Spending the Day Filming for the ABC and My Ten Minutes in the Spotlight

  As some of you may or may not be aware, last October I was lucky enough to spend a day filming for a TV segment called The Link, which aired on the ABC. I had been contacted by man named Andy about wanting to do an interview in regards to my blog and he asked if he could give me a call.

  I will admit, at first I assumed that he was somebody from a local news office wanting another online interview like the interview I did with Vice in November of 2016, the day before the US election.
When I spoke with him on the phone, he told me who he was and that he wanted to film a segment for The 7:30 Report later in the week.

  We had a brief chat and Andy mentioned that he would specifically like to talk to me in regards to Survivalism and how the sub-culture is portrayed here in Australia. I advised him of my work schedule, what the weather was likely to be and we agreed that he would come to my house on a Wednesday afternoon in early October.
  The days leading up were a blur, and whilst I still went to work and went about my everyday life, I was preoccupied and nervous about the prospect of being on national television with my friends, family, co-workers and even the residents that I care for being able to see such a close-up view of my personal and family life.
  I spoke with Andy several times during this time, setting up the time when he would arrive at my house, the gear that I needed to have ready, even where on the porch he wanted us to stand when he arrived. I should also mention that I didn't actually give him my address until the day of filming since neither of us actually thought about it until Andy was on his way.
  I spoke with Andy the morning that filming was due to take place and he advised me that he was on his way. My wife and I had ensured that the house was clean enough, or at least as clean as you can get it with two small children around, we spent the morning picking out our respective outfits for both ourselves and the children as well as making sure we had both had our morning coffees.

  Andy arrived at our house at approximately 9:30am, along with a camera-man named Patrick. I had spoken with Andy on the phone prior to his and Patrick's arrival and we had worked out roughly how the morning was going to go. We spent roughly an hour and a half sitting on kitchen chairs and chatting in my hallway. To be completely honest, I felt incredibly nervous and it took me at least a good half an hour to really become comfortable and forget that I was on camera. I found the most uncomfortable part was constantly being hooked up to a microphone.

  After the single interview was finished, which in itself was incredibly exhausting, we headed out to Enfield State Park. This location was chosen both for it's varied terrain and it's close proximity to my house. Most of our time there was spent in and around the Surface Point Picnic Area, filming drone shots of Andy and I walking through the sparse bushland, filming a gear load-out at the picnic bench as well as filming shots of us setting up and sitting under a shelter chatting. My only regret of that portion of the day was the fact that I had forgotten to include some items in my gear load-out such as my water purification kit, my Swiss army knife and some extra food items; all of which I keep in the side pockets of my pack.

Whilst it looks like we're just relaxing and having a chat, I was so tired and cranky by this point. 

  We then headed back to my place to interview my wife and have some lunch. She had been uneasy about the whole thing for the entire week leading up to filming and had told me numerous times that she felt uncomfortable about the idea of being on camera and I assured her that she didn't have to even be on television if she didn't want to. The scenes were filmed in our living room and my wife spoke while I ate a late lunch courtesy of the people at Kebabman. Andy and I had spoken between takes about our mutual love of kebabs and Halal snackpacks and he was kind enough to pick up a kebab for me to have for lunch.

  It was at the point that we had thought that filming was wrapped up, that Andy suggested we film the scenes of me punching the heavy bag. I wasn't entirely keen on the idea, as I was unsure how this would come across in the context of the rest of what we filmed; coupled with my own insecurities about my body image. We ended up doing it anyway as I thought that we had best have the footage and not need it, rather than wishing that we'd done it after the fact. As a consequence of it being that last part filmed for the day, yet one of the first pieces of footage shown, I feel like I look tired and worn out during the small snippets of footage shown. I will admit that I probably only see it this way because I know how I was feeling at this point.

  Filming finished at approximately 3:30pm when Andy and Patrick left my house to go back to their respective offices in their respective cities. I was left exhausted, but at the same time I felt a sense of accomplishment at having completed the day's filming as well as a sense of anticipation at what the finished product would be like. I feel that it is worth mentioning that Andy contacted me the following day and offered to withhold my surname on national TV, advising that whilst my name is out there in the media, my kids' names and details weren't. This was a very thoughtful gesture and something that both my wife and kids appreciated.

  When Friday night rolled around, I was at work on an afternoon shift so I didn't get the chance to see the program when it aired. I did catch it online after I finished, though. I have to admit that it was somewhat of a surreal experience to see myself on a mainstream media outlet. Whilst I have a YouTube channel where I talk to the camera, share my walks and sometimes share my views on everyday life, it is completely different when somebody else is in charge of both the camera and the editing process. Overall, I was very happy with the finished product and the reaction from the survival community was incredibly positive. I went back to work after the airing on Sunday and it took all of maybe an hour for somebody to say to me, "Was that you I saw on TV the other night?". I did finally catch the segment on TV, as my wife recorded it for us to watch later.

  I would like to extend a big thank you to both Andy and Patrick for being incredibly patient with me for the entire day, as well ensuring that the finished product was something that did the survival community some service. I want to give a special shout out to Stan Grant, as nobody in my life has ever referred to me as an "Aussie man". Overall the experience was incredibly positive, it gave an honest, candid view into survivalism, or at least what I consider to be survivalism here on the Victorian Goldfields and I hope that I get the opportunity to do more media in the future.

If you would like to watch the video, it can be found on the Facebook page for the 7:30 report here.