Behind a Muddy Drop
A micro film about the way we see life on earth
This is an exclusive for the readers of this newsletter … the premiere of the full, unadulterated, uncut and undiluted version of A Muddy Drop!
I set about making this microfilm after a grab from Mikaela Beckley in Episode 4 of Everything we need got snagged on a stray fibre in my mind. It feels good when a bit of sound does that. I’m always looking for those kind on moments when I edit.
I liked the grab for a few reasons; Mikaela’s tone and how her words were like a simple line drawing that holds deep significance - how Rob Law’s music lit her words up and took them someplace different — and how the water bug recordings below it all were actually alien voices from another universe speaking a language we don’t understand.
I chatted with YIMBY about the idea of making some kind of vision track to go with the grab and they were keen - it felt like there was something in there worth prying out.
We tried to press the block shape into a couple of different holes on the side of the brightly coloured box, but couldn’t find the right fit. Then I woke up and texted my cinematographer friend, Richard Wynn — to ask if he had a macro lens and could make a drop of water look the size of a planet. He sent through some test shots that afternoon and it all took shape from there.
I wanted to do something with the grab that was playing around with micro and macro worlds — Richard also had a drone and Mikaela had some great microbe footage she’d recorded herself on her phone. I was also keen to explore how we look down on life as if it’s under our microscope and within our control - but that actually we humans are the tiny microscopic things in the bigger picture that is life on earth.
Anyway, if appropriate, please share the SBS Audio version - and help this tiny piece of work do the big job of convincing people to stop and take time out of their busy lives to listen to Everything we need.
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I post links and resources on climate adaptation via Facebook at Kyla Brettle Podcasts and moments about my own climate adaptation story at Kyla Brettle on Instagram.