Music, filmmaking, stars and an ‘all-access pass’! Eight rangatahi recently had the exciting challenge to make behind-the-scenes short documentaries at Smokefree Pacifica Beats, using only mobile phones.

Music, filmmaking, stars and an ‘all-access pass’! Eight rangatahi recently had the exciting challenge to make behind-the-scenes short documentaries at Smokefree Pacifica Beats, using only mobile phones.

They were participants in Hono (connect), a pilot project by The Big Idea in partnership with the Youth Performance Trust, to connect rangatahi with their communities using digital tools.

“Polynesian culture is largely oral, it made a lot of sense to use a story-telling approach, using technology that rangatahi have at their fingertips – mobile phones,” says Youth Performance Trust creative director Shirley Allan.

The rangatahi had two tasks, one to make a documentary on the Smokefree Pacifica Beats finals and the other to make a documentary, on the making of the documentary. Armed with mobile movie making and storytelling tips, from digital technology specialist Laurent Antonczak, they were unleashed to film the finals of the nationwide youth music competition.

The weekend gave them all-access pass to meet the likes of Ladi6 and Che Fu as well as a ‘behind the scenes’ look on set at IAMTV. They then crafted what they captured in an editing workshop, led by Dan Mace from Remote. The final documentaries were presented to friends and whanau at a special launch in Auckland on October 11. The end result showcases what can be achieved when you connect simple tools and techniques with the hands and minds of the next generation of story tellers.

“The future is theirs. If we don’t teach them how to express their concerns and fears, hopes and dreams, political and social ideologies in ways that are relevant for them – we’re toast,” says Shirley. “Our job as adults isn’t to ‘fix’ things for our kids. Our job is to create space for them to find their own way forward. To do this they need to communicate clearly with each other”.

As Shirley says almost everyone has a phone in their pocket. They are powerful tools so we should learn how to use them properly. Why is this important? By 2050, 80% of our workforce will have jobs that don’t even exist yet – using technologies that haven’t been thought of – much of that is bound to be digital. And we need to excel at it.

The short doco on the Smokefree Pacifica Beats national final 2012.