Elders as Storytellers

We value education and learning highly at Smoke Creative, so when the opportunity came along to help spread the word about the importance of learning in the early years we jumped at it. The end result is a campaign that we are all immensely proud of. 

The creation of this series saw us travelling vast distances, camping out on escarpments and braving the elements to capture conversations with Elders and community leaders from all areas of Queensland, with some of the most unique and beautiful parts of our country as the backdrop.

We sought to engage our audience and start the conversation through the use of song, story and powerful visuals. We invited Aunty Sharron to come onboard as part of the team to write and compose a music track that tells a story of the future, the children, culture and the importance of learning in the early years.

As we travelled we captured stories from influential Elders that encouraged a conversation with parents, families and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities – a conversation that covered topics like looking to the future, how the old and the new can work together and the role everyone plays in the early years. In addition to the stories we captured unique imagery that illustrated a connection to country and community.

In addition to the main pieces we created localised content that served to engage individuals and communities in a more personal way, starting a conversation that is more relevant to them and their experience.

When creating content of this nature preparation is the key, but the reality of working and filming on country is you need to be flexible and let the story take you where it wants to go, and this was no exception. We found the real magic happened when we allowed the stories to grow and evolve as we went along, providing us with a fantastic opportunity to capture unique stories and present them in a way that will continue to generate positive change now and into the future.