October 2009 Archives
On Friday 16th and Saturday 17th October, Yvette and Nat from FTI's Production Support attended the annual SPAA Fringe conference, sponsored by Screen Australia, at the FOXTEL Television Centre in North Ryde. We were there to watch some informative seminars as well as to support Jules Duncan, the WA State Finalist for the SDA Pitching competition, as he pitched his project 'Cashed Up Bogans' to an industry panel and full house.
SPAA Fringe is an interactive two-day seminar for emerging film, television and online content makers who are interested in building their community and career within the Australian screen industry. The event was comprised of workshops, roundtables, one-on-one sessions, panel discussions, film screenings and social networking events and also provided a unique opportunity for the emerging sector to network with and pitch to, like-minded content creators, established professionals in the screen industry and local and international financiers.
People who were interested in similar projects or subjects could participate in a discussion thread on Fringe Facebook; while The Melting Pot, a social networking online portal where filmmakers could collaborate, network, find creative partners and discuss current and potential screen projects by posting an advertisement to other registered delegates calling for expressions of interest. There also was a Speed Dating event, where Writers, Directors and Producers could 'date' one another and see if they would like to 'hook up' for project collaboration (must have taken the idea from Production Support), a Screen Testing Workshop for directors and 1-0N-1's which enabled up and coming filmmakers the opportunity to get access to commissioning editors from Foxtel, ABC and SBS.
The keynote speaker for 2009 was Mia Bays, founder of film production company, Missing In Action Films (MIA), which has produced Oscar and BAFTA winning shorts. She spoke about what she has learnt of the different stages of the development, production and distribution process of a film through working on 45 features.
Other speakers were Kath Shelper, Producer of Samson & Delilah; the team behind the first Australian Muslim comedy series Salam Café; Dario Russo, creator of the hilarious viral Italian Spiderman; and filmmaker and new media auteur Nicholas Carlton the creator / writer / director of Australia's first social web series, OzGirl.
One of the seminars I found most interesting was 'The Cutting Edge Of Digital Distribution' by Fringe patron and digital media guru Peter Broderick which looked at the latest strategies for maximizing distribution. It was very interesting to hear Nicholas Carlton talk about the strategies and processes involved in the creation of the web series 'Oz Girl".
Also interesting was the 'Rapid Development Workshop: Multi Platform Content', in which all participants were put into groups, given a recent Australian feature (we were given "Kenny"), and then allowed time to brain storm and develop a hypothetical cross platform marketing strategy for the film. Our group decided the best way to market the film would be utilizing a ChatBot, Facebook, a 'Kenny' character web page, and potentially involving Kenny in a waste water recycling campaign. This was all very entertaining and interesting.
We also checked out 'Using The internet To Create Personal Audiences and Building A Social Media Campaign on A Budget' with Laurel Papworth, who is in the top 5 of media bloggers in Australia. We were shown how to use the internet to create personal audiences and build a social media campaign on a budget. We learnt how to use low cost/open source ("free") tools to build out a campaign.
Basically the message was clear - BE ACTIVE. The more content you have out there the more opportunity there is for people to notice.
Now to the SDA pitching competition! Held at the end of the final day of the seminar, the room was packed and abuzz with a great energy. On the panel was Mia Bays and Michael Wrenn. All the state finalists were well prepared and we watched them each present their 3 minute pitch. There was a range of entertaining projects, from short docos on the history of chilli, the cult of the cat, cashed up bogans, to a feature script (drama) and some short comedy series on arranged marriages and living low in Tasmania.
Unfortunately WA was not successful this time around, the winner was Wide Angle's (TAS) Elise Taylor who pitched as the loveable 'Darls', her project "Have A Crack", which was to teach us how to 'learn to live a successful low-lifestyle with some Tasmania pure-breds'. We congratulate Elise.
Many thanks to ScreenWest for their involvement in the SDA Pitching Initiative, it was a great opportunity for Julian to get feedback on his project.
Next year will be WA's turn to steal the limelight we hope. Get 'cracking' WA!!
"The Washing Line" a Raw Nerve film, directed by Penny Bedford & produced by Megan Riley, explores the way in which our domestic chores reflect the state of our relationships. Are we so in love that we donʼt care...yet, or do we have a list of requirements that our partner needs to "get right". This film was shot over three days on the weekend of the 10th & 11th of October. The cast & crew made the trip out of town to a fantastic bushland property in Parkerville. The crew all slept at the stone & wood house, warmed by the fire throughout the night.
We filmed, sang songs, & laughed around the camp fire. Everybody had a fantastic
weekend away, we wrapped early & didnʼt quite finish all the wine!
The idea from the outset of pre production was that we were all going on a film "camp" & that there would be a lot of freedom to experiment, unrestricted as much as possible by time. Out of this creative & laid back environment we hoped something really special might emerge. At the end of the shoot the cast & crew had all had a ball. The camera was in the hands of D.O.P Wayne Nicholson, whoʼs photographic experience bought something quite wonderful to the images. Camera Assisting was Anthony Hanson, who we all know is absolutely brilliant & his lighting & technical expertise made a world of difference. Anthony also is a wonderful singer & guitarist. Sebastian Baltyn on second camera took some amazing images. We had two Canon Five D mark twoʼs & the very best of Canon lenses. The film location was stunning, the waterfall was running, we had overcast light... OK, there were a few insects. The less we say about that the better.
The score for the film has already been written, Thank you to Zaalan Tallis. Wendi Graham has some fantastic nature sounds waiting for the visuals, & a few unexpected horse sounds as well, always so nice to have surprises in sound! Megan Riley did a superhuman job as producer & managed to be in 5 other roles, as well as act. Megʼs provided the cast & crew with some of the best food ever. May I recommend her lasagna toasted sandwiches! Claire Leach, Amy Pollitt & Megʼs as the cast were just great to work with, not only providing superb performances but also being a part of the vibe. We did have to tear Claire away from her first love ( the camera), once a D.O.P always a D.O.P. Seriously though, Claireʼs creative input into the camera department was a great asset. Noah Norton was a joy to work with, making sure the technical side was all good, assisting Wendi with
sound & playing guitar in the evening. Donʼt worry Noah I wonʼt mention the way you run...I do have you "running" on film though...Hmmm.
Megʼs daughter Jezzy sang for us on Saturday night, by the time she got to her second line I knew she had something "special". For a young girl to sing so confidently was fantastic, & of course no one was letting her slip away without an encore. Sarina Starkey is waiting in the wings as our voice over actor, & will add the final finishing touches to the "feel" of the film, as soon as she arrives in Perth.
For such a fun shoot, Megʼs kept us all on schedule, & it was a well run set.
As the director, I must say I felt privileged to have such great cast & crew. My expectations were absolutely exceeded. Most importantly we had a ball, I have some great memories of our "film camp" & the film looks visually superb...still I could be biased!
I would like to sincerely thank everybody who took part in "The Washing Line" including Kaz Sternberg who wrote the poem the film is based on. Hanging out the washing will never be the same again!
See you all at the screening. Regards Penny Bedford.
What is it like producing an OOMPF funded project? What can be learnt and where will it take you? Nat Eaton from Production Support asked OOMPF funded producer Jonathon Miller all about it...as well some other stuff.
1. You have recently finished working on the OOMPF funded project "Goodbye, Cruel World", how would you describe the filming process?
The filming process was for the most part, very smooth. Our greatest difficulty was that myself, Adrian McFarlane (writer/director), Sam Winzar (director of photography), and Marieke Spence (1st assistant director) were all very busy during the lead-up to principal photography. Adrian had recently started a new job and had arranged time off for the filming, Sam was taking work in the weeks leading up to our shoot to allow him to work on our production, and Marieke wasn't able to make it back from Queensland until the Saturday before our shoot started. None of our schedules really meshed apart from principal photography, so things like tech recces of locations were near impossible to schedule. The four of us were happy to get to locations a couple of hours early each day to try and negate some of the problems we would otherwise encounter, and I'm proud to say that we wrapped on time every single day.
We were really lucky with locations, from TAFE allowing us to spend a day on a rooftop, to hooking us up with another location when we were running ahead of schedule, to the City of Swan and City of East Fremantle assisting us. Richard Gunning (who we knew from the Town of Vincent Films) helped us out with a location when we had some problems elsewhere, Jessica Knight (the director of Gusto, a previous short I produced) let us take over her place one night, and the University of Notre Dame were very accommodating in letting us shoot in the School of Medicine's Simulated Ward.
As far as something funny, we were shooting up at Ellenbrook in the forest on our last day (Saturday), and we brought a gazebo and a portable changeroom for this shoot. Unfortunately, neither myself, Adrian, Sam or Marieke are "the outdoor type", leaving us fumbling in the dust with metal poles that were getting hotter by the minute, and lacking any ability to cohesively put together anything resembling a tent. We got there in the end, but luckily most of the crew and cast weren't due to arrive yet and missed our embarrassing display of construction!
2. What are some on-line resources that you can't live without?
Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo are the targets I really want to hit with this short, but we're looking into building a website for it as well. I'm a big fan of resources such as Without A Box, various discussion boards, and am a big reader of Deadline Hollywood Daily. While it's not really relevant to our productions, it's a great view into the real side of Hollywood, and it's comments section is frequented by people who actually work in the business, rather than something like Ain't It Cool News. Sam Winzar's an avid reader of the forums over at RedUser.net and this has been helpful a few times on both "The Blind Daters" and "Goodbye, Cruel World" in terms of workflow, potential technical issues, and the like. Adrian utilised resources such as a scriptwriting feedback group he's part of. He incorporated the feedback he received when doing rewrites to help him get the script into the best possible shape before shooting.
3. Who else was involved in the making of the film?
Adrian McFarlane and I were lucky enough to have Sam Winzar return as director of photography, along with Xoe Baird as both location recordist and sound design, both of whom we worked with on our Town of Vincent film "The Blind Daters". Sam's equipment is well known around Perth, and by shooting a $5,000 film on a RED One, with a wide range of lenses, we were really able to maximise the look of the film and try to elevate it above some of the competition. Laetitia Belen as camera assistant was suggested by Sam, and we had Steve Hughes come down and help as gaffer for a couple of days. Adrian and I went to another OOMPF production as extras for a shoot to help out Xoe, who was working on it. That was when we found Marieke, and she was an absolute boon to our production. Xoe also recommended Jayden Weston from his work on Crow's Feet as still photographer, and Jayden has been a great resource for us on this production as you can see from the stills. Freena Hamilton, who I worked with on Sam Barrett's feature "No Through Road", came in and really helped us out with both hair and makeup in addition to special effects. Our actors were Damon Lockwood and Amanda Woodhams, who were both understanding of our lower budget, and really gave the production their absolute all, and I can't wait to see their performances cut together during the edit.
4. What do you feel you have learnt from the filming of this project that you will take with you to future productions?
Well, we'll be aiming for LINK soon enough, and one of the benefits of the higher budget is being able to pay people. The benefit of this is the fact that we can include pre-production time in that, and take more of their time. Other than that, this script was around the 15 page mark, with a lot of locations, and we're looking at developing something a little smaller, a little more self-contained, for when we apply to LINK in order to allow ourselves to have more control, and really take advantage of the resources and possibilities that a LINK grant can afford the production.
5. Which filmmakers are you inspired by?
As producer, it's difficult to really answer that how a writer or director would. I've really been impressed with films like the first "Saw", and particularly David Slade's "Hard Candy". I think it's too early for me to say that it's reflected in my filmmaking, but they are definitely films that, from a production/budget viewpoint, have really delivered and that I view highly of. They're low budget, but they never feel like they were a dollar short of what the story needed, and that's why I find them rather inspiring. A clever story making the most of its limited budget is something I really admire.
6. What advice would you give someone about to make their next short film?
Be realistic about what your budget is and what you can achieve for it. If you're going for Raw Nerve or OOMPF, try and keep it small. We shot 15 pages in a little over four full days, from East Fremantle to Lynwood, to Mount Hawthorn, to Ellenbrook. When we were submitting for OOMPF, we knew it would be difficult as we would really be stretching ourselves, but we made the decision to try and have this film look as big as we could. We're just starting to think about developing something for LINK, and the stretching of time and resources was one of the harder parts of this production that we intend to learn from!
Oh, and wear sunscreen. Lots of it. That was a Day 1 mistake.
The majority of the filming has been on location at Riverton Primary School. As they say, working with children and / or animals can be tricky... On Monday 5th October I went on location to have a look at how the "Fire With Fire" crew were going with the filming - on set there were over 30 young actors for the crew to wrangle! I commend them on their impressive dealing with the talent.
As can be expected, kids will be kids (so much energy!) but it was clear that all the previous experience director Julia Ngeow and crew have had working with young talent definitely paid off. Early on in the day, delays were caused NOT by energetic youths but angry bees who became agitated by the cast and crew being around. I am sure that the crew will in future include some bug repellent in their kit. Well done to Ethan for his quick thinking he ensured everyone moved away from the angry bees before anyone was stung.
The film "Fire With Fire" deals with school girl Jemima's struggle to fit into a new school, Shockand Awe Primary. It is hard enough starting a new school, not knowing anyone - let alone having the head bully threatening any students that talk to her! Jemima also has to watch helpless as Carlos engages his thugs to terrorise the other students - and teachers.
It was great to meet the crew, they were all working professionally and efficiently to ensure that all the filming went smoothly and with out too many setbacks. The way that the crew dealt with the cast ensured that all actors knew what was required of them - something that is necessary when you are dealing with short attention spans.
I spoke with Ethan about the filming so far and he informed me that there had been a couple of technical setbacks and some lighting issues (too much sun - the sky was not overcast enough!) but all had been going along well. They had so far managed to get most of the shots they wanted.
We are really excited about this project - it looks to be an entertaining and touching short film.
