The Aussie Affair – A brainchild of six individuals who stepped into Australia with dreams, hopes and expectations of making it big, irrespective of the reasons they held while boarding the plane. We all got together with Chai Junction and decided what was it that all of us had in common apart from the course, our experience of the new country and how it demanded to be addressed.
Realizing from our personal experiences, how all of us as international students stepping into an unknown land come to usually traverse the trajectory of the three famous phases of the Honeymoon period, the culture shock and an essential most, the acceptance.
This is what we tried to showcase in our digital story through the real life experiences of international students from different corners of the world, trying to make the idea an empathetic take for people to pick on.
The entire video has been shot on Nikon D600, using a Xoom recorder with lapel mic for better audio clarity, the shoot was arranged in form of interviews to help our interviewees feel more at ease and be able to talk about their different stages from a point perspective than just having to shed light on the entire phase.
Locations like the University campus, hot points for international students like the Victorian library, federation square and the city streets were zeroed upon to maintain the relevant aesthetic requirements of the project. Also, when planning, we tried our best to view decisions both from a prospective student’s point of view or the ones looking for advice and understanding on how to keep the boat mounted.
Thereon, we realized that making a video to address the concerns of an international student was not sufficient, what was inevitably required was to use this digital story to establish a social platform for them to be able to connect and discuss their views as much as become aware. To objectify the same, as soon as the project was conceived, we made it viral on facebook, tumblr, twitter and wordpress.
Personally, I acquired too many enlightening moments during the entire pre-production and post-production stages – which were not only technical but the knowledge of how international students like me, came to call this unfamiliarised city their home. I found myself constantly relating with their experiences and thereon that feeling of ease on hearing the very words, ‘this too shall pass’ turned out to be the concurrent words of comfort.
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