Skunked
Another World
A Film By Isaac Chadwick
New Zealand surf filmmaker Isaac Chadwick shares his latest film, “Skunked”, about a group of friends on a surf trip in Eastern Indonesia. Isaac opens up about lack of footage and swells, driving 14 hours through dangerous terrain, and an adventure of a lifetime.
Presented By Hydro and Sun Zapper New Zealand
Eastern Indonesia
You are sharing your surf film, "Skunked". What is this film about?
Basically "Skunked" documents a trip myself and a group of mates took to the far stretches of Indonesia in the middle of last year. We decided to go for a solid 2 months to try and find some pumping waves with the intention of making a 'surf epic'. Needless to say not everything went to plan but we still managed to get a couple really good sessions under our belt.
Why Indonesia? What drew you to this country?
For those not in the know, Indonesia is located at the bottom of South East Asia and consists of hundreds of islands which cop a lot of swell from the Indian ocean during their "Dry Season". This lines up perfectly with New Zealand's winter so it's a good excuse to get out of the country and chase some waves in boardshorts instead of a 4/3mm Wetsuit haha.
We'd already been the previous year (2023) but had been in the far Western corner of Indonesia on this island called Simeulue. That part of Indonesia is super tropical and lush, so this time we wanted to experience something different which led us deciding to go East where it's generally a lot more dry and 'deserty' so-to-speak.
What were some struggles you faced while traveling?
Honestly, the main struggle we faced was the lack of swell while we were in Indonesia. We honestly got super unlucky as the week before we got there, they experienced one of the best runs of swell in years and a couple of weeks after we left the same thing happened again. Not much you can do except laugh about it really haha.
Another struggle was getting from place to place. Usually you would fly from island to island but for whatever reason this year the main airline, Lion Air, were charging 1 Million Rupiah (Approx $100 NZD) per board which was pretty unrealistic for our group travelling around on a budget. That meant the cheapest option to get around was to rent these beat up Toyota's most of the time. Honestly, it was pretty fun but it could be pretty brutal as well with the amount of driving we had to do.
About half way through our trip we decided we wanted to go to this spot called Lakey Peak which is located in the eastern part of Sumbawa. Via plane, this would only be a couple hours but because we had rented out cars it ended up being a solid 14+ drive through some very sketchy conditions. We ended up going out the night before we left which meant we didn't get going till mid morning, defiantly not the smartest idea haha. The problem this created is that about 1/3 of the way through it started getting dark and we suddenly realized the high beams on our car didn't work. To add to this, Indonesian road rules can be simply describes as slightly controlled chaos. It's definitely a free for all in terms of which side of the road people drive one. There's also these huge night buses which will be steaming around blind corners on the wrong side of the road so you better get out of the way fast. Luckly we managed to do the drive relatively unscathed with a few close calls here and there.
Tell the story behind one of the images you took while in Indonesia
This photo is probably my personal favourite from my disposable camera. From memory, it was from our first full day in Desert Point, waiting for the tide to be just right. It's so funny how the social side of this place works. Usually the wave only works on the lower tides, eg twice a day, but it can randomly start pumping at random intervals as well. What this means is you've basically got a bunch of people waiting around for someone to make the first move to get out there and see if it's any good. It's almost like a big game of chicken haha.
What were some other memorable moments?
There were definitely quite a few memorable nights out when there was no surf! Especially when we were at Lakey Peak we had a couple nights on the beers with some surf dads from NZ. They were there with their kids so I think they were just pretty stoked to have beers and talk shit with a bunch of 20-somethings for a change haha. There was one night that got a bit out of hand but not sure how much I can really say except we sure had a lot of fun and maybe too much.
How did you approach making "Skunked"? What kind of preparation did you do before the trip?
Honestly, I didn't do much prep for this film at all besides booking flights to Indo haha. We knew we wanted to stick out East but beyond that, we really just wanted to be able to go with the flow and chase waves wherever they were and not be locked into a certain spot for too long.
I always have a general idea of what I want a clip to look like but more often than not that image has completely changed by the time filming is all done. It's just entirely dependant on what footage you get and then how you choose to interpret that creatively.
While filming, were there any obstacles or challenges that you had to overcome?
The heat is always a big factor over in Indonesia. Especially with the fact my camera is a little on the old side these days means it's constantly overheating unless I find the perfect amount of shade. It's like a game juggling turning my camera off to it can cool down while trying to time it between sets. Does my head in sometimes haha.
There was that and then shooting from the water that where the main challenges. When you're shooting at a heavy reef break you've never been too before there can be a pretty steep learning curve. Generally, I like to keep my distance at first and just watch as the sets roll through so I can figure out where's safe and where isn't. The last thing I wanna do is go out to a place I don't know and be a liability in the water. It can be challenging at times but it's so satisfying once you've 'figured out' a wave.
How did the country inspire you? Why did you enjoy shooting there?
Honestly, Indonesia is just such a completely different world compared to what we're used to in New Zealand but it's also weirdly familiar as well. In terms of the environment, it's just this intense tropical, beachy, and deserty paradise but it can also be extremely harsh at times. It's one of those place where you do need to have your wits about you because if things go wrong it can be really wrong, not to get too heavy but it's super easy to die out those ways. Whether it's by hitting the reef in the wrong spot, copping some weird infection or being on the wrong side of a car accident, serious injury isn't far away.
But that's what makes it so reward is because in spite of this you're pretty much guaranteed to make some of the nicest locals in the world who would give you the cloths of youre back if you needed it. If you take the time to get away from the touristy traps you can meet some seriously amazing people. Oh, and the waves are obviously amazing as well. It's just this amazing Ying and Yang situation going on haha
What was the editing process like? How would you describe your editing style for the film?
Editing wise it was definitely a tricky one for me. Because we didn't get a whole lot of useable footage it was always gonna be difficult to put together a decent clip that told a story. In the end, I decided to just lean into that side of it and sorta make that the story of the film haha. I also somehow got some crazy psychedelic visuals going on for some reason haha. Not really sure where they came from but I feel like it definitely gives the film a strong visual identity. It kinda barrows from one of my earlier films, BASK: Volume II, which was a bit more artistically out there.
What's next for "Skunked"? What's next for you?
Well hopefully by the time people are reading this it'll be out on my YouTube! (Insert link here haha) As for me I'm not 100% sure to be honest. I'm currently putting my head down to save up money to upgrade all of my filming kit and have enough to move to the Gold Coast over in Australia as that's where a lot of the surf industry is based. I'll give myself a few years to properly give this 'Surf Filmmaker' thing a crack, not really sure what I'll do if it all goes to shit but I'll figure it out haha.
