National award for a Dorset forum's CoastWise video

‘CoastWise’ a short film by Dorset Coast Forum has been selected to receive a 2017 Davey Award for Film/Video-education.

The idea behind creating a video came about between SafeWise, a multiagency partnership between the emergency services, local authorities and the business community and the Dorset Coast Forum. Safewise, wanted to find a new way to promote safety information on the coast and the Dorset Coast Forum works with some of its members involved in all the different types of coastal safety messages including the National Trust, Jurassic Coast Trust, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Dorset County Council.

An animated film was decided as the best way to promote some of these key messages in a fun and engaging way. These include: stay away from any cliff edge and don’t sit, stand or walk at the base of the cliffs, drink plenty of water, watch out for sharp objects and litter in the sand, always check the weather and the tides, and what wildlife to touch and what not to (such as jellyfish and weever fish). CoastWise characters were created for the film.

LoveLove Films, a Bournemouth-based firm, came up with the concept of a group of sea creatures that would get into various tricky situations by the coast. Working with the Dorset Coast Forum and school children from Courthill Infant School in Bournemouth the final film was shaped and created.

Bridget Betts, Dorset Coast Forum co-ordinator said, “We are absolutely thrilled that the CoastWise film has won this award. We never for one moment thought that the safety messages we wanted to get across to people visiting our beautiful coast would turn into an award winning video with thousands of hits on YouTube.

“The film will now be rolled out as a learning and educational resource at coastal visitor centres, schools and as part of educational packages, which is very exciting for everyone who has been involved with this project. Special thanks must go to the Fine Foundation who funded the video and LoveLove films without whom, we could not have created it.”

Since its launch in June 2017, CoastWise has had over 52,000 hits on YouTube. View it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkefXeBZPi0

Visit Dorset, the official tourism site for Dorset, is also helping to promote safety on the coast and have created a CoastWise page where the film can be viewed and where people can learn more about how to get the most out of their visit, safely.