# Off-topic Rants

It’s no doubt that filming almost 400 cyclists through an (albeit incredibly inspiring) developing nation is an arduous mission. When you also add a film crew that comes from 6 different countries (America, Indonesia, France, Australia, Canada and Timor-Leste) and collectively work in 3 different languages (Tetum, English and Bahasa Indonesia) it gets pretty interesting.

After a solid 1,274 blog posts, one of my heros, Stu Maschwitz has finally taken the time to write a detailed article about the pain of getting good audio, titled Production Audio is Ripe for Revolution. Apart from a really tiny blog post that links to an external article this is the first time that Stu has really even mentioned sound in any great detail – which is telling in itself. What’s really interesting though is the amount of feedback his post has gotten…

This is probably going to be a fairly long blog post, so let’s just start with my personal conclusion in regards to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera: To give you some backstory… At the start of this year, we had the (in retrospect silly) idea to shoot a nice and simple short film on the first weekend of every month, mainly for fun. The plan was to give friends that have helped us out in the past the opportunity to write their own script, and direct or act in it if they wanted. The scripts needed to be really simple – as we needed to shoot the whole thing over a single weekend, with only the gear we could borrow off friends. The intention was to edit and finish them the by the end of the following weekend. We also planned to give friends the opportunity to “step up” into bigger crew positions – for example, we wanted to get people who normally work with us as camera assistants to jump on board as cinematographers.

For the last couple of years I’ve been very fortunate to be invited along to Swinburne University to talk to the 3rd and 4th Year Students about the sleepless world of Post Production, and was lucky enough to be invited back again a few weeks ago. I always really enjoy chatting to the students at Swinburne, because having studied there, I can bring a lot of tips and tricks based around the gear they have access to at the University, and also offer advice from not only someone that works in high-end post production (as my “day job” is the Post Production Supervisor at The Butchery & The Refinery), but also someone who works on projects where everything is done run-and-gun and indie-style. I think this is really important, because although it’s nice tell people about jobs with big budgets and fancy cameras – the reality is that a lot of people straight out of University will have to do things with less money, and have to come up with creative ways to achieve the look they’re after.

Admittedly I didn’t really know anything about this film going in. I was told that one of my hero’s, the amazing Edgar Wright executive produced it (which basically was the big selling point for me!) – but apart from that all I knew is that it was “bloody” and I assumed it was going to be a comedy. Well… It was definitely bloody – and it definitely had lots of funny moments. However, this is one really bizarre and screwed up film!

I’ve been waiting to see this film for a very, very, very long time. Admittedly, it’s not the kind of film I would normally seek out to see – as I’m not the biggest fan of drug use and graphic violence up there on the big screen – in fact watching people injecting themselves really freaks me out. But this is a film that I’ve had the privilege of “following” for a very long time because it was edited at The Butchery (where I work three days a week, when I’m not doing LateNite things), by one of my favourite editors and people in the world, the incredible Peter Sciberras (who now works for Method Studios). Because of this, I got to see the glimpses of rushes as they came in, rough cuts every now and again, and also witness just how hard the director, Amiel Courtin-Wilson and producer Michael Cody worked to get this film up and finished. I really didn’t have much to do with the film apart from fixing things in the edit suite when they broke, and making sure that Pete could get on and do what he does best, but I’m so glad I played a small part, because this is one very special film.

In 2010, LateNite documentary film-maker Jacqui Hocking started working with social entrepreneur Ashwin Subramaniam, the young founder of the GoneAdventurin’ Social Enterprise. The partnership began when she filmed a documentary about his first project cycling in the Tour De Timor in Timor-Leste.

MIFF Weekend #1 So after a cracking start to the festival it was time to indulge in my first weekend at MIFF which usually results in five to eight films spanned across two very long days. I was a little bit excited for this first weekend however as one of the films that I had at the very top of my wish list for this festival was the documentary Paul Kelly: Stories or Me which I had booked in on the Saturday night. But before I start getting all excited about that, first up was the Australian horror/comedy 100 Bloody Acres.

MIFF Day 6. What can you say about Wes Anderson that hasn’t already been said. The man has made a career of making films that are, on viewing, unmistakably his own. Everything from his storybook like cinematography, to his bold production design, to his beautifully crafted soundtracks, to the performance style he enforces on his actors. Wes Anderson is indeed an Auteur in the truest sense of the word.

…or Why Our Safety Is Not Guaranteed. The great thing about growing up in the world in which you want to work is that as you get older you start to see friends and people you have worked with in your past start to break through. It’s such a warm feeling to have as in an industry fueled by ego and people that are looking for a cheap shot at fame and fortune, it is always the driven, talented ones without that sense of entitlement who are humbled by what we do that start to excel. Because at the end of the day whether you be involved in music, fine art, theatre, film or any other creative endeavor, it is about telling stories.