SWAN City Youth Service (SCYS) has established itself as a third place for many young people in Swan and beyond looking for a place to connect and find direction outside of home and school, and music has long been baked in as a method for self-discovery.

Most recently, the Strange Times project presented by Community Arts Network (CAN) in partnership with SCYS was able to help a group of emerging music makers star in their own music video.

Using music tracks that they wrote and recorded with SCYS music program facilitator Te Hiiritanga Wepiha, also known as Rush, the young emerging artists attended workshops with Sydney-based filmmaker Johnathon Karalis, also known as Johnny Yayo, to learn how to create and edit a music video of themselves performing their track.

Mr Wepiha has been a mentor inside the state’s Unit 18 youth detention centre, helping young people in Banksia Hill Detention Centre find a way to use music as therapy and now leads the music program at SCYS.

These young artists, many of whom normally face barriers to accessing arts programs, learned how to capture footage using the cameras on their own smart phones with gorilla grip tripods, and skills such as storyboarding their ideas for their music video, different camera techniques and shots, creative direction and performance in front of the camera.

The young creatives also had the opportunity to record their performance with Mr Karalis as their cinematographer.

The footage they shot themselves was then used for their B-roll, a second story that is woven between the performance shots to create thematic layers within the clip.

With their footage recorded, the group moved onto the next phase of the project which was editing.

Assisted by local photographer and filmmaker Halim Mellick, participants learnt to use a free version of DaVinci Resolve, which is a professional video editing software.

The young artists then worked with videographer Peter Cheng, to create the final cut of their music video.

Swan graphic artist and business owner Adam Sugiarto and CAN Marketing Manager Rebecca Lyon Augustus then helped guide the participants through design and branding workshops.

The resulting music videos offer a window into the lives of the young creators.

Layered montages range from dark and gritty to sunny and gentle, complementing songs that are densely packed with poetry and beats.

“It’s been inspiring,” project participant Jackson Brown said.

“We’re just having, like, the time of our lives, trying to portray something.”

Strange Times was presented in partnership with SCYS and supported by the Creativity and Wellbeing for Young People Pilot Program, a joint initiative by the WA Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport and Healthway.