Different Ways
A 2023 Filmmaking Project
New to an unfamiliar country, Stepan takes a bus into rural Scotland, but a forced change of plan puts him on a different path.
View on IMDb here:
Runtime: 16 minutes
Release Date: 20th January 2024
Filmed in: Scotland, UK
Language: English (with Ukrainian subtitles)
Genre: Drama
The project that started Next Take.
Articles and News:
'Outlander, Doctor Who actor on coaching Ukrainian kids and directing' - The Herald
'New film depicts the lives of New Scots in North Ayrshire' - The Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald
'Film showing Ukrainian refugee's journey to Scotland premieres' - The National
'Film on the issues new Scots face reflected in Ayrshire film' - The Daily Record
“ It was a truly inspiring offering, displaying the multifaceted talents of both local young people and of amazingly articulate Ukrainian youths, now living in the area as a result of the Russian invasion of their homeland. It was delightful to see how such a disparate group have very obviously become true friends"
Carol Wark
How it started...
The project began as a series of workshops to create a short film just a few minutes long with a young group of New Scots. These workshops were successful enough that our ideas naturally grew into a fully-fledged short film that quickly became a much larger project! It was clear that the themes and characters we wanted to explore required a more ambitious film with more locations, dialogue, and an enthusiastic ensemble of cast and crew – luckily for us, we had just that!
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Developing Skills
We saw first-hand the importance of screen and film education through the project’s involvement in developing people’s broader skillset and sense of purpose in life. Using film, people were able to effectively: build relationships with peers from different backgrounds; utilise socialisation to develop abilities in an industry they had previously not engaged with; and ultimately, have their voices heard through the power of artistic expression.
The Impact
Hear from some of those
involved.
Production
The production of 'Different Ways' took place between July and October 2023. It involved collaboration with over 15 young people living across North Ayrshire. The film was created over the course of five shoots at a range of varied locations. There was also an added benefit of seeing different landscapes which proved invaluable to our young people from Ukraine as they got to see various parts of Scotland out with their normal environment.
The Making of Different Ways Documentary
How a group of strangers from a range of different nationalities came together over the course of 2023 to create a topical fictional short film. We think this documentary really captures the power and importance of filmmaking.
More Production Films
The writing and location scouting process for Different Ways. Writing while travelling and exploring whilst learning about equipment and the filmmaking process.
Ukrainian Translations
Since many included in our group are Ukrainian, we wanted to make sure that the film was accessible as possible to this community living in Scotland and beyond. As well as creating an evaluative piece about how we made the film, some of our Ukrainian members translated both the piece and the documentary of our progress. This was an incredibly difficult task as there a lot of different dialects involved, so it was very impressive to parse all of that. It served to reach across into different cultures and people’s lives which is vital to what we aim to do with our projects.
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Різні
шляхи
In order to familiarise everyone with the setup of a filmset, we created a practise short film for people to experience behind and in front of camera roles.
Workshops
Reception
We completed the project in January 2024 and since then, we have had positive feedback from lots of different places, both on our film, and the nature of our work.
Premiere
We premiered our film at the Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine in January 2024. The screening featured both the film, and the documentary along with a Q and A from some of those behind it.
Our screening was fully attended by friends and family of all involved, as well as journalists and the Provost of North Ayrshire.
AUGB Edinburgh
In June 2024, we screened both our films at the Edinburgh centre for the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB).
Largs Academy
To reach out to more young people, our film was shown in several schools in North Ayrshire and further afield. We arranged a screening event at Largs Academy that most of the team attended. We also invited pupils along from Ardrossan and Auchenharvie Academy.
Festivals
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We entered the film into a series of festivals and have been selected in a few due to take place later this year.
The beginning of Next Take
The project was run under Vertex Visions last year, an Arts organisation based in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire. They were able to support the project and provide assistance with finances, promotion and applications with the project.
Since the reception of this project, the possibility of taking this further and expanding this line of work grew, so our core group all felt developing a stand alone organisation would allow us to develop in 2024, and that's where Next Take came from.
