Billabong - wrapped!
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.
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