Kai Ika Project
Conservation · Community · Sustainability · Documentary
Film: Kai Ika Project YouTube Video
Project Type: YouTube, Documentary
Role: Cinematographer, Story Direction, Voice-over Development, Editor, Colourist
THE STORY
The Kai Ika Project is a sustainability initiative that gives fish heads, frames and other parts of the catch that might otherwise go to waste to people and communities who value them as kai.
The project challenges the idea of what is considered waste, while creating a way for food that would otherwise be discarded to be put to good use. For some, these parts are considered a delicacy; for others, they provide an important source of food.
I created this film for Tane Tarlton's YouTube channel, following Tane as he experienced the project first-hand and met the people making it happen.
The film was one of six episodes I have created for Tane's channel, which together have generated more than 200,000 views, with this episode reaching 36,000+ views.
The strong response to the series demonstrates the ability to take meaningful environmental and community stories and turn them into engaging content for a broad online audience.
THE APPROACH
The challenge with this style of filmmaking is that the story is happening in real time. There is no opportunity to stop the action and recreate a moment, so my role is to anticipate what is happening, stay adaptable and make sure the important moments are captured as they unfold.
Working alongside Tane as host, I directed and captured the story on the fly, balancing documentary coverage with the cinematic imagery needed to keep the audience engaged.
Once filming was complete, I shaped the footage into a compelling YouTube documentary, developing the story direction, edit and pacing to create a narrative that would keep viewers watching.
I worked with Tane on the voice-over script, then completed the colour grade and sound design to give the finished film a polished cinematic feel while retaining the authenticity of the documentary format.
The result is a film that combines the immediacy of YouTube with the storytelling and visual language of documentary filmmaking.