I loved creating this short film.
Spending the time cruising around the small town of Murwillumbah in Northern NSW (Australia) with my camera, finally shooting some of the beautiful scenes I see everyday on my way to work.
It was the first time I had tried to shoot in 4k with my Fuji X-T4. I had been shooting in 1080p up until this point, but I really wanted to up my visual game. I wanted to develop my filming skills, and also try and do the beauty of this place proud.
As I was filming, I was thinking about my students, and how many of them couldn’t wait to finish school and get out of there.
To just leave.
And I completely understand it.
There is so much more to the world, and it’s so natural to want to go and explore it for yourself.
But at the same time I was having conversations with my friends, and other teachers at my school about how wonderful this little town is, and also how many people had moved there lately.
I loved the dichotomy.
I loved the difference between the generations. And I was in the centre of it.
So as I filmed, the thoughts developed and I wrote a script and out of nowhere, the song by Radiohead, No surprises came back to me through a student who was learning it.
It was such a perfect representation of both what the students where trying to get away from, and what the adults where trying to cultivate. As I developed the script, I learnt to play it on guitar, and arranged it on the electric guitar to give it some grunge, and take away a little of the pretty.
I shared it to the local community Facebook page (Murbah Matters) and it gained some good traction and beautiful comments. So far it has been the most enjoyable overall experience I’ve had creating a video and sharing it to the world.
Filmed in Murwillumbah and Coolangatta
Song: Radiohead - No Surprises
All video, words and music performed and recorded by Jimmy Kakanis. #videoessay
Share this post