Highland Lives, Highland Voices

JOHN BURNS signed up to take part in the BBC Scotland’s Highland Lives project. In the first of three articles tracing his progress, John wonders exactly what he has gotten himself into …

I APPLIED to Highland Lives, the BBC Scotland’s digital story telling project, with little real idea of what kind of story I was going to tell. Being devious by nature my hidden agenda was to learn enough about film making to take my comedy to the next level by producing video sketches.

That confession over, knowing you are going to have to make a three-minute film about your life focuses the mind rather like impending execution captures the attention of the condemned man.

I began to ask myself questions like…What am I going to say about myself in three minutes? What do I have to say that’s worth listening to? I was sent a link to Capture Wales, a similar exercise, carried out a while ago in, surprisingly enough, in Wales.
 
On there I saw intimate portraits about folk. Stories about the red wellies they wore as a child, tales about coping with bereavement and simple direct stories about how important a church was to the community or the pleasure folk found in hobbies like photography.

Moving towards the start of the project I still wasn’t sure what I was going to say but I had decided one thing and that is that whatever I produced I would tell the truth because nothing creative is worthwhile unless it tells the truth, however uncomfortable that may be.

At the introductory session Ameneh Enayat, Project Leader for BBC Scotland, explained what the project is all about. “We want to provide the opportunity for Highland People to tell their stories on a multi media format. We want to help people to learn the skills they need to be able to shoot videos, record audio stories and to be able to edit these stories so that they can tell their stories in their own way.”

I also learned something I had not understood before, that this project will not end in October when BBC Scotland completes Highland Lives. The important thing is that the equipment will remain in the Highlands where it can be booked out by anyone wanting to make a film.

That will be a great resource because it means that anyone can get access to a video camera, good quality sound recording equipment or a digital camera, and be creative. With the access that there is to the web that means that anyone can get their stories out there and the barriers to creativity that Highland geography creates have begun to crumble.

“The legacy of Highland Lives,” Ameneh told me, “will be the equipment and skills located in six learning centres across the Highlands administered by Learning Direct. Also the digital stories will help to showcase Highland 2007 and may even be featured on TV and Radio, and some will be shown in Liverpool as part of their celebrations as the City of Culture.”

There is still time to apply for Highland Lives as it will soon be rolling out across the Highlands with workshops in Fort William, Brora, Thurso, Alness and Grantown on Spey. I learned a lot at the workshops, not just about how to point a camera but also about how to tell a story in a session with Highland storyteller Janet MacInnes.

I came away inspired, and carrying some high quality audio equipment which, sadly, I’ll have to return.

Ameneh sums up the project, “Everyone has a story to tell and we want Highland voices to be heard.”

© John Burns, 2007

Links

• Highland Lives