Film training for municipal staff

GEORGE NEWS - Five officials from George Municipality received a two-day training course in creative filmmaking at the George Tourism office to enhance local tourism marketing strategies.

Local filmmaking experts conducted the training on 13 and 14 September as part of a service level agreement with the Garden Route Film Commission.

George Tourism manager Joan Shaw said the objective of training municipal staff is to offer them a better understanding of the film industry, and what is required, as film productions are a target market for tourism and economic development.

"As part of the tourism marketing strategy, we want to empower staff that work with social media and projects, and general photography, which requires filming skills to improve the quality of their shoots. We also encourage creativity and keeping up with trends in this fast-paced industry to keep relevant and get noticed."

Three of the five trainees were officials from the tourism office and two were from the office of the municipal manager and the communication department, and none of them has any experience of filmmaking.

One of the trainees, Aphiwe Jack from the office of the municipal manager, said the training was highly informative and fun at the same time.

"I learnt about the different types of gadgets being used in the film industry, from cameras, lenses, and stabilisers to lights and video editing software. Our team was amazing, thanks to all of them for making it such a wonderful experience for me, and finally, a huge thanks to the facilitators for such a splendid job showing us all the hard work it takes to become professionals in the film industry," he said.

The training was conducted by Letitia Cunningham (director of the Garden Route Film Commission), Megan Cunningham (a multi-creative and a youth developer) and Calvin Claassen (an independent content creator and designer in the film industry).

To add lustre to the training, which included taking video shots outdoors, Pamela Pelser, a line dance choreographer of Step Together Line Dance School introduced a few dance moves to the trainees.

From left: Megan Cunningham (facilitator), Letitia Cunningham (facilitator), Lindi Harley (tourism officer), Aphiwe Jack (office of the municipal manager), Luthando Ndende (tourism intern), Heloine America (tourism officer), Joan Shaw (tourism manager), Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe (communications officer), and in front, Calvin Claassen (facilitator).