January 2010 Archives
Entries for the St Kilda Film Festival http://www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au/ close this Friday January 29, 2010. All entries must be received by 5pm or be post marked on the 29th January 2010.
St KIlda Film Festival is Australia's longest running short film festival and has been showcasing Australian short films for soon to be 27 years.
St Kilda Film Festival screens only Australian short films in all genres including drama, comedy, documentary, animation and digital media. Due to scheduling considerations, films with a running time of more than 40 minutes may have some restrictions placed upon them. Filmmakers with longer films are advised to contact Festival staff for further information before submitting their entries.
The 2010 competition will screen the top 100 short film entries received, and the competition is fierce!
The short film competition awards over $40,000 worth of cash and in-kind craft awards, including a $10,000 prize for Best Short Film!
Works in progress may be entered, just indicate the work in progress status clearly on the preview tape and advise of expected completion date.
You will need to do the following:
1. Submit a completed entry form,
2. Pay the entry fee, $33 inc GST per film submitted, via online service, or by cheque or money order sent with preview tape.
3. Send a preview copy of the film on DVD (ensure the DVD is not copy-protected, and that you do not send the original - it will not be returned).
4. Include one film still to be used in the program/website if film is successful (at least 300 DPI and as large as possible). Do not email your stills - the large files block up our inbox! Materials that are emailed will not be accepted. You can also include a CV of the writer/director/producer plus any publicity material (ie reviews, press kits etc)
Once the online entry form and payment have been completed, preview tapes and additional material should be posted to:
St Kilda Film Festival
Private Bag No 3
PO St Kilda
VIC 3182
One WA film will be programmed at each venue of the WA tour so your odds are high for a screening in your home State.
You have to be in it to win it! All the best!!
After the recent wrap of one of the latest LINK funded films, I catch up with Billabong producer, Michael Liu.
What is Billabong about, and what attracted you to being involved in this project?
Billabong is about the coming of age of two young boys (who happen to be cousins). Initial trust issues are resolved between the two through an incident that occurs as one risks it all to saves the innocence of the other. I was initially attracted to this project by Jeff Asselins passion for this production, I knew it was highly personal to him and ultimately I knew he would pull this off if given the right support.
How long had this project been in development?
To my knowledge, at least 8 months
Can you tell me about the locations?
The locations at the Billabong, the forest & the wood chopping area were specifically chosen by Jeff and I think he did an amazing job at finding the different environments that matched his particular vision for the different scenes. The Australian bush landscape is quite visually different when one chooses to spend the time to observe it.
Any comments on the crew? Any good up and coming production/crew personnel that people should keep in mind when crewing for their next short?
Jimmy Frater - Knows his way around a camera as good as any, he's very cool, calm and guided the crew when needed. In my view, he was the safety net for the whole shoot. I guess he doesn't need any sort of plug from us, but I can tell you that I'm eyeing him off for a feature film project I'm trying to develop this year.
Anthony Webb - DOP. Great eye for framing & composition movement, this kid is going to be big from that perspective if given the chance and given more experience. A this stage of his career he does need support in way of a more 'fuller' camera crew.
Aaron McCann - 1st AD. A guy to watch, he really came of age on this shoot as a first AD, the Nazi from hell. I have a feeling he will be a really good Director one day. He knows everthing about film and can probably go anywhere in the industry he wanted to.
Chris Pollit - Camera Assistant. He worked for nothing, stuck to the camera department like glue, pretty much knew his way around a camera and he's got the perfect temperament for the camera department. I get a feeling he's going to go well in this department.
Allicia Gibbs - Gaffa, She worked so hard, didn't complain, and really knew her stuff. Don't be fooled by her small frame and quiet nature, It was great to see her get in there and mix it with the boys!
Lianna Fiocco - works really well with everyone on the set, and has the best fake blood mix I have ever seen, and my girlfriend, who is an experienced registered nurse (and obviously the set nurse) and 5th year med student will testify to that!!
Corey Lorite - lighting assistant. He was so keen to get in there do what I consider a rather thankless task and did it all with a big smile on his face!
Location Equipment - did us a great deal on the lenses we needed. Rob & Dave were extremely understanding.
I have to say that everyone we dealt with (on and off set) were very rather supportive of our project.
What was it like working with children? Was it hard to fit the shoot around the limited hours allowed for kids?
We were blessed that Jeff managed to cast the right kids for this job (on and off the set) and have ample rehearsal time with them. Apart from being excellent actors, Isaac and Craig were good kids who didn't let their talents get to their heads. A couple of days were a bit tight but everyone worked together to get the result that Jeff wanted.
How did Jeff deal with the sensitive content when directing the child actors?
Jeff managed to find the right mix of discipline & sensitivity to get the performances he needed to make this film a success. The time in rehearsals where Jeff was able to build a personal/trusting relationship with the boys really made a big difference with a project like this.
How was the shoot overall? Any challenges? As a producer, have you learnt something new from this shoot?
F********Ck! That was my outlet, and thanks for indulging me on that one. The first shoot day at the Billabong needed a bit of running water at the location and a more green look in the vegetation so we decided to pull the first shoot day to mid November as the water was running out fast. The crew and talent turned up to find out it was a weather day as there was thick flat cloud cover that totally killed the look Jeff was looking for, so there was a mad panic to reorganize who we could get for the next shoot day option that we were waiting to happen according to the weather bureau. After begging and pleading with the crew not to charge us for a weather day (I think my home made doggie bags from my now defunct boot full of home made catering helped) we just bit the bullet by Friday and called the shoot with 2 days to spare for the following Sunday. There was then the mad dash to get crew that were available to replace the ones that weren't. In the end we got a magnificent hot and sunny day.
The second part of the shoot was magnificently organized, until 2 feature films came to town and we lost half our crew and gear. Thankfully with the help of the key crew we managed to create work arounds for different crew & gear availability on the different day. I'm not going to go into detail here because I don't really feeling like re living event but the shoot nearly got called off. I think I aged 2 years and Jeff is now naturally bald!
Any interesting stories to tell from the set?
On day 2 of our shoot (December) camera assistant Chris Pollit pulled a dead Kangaroo off the road (a huge Red female), he found a Joey in the pouch and bought it to the location and we swapped it for a dead and live blue tongue lizard that was delivered to our set by the Armadale Reptile Centre, the Joey ended up being physically unharmed and is now being cared for in a wildlife refuge.
What is Billabong about, and what attracted you to being involved in this project?
Billabong is about the coming of age of two young boys (who happen to be cousins). Initial trust issues are resolved between the two through an incident that occurs as one risks it all to saves the innocence of the other. I was initially attracted to this project by Jeff Asselins passion for this production, I knew it was highly personal to him and ultimately I knew he would pull this off if given the right support.
How long had this project been in development?
To my knowledge, at least 8 months
Can you tell me about the locations?
The locations at the Billabong, the forest & the wood chopping area were specifically chosen by Jeff and I think he did an amazing job at finding the different environments that matched his particular vision for the different scenes. The Australian bush landscape is quite visually different when one chooses to spend the time to observe it.
Any comments on the crew? Any good up and coming production/crew personnel that people should keep in mind when crewing for their next short?
Jimmy Frater - Knows his way around a camera as good as any, he's very cool, calm and guided the crew when needed. In my view, he was the safety net for the whole shoot. I guess he doesn't need any sort of plug from us, but I can tell you that I'm eyeing him off for a feature film project I'm trying to develop this year.
Anthony Webb - DOP. Great eye for framing & composition movement, this kid is going to be big from that perspective if given the chance and given more experience. A this stage of his career he does need support in way of a more 'fuller' camera crew.
Aaron McCann - 1st AD. A guy to watch, he really came of age on this shoot as a first AD, the Nazi from hell. I have a feeling he will be a really good Director one day. He knows everthing about film and can probably go anywhere in the industry he wanted to.
Chris Pollit - Camera Assistant. He worked for nothing, stuck to the camera department like glue, pretty much knew his way around a camera and he's got the perfect temperament for the camera department. I get a feeling he's going to go well in this department.
Allicia Gibbs - Gaffa, She worked so hard, didn't complain, and really knew her stuff. Don't be fooled by her small frame and quiet nature, It was great to see her get in there and mix it with the boys!
Lianna Fiocco - works really well with everyone on the set, and has the best fake blood mix I have ever seen, and my girlfriend, who is an experienced registered nurse (and obviously the set nurse) and 5th year med student will testify to that!!
Corey Lorite - lighting assistant. He was so keen to get in there do what I consider a rather thankless task and did it all with a big smile on his face!
Location Equipment - did us a great deal on the lenses we needed. Rob & Dave were extremely understanding.
I have to say that everyone we dealt with (on and off set) were very rather supportive of our project.
What was it like working with children? Was it hard to fit the shoot around the limited hours allowed for kids?
We were blessed that Jeff managed to cast the right kids for this job (on and off the set) and have ample rehearsal time with them. Apart from being excellent actors, Isaac and Craig were good kids who didn't let their talents get to their heads. A couple of days were a bit tight but everyone worked together to get the result that Jeff wanted.
How did Jeff deal with the sensitive content when directing the child actors?
Jeff managed to find the right mix of discipline & sensitivity to get the performances he needed to make this film a success. The time in rehearsals where Jeff was able to build a personal/trusting relationship with the boys really made a big difference with a project like this.
How was the shoot overall? Any challenges? As a producer, have you learnt something new from this shoot?
F********Ck! That was my outlet, and thanks for indulging me on that one. The first shoot day at the Billabong needed a bit of running water at the location and a more green look in the vegetation so we decided to pull the first shoot day to mid November as the water was running out fast. The crew and talent turned up to find out it was a weather day as there was thick flat cloud cover that totally killed the look Jeff was looking for, so there was a mad panic to reorganize who we could get for the next shoot day option that we were waiting to happen according to the weather bureau. After begging and pleading with the crew not to charge us for a weather day (I think my home made doggie bags from my now defunct boot full of home made catering helped) we just bit the bullet by Friday and called the shoot with 2 days to spare for the following Sunday. There was then the mad dash to get crew that were available to replace the ones that weren't. In the end we got a magnificent hot and sunny day.
The second part of the shoot was magnificently organized, until 2 feature films came to town and we lost half our crew and gear. Thankfully with the help of the key crew we managed to create work arounds for different crew & gear availability on the different day. I'm not going to go into detail here because I don't really feeling like re living event but the shoot nearly got called off. I think I aged 2 years and Jeff is now naturally bald!
Any interesting stories to tell from the set?
On day 2 of our shoot (December) camera assistant Chris Pollit pulled a dead Kangaroo off the road (a huge Red female), he found a Joey in the pouch and bought it to the location and we swapped it for a dead and live blue tongue lizard that was delivered to our set by the Armadale Reptile Centre, the Joey ended up being physically unharmed and is now being cared for in a wildlife refuge.
Cassidy Hill and Charlie Lewis first met in 2003 when they were members of a film-making group at the Film & Television Institute (FTI) in Fremantle, Western Australia. They worked together on numerous short films for others before making their own no-budget project "Laundrette". Their short "Brood" was also no-budget and screened at the prestigious Bradford Film Festival, won a WA Screen Award and Best Horror Short at the Bare Bones Festival in Oklahoma.
Their recently completed short "A Basement on a Hill" was successful in receiving OOMPF funding from FTI and is their third project together. It is their first film to be released under their new production company title "Lonesome Twin Films".
Directors Charlie Lewis and Cassidy Hill discuss their approach to making "A Basement on a Hill".
As co-directors, how do you two work out your respective roles?
Charlie: Director, editor and writer
Cassidy: Director, writer and producer.
Charlie: We both had input in both areas. Cass had final say on visuals. And I had final say on performance.
How did you devise the story?
Charlie: The origin of the story is that we were trying to write a horror film to submit for funding. We decided on writing a horror story based on repression and control, but we removed the overt horror elements when we rewrote the script later. We decided to focus more on the central relationship.
How did you find your actors?
Cassidy: For the roles of Zoe and Anna, we spoke to Walter Hanna, an actor who worked on one of earlier films, and asked for a list of recommendations. Based on that we held auditions and found a lot of people who auditioned well. Whitney (Richards) wanted to audition for Zoe, she was reluctant to audition for Anna. But when we played the audition tapes back she was a brilliant Anna. She had this great haunted look in her eyes.
Charlie: Angelique (St Jorre) plays Zoe and she had the character down from the beginning.
Cassidy: She had this James Dean kind of masculine swagger, which was perfect. We changed the character a little before we started shooting, decided to make Zoe a little more vulnerable and nervous when they first meet. Angie was great however we asked her to play it.
Charlie: Incidentally, Whitney and Angie already knew each other really well, I think that helped a lot, they've got a great on-screen chemistry.
Wasn't this script a long time in development?
Charlie: It's gone through heaps of revisions, about ten drafts. What we finally shot should count as the eleventh draft. It's changed many times but Anna and Zoe remained basically the same through all the drafts in terms of their relationship. Because we'd stuck with them through many revisions, we felt close to them as characters. Having revised a script for so long, you are asked many questions about characters and their motivation, so by the end we were confident about what we had done.
Where was this shot?
Cassidy: Mostly in Charlie's old house in Nedlands, which was great for the storyboarding process. We were trying to create strong and stylised images. And having the location so far in advance really helped. Instead of abstractly imagining the shots, we had mental maps in our head and we knew where characters would go and where the light sources could be placed. Or we could even pace around the actual locations and work out the blocking for the characters while storyboarding.
The editing style seems quite formal at times.
Cassidy: To reinforce the themes of the film, the editing and cinematography is quit rigid and composed. The formality of the editing disintegrates later according to the story. It gets choppier in the 'escape' attempt and you see more of what is a traditional style these days. (jokes) Hand-held, jump cuts.
Charlie: It's the Bourne Identity bit of the film (laughs). A ninja jumps out of a cupboard.
Cassidy: People see a title like "A Basement on a Hill" and they expect ninjas in cupboards. It's a Pavlovian response (laughs).
What films did you make together before this one?
Charlie: Our first film was a romantic comedy set in a laundrette called "Laundrette". The next one was a horror film called "Brood". It won a West Australian Screen Award for the writer, Mark Hudson. "Brood" also won Best Horror Short at the Bare Bones Horror Film Festival at Muskogee, Oklahoma. It played at the Bradford Film Festival which is a very prestigious event and we were very proud of its being there.
Cassidy: It also received a marketing grant from (the Western Australian government film agency) ScreenWest.
So how does doing a low-budget film compare with no-budget?
Cassidy: It mostly shows visually. There's a shot where one of the actors leans against the wallpaper and that cost quite a bit because we had to buy the wallpaper and stick it up. We wouldn't have been able to do that previously.
Charlie: (jokes) If you divide the wallpaper screen time by the amount of money we spent on it, it probably works out to about the same as Brando in Apocalypse Now. It was the most expensive actor in the film.
Cassidy: The wallpaper was our Brando,
Charlie: It makes a difference being able to buy props.
Cassidy: Being able to pay actors a little, rather than nothing is a morale booster.
Did you have a specific aim in making Basement?
Charlie: The aspect of Basement that we wanted to get right was that we wanted to achieve a feature style arc within the constraints of a short film.
Cassidy: A proper arc for the story and the characters.
Charlie. A lot of short films are just set up, then punchline, or a 'twist'. We wanted a proper storyline with the characters changing. Now we realise why people don't do it more (laughs), because it's really fucking hard.
Have you made the film you originally intended?
Charlie: I'd always pictured this as a cold and quiet film. As Cassidy said at the time, the way the relationship between Anna and Zoe played, changed that - so now it's warmer and more human and it works better that way. The relationship is really the centre of the film.
What did Natalie Ryan-Brand and James Davies bring to this?
Charlie: Those guys were guns. Natalie would really think about the back-story of her character. She would hit the line take after take and always do it the same way. James is like our Jack Nicholson.
What are you working on next?
Charlie: It's a short relationship film, about a couple trying out bondage for the first time, called "Bonds". It's going to be able the frustrations and compromises of any relationship, but looked at through that.
Cassidy: Basement is pretty long by short film standards, because of the type of story we were trying to tell. But for our next project, which will probably be "Bonds", we are going to try and make something about half the length for twice the budget.
