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The making of The Lifesavers

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The Lifesavers won a 4-star award and a KPM Music Award at BIAFF 2008

Making of The Lifesavers

Shot of a boy on a swing.Perth Camcorder Club have made a few films for different charities in our area and now the charities come to us.

In 2007 we were approached by the Committees of Ship/Splash two related parent-led charities for children with special needs. Ship organises weekly youth clubs for different ages and Splash organises day outings for the children during school holidays. They wanted to tell the story of their organisation to schools and other groups in the area, e.g. rotary clubs for the purpose of attracting volunteers and donations.

We required the charities to get written permission from the parents of all the children involved in the film.1

A scene from 'The Lifesavers'.Three members, David Cowie, Jim McNeill and myself, spent three evenings at their premises filming the youth clubs. The children were very natural and seemed unaware of the cameras. On two evenings groups went down to the adjacent park and gave us an opportunity to film in a different location.

It was more difficult to film the outings as they usually went to places like swimming pools, zoos and ball parks where many other children would be milling about. Due to the strict rules about filming children1 we felt that we should avoid such venues. We opted to film a barbecue and sponsored walk in Quarrymill, a wooded walk just outside Perth.

Barbecue party.Children boarding a bus.Phil Walker and I arrived at the departure point promptly at 9.30 a.m. - Jim went to the arrival point. It was pouring rain! The children were kept in the play rooms until the weather cleared, when they had the barbecue outside in their play area.

The buses then departed for Quarrymill and Jim and Phil did get some good shots there, though they had to keep running ahead of the groups.

The interviews were done in the charities' premises on a separate evening. We have a large stand over which we draped some curtain material. (We learned a lesson that night - material should be kept rolled and not folded!) Bill Smollet is our lighting man and he set up the lights. We had the usual: three front lights and a back light. (We have good lights bought with a lottery grant).

Jim McNeill, our sound expert was using a Rode NTG-2 microphone and he detected an annoying hum! After a great deal of changing plugs, covering the dimmer box, etc. we managed to proceed.

Still from 'The Lifesavers'.David and Jim were on camera and I directed the interviews. I had agreed a general structure of the commentary with Jackie, the spokeswoman, in order that the story would flow. We both gave the two young volunteers an idea of what we wanted but in all cases the words were not scripted and were spontaneous.

That left the editing - I tried to pick out shots which showed that the children were happy and were well cared for by a loving group and to relate the pictures to the commentary, e.g. when Jackie mentioned the group leaders, scenes with the group leaders were included.

The committees of the two charities were given a draft of the final DVD and I am pleased to say that they did not want any changes to be made.

We all enjoyed making this film which gave us an insight into the voluntary work being done for these delightful children and their parents.

- Dorothy Borrie (Perth Camcorder Club)


1 There is no law in the United Kingdom restricting the filming of children, or anyone else, in a public place. The subject has become sensitive in recent years because of concern about paedophiles. It is sensible to err on the side of caution, as Perth Camcorder Club has done, and obtain permissions from the parents or guardians of any children in your film. In many properties owned by local authorities, including schools and sports arenas, there may be special restrictions on filming children. In general if anyone - child or adult - is featured in your film, as opposed to appearing in the background of a shot, it is sensible to obtain their permission to take and use the shot.

There are some restrictions on how children may be presented on a website, mainly a matter of not using sexually provocative poses or inappropriate nudity. There is no law forbidding the naming of children who appear on a website but this restriction is often required by parents and others acting in loco parentis. Dorothy Borrie kindly obtained permission for the use of the pictures presented here. -Editor


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