community involvement in a film project. In my own short film, Echo, we approached the Ku-ring-gai Council to help us with permits and access to the National Park for a sequence we were filming, which involved a young boy falling from a small boat and drowning.
To shoot the sequence, which involved a dialogue scene in a vehicle as well as underwater photography, we also needed a small boat and permission to close down one of the roads leading into the park. One of the workers for the Council became involved in the film, and helped us with all manner of things. If I were to tally up the dollar value of her contribution, which included running food to the crew, standing on the road holding a stop sign, standing in as an extra, getting us a discount on boat hire from the local marina, and coming to work two hours early to open up the gates to the park for us, it would