Three years ago The Local Trust approached Hamlett Films to collaborate in a mentorship programme in media production with its members across England.
“It was easy to say ‘yes’ to this project,” says HF CEO Sian Hamlett, because The Local Trust asked us to enable mentees from disadvantaged communities to tell their personal stories. “It’s outside what we usually do,” says Sian, ” but we felt a strong commitment to such a unique and enabling project.”
Three intakes of 30 mentees in total have gone through the programme with a wide variety of stories to tell – from a pamphlet to the residents on a housing estate, to the effects of littering in a photographic exhibition to explorations of aspects of local communities through film and podcasts.
One of the final intake of mentees, Matthew Harrison discusses what prompted him to join the programme.
Matthew had strong ideas of making a film about his unique hometown, Littlemoor, which we supported him to make. We created bespoke training materials for this project and the HF mentor attended the shoot with Matthew to provide practical tuition on filming locations.
“My project mentor was fantastic, she helped me get the best footage possible…I was introduced to thinking outside the box about the way footage is used and the different ways it can be edited to effectively tell a story”.
Matthew says he is thrilled with the finished product, “I have learnt skills for making other films and clips which will transfer to all areas of my life. The scheme gave me the knowledge and confidence to complete my project and future projects.”
Matthew’s film is poignant, reflective, historically interesting and very unusual. We are thrilled at the positive response it has received at The Big Local’s event The Big Local Connects where it premiered.
Elin Moe, Hamlett Films’s mentor for the scheme, notes: “It’s been a privilege mentoring the amazing stories over the past three years and we are thrilled to be ending on such a high note with a film of this quality from a first-time filmmaker.”
