TV industry for 33 years and has been working with Indigenous communities since 1981, including helping to establish CAAMA Productions in Central Australia.
Ivo conducted a successful MoJo program in the Northern Territory in 2011 but the Cherbourg program is different … it combines the literacy and numeracy training which organisers believe will make it even more successful.
The videos will be shot on iPhones with clip-on accessories but that doesn’t mean they’ll be amateur productions.
The aim is to produce broadcast quality clips that could be shown on NITV or SBS.
The 10-week program will run five days a week so the participants will also experience a “work routine”.
People eligible must be aged 15-19 and not going to school.
The project was officially launched at the Nurunderi TAFE campus on Tuesday.
Director of TAFE Qld English Language and Literacy Services Helen Murphy said literacy and numeracy were the basis of all sustainable employment.
“But it’s not the most attractive option for people to study,” she said.
The Cherbourg MoJos project aimed to overcome this and at the same time ensure valuable new skillsets remained in the Cherbourg community.
Cherbourg State School Deputy Principal Bevan Costello said he would like to encourage people to take the MoJo project on board.
He said there were “heaps and heaps” of stories in the Cherbourg community that could be told using the technology.
SQIT Faculty Director David Taylor said it was a really different and exciting project for Cherbourg.
“MoJo will open up opportunities for people,” he said.
“This is an opportunity to get involved in world-class stuff, focussing around digital film-making and journalism,” Mr Taylor said.
Mr Burum said several of the NT MoJos he had worked with had won awards for their work and all had been offered paid work as “stringers”.
Two have picked up government contracts and two ended up working full-time in community media.
A documentary of the Cherbourg project will also be produced by professional film-makers in conjunction with the training and will be previewed during NAIDOC Week in July.
- southburnett.com.au is pleased to be supporting the Cherbourg MoJos project and we aim to publish the videos that the students produce on this website.
A glimpse of the NT MoJo Project:
