Associate Professor Cathy Henkel on location filming.
Find your own voice, tell stories that are meaningful, authentic and relevant to you, and ask yourself - what impact will your work have in the world?
Those are WA Screen Academy Director Associate Professor Cathy Henkel's top tips for ECU's emerging filmmakers, drawn from her stellar career as one of Australia's leading documentary filmmakers.
Earlier this year Cathy was honoured with the prestigious Stanley Hawes Award, a lifetime achievement that recognises her outstanding contribution to the Australian documentary and factual sector.
Her career spans more than 30 years as a documentary producer, director and writer, with credits including The Burning Season, I Told You I Was Ill: Spike Milligan, Rise of the Eco-Warriors, and Laura's Choice.
Associate Professor Cathy Henkel on location filming.
A practicing filmmaker who knows what industry wants
Cathy joined ECU in 2014 because she always wanted to be a teacher and has continued to practice her craft while lecturing, making a two-part documentary for ABC TV, Laura's Choice, that provoked a national conversation about how we think about death and dying.
"I enjoy working with people who are at the start of their careers or at cross-roads in life and guiding and mentoring them to find purpose and meaning in their lives and their careers," she said.
"But I also think it's important for lecturers to maintain professional practice and engagement with their industry to ensure what we teach is current and relevant."
Students that are multi-skilled for today's world
Cathy said cinema audiences were declining and moving online, and audiences were more fragmented and consuming their content in vastly different ways.
"WA Screen Academy prepares students for current and relevant storytelling across multiple platforms and shows them how to be adaptive and responsive to new technologies and ways audiences experience content," she said.
"We encourage the development of multi-skilled practitioners and greater diversity in storyteller and stories."
It's what you know AND who you know
Over the past decade, the arrival of mobile screens and multiple online platforms means the demand for screen stories, and in particular factual stories, is greater now than ever before, but Cathy explained that making the right connections is still important.
"At the WA Screen Academy, we bring in leading industry guests and mentors and give students the chance to interact and show them what they can do," she said.
"These connections are extremely valuable in helping students to get started in the industry."
Learning beyond the classroom
Cathy passionately believes the best way to learn screen storytelling is by doing it.
"To become a screen industry practitioner, students need to practice their craft and learn to be part of a production team," she said.
"We do this at the WA Screen Academy by filming on location in and around Perth and bringing in industry professionals to work with students, and mentors on set."
Occasionally, students also travel and film in other countries, for example with the New Columbo Plan funded tours to Singapore and Indonesia.
"Our recent tour to Indonesia gave students a rare and valuable opportunity to spend two weeks together as a team, practicing their professional and collaboration skills, and working together to manage the logistics of the tour and create a short documentary," Cathy said.
With support from Cathy and their Indonesian hosts, the students found inspiring and engaging characters and filmed across multiple locations.
"The students captured some fantastic material to produce a truly engaging, uplifting and moving story about people who are working to improve the lives of disadvantaged people in Jakarta," she said.
"They also had the chance to meet with and learn from students at Jakarta Institute of Arts and participate in masterclasses and presentations, and they travelled to the regional town, Malang, where they met with industry professionals, students and teachers," she said.
If this article has got you interested in becoming a filmmaker, maybe it's time to explore the courses at the WA Screen Academy
