1. Who are Department of Information? 

Noah: A few mates making documentaries on things we’re interested in. 

  1. How’d you all meet? 

Noah: Louis and I met at uni. Gryffin’s my cousin. 

  1. How did DOI start? 

Louis: We were all helping out at 95bFM and John Campbell came in one evening to give a talk. He told everyone off for only speaking with pundits, politicians and academics. Instead, he said we should be trying to talk to regular people actually impacted or involved in the issues. That inspired us a lot and at the same time, Brian Tamaki was hosting his infamous anti-mandate marches. No one from any media had really talked with any of the protesters, despite coverage of them being on the front page every day, so we headed out to chat with people at one aptly called ‘The Father of All Protests’. We chose video because it was just what everyone we knew consumed. So, I guess DOI officially started on Crate Day 2021, when we posted that first video – a good way to celebrate finishing it… 

  1. What’s your fave story you’ve covered? 

Gryffin: For me I really loved making the hunt for the south island Kōkako. It was just the three of us and Rhys, deep in the Tasman bush area for a few days. We carried all our gear in and out on packs, and just became fully immersed in Rhys’s magical world amongst the trees and the birds. I don’t think he will ever find the bird, but I also think if he found it, he might not know what to do with himself. For sure I’ll go and catch up with him next time I’m near Nelson.  

  1. How’d you score a collab with vice? 

Noah: They just sent us an email and asked if we wanted to make a video for them, I think they’d just seen some of our stuff on Instagram 

  1. How were vice to work with? How involved were they in the production process? 

Noah: It took ages but mostly because we kept shooting more sections when we were meant to have finished it. They were pretty chill about it though and let us do whatever we wanted most of the time. The process was pretty much the same, we just had to get heaps of permission forms signed because they’re a big company and don’t wanna get sued 

  1. Most cooked city in Aotearoa? 

Louis: Gotta be Auckland just for sheer scale and pockets of cookedness. We’re all overseas right now and you miss the unique side of it, especially things like kids on their siren bikes, K-road crackheads, or the feeling that you’re just in one big Facebook community page.  

  1. Most cooked town in Aotearoa? 

Louis: Personally, this goes to one of the little ex-mining towns on the West Coast. Somewhere like Blackball or Greymouth. They’ve got this strange mix of farmers, hippies, off-grid-fuck-the-government types and just lots of strange characters who haven’t ever left that part of NZ. We went down there a couple years ago and two of the weirdly common things people said were that the government wanted to wipe them off the face of NZ and that they’d never been on a plane before.  

  1. How’s the UK going? 

Noah: Documentary wise it’s going pretty good. I don’t know if you can say the same about the country as a whole lol. 

  1. How different are British people in front of a camera? 

Noah: I think they’re a bit more open maybe, Kiwis can be pretty reserved and don’t want to make themselves the centre of attention so much. Mostly though it’s just about spending lots of time with someone and listening to them properly and I think that’s the same wherever you are. 

  1. What’s your camera and audio set up? 

Louis: 2x Lumix GH5’s, a set of lapel microphones, and if we’re lucky, we can borrow Noah’s flatmate’s Sony FX3. We try and keep it pretty stripped back because there’s a beauty to the access you can get when your gear doesn’t intimidate the people you’re interviewing.  

  1. Do you write questions beforehand, bring notes, riff off interview subjects, or run the whole set up in a film studio? 

Louis: Nah, we never write the questions beforehand. The only time was when we interviewed JPEGMAFIA and spent three days consuming every single piece of media he’d ever done. Our process usually involves endless discussion with each other over what we find interesting or unique and then once we’re in the field, it’s mainly just hanging out and staying curious. There’s a much more natural feeling when you let the subject guide the interview and as the interviewer, you take a step back. Sometimes I think interviewers forget the story isn’t about them and it’s not your experiences which people are there to learn about. 

  1. How’d you make your intro? 

Gryffin: I was watching a guy called Joel Haver on youtube back when we started out – and he used this software called Ebsynth which gave a strange semi digital effect for animating. So, for the intro I used Ebsynth along with these videos from elevator enthusiasts online to draw a kind of entry into the DOI offices. Maybe one day we’ll have a real office and it can be based off the intro.  

  1. Has anyone ever mistaken you for a government department? 

Louis: The name confuses everyone. We’ve been asked if we’re the government, the BBC, the Department of Conservation, NZ Herald, meme accounts and everything in between. Usually, we just go with it and show them the account after the interview.  

  1. Fave NZ journalist? 

Noah: John Campbell is the goat. He came and spoke to us when we were at bFM about how we all need to be talking to everyday people rather than just politicians and spokespeople and I think that was one of the biggest things that really pushed us to make the channel. 

  1. Who inspired your style? 

Louis: I think in the past, we’d usually point to similar journalists like VICE or Louis Theroux. But to be honest, we’re inspired by everything from conversations we have at the bus stop with random old men, movies, books, music, crack up stories from a good friend, random old New Zealand documentaries you can find online, Facebook community pages and so on. This all culminates in a certain approach, where we want our videos (not that we’re there yet) to reach a tight balance between entertainment, art, and journalism.  

  1. What makes good journalism? 

Louis: Listening. Putting aside your own biases. Caring about people and stories. Empathy.  

  1. How do you feel about the mainstream media institutions of Aotearoa? 

Louis: I reckon when you’re in New Zealand they seem pretty average but now we’re overseas, it’s clear they are so much better than what the rest of the world has. They can be corny a lot of the time though. 

Noah: Yeah being in the UK makes me miss NZ media a lot. 

  1. How do you get your leads, invites to events, and welcomed to crews? 

Noah: All sorts of things. Facebook community pages are really good. We’ve got a bit of a following on Instagram now too which has made it easier to get in touch with people. And sometimes it’s more random, just hearing about a story or a good person to talk to from a friend. 

  1. Is there a process of building trust with interview subjects? If so, what does this look like? 

Louis: It depends really. We usually just hang out with them and play it by ear. Sometimes we’ll film everything and that can be a good way of building trust while they become more comfortable on camera. Other times, we’ll just chat off-camera and do normal stuff until they feel ready to share. The recent manu video we shot was after almost six months working for the Manu World Champs, where I’d spent every weekend and evening at bombing spots – sometimes filming, but mostly just getting roasted for my shit bombs. Anyway, by the time we shot the documentary in Feb/March, we had close connections with most of the crews and filming was almost more just hanging out as mates.  

  1. Best JPEG track? 

Noah: either on or off the drugs 

  1. Are hippies or drinkers more fun to interview? 

Noah: We just shot a documentary on crop circles in rural England and all the hippies there were drinking from midday to midnight every day. That’s the dream venn diagram overlap, hippies who drink heaps. 

  1. Do the left or right seem to be more aggressive at protests? Do any other differences stand out? 

Louis: Not gonna lie, I don’t think any kiwi protesters are that aggressive. Even the most cooked conspiracy theorists will invite you in for a meal or a drink if you listen to their crazy views for long enough. That being said, Noah’s interviewed at quite a few Tommy Robinson protests in the UK and those guys can be violent if they don’t like you. I think his camera operator even got punched up at one of them.  

Noah: Yeah shout out Nick Cook who was filming. He has a mullet and his ears pierced so stuck out a bit from the average Tommy Robinson fan and got punched in the head. He got concussed and can’t really remember a lot of the protest, but his filming was still great 

  1. Is politics and news or culture more enjoyable to cover? 

Gryffin: I think we’ve moved away a bit from news coverage. It can be really fast, filming at a specific event – but we tend to get more out of longer, slower projects where you really get to know the subjects and can portray them in a much more authentic way. Being able to spend many weekends with people over several months, or a few intense weeks in one location can reach something more fulfilling than news sort of events, but there’s still a place for those if there’s something really important going on and we are around to cover it. 

Noah: Yeah we’re pretty aware of current events but try not focus on it too much as the main subject of our videos now. We’d rather tackle bigger political things by letting them come through in the background of our videos. The Bikelife or Glasgow docos aren’t just about motorbikes or football – but we kinda want to leave it to the viewers to read into the other stuff. 

  1. Is skid culture or BikeLife the cooler vehicular culture? 

Louis: Definitely bikelife, is that even a question? 

  1. Nicest musician, artist, or public figure you’ve worked with? 

Noah: Everyone’s been pretty nice but I reckon JPEGMAFIA might have been the nicest. He thought he was just doing a normal sit-down interview while on tour but turned up to find some unprepared 20 year olds asking him to go and talk to random people on the street. It would have been so fair if he’d sacked it off and just gone back to his hotel but he gave us his time and really got into it. 

  1. Are times getting better or worse for your style of documentary and interview? 

Gryffin: Probably never been better, anyone can just start posting videos with their mates online. The barrier to entry is so low and if you make interesting stuff, people are gonna like it and watch along. 

  1. Who are the most reasonable subculture you’ve encountered that are seen as crazy? 

Louis: Siren crews. They are so kind and welcoming and just wanna blast Celine Dion. There are issues with any subculture but they get such a bad reputation for no reason except for annoying whiny people in the burbs. They should go have a boogie with them instead of getting annoyed on Facebook.  

  1. Any wild stories from the crew travelling around that had nothing to do with your work? 

Louis: What happens in the field stays in the field. 

Noah: But yeah the best bits of pretty much every doco happen as soon as we stop recording. 

  1. Words of advice for us wannabe journalists here at Nexus and hopeful students across Aotearoa? 

Noah: Make stuff for you and your mates. Stuff that you’re interested in or find funny or want an excuse to be around. 

Louis: And ask questions about everything. We found it hard to ask more serious stuff early on because we thought it was too personal or intrusive but a lot of the time that’s what people actually want to talk about. Ask your teacher about death, ask your mum about her childhood, ask the homeless guy about his first love. If they don’t want to answer, they can always say no.  

  1. What’s the meaning of life? 

Louis: Probably fuck all. Just be kind, have fun, look after your friends and family, stay curious.