Raising Awareness on Domestic Violence with Video

In 2015 GLOBAL was invited to be a production partner with Sutherland Shire Family Services (SSFS) to write and produce a series of three films that would be known as the 'Pull Ya Head In' campaign against domestic violence.

As foreign as domestic violence may seem to the vast majority of us, police statistics continue to show that incidents of domestic violence (that is, the ones that are actually reported) remain shockingly high. 1 in 3 women have experienced sexual or physical violence while an average of 1 woman a week is killed each year. However, domestic violence also extends beyond physical violence and can manifest itself in many other forms including emotional and financial control. With this in mind, not-for-profit organisation SSFS set out to raise community awareness by creating a series of films based on true events that highlight types of domestic violence that don't always feature in the media, yet are extremely prevalent in our community.

SSFS were determined to create high-quality content that would not only have local but national appeal to gain a stable foothold with online audiences and longterm viability. Of course as with any quality product significant investment would be required. Yet, from the beginning the campaign gained major interest and financial backing in the form of grants and donations from private entities and local government organisations. The 'Pull Ya Head In' campaign was well on its way to success.

As video producers, our brief was to create a series of drama based films that would reveal the breadth of domestic violence and raise awareness of the issue. The project was a 2 year engagement beginning with the 90 second campaign film above. Working from real case studies, our goal was to script, direct and produce powerful, believable and even shocking content that would raise awareness and generate conversation.

The stage 1 film 'Pull Ya Head In' was well received, with screenings at football games, inside shopping centres, over 750,000 organic YouTube views and just recently (in 2021) used to support a TV news report on the ABC.

Following the success of the first film, the second film in the series 'What I See', was produced in 2016. 'What I See' is a 5-minute story told through the eyes of a child. The story highlights the impact domestic violence has on children as a 10-year old boy narrates his mixed and confused feelings about his father's behaviour towards his mother. The film was an even bigger success with more than 1.3 million organic YouTube views and screenings at multiple international film festivals.

Finally in 2017, the third instalment of the Pull Ya Head In campaign was produced. 'Escape' is a 6-part series with a total duration of 27 minutes, designed to be used within a series of training modules. Starring a number of well known Australian actors, the series debuted at NSW Parliament House to an audience of 150 movers and shakers in policy making, corporate responsibility and social justice. The film, again written from real events left the audience speechless! You can see the trailer below.

Since concluding the Pull Ya Head In campaign in 2017 GLOBAL has partnered twice with SSFS to create two series' of videos used to support their Toolbox Talks domestic violence awareness training for industry. The program has reached over 5,000 participants across a range of industries with positive participant feedback. The videos help to visualise other forms of domestic violence and have been successful in motivating discussion with men about disrespect, abuse and violence towards women.

We're proud of the films we've been able to produce for SSFS and we look forward to continuing to partner with them into the future.