Cutting audio by the yard
In the Camden Creative Studios, MTC Work Solutions - Federal Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations funded - Work for the Dole and Camden Historical Society’s partnership project ‘Blasts from the Past’ - digitising the Museum’s collection of oral history audiocassettes - participants are acquiring food for thought in their quest to repurpose the past.
Work for the Dole clients are exploring the combination of sound, images and type in a multimedia repackaging exercise. This task offers several outcomes. Work for the Dole clients are able to meet their receipt-of-benefit obligations as well as skill up in ways that could increase their employment prospects, while Camden Museum is provided with several examples of how their recorded oral histories can be adapted to today’s ‘rich media’ environment, rendering the archived audiocassettes more accessible to the public at large.
Following a recent on-site visit by representatives of the Federal Government’s Work for the Dole program, ‘Blasts From the Past’ was deemed to be of a ‘benchmarking’ standard. Camden's Mayor, councillor Chris Patterson, also dropped by the other day and was promptly called upon to behold the vastness of this digitising exercise and how it can be uploaded and shrunk into the digital realm. It was seen to be, quite literally, quantifiable with a tape measure!
The current six-month project is nearing completion and - based on results learned from prototyping - discussions are under way to conduct a follow-up or Stage II program to prepare a fully-produced edition of selected Camden oral histories.
'Driven to Distraction'
With funding from the Motor Accidents Authority (MAA) and Narellan Rotary, workshops, production and post-production on a film warning of the dangers of driver distraction were conducted in early 2007. Participants included students from Camden and Elderslie High Schools and local rapper Nutta MC. The outcome was a 'sharp and snappy' 3-minute short called 'Driven to Distraction'. Here are the lyrics:
You got driven to distraction
not responsible for your actions
you got lost in the moment of satisfaction
now you wish you had a smarter reaction
Driver at the wheel
what's the big deal?
taking a call
while the pedestrian takes a fall
Don't get carried away
with takeaway
don't eat while you drive
if you want to stay alive
Doing 40 winks in a 60 zone
you better go home
'cause you've got rocks in your head
sleep in a bed instead
make your own decisions
you don't have to listen
'cause the people in the back
they have a different vision
they're trying to distract
to see how you react
if you're gonna stay calm
or just snap
Wake up!
stop doing your make-up
you'll paint your face
and it'll be all over the place
When the lights turn green
you don't want to be seen
head-bangin' through the door
or you'll have a date with the law
You got driven to distraction
not responsible for your actions
you got lost in the moment of satisfaction
now you wish you had a smarter reaction
Some of the other short films from our growing collection