A conversation with Dom West, ACS, Louis Cooper-Robinson, and Charles Davis

NATIVE is an immersive short film exploring one of Australia’s most complex and controversial ecological relationships: humans and dingoes. Set deep within a vast dune landscape, the film follows photographer Charles Davis as he tracks an elusive pack, blending observational storytelling with cinematic restraint. We spoke with the team about their approach, the environment, and the tools that helped bring the story to life.

What first drew you to the story behind NATIVE, and why did you want to explore it through an immersive short format?

Dingo and human coexistence is one of Australia’s most controversial ecological debates and is something we’ve been looking to explore for some time. They are Australia’s largest native land predator and quite the underdog in society, but their place in the ecosystem has become somewhat political. It wasn’t until we heard about this elusive pack of dingoes hidden deep in the dunes that Photographer Charles Davis had been tracking, that we felt we could do this story justice. When listening to Charles describing the hunt he embarks on to capture moments like you see in the film, we immediately felt there was a great opportunity to immerse people into Charles' visceral world as he attempts to encounter this illusive species. Charles relies heavily on his five senses during the process and so we wanted to convey this to the audience in the strongest way possible, taking a more observational approach to transport viewers into his mind and the world around him.

How did the dune landscape shape your visual language and the way you wanted the audience to experience the film?

Dingoes are found across a diverse array of habitats in Australia from temperate regions to alpine highlands, but to witness them in this vast, desolate dunescape was incredibly striking. We felt that restricting the story to this unique pocket where this subpopulation exists was perfect for the story we wanted to tell. From a creative perspective, the light and geometric shapes that the dunes present gave us an incredible tapestry to work with while capturing this unique human-wildlife encounter. The topography of the peaks and troughs of the dunes allow for so many places to hide. With sand-sculpted vantage points to the never ending mirage of dunes, this dynamic ecosystem is a visual feast like no other. Of course this makes for a harsh, unforgiving environment to film in. From relentless winds whipping up sand onto our equipment, to the intense heat with no shade in sight, spending time in this harsh environment made it clear to us that only highly adapted, resilient creatures like the dingo can survive in these tough environments.

Much of NATIVE was captured at sunrise and sunset. How did those short, transitional light windows influence your approach to framing and designing each shot?

As beautiful as the dramatic light at sunrise and sun set is, the choice to shoot in these windows was rather driven by Charle’s process itself. To find these desert dwelling animals in a seemingly endless landscape, you need to be one step ahead of them. Charles relies heavily on his understanding of their behavioural patterns which often centred around early morning movements when the temperature was low. This meant starting the hunt pre-dawn, allowing us to lean into moody silhouettes where we could keep elements of Charle’s character a mystery. As the sun would rise, equally we wanted the audience to feel the harshness of life in the desert for these animals and so would search for bold frames with the sun centre frame.

You shot with both the V-RAPTOR VV and the KOMODO. How did each camera fit into your approach?

V-RAPTOR VV was our primary camera for this film. Using the larger VV sensor was pivotal in allowing us to truly capture the vastness of this environment, but also allowed us to isolate Charles in ways that are not possible with smaller sensors. The compact nature of the V-RAPTOR was also crucial – having a camera that you can stick in a back pack and operate with minimal crew is game changing for these kinds of low key projects. KOMODO was used as our second camera, run as a separate gimbal set up to keep things extra light weight and speed up the process during our small windows of light.

What do you hope audiences walk away with after experiencing NATIVE—about dingoes, their history, and their place in Australia’s future?

We hope that this film is just the tip of the iceberg and piques the interest of audiences into the existence of dingoes in Australia. We also wanted to demonstrate that dingoes are misunderstood and that our relationship with nature as humans at such a pivotal time in history should be re-evaluated. It’s often through feelings and emotions that audiences feel moved into engaging with a subject matter and so we hope this film will help to portray another perspective of dingoes which is different to that which the mass media presents. There are many schools of thought in terms of the dingo’s place in society and how they are ‘managed’ by humans, but of course many of these perspectives have agendas depending on an individual’s vested interests. We hope by transporting audiences into the immersive world of dingoes they’re able to appreciate and celebrate this iconic predator that continues to play a key role in Australia's ecosystems.

Where can audiences experience Charles Davis’ artwork?

Charles Davis is known for his incredible photographs of iconic Australian wildlife in the frozen regions of the Snowy Mountains. It was a real privilege for Charles to invite us into his world in a completely new landscape away from the cold, to document his pursuit of tracking and portraying Australian wildlife in their raw and natural beauty. Charles has a stunning gallery at the foothills of the Snowy Mountains in Cooma which is a must visit for anyone in the region – often a popular stopoff for skiers who are staying in Perisher or Jindabyne. Charles’s work can also be seen on his website and Instagram and often highly awarded and nominated in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year and UK’s Natural History Museum Nature Photographer of the Year.