A Shot In The Dark - Behind The Scenes

Hopefully by now you've seen our brand project 'A Shot In The Dark', a short film that follows an adventurous crew aiming to capture a unique astro shot of the Milky Way. The 6-strong party - led by producers James Bennett and Clyde Vaughan - were tested by the complexity of marrying up changes in weather and location access, with the celestial body itself. Here we go behind the scenes to learn a little bit more about their shot.

Short Synopsis

James had allocated five days to get the shot - five days when the moon was virtually nothing and wouldn't rise until the morning, when the Milky Way would cross the gorge, and when hopefully it wouldn't rain or be cloudy for at least one of those five days. He knew that the weather wouldn't play ball completely so he'd organised for some abseiling in the down time while the team waited.

They drove approximately two hours south from Sydney, to a wonderland of outdoor adventure. A paradise containing hikes, climbing, abseiling, smaller bush walks, swimming and even caving. It is an outdoor adventurer's heaven and they had five days to enjoy it, so long as the weather played ball. Immediately they got to exploring, taking photos of the wildlife and beautiful landscapes in front of them. James of course had to go for a skinny dip in what might be the coldest water he's ever swum in!

Daily Diary - By Clyde

Day 1 started with a perfect morning but we could see that it would rain in the afternoon so we took the opportunity to get some abseiling done before it hit. It was the first time abseiling in a long time for most of the crew which made it pretty special. Only just managing to get the gear packed up before the rain set in but by the time we got back to camp everything left out was drenched.

Day 2 was a bit of a write-off. Let's not talk about it too much! It was so wet, the track down would have been on the dangerous side and I didn't want to risk being in the gorge during rain in case of a flash flood. We just hung around camp and enjoyed each other's company for the day. But it was a good opportunity to have a chat to the camera and for the crew to get to know each other a little better.

Some abseiling and short day walks kept everyone busy between takes. (Images courtesy of James Bennett and Clyde Vaughan)

Day 3 and another wet start. We couldn't get started on the day until 11am. We geared up and started the trek down into the gorge. What started as a fairly barren, dry and hot environment with little-to-no shade turned into a steep shale slippery slide before rapidly becoming a gorgeous rainforest. Finally it opened up into the most stunning gorge, it felt out of this world.

The gorge was flooded far more than expected. Unfortunately this meant we couldn't safely make it to the position James had planned the photo to be from and return from in the dark. So we scouted around and found new framing for the time lapses and photos. We explored the gorge while we waited for darkness to envelop us, unfortunately it rained yet again which picked up all our stress levels. Necks craned upwards. We watched the clouds for the next half hour to see if they'd pass when finally we noticed some blue further down the gorge. The clouds were moving fast and we had hope that we'd pull it off. Come 6pm and the clouds had finally lifted with the occasional cloud flying top speed through the gorge we knew tonight was the night. From this point on it was a waiting game, with cameras set there was nothing to do except eat, stay warm, watch the water level and play silly games to pass the time. It was now that we would get the shot that we were hoping for!

At about 10pm Sarah, Noah, Kitt and Josh started the trek back up the shale track to camp while James and Clyde stayed back because they wanted to get more out of the time-lapse. Eventually at 11pm-12am they also began their trek back. The track being a little more confusing in the darkness they fumbled their way through the rainforest section until it cleared out in the shale.

Day 4 and James had another section of video planned but the creek we needed to cross for it had risen too high preventing us from safely crossing. So James called it a trip well done. Satisfied with the shots we got, stoked on the time spent together and bodies a little tired from the day before we all embraced the early finish and headed home.

The flooded gorge kept everyone alert (left), and, seemingly hydrated (right). (Images courtesy of James Bennett and Clyde Vaughan)

Meet The Crew - By James

The crew I pulled together are from all parts of my life. Josh, who acted as our guide and ropes safety instructor I've known since high school. In fact he guided my grade 9 class through this exact location while he was studying outdoor rec at college. Noah and Clyde I've also known for a long time having done parkour with Clyde since we were about 17 years old and Noah I guess since I was about 16. Noah is a wild individual, the first up this tree or onto that rock. The spirit of an animal definitely lives inside of him. Clyde is tamer, but also ready to pop up a tree with us or slide over some rocks. Clyde knows his way around his camera (and probably anyone else's camera) better than anyone I know. I've learnt so much from him over the years. Sarah and Kitt I met on Australia Day at a free camp in Tasmania, they'd just come off the Spirit of Tasmania. We immediately connected and over the next three months we travelled Tasmania together on and off. Actually once on the mainland we met up with them again a month or so later. They also live and travel in their van, Sarah from Germany and Kitt from England. They've travelled the mainland from top to bottom. They probably know Australia better than most Australians do.

Follow Us!

@james_mbennett (James)

@cvexplores (Clyde)

@noahdawsonvisuals (Noah)

@thejoshw1 (Josh)

@shari.captures (Sarah)

@kittparker (Kitt)

The crew: James, Clyde, Noah, Josh, Sarah, Kitt. (Images courtesy of James Bennett and Clyde Vaughan)

Photo Credits

All images supplied by James Bennett & Clyde Vaughan

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