Free News
Inaugural SULO Innovation in Sustainability Award Winner
‘Enviro’ is Australia’s peak sustainability conference and this year saw the introduction of the inaugural ‘Innovation in Sustainability’ award sponsored by SULO.
Free Range Multimedia produced a documentary case study about the award-winning project called ‘EPS Recycling: A trader stewardship approach’. Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a ubiquitous packaging product that is very difficult to recycle. Most of it ends up in landfill where it takes up huge amounts of space. A partnership between a waste management agency, a concrete company and a disabled persons organisation has provided a solution to EPS waste that could be rolled out nationwide.
The video was turned around quickly and shown at the Enviro2010 Gala Awards dinner, where Free Range received great feedback, with many appreciating our candid and engaging approach to dealing with a messy but extremely important issue.
Congratulations to Enzo, Eric, John and their teams on a deserved win.
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Enviro 2010, 19th July, 2010.
We've just come back from three days in Melbourne, soaking up some of the latest ideas in sustainability at Enviro2010: Solutions for a Sustainable Future. There was a diverse mix of delegates and exhibitors, from engineers to social scientists, which made for some interesting conversations!
Plenaries from Jon Jutsen of Energetics and Professor David Karoly of the BOM showed the audience that energy efficiencies could play a significant role in reducing Australia's carbon emissions to acceptable levels, but also that the predicted worse-case scenarios are much closer to becoming a reality than previously thought.
Throughout the conference the same refrain could be heard: the Australian government is not moving fast enough to prepare Australia for a low carbon economy, and that citizens and organisation must lead the way.
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Philippines - 9th of July, 2010
June is the start of the wet season in the Philippines, and one of the country's hottest months. Not ideal conditions for two weeks of documentary work, but there are no complaints when a client provides an opportunity to meet and be welcomed by generous and lively communities. Working across the archipelago, the Anglican Board of Mission supports the Episcopal Church of the Philippines to provide much needed community development projects. Most Filipinos live precariously around the poverty line, particularly in rural areas such as North Luzon. By providing funds for infrastructure and environmental education courses, the Anglican Board of Mission is helping these communities become more resilient to climatic conditions and the pressures of agricultural life.
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Don't Waste Your First Time - 13th of June, 2010
Check out this video that Free Range co-produced with Michael Clay Films. Sometimes politics is just too serious, so why not lighten things up a bit? Fortunately, the Greens were keen to try something different, and so here it is...
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CRCA Pathfinders - 31st of May, 2010
Free Range Creative Director, Tyler Freeman Smith, recently attended the Cooperative Research Centre Associations annual conference in Alice Springs, to find out more about what the scientific community is doing to communicate it's research. From carbon capture to pest management, livestock to metal casting, there was an amazing diversity of perspectives represented there. One of the highlights of the conference for Tyler was a session with renowned filmmaker Sonya Pemberton and media strategist Niall Byrne aimed at helping CRC's disseminate their research through broadcasters and long-form documentaries. Looking at Tyler's photos it seems another highlight was spending a couple of days exploring the West MacDonnell ranges.
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Willow Warriors - 16th of May, 2010
For the past three months Free Range have been shooting a series of short videos for the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment Management Authority, covering some beautiful country. This weekend was a particularly fun shoot, with Tyler and Rosie rafting down the Wingecaribee River, cameras and sound gear in tow for a story on the Willow Warriors. A hardy team of whitewater paddlers and bush regenerators, they travel some wild rivers to kill as many of these invasive trees as possible. They're an inspiring bunch, and have practically saved many wild rivers from complete infestation. Incidentally, it was cold, and the gear survived!
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Sea Things - 3rd December, 2009
Free Range Multimedia followed the last leg of the 2 month coastal poetry odyssey that was Sea Things. The brainchild of Sydney poetry organisation, The Red Room Company, the project sent two duffle bags along the west and east coasts of Australia to gather poetry of the sea by those who live on and around it. The project culminated on Thursday Island with the opening of both duffle bags by local schoolkids, and involving them in a poetry workshop and public reading.
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Partnerships for NRM - 20th of September, 2009
We worked with the Southern Rivers CMA to highlight the great partnerships they have fostered in the Southern Rivers region. With the CMA's support, communities from Wollongong to Cooma and Bega have been engaging in natural resource management for the benefit of their environment and often their own interests. There were 6 stories produced, each covering a different area of the Southern Rivers region. They all look great, which is partly due to the new HD camera equipment we have at Free Range. Not only does our new Sony EX3 produce stunning high definition images, but it also produces beautiful Standard Definition video as well, which was the final output for the CMA project.
The Monaro Graziers story is much like the landscape of the NSW High Country, quiet and reflective. The soundtrack compliments the feel of the video with it's own restrained guitar, courtesy of talented composer Reese Szabo. It's important for all organisations to tell their stories, and for the Southern Rivers CMA they did this in the same way they provide their services - they facilitated the community to do it for themselves. What comes across is authentic and personal, admirable traits for the messages of any organisation.
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The Cameras Film Clip - 16th September, 2009
The clip Tyler and Paige Rattray did for The Cameras has become the first debut film clip by an Australian unsigned band to be added to MTV, Channel [V], MAX and Rage. Shot on location at the NIDA studios and Centennial Park.
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Memory and Place - 20th of July, 2009
Free Range Director, Tyler Freeman Smith has recently finished work on three community-controlled digital stories. The videos are part of a much larger project called Memory and Place, supported by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. The stories look at the enviromental connection that 3 members of the Illawarra community have to the culturally and environmentally significant Lake Illawarra. Tyler helped facilitate the scriptwriting and editing process and photographed another.
Tyler also recently finished production on 6 case study videos for the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority. The project took him throughout the CMA's region, from Wollongong to Braidwood, Cooma to Bega. The High Definition images reflect the beauty of this part of the country.
You can follow Tyler's movements and musings on Twitter: @freetylersmith