The Story of The Wish 4 Fish Documentary
AN IN DEPTH DISCUSSION ABOUT THE CREATION OF MY FIRST DOCUMENTARY
I didn’t set out to be a documentary videographer, but once I met the amazing lead character of Bryce Dinneen I was magnetised with his aura and just knew I had to play a part in telling his story in some way or another. There was an instant connection there with Bryce and it was obvious that he was a very driven and passionate man.
In 2007 Bryce Dinneen had a horrific accident will out partying with his mates on a stag do. A decision to jump into Wellington Harbour that night changed his life forever. Bryce and his buddies had been having an amazing night and had just left the races. The boys thought going for a swim in the local Wellington water front was a great idea, but what started out as a bit of fun ended in tragedy as Bryce hit the bottom with devastating consequences. That day his life changed forever becoming a grade 4 tetraplegic.
Bryce only has 4% body function, but he hasn’t let that stop him from achieving more than what most normal people do in a lifetime. The following quote from the documentary explains Bryces personality through and through and shows why he has so many people in awe at what he has achieved “I only have 4% body function…so I just need to work 25 times as hard to get it up to the hundy”
Bryce’s doctors told him he would never fish again and so in true Bryce fashion he set out to prove them wrong…The aim of the Wish 4 Fish story is to take us on an emotional journey and take a deep dive into what it really is like to have a disability. That is all Bryce Dinneen is really asking for too. He doesn’t want any sympathy from you, he just wants you to understand what it feels like to have a disability. I learnt early doors as a documentary videographer that to tell this story in an authentic way I too needed to understand what it must feel like to live a day in Bryces shoes. It was this understanding that helped me map out a timeline for the documentary and really work out how this story needed to be told in the most compelling way.
After being told he wouldn’t fish again; instead of feeling sorry for himself Bryce fired up and got to work on figuring out a way that he could once again be out on the water enjoying the wind in his hair, and the good vibes with family and friends. No one could take his passion away from him and he set about doing the impossible. Bryce decided one day that he wanted to build a boat to take people with disabilities and mental hardship fishing. This was to enable people like Bryce to experience what it feels like to be out on the water. A feeling that he missed so much. The dream of building a purpose built boat for people with disabilities has now almost come to fruition and our job as the documentary videographers for this project is sadly coming to an end as well. It has been an amazing experience and one that we are so proud to be involved with.
When I started my business Mason Media I didn’t set out with the intention of ever creating a full length documentary or becoming a documentary videographer. It wasn’t something that had even crossed my mind and I was just enjoying using my camera and getting paid for it. However, once I met Bryce everything changed. He told me about his project with The Wish 4 Fish Charitable Trust and instantly I was engulfed with his energy and passion for the project. I knew I had to be involved with this one way or another. Just like Bryce I knew that his story needed to be told and I felt like Mason Media were the right company to tell this. All of a sudden the passion and energy that I had seen in Bryce was flowing through my veins just the same. I knew that I had to be the one to be the documentary videographer who filmed this for Bryce and his charity.
I remember that first day that I met Bryce in a local coffee shop. At the time I was only a few months into starting my videography business and I was still trying to build my confidence and skill level in an industry that was foreign to me (Changing from over a decade in the events management industry). We’ve all heard of the fake it to you make it mantra and that was the attitude I took into our meeting that first day. However, it wasn’t long before I let it slip that I wasn’t a documentary videographer and I had never been involved in a project like this before….but I sure as hell was keen to get amongst it. The conversation with Bryce flowed so easy and before we knew it we were deep in discussion about how the documentary would play out. I left that meeting excited, energised and enthused. Something that seems to rub off when you are around Bryce. I often think back about the process of creating the documentary and it seems kind of crazy that I have created this as a one man band. No second cameraman, no audio guys, no directors or producers…..just me and my camera. Usually documentaries require a huge number of people and resources and although it would have been amazing to have all of this available to me, I’m not sure this project would have been possible without the close friendship that has been formed between Bryce and myself. I have had the ability to drop everything and head out on a boat for the day or head down to the boat building yard and film the engine going in. I’m not sure a big team would have been able to be on top of these elements and this is why I have loved being involved as the documentary videographer for this project. It’s be a real run and gun project and I have loved every minute of it.. Not only for the excitement, but also for the unpredictability and being able to come up with solutions in a short time frame.
Bryce called me a couple of days after our coffee catch up and told me he was super keen to push forward with my services to create the Wish For Fish documentary. I honestly wasn’t sure I would get the gig considering my lack of experience as a documentary videographer, but Bryce told me that didn’t matter to him. I had shown him something that the others hadn’t. Excitement and passion and genuine front foot mentality. He told me he couldn’t teach that to the others and therefore according to Bryce there was no one else in the running. He wanted Mason Media to be the documentary videographers and tell the Story of Wish 4 Fish.
In all honesty at first I was a little thrown back by Bryce and his injury. He wasn’t even able to sip his own coffee without assistance from his carer. I felt sorry for Bryce and wasn’t quite sure how to act. However, it wasn’t long before I learnt that Bryce didn’t want my sympathy and he certainly didn’t want me to feel sorry for him. He was a man on a mission and it quickly became clear that although his life had changed that day in 2007, he still wanted to live life to the full. He was still the same old Bryce deep down and this remarkable man wouldn’t let anything get in the way of him achieving his goal. Bryce has often said that his life changed that day for a reason…and to find out why I guess you’ll have to watch the documentary when it is released.
I ran into many issues creating this documentary. The first being I had no idea how to script it. I couldn’t simply wing it and hope that a story line created itself. However, I had to dig deep and squeeze out of Bryce the story of Wish 4 Fish. I learnt early doors that I needed to be the driver behind the scripting and this required many meetings and catchups with Bryce to get the understanding of his story and what he and the charity were all about. This was a massive challenge, but one that I took very seriously and spent countless hours working on. I eventually presented the script to Bryce and off we went from there. It quickly became apparent that this documentary would be filmed on the smell of an oily rage. Something that made this even more difficult for an inexperienced documentary videographer. There was no money for anything apart from my services to film and edit. Although this was frustrating at times it helped improve my skills as a documentary videographer because I had to flex my creative muscles to make sure that I could produce something of value. A strong story surpasses everything so I needed to keep my mind ticking about how this story would play out and keep people completely engaged.
The experience of creating my first documentary was an amazing one and I have already penciled out many other ideas for my next documentary. Bryce and I actually have an idea for another documentary together and if you watch the Wish 4 Fish documentary you will find out what that is. At the end of the day I’m really excited to tell people’s stories and I love how this can be done through visual media. Please keep an eye out for anything that I create in the future and if you think of an idea for a documentary then please touch base with me and I’d love to meet up for a coffee and see how we can tell your story.
Jarod
The Wish 4 Fish Doco Teaser
