The Making of a Design-Driven Short Documentary

Recently, I had the opportunity to shoot and produce a short design-drive documentary for the legendary organisation company, Orbitkey, based in Melbourne for their 9th upcoming Kickstarter Campaign. The launch of the new Key Organizer Pro. The pitch consisted of creating a short, documentary style piece, to highlight and celebrate the meticulous design that went into creating a ‘the best Key Organizer out there’ that iterates on the already award-winning Key Organizer 2.0, that the company introduced 8 years ago.

The design-driven documentary involved discovery the history of Orbitkey’s founding 11 years ago and current mission with Co-Founder Charles Ng, and additionally sitting down with Lead Industrial Designer Richard Benson to deep-dive into what makes the new Key Organizer Pro, Pro.

Behind the scenes, capturing Lead Industrial Designer, Richard Benson on the Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2 — Photo By Ronan Jenkins.

Orbitkey, a leader in innovative everyday carry solutions, is thrilled to announce the launch of its latest product, the Key Organiser Pro. This premium key organizer takes key management to new heights, offering enhanced functionality, durability, and style. The Key Organiser Pro Range will be available from June 27th, in four colors; Blackout, Cedar, Evergreen and Sapphire. Some of the new features include; The New Quick Flip Tool, Refined Hardware, Advanced new built-in locking mechanism, tougher leather and hemmed edge design, fitting more keys and more.

Richard Benson with Co-Founder Charles Ng, inspecting design details on the Key Organizer Pro — Photo By Ronan Jenkins.

The shoot comprised of two days of principal photography, with additional macro-photography for the product reveal scenes, seen in the film. The short-documentary was primarily shot on Blackmagics Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and the Blackmagic 6K Pro, a great combination providing both incredible quality and flexibility of digital film, but a great deal of continuity between the two cameras when interchanging shots.

Some additional lenses and lightning gear used are as follows:

The Sigma 18-35mm, Samyang 50mm and 85mm Cine Primes and Canon EF 100mm Macro for lenses. The Apurture 200x and 100d with Lantern 90 and 90cm Parabolic Softbox for lighting. Alongside two Zihyun pocket lights for accents.

A big thank-you also to Ronan Jenkins for providing incredible support on the shooting days at Orbitkey Design Headquarters, and for the behind the scenes photography.

Exploring the design boards at Orbitkey Design HQ. Melbourne, Australia — Photo by Ronan Jenkins.

If you’re not too familiar with Orbitkey as a company, Orbitkey is a lifestyle brand helping people live better lives through clever and innovative organization solutions. It started in 2013 with a simple idea to solve the frustration of carrying messy keys. With the support of the crowdfunding community, the first Orbitkey Key Organiser was brought to life. Since then, Orbitkey has launched eight successful Kickstarter campaigns, raising over US$3.25 million.

This is the third project I’ve worked on with Orbitkey, and my favourite one to date. It’s incredible collaborating with their team and everyone else involved in the production on this documentary style shoot. You can find and watch the full design film below, or on my YouTube Channel @DesignedbyKirk