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One of my projects at the South Pacific Commission was to make an environmental education film, Story of an Island, to tell how a typical island changes from a natural island before anyone lived there, to the arrival of the first island people with shifting agriculture, then colonization and the first plantations, and development up to the present. Then the film showed what would happen if development continued with land clearing and lagoon pollution, a forest fire, and other destruction. Then the film showed an alternative sustainable future with reforestation, a protected area, and responsible agriculture and fishing. We had a budget of $4,000 to produce a 45 minute 16mm film, and contracted with Martine's company for the production. I built a model island in the garage of the SPC to show the changing island over time.
The lagoon and fishing scenes were shot on Ouvea (see below), a low coral island in the Loyalty Islands off the coast of New Caledonia, in September 1978. Parts were also shot in Samoa. English and French versions were made. The completed film was given to all the island countries, and in Vanuatu it was shown in the Council of Ministers, creating interest in environmental action. I went there later to train local environmental staff.
Martine and her crew filming on Ouvea
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The lagoon was an old waterbed with plaster of paris reefs. The island was modelling clay over a wood and wire frame, with a soil covering and real branches for trees. Toy vehicles could be pulled along roads with fishline, and a little battery pump could send water down the stream. At the end, I burned the forest and sprayed water to wash the soil down and pollute the lagoon, leaving the island destroyed (in the film). We had already filmed the future sustainable island. While Martine was editing the film at the local television station, one of the staff remarked that he knew where that island was in the southern lagoon of New Caledonia!
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