The research team identified early in the data analysis process that across all the groups, throughout the country, an overwhelming theme was that the majority of people were concerned about nature, felt isolated and alone, and afraid to voice what is on their minds.
A powerful insight is only powerful if you can share it. So we were compelled to find a way to bring it all to life, in a way that everyone could relate to and be empowered by.
More of us are worried about nature
than we realise.
The film aims to bring this feeling to life. By visualising the three typical New Zealanders feeling ‘shut down’, then revealing that this hesitancy is actually inside their own heads, and we are all feeling it. We aim to inspire self-reflection about those moments and encourage people to speak up.
Director Alyx Duncan was passionate about making the visual transition from ‘inside’ to the outside world powerful and authentic. The lighting change was all done in-camera, with the ingenuity and dedication of the crew, and many takes from the actors.
Each character represents a collection of people our researchers met around the country. Their personas and words are inspired by the real life people and the real things they shared with us. Around the country we met many versions of “Scotty”, “Shelley” and “Amy”.
We aimed to represent the many New Zealanders we met through three characters. There were many voices in our study we couldn’t include individually. Nevertheless, these overwhelmingly echoed the same feelings of worry for nature, isolation, and reluctance to speak up.