News and Articles

Filter This Page

Filter »: All

Six Questions with Alex Von Hofmann

8 July 2008

Alex Von Hofmann’s short drama ‘La Serena’ debuted at the Fremantle Outdoor Film Festival earlier this year and is now travelling the short film festival circuit.

How would you describe your film ‘La Serena’?
La Serena is a little hard to place in a particular genre, but I suppose you could call it a fantasy-drama with a mild horror theme.

It is inspired by a couple of the stories in Roald Dahl’s collection of short stories called Kiss Kiss. When I read the collection of stories, the style of story telling really grabbed my imagination and, straight away, I wanted to make a film using the same style. So I wrote La Serena, which is a twist on a couple of Roald Dahl’s stories combined.

It’s a story about a very naive young man who quickly becomes a victim on his first trip out into the real world. It’s a common theme, and it works because everybody can identify with it.

Every parent worries about their child when they first leave home. And everybody becomes a victim, to varying degrees, when they take their first steps out into the world. So it’s not hard to imagine the worst happening, in a strange town which has degenerated and morals have begun to slip.

Who else was involved in making the film?
Between Antony Webb and myself, we held a fair number of the key positions. He Co-Produced ‘La Serena’ with me, was Director of Photography and Editor. Having his support and experience from the time I showed him the first draft has been priceless.

Ben Beverley’s meticulous work on Sound got the film nominated for Best Sound at the WASA’s. Emma Fletcher and Louise Brady worked on Production Design and Art Direction respectively to really give the world life, which I think is one of the great successes of the film. Maziar Lahooti was the Gaffer with Toby Lynne assisting him as Best Boy.

We had a tight schedule and “cosy” locations with numerous light set-ups; Maz handled them like a pro and, between Antony and himself, gave the film a great look and feel. Michelle Smith did the score, playing all the instruments herself and layering them over each other to get a really rich sound.

Aaron McCann was the Assistant Director, and he really had his work cut out for him, keeping the production moving and on time. Annabelle Fouchard did a great job on Continuity.

What was the Production process like?
In one word – hectic. In the end, our locations took us from Northbridge to Bassendeen, 4 or 5 locations in York, back to Applecross and then all the way down to Nanga; over 5 consecutive days.

This crazy schedule was necessary because it was so important to get the locations right to make the world believable and the best locations just happened to be spread out all over the place. On top of that we didn’t have enough money, having been funded by FTI’s OOMPF initiative, to spread the shoot out over more days. So we just ran everywhere.

It was also one of the most incredibly fun things I have ever done. The first day was a bit like a baptism by fire for me. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into. I had my ideas about how a funded film was made with a good crew and tight schedule. But when I got on location and the running started, I must admit, it took me a while to get my feet.

Then our smoke machine set the damn fire alarm off. I tried to stay calm, but I went a little crazy on the inside. However, within 20 minutes the alarm was off and we were back on schedule. That day was a little wake up call for me, but the shoot flew from that point onward and, although there were hiccups long the way, it’s a credit to the crew that we were able to move quickly and work around them. We got it all done in the end and I’m really proud of what we were able to achieve.

What’s the strangest place you ever stayed in?
I have done a bit of travelling, and mostly on minuscule budgets, so I’ve stayed in a few strange places but there is one that relates to La Serena.

The film is actually named after a little town in Chile. I was there with my girlfriend in 2005, and we checked into one of the cheap bed and breakfasts that we found randomly, as was our custom when arriving in a new town. The owner, Maria – a Chilean woman in her 60’s, greeted us and, for the remainder of our stay, treated us with the most off-putting, insincere, geniality. She may have actually been lovely, once you got to know her, but she gave me the creeps. Honestly, over the 3 days we stayed there, I started to think that she might be planning our demise.

I was not used to feeling so uncomfortable, and I was amazed that a rather unassuming elderly woman could have that effect on me. And it occurred to me that no one from home knew where we were exactly. The last time we had emailed them was a couple towns back and our bus tickets had all been paid with cash. So I started thinking – am I really just going to wait here and hope that she isn’t planning to murder us, like I imagine she is? The answer was – Yes, I can’t be bothered moving and of course she isn’t going to murder us, you’re just being paranoid. And I was right, she didn’t murder us. But it got me thinking and I started writing the first draft of La Serena.

What’s next on the cards for you and member’s of the team?
I have started pre production on the next project, once again producing with Antony Webb. It’s called ‘Tinglewood’ and has LINK funding from ScreenWest. We are working again with almost all of the crew from ‘La Serena’ plus some new faces as this is a bigger production and is going to require some different talents.

‘Tinglewood’ is a creature horror Set in the Tingle Forest in Walpole. It’s about a family that sets up camp deep in the forest for a fun weekend away but when night falls they discover, quite suddenly, that there are other things living in the forest that have different plans for them.

My main aim with this film is to tell a gripping story that will keep the audience on the edge of their seats by effectively, and creatively, using CGI, puppetry, stunts and good, old–fashioned horror story telling. It’s a huge challenge, but that’s why we are doing it.

What advice would you give to someone about the make their next short film?
I don’t really feel that I am in the position to give advice to many people as I’m still learning so much, but I can pass on what I have found to be good advice so far.

Show the script to as many people as you can, and listen to what they say. One thing I have learnt from ‘La Serena’ and ‘Tinglewood’ so far, is that asking for help will get you a long way. Some of the feedback will tell you what is not working and you have to be prepared to see it and make changes if necessary.

It’s easy to feel attached to your original idea, but the things other people bring to it will often make it a lot better. Of course you will usually get equal amounts of bad ideas from the same people, but that’s where your discretion comes in.

I would also say, don’t start off with limitations in mind. Aim for your ultimate imagined film and then work down to what’s possible from there. Try to get what you imagine and people will tell you if your ideas are crazy, or more often than not, a different way to get something close to what you want.