Interplast Fiji, Suva 2019 Day 4

Day 4 and heading home.

After a busy, exhausting, but rewarding 3 days, I was able to wrap 5 stories for Interplast. When I first was given the brief from Deputy CEO Interplast Cameron Glover, I was a bit unsure that I would be able to make the requirements, however I was very happy to get all those stories captured. It gave me a lot of confidence that as a filmmaker that I’m up to the task and have the skills sets I need to make more documentaries in the future.

There is never any growth if you don’t push yourself, and this project is no different. It also gave me fresh energy and creative buzz after a long year of corporate work. A lot of lessons were learnt from gear selection, to story planning, to how to manage a production day on my own. After 6 years working at the Waikato Times, doing 6-7 stories a day, I know that I can pump out the work, but being able to control the tempo and spend more time on creating better shots, was really great. I would like to take a small crew with sound, and producer to round out the crew would be fantastic. I can really see some advantages to having team members to focus on specific roles.

Here’s a little more about Interplast and this project.

A LITTLE ABOUT INTERPLAST

Interplast sends teams of volunteer plastic and reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and allied health professionals to provide life-changing surgery and medical training in 17 countries across the Asia Pacific region.

We do this in partnership with local organisations, including hospitals, universities and local NGOs. Our mission is to ‘repair bodies and rebuild lives’ and we do this through providing surgical services to those who could not otherwise afford or access these, and by building the capacity of local medical systems through our training and mentoring programs.

Interplast is a fully accredited NGO with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), registered by the Australian Charities and Not For Profit Commission and is a signatory to the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Code of Conduct.

ROTARY

Rotary is a key part of the Interplast story. It has been a key fundraiser for the cause, and it’s work, more details from Rotary here https://rotary9930.org/page/international-interplast

OUR DOCUMENTARY - What we’re trying to do.

I’m not a doctor that’s for sure, but I can help. Telling these engaging stories is powerful way of communicating with those who really want to make a tangible difference. That’s where I can add some value as a documentary maker. Telling stories for those who aren’t able to tell their own can really create impact for Interplast, and ultimately help them reach more children and people in need of their services. We are aiming to produce a 1 hour documentary following the journey of a surgical team and a patient and their family. SBS Australia has a great opportunity for community stories to be broadcast. This is a fantastic vehicle to reach as many people as possible. We’ll also create a bunch of promotional videos for social media and website use.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with this project, and more importantly share our story with friends and family.

OUR SPONSORS

This project wouldn’t be possible without the help of our sponsors!

Canon Professional Services and Tom Duncan have been amazing in providing a Canon C200 and lens package to capture the beautiful imagery and interviews. I have really enjoyed using it with this first stage of filming in Suva.

Rothbury Insurance and Ashley Hodges stepped up and created a wonderful package for covering the gear that I took with me on this trip. It certainly gave me a bit of relief to know that I’d have some protection if something went wrong.

SolidPod also helped out by providing it’s MSata unit to record and capture the footage on a very reliable and rugged unit that takes MSata SDD card. For any cinematographers shooting on a CFast card camera this is a fantastic solution that saves on the $$$ and works a treat.