Rodney:

There are some really strong images in this piece, subtle use of music.
 
I would like to have had ID's on the people who spoke because it feels more like a news project.

One thing that became apparent as I watched and listened to your project is that we all make certain assumptions about our audience. I had never heard of this tragedy, nor black Saturday, and it took me a long time to figure out what kind of fire it was. While I thought the use of a newscaster was good at the start, some more details would have helped. Even a on Saturday the ____ of ___, 20__ a bushfire swept through the town/village of Kinglake. x,xxx hectares were burned in xx amount of time. It is formulaic but gives me information I am not getting from the first person accounts.

As with almost every project on this site, I think it could be shorter. You sort of have two community coming together sections, perhaps you only need one. As with any other photo project, it is only as strong as the weakest image, so shorter means a tighter edit and an overall stronger feel photographically. I one time edited a piece from 14 minutes down to seven and it was physically difficult, but I would only use people's comments if they are offering new information or insight. The guy draining the radiator section was amazing. If you read anything else on FtF, check out Colin's and others thoughts on putting your best stuff at the beginning to catch people's imagination and attention.

Overall there is a flow to the project, so I would not chop away or reorganize, but if you do edit down, look for the repeats, sometimes it helps to have the transcript and read what people are saying.

Congrats on being a finalist, let us know how it goes.

Looking forward to seeing more work from you.

Cheers,
Mike