Out of Our Depth

A poetic contemplation on how climate change is causing significant erosion along Victoria’s Western Coastline. From the Bellarine Peninsula to the Great Ocean Road, it entails the stories of 3 women who are hoping to conserve this environment.

It took a while for the idea of this documentary to come to me, my initial ideas had much less depth, where I thought I’d tell a story about a day in the life of a surfer or something quite lighthearted. However there was always this underlying subject in my ideas: the subject of the coastline and how people relate to it. Eventually I came up with the story for Out of Our Depth, using my own experience to create a documentary about climate change impacting Victoria’s surf coast and the people that live there. I payed many visits to this coastline during its creation, recording and experimenting with audiovisual and seeking feedback to discover the best ways to tell this story about erosion and environmental destruction.

This is probably the most rewarding work I’ve ever created. I’d never made a documentary before this, only short films and experimental artworks, and I didn’t think I’d be able to achieve this. Based on my experience, creating a documentary that draws on experimental techniques really helped me to apply the skills I already had to something new. I can now say that I’ve made a documentary that I’m proud of, that I really identify with, and I hope that it’s a successful awareness piece.