The films 'bad guy', Chomatsu - Ben, who is really a very nice guy.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Kanowna short film - Day 2
Day 2: Flies, sun, horses and more flies!
Today we shot out on a salt lake, just East of Meckering. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to sustain yourself out in the elements and many of the crew also didn't have much experience working in those conditions. Plus, we lacked real resources to cope with sun and wind and hence, we suffered a little.
On the positive side, we had horses today which really gives the film a feeling of scope. We shot the horses galloping in a wide-shot, which was fantastic!
We really started losing the light in the late afternoon, due to an approaching cold front and Dustin's last shot of the day was in cloud cover, but you have to take what you can get. His performance is so strong that it didn't really matter.
Peta was a trooper today! She had to do a scene running across the salt lake and she stumbled. She didn't stop, she just got back up and kept going.
All-in-all, a very successful day with only a couple challenges for the performances and coverage.
Today we shot out on a salt lake, just East of Meckering. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to sustain yourself out in the elements and many of the crew also didn't have much experience working in those conditions. Plus, we lacked real resources to cope with sun and wind and hence, we suffered a little.
On the positive side, we had horses today which really gives the film a feeling of scope. We shot the horses galloping in a wide-shot, which was fantastic!
We really started losing the light in the late afternoon, due to an approaching cold front and Dustin's last shot of the day was in cloud cover, but you have to take what you can get. His performance is so strong that it didn't really matter.
Peta was a trooper today! She had to do a scene running across the salt lake and she stumbled. She didn't stop, she just got back up and kept going.
All-in-all, a very successful day with only a couple challenges for the performances and coverage.
Clarke Richards and Bluey
Dustin Clare as Trooper Brown
Dustin Clare on horseback
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Kanowna short film - Day 1
Kanowna, day one. A big day. I don't think we realised how big an ask the Art Department's job is. Lots of moving walls, building and dressing. They did an amazing job and it is really showing on screen.
Working with a baby is always a challenge, but Mathilda did a fantastic job and truely added to scenes by her interaction with Dustin Clare and Peta Sergeant. She did cry a little, initially, but in the end, there were some magic moments.
Chomastu is the Japanese Terminator! Ben was fantastic! The stillness in his shooting scene was great and the knife scene was scary.
Peta and Dustin's reunion was lovely and the shots were great. My only worry here is the coverage and if scenes where Peta is carrying the stunt baby will cut with Mathilda's.
Dustin's scene with the Doll was awesome. His guttural yell at the end, is chilling and gives me a good cutting point into the next scene.
Many of these discoveries were made in rehearsal yesterday or on set. None could be planned for, which is the beauty of film and what I love about the process.
We start at 0700 in Meckering tomorrow!
Dustin Clare in a scene from Kanowna.
Working with a baby is always a challenge, but Mathilda did a fantastic job and truely added to scenes by her interaction with Dustin Clare and Peta Sergeant. She did cry a little, initially, but in the end, there were some magic moments.
Chomastu is the Japanese Terminator! Ben was fantastic! The stillness in his shooting scene was great and the knife scene was scary.
Peta and Dustin's reunion was lovely and the shots were great. My only worry here is the coverage and if scenes where Peta is carrying the stunt baby will cut with Mathilda's.
Dustin's scene with the Doll was awesome. His guttural yell at the end, is chilling and gives me a good cutting point into the next scene.
Many of these discoveries were made in rehearsal yesterday or on set. None could be planned for, which is the beauty of film and what I love about the process.
We start at 0700 in Meckering tomorrow!
Dustin Clare in a scene from Kanowna.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Kanowna rehearsals
It's been a mad couple of days for Kanowna, the short film. The cast (Dustin Clare, Peta Sergeant and Clarke Richards), arrived in Perth yesterday and I could only manage an hour and a half to meet with them to talk script and other stuff. It was fantastic to see them again and made everything seem really real. It was also cool that Krisztian came along all the way from LA to join in the fun!
The production made good use of the time with costume fittings and makeup tests being organised for the day. A few issues arose from the tests, with the biggest being the incorrect boots being chosen for the Troopers. Michael and I really emphasised to Costume the importance of getting this correct.
Dev our DOP stayed at our place which was really good. We could talk shots, plans, symbolism, anything we needed to chat about, which we hadn't had the time to.
Today was a full day of Kanowna rehearsals. We made many new discoveries about the film and a few scenes were slightly adjusted to either ring more true or change the status of a character, to make the journey more of a undulating one, instead of a flat one.
During the day there were many challenges with boots, guns and props, but it seems everything was sorted out behind the scenes. Our biggest challenge has been to get the baby confirmed. In the end, we decided to use my daughter as Osarno and Brown's baby.
The production made good use of the time with costume fittings and makeup tests being organised for the day. A few issues arose from the tests, with the biggest being the incorrect boots being chosen for the Troopers. Michael and I really emphasised to Costume the importance of getting this correct.
Dev our DOP stayed at our place which was really good. We could talk shots, plans, symbolism, anything we needed to chat about, which we hadn't had the time to.
Today was a full day of Kanowna rehearsals. We made many new discoveries about the film and a few scenes were slightly adjusted to either ring more true or change the status of a character, to make the journey more of a undulating one, instead of a flat one.
During the day there were many challenges with boots, guns and props, but it seems everything was sorted out behind the scenes. Our biggest challenge has been to get the baby confirmed. In the end, we decided to use my daughter as Osarno and Brown's baby.
Monday, November 2, 2009
update
Everything seemed to be falling into place today. We made great progress with the uniforms for the Troopers, finally finding ones used in Ned Kelly, in Sydney. Clarke, who is playing Trooper Clarke made a mad dash across town and collected them, saving on courier costs. He will bring them with him tomorrow. What a champ.
I had a long chat on the phone with Dustin. He arrived in Melbourne and is showing Krisztian around, before flying to Perth tomorrow. Everyone is excited that we are closer to the camera turning over.
Tomorrow will see the Actors busily doing fittings and whatever else the production needs them to be doing and Wednesday will be our full rehearsal day.
Michael even get a call from a Community Newspaper, without any prompting from us. They had found out about the production from the local Police. I wrote our own media release and hopefully it will get a little interest going.
Really looking forward to everyone arriving tomorrow and getting stuck into rehearsals. We've got so little time, but that can be a blessing as we don't have time to over-bake things.
I had a long chat on the phone with Dustin. He arrived in Melbourne and is showing Krisztian around, before flying to Perth tomorrow. Everyone is excited that we are closer to the camera turning over.
Tomorrow will see the Actors busily doing fittings and whatever else the production needs them to be doing and Wednesday will be our full rehearsal day.
Michael even get a call from a Community Newspaper, without any prompting from us. They had found out about the production from the local Police. I wrote our own media release and hopefully it will get a little interest going.
Really looking forward to everyone arriving tomorrow and getting stuck into rehearsals. We've got so little time, but that can be a blessing as we don't have time to over-bake things.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Chomatsu's gun
Chomatsu's gun will the the one at the top of the picture, but the handle will be changed to a wooden grip.
I know, everyone will now be saying it's not a period firearm. The point is that on our budget, we can't get a period firearm which can actually fire a blank! Chomatsu's gun is never focused on, so the alternative was to get any available revolver. We only see the gun shoot and bullets in the chamber, so it should be no issue. Of course we will choose our angles appropriately also.
If anyone is spending time checking that our guns are correct for the period, they are either 'trainspotters' or we haven't done our job!
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