FROM what started as a chance to test out his new camera tripod, a video tour of Bogan Gate has seen Mitchell Coombs become a viral video sensation in just a few short days.
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Mitchell, who grew up in Bogan Gate and is a graduate of Red Bend Catholic College, randomly decided to make a video of his hometown to give his Sydney friends a glimpse of life in the small town.
"The idea just came to me at random," the 19-year-old said.
"When I got an email to say a camera tripod I ordered was at the Bogan Gate Post Office, I thought I'd test it out.
"I thought I'd give [my Sydney friends] a bit of an insight and make it funny at the same time."
In the video, Mitchell takes viewers on an entertaining tour of Bogan Gate's highlights featuring the Bogan Gate pub/general store/post office, the "lush, green" tennis courts, the Bogan Gate Golf Club, the lagoon (or le goon), the park, the Arts and Craft Shop, the local tip, the memorial hall, the Anglican Church where he had a close encounter with a 'snake' (which turned out to be a lizard) and the actual bogan gate.
What makes the video so engaging is Mitchell's dry humour and constant digs at himself.
"That's my favourite type of humour, making fun of myself," he said.
"I think the reason it resonated so well was because it was done in a funny way, a lot of people related to it.
"I've had two reactions to the video, the people who could relate to it and those who couldn't relate to it at all."
The tour was filmed on Thursday afternoon, Mitchell uploaded it that night (with the intention of posting it on Facebook at the prime-time of 7.30pm, however due to dodgy internet it didn't load until 9pm) and then by the following morning it had already had 10,000 views.
It has now had more than 160,000 views and has been shared well over 2,000 times.
"In its prime, I was getting comments every three to five minutes," Mitchell said.
The video has also gained the attention of multiple news outlets including The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Prime7, 2UE radio and Now FM in Moree.
The Daily Mail also shared it with their UK site, so now Mitchell has been getting messages from people from all over the world who have seen the video.
Mitchell said he didn't expect it to receive this much attention.
"I hoped it would get plenty of views, like a handful," he said.
"It's weird, people have been recognising me.
"The 15 minutes of fame will die down soon I'm sure."
Mitchell hopes the video might help his aspiring media career.
"It's really good because it's opened quite a few doors," he said.
"It's not what you know, it's who you know."
This year Mitch completed a TAFE diploma of screen and media, majoring in radio in Sydney and next year he hopes to pursue media and communications at a tertiary level.
Through his TAFE course Mitchell had done a lot of video editing and spent a term making a weekly podcast with two of his peers, Stevee and Tia. The trio had set up a Facebook page, Stevee, Tia and Mitch, where they posted their podcasts and online content.
This is where the Bogan Gate video was uploaded.
"As a result of the video, lots of people are checking out our Facebook page," Mitchell said.
Before the video was uploaded, the Stevee, Tia and Mitch page had 140 likes. It now has 900.
"That audience has grown so much, I'd like to keep making videos," Mitchell said.
"I did film one yesterday of us marking lambs.
"The comic value is I don't belong on a farm, I'm like a fish out of water."
And with all the attention that Bogan Gate has received over the past few days, what do the locals think of the video?
"We had our community Christmas carols Sunday night and lots of people were saying they really liked it," Mitchell said.
"People were thanking me for plugging the craft shop and naming our Anzac ceremony.
"But there are lots that are angry that I forgot the school."
As it turns out, Mitchell didn't forget to include the Bogan Gate school but just didn't want to be seen filming while there were kids in the playground.
There were also a number of other landmarks such as the cemetery, the police station and the GrainCorp site that didn't make the cut.
And, just in case you were wondering, the 'snake' scene really did happen.
The video can be found on the Stevee, Tia and Mitch Facebook page, where Mitchell plans to post more videos.
