Back in 2016, while studying at SAE, I shot a short absurdist comedy called House Hunters & Gatherers — a stone-age twist on the chaos of modern house hunting.
The story follows Ug (Jamie Treselyan) and Oot (Crystal Moran), two cavepeople on the search for something better: a new place to call home. They team up with Eng (Ben Betts), a prehistoric real estate agent, who shows them all the “properties” available — each somehow worse than the last. It’s proof that even 10,000 years ago, house hunting was brutal.
We filmed on location in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, hiking gear and camera equipment through the bush to find the perfect rugged backdrops. It was a lot of fun — and a lot of spiderwebs — but worth it for gorgeous backdrops on a student budget.
When crafting the edit with Tyson (the editor), it taught me a lot about comedic timing. It took multiple re-edits to get the pacing just right — leaning into the awkwardness, letting the absurd moments breathe, and finding the balance between silence and punchline. It was one of my first real lessons in how important editing is to comedy.
Looking back, this project reminds me how much fun filmmaking can be when you just go for it. No WiFi, no budget — just a few cavemen, some questionable "real estate," and a great team.
Here's a couple things I learned:
Comedy is built in the edit.
Timing matters — even if it seemed funny on paper, half a second can change whether a joke lands or misses. Being willing to rework and fine-tune the cut made a massive difference.
Location can make (or break) the world.
Filming in Ku-ring-gai Chase gave the short film a grounded, believable feel — it felt like we were genuinely transported back in time during filming.
