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18 Nov 2008
SHOWTIME for MEN'S GROUP
I interviewed John L Simpson for Into the Shadows, late December 2007, and we spoke about Men's Group. From then on I had hoped the film would work for him and for those that took that leap of faith in the project and above all I hoped it would turn out to be a great film.
I saw it for the first time at Spaa Fringe 08 and it was very compelling. And it has now won a bag of awards at the INSIDE FILM AWARDS 2008. This is a great triumph for independent film and for the creative team behind the film!
It goes to show that if you want to make a film, do not take no for an answer, do not feel you have to be confined to the traditional ways of making a film. We live in an interesting time, when technology and film making culture is changing, anything is possible.
John L is working closely with independent exhibitors to find an audience for Men's Group and I hope he does. This is a film that all men should watch and will get something out of. The distribution and exhibition of this film is very telling of the market place for Australian films - there is none.
Well that is not entirely true, but it is very hard to find an audience for a low budget Aussie film and John L is a good example of how we as filmmakers can work with the distribution and exhibition industry and help find that core audience.
06 Nov 2008
Glass Portrait
When Phil and I went the ADG last year we watched a screening of Scott Hicks new film, Glass, a portrait of Phillip in 12 parts.
It was quite a moving film, one of the best- if not the best documentary I had seen in YEARS! And I have been watching a lot of doco's of the past while. It was really interesting to hear from Scott, how he felt cast back to his early days of indie film making when making this film as he started with no real budget and some consumer video cameras. Kind of inspiring really, as Phil and I were just in the thick of producing Into the Shadows.
Well the film is about to come out in limited release around Australia. Its crazy to think that these days such a crafted film about an amazing composer can struggle to get screens, but that's a discussion for another day. What this film is also a good example of is a good website. Its easy to access, and even has clips for your i-phone.
Check it out, if you want an insight into a genius mind you won't be disappointed.
28 Oct 2008
SPAA FRINGE: Saturday, Day 3
Last night finished up as 3am this morning. Regardless, I had to meet Peter Broderick at 10:15am so it was quickly off the couch, in the shower, pack the bags, say bye to Johnny and meet Andy on the corner of Abercrombie and Broadway. Then hail a taxi, arrive at Paddington town hall, ask if I could leave a bag somewhere, leave it in the cloak room, run up the stairs and bump into Peter Broderick in the foyer.
We sat down and I played him the chapter of Into the Shadows that he mostly features in. He laughed at a few key moments and he watched the whole 11 mins! He gave me some frank advice about distribution and commented that he really liked the chapter! Great start to the morning.
I went and got some Doritos for breaky (yeah I know, not exactly weetbix) and headed into: How and When: A Guide To Successfully Presenting a Project for Financing, Distribution and Sales. I think I missed the good part, but it was interesting enough, the speakers spoke about Poster Art and showed some cool examples. Then I went to hear Kristy Vernon speak about the making of Gabriel. The best talk of the day! I had heard most if before while interviewing Shane Abbess, but Kristy's insights were refreshing and inspiring to hear. Afterwards I apporached her and asked about gaining access to clips of Gabriel or behind the scenes pictures that Sony doesn't own the copyright to. She was happy to chat and said to email her as she might have something - so fingers crossed something might turn up. Not that I don't want to have to pay Sony for the clips, its just the people that clear this kind of thing are based in LA and it takes ages! to hear from them.
After lunch I bumped into Mark Pesce and asked if he wanted to meet to view some of the film, he was happy to and then I headed into Sue Maslin's session on Doing Business differently. Interesting session and cool to see a producer really trying to grasp the new business paradigm of Media Rights Management.
Then I rushed out of her session to meet Mark and get his thoughts on the chapter he features in. He watched it all and gave me great feedback on the edit. Also commented that he hadn't seen the material covered in such a way before! So as you could tell I was feeling pretty pumped, then slipped into a session on budgets. It was OK but by then I wasn't really in the mood, so I slipped out of it and went looking for broadcasters.
I met the head guy for documentary from SBS and introduced myself and the idea of the doco to him. We exchanged business cards and I said I would keep him up to date with the progress of the film.
Andrew Urban hosted a Q and A with Steven Kastrissios and fellow co-producer of The Horseman. The clips of the film looked great and I am keen to see it, hope it goes off in Australia and establishes a determine young filmmaker (in Steven). His talk was great and I reckon he will go places.
Then it was time to grab the bags and head off to the Fringe Bar one last time.
Spaa Fringe 2008 - over and out.
28 Oct 2008
SPAA FRINGE: Friday, Day 2
After an OKish sleep on the couch, a hurried shower and hot cappuccino from the POINT Cafe on Broadway I was in a taxi again and off to Paddington Town hall.
I was marginally late but it meant I got a free run at the bar and headed into the opening session with a bottle of water and Banana bread (not a bad breaky on the run?). Peter Broderick opened Spaa Fringe by handing the microphone over to the crowd and asking for people to stand up and offer their skills up to other producers in the room. Last year I stood up and asked for anyone with a story about indie cinemas to come chat to me and as the speakers behind the microphone went from offering up skills, to asking for collaborators to introducing oneself, I thought I mise well get up and plug the doco. I tried to slant the website as a space where people could 'continue the conversation of Spaa Fringe' but that has not happened as yet? Anyone? Feel free to be write inspired words on the blog.
I stayed for Peter's session on Hybrid Distribution and could hear his interview playing over in my head. Cathy Henkel from The Burning Season provided a great example of how an Aussie can use the power of the net and Hybrid Distribution to great effect. The Burning Season looks like a powerful film and I hope it helps to promote the cause of the Orangutan and the survival of Rain forests globally.
Afterwards I bumped into Andy K 'the intern from Melbourne' and we got a bite to eat from a nice cafe on Oxford Street. The weather had changed! And now we were enjoying a chance for fresh air in the warm Sydney sun.
Then came the surprise session of the day: Melanie Coombs talking about making Mary and Max. I'll write about this in detail later. After that session Andy and I went down to the Fringe bar and got an early start on drinks. Shortly after other Spaa Fringe attendees turned up and we had some fun networking before going our separate ways.
28 Oct 2008
SPAA FRINGE: Thursday Day, 1
But I grabbed a sandwhich from a nearby vendor and caught a train to St. Lenoards. While trying to not be blown away from the mighty wind, I made it to Johnny's work (mate from school days) and he gave me his spare key. Then on the way back, and in true Indina Jones style I got onto the return train moments before the doors closed.
Another long walk and finally Johnny's house. I bumped into his Forgien room mate, who was great for conversation, dropped off my bag, quickly changed and taxied it to the new home of AFTRS, in Moore Park.
Free drinks, food and networking was a nice touch, but I had come for one thing, to watch Mens Group. Every since interviewing John L Simpson for Into the Shadows I had been keen to watch Mens Group and it did not disappoint! Its the kind of movie every guy will avoid seeing but if they watched it, they would connect with it on all levels. Its going to provide John L with a challenging marketing task but good luck to him! Its a solid film; funny, revealing and top perfomances.
Taxi back to Johnny's and first night on the couch. Spaa Fringe 2008 has begun.
26 Oct 2008
Spaa Fringe 2008: a quick note.
Just got back from Spaa Fringe 2008 in Sydney.
It was a great couple of days and met a lot of interesting people. Previewed some clips to a few people (for eg. Peter Broderick and Mark Pesce) with great responses.
For those of you checking this web page out for the first time (some of whom I may have met at Spaa Fringe) cheers for taking the time.
You can also few the blog at http://intotheshadowsmovienews.blogspot.com
I will add some new entries and Laptop Journals from my time at MUFF 2008 and Spaa Fringe 2008 in the coming days, so check back or sign up to the RSS feed or Facebook.
18 Oct 2008
ScreenACT application
Phil and I have not had any funding for the documentary thus far but as we are approaching the business end of the film (final stages of post-production), funding would allow us to complete with Archival footage and a professional sound-mix. The Into the Shadows story is an important document on the state of the industry and needs to be told in this twilight time: new government, merging of film funding bodies, debate over the tax offset and so on. So the application is in and the wait is on. In the mean time I will be posting videos from my trip to MUFF 2008 on Youtube and Facebook. Keep an eye out for them. -Andrew
13 Oct 2008
MUFF 2008 DEBUT
On Saturday, at 5pm at the Noise Bar I delivered the first public presentation on Into the Shadows. As part of Melbourne Underground Film Festival I was asked to give a talk about Into the Shadows as a work-in-progress documentary.
It was small but intimate crowd who listened on and I would like to give a big shout out to:
Rachael Lucas, director of Bondi Tsunami, who turned up in support. James Olof Collins and Christian Doran (friends from Canberra) who now live in Melbourne and suprised me by showing up to have a listen. And big thank you to Claude and Marina who were holidaying in Melbourne and came and filmed me giving my speech.
The people after the talk were really impressed with the sneak preview I gave them and were all keen to ask questions and want to see the film when it is finished.
So one small step for me, one giant leap for Into the Shadows.
Thanks to everyone for their continued support, it has given me a renewed energy to surge on and finish the film.
Cheers,
Andrew.
30 Aug 2008
Broadcasting via My Laptop
I have recently started up a Laptop Journal.
I will be stopping from time to time to record my thoughts about film related issues, topics, ideas as well as use the Laptop Journal to keep you all up to date with the progress of Into the Shadows.
The videos will be recorded directly from my MacBook Pro Laptop camera hence the title. So keep an eye out for them, feel free to engage with me by posting comments about the journals or even making your own video responses.
Here is my latest entry.
Cheers,
Andrew.
13 Aug 2008
Dark Knightsbridge
Into the Shadows has finally had its first fund raiser!
A few weeks back at Dendy Canberra we put on a screening of the Dark Knight and had a raffle with many great prizes! Thanks to the businesses who provided free gifts for the prizes and a big thank you to Impact Comics for the limited edition Batman Mobile that we raffled off! (Hence there store is our banner link)Also thank you to the girls at Dendy who helped organize and run the event on the night.
We sold out the cinema and a fair few raffle tickets, which helped us raise a smidgen over $600. This money will be the beginning of a pool of money we aim to fund raise to help pay for an online edit in the near future. We see this as a great to way to include the community in post-producing a local independent feature film.
And a BIG THANKS to Phil's mum and my mum; with out your last ditch efforts the prizes the raffle would never had been so good.
Also cheers to the guys on the night who helped sell raffle tickets and to Daniel at Plushroom graphics who designed the flyer we gave out on the night.
After the screening a small group of us celebrated at Knightsbridge in Braddon, one of the guys coined the term Dark Knightsbridge. Any ideas for the next fund raiser? It will be Bigger. 
13 Aug 2008
Intern Journal
Hello, its Andy (the intern) here.
I decided to take a journey up from Melbourne to see what this film was about. The subject matter was the thing that drew me here. If no one is watching Australian films, and I want to make films in the future, what's the point if no one will be watching them? So this documentary had me interested from the start and I've tried to help Andrew and Phil tell this story over the past two weeks.
Since I arrived, the film has gone through a phase of intense editing into a rough cut which is almost complete. There have been many long nights. Copious amounts of red bull have been drunk, much to the dismay of Phil's dentist and many of Andrew's so called 'concept' maps drawn leaving the white board completely coloured in and me more confused. Quite a few road maps constructed also, so I don't get lost around Canberra. However, much progress has been made! Hopefully in a couple of days there will be a rough cut done and ready for a private screening and feedback from a select few. From there its a matter of overlaying the basic structure, with additional footage which we are gathering from the archive and with animations from Owen, as the film comes to life.
It is an exciting time and what I've observed is a new found motivation from the guys as the film starts taking shape and coming to fruition. Hopefully by the end of the month a fine cut will be complete and the movie will shake up an industry which is waiting to be rejuvenated.
Watch this space!
www.intotheshadowsmovie.com
10 Aug 2008
The great Picture Palace
A week back I drove to Sydney with a new edition to the Into the Shadows team, Callum Craigee, to shoot overlay footage of the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace in Cremorne.
Walking into the Orpheum for me is like stepping back in time. Each cinema has its own personality, its own charm and of course its very own name.
I have only seen one film there, Michael Clayton (it was in the Walsh) but after going back there to film I will no doubt be back again and again and again. In a time when showmanship is hard to come by and cinemas are more like supermarkets an old Picture Palace is a soothing experience. If your love for cinema is flickering go to the Orpheum and the magic for you will spark back!
While there we interviewed Paul Dravet the General Manager of the Orpheum and shot lots of great footage of the cinemas. We even had the surprise pleasure of meeting Tv personality and owner of the Orpheum, Mike Walsh.
A big thank you must go out to Rachell and Brett (Booking Manager and Projectionist) who assisted us the whole morning and also thanks to the floor staff on that day!
14 Jun 2008
Encore Article
Into the Shadows is in Encore!
About a month ago Phil and I had a chat with Tracey from Encore Magazine (over the phone) and it led to this article being published about Into the Shadows. It's our first picture in a film magazine and hopefully another step forward for the film. What do you guys think?
12 Jun 2008
The big Aussie Film Myth
Local flicks more popular than credited
Michael Bodey | June 12, 2008
THE
notion that Australians dislike Australian films is a myth, according
to a research study commissioned by Film Finance Commission Australia.
The
qualitative and quantitative study found Australian films did not
suffer an intrinsic disadvantage against international films, despite
the study's focus group research throwing up some disparaging remarks
about local films.
"The qualitative research looked at the
perceived wisdom; the quantitative research showed the perceived wisdom
is wrong," said John Berenyi, managing director of Bergent Research,
which conducted the study.
Read the story here.
What do you think? If you hear a film is Australian are you turned off or turned on?
06 Jun 2008
What the, IF?
So
a week ago I come home to find my monthly subscription of IF mag lying
on the kitchen table. I flick through it, read a few articles then put
it down. Just before I go on to make some dinner I think, oh Rachael's
column (as I usually read the magazine front to back and check out her
column regularly).
Then, what the? There is Into the Shadows in print for the first time in an Aussie film mag.
A great surprise!
27 May 2008
Pollack has died
Phil and I love cinema full stop, so when I heard that a great film director died I thought it was relevant to add. After all great filmmakers breed great cinema.
Phil
and I love cinema full stop, so when I heard that a great film director
died I thought it was relevant to add. After all great filmmakers breed
great cinema.
Pollack died of cancer at his home in Pacific Palisades today surrounded by his family, his agent Leslee Dart said.
Pollack's
biggest success was the 1985 film Out of Africa starring Robert Redford
and Meryl Streep, which won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.
Read more here.
-Andrew
29 May 2008
Gone Filming
Sothe bag is packed, batteries are charged and my train ticket (print
out) is wedged in my wallet. In a few hours I will not be bright eyed
and bushy tailed nonetheless I will be on my first train ride from
Canberra all the way to Dungog. From May 29- June 1 I will be in Dungog
attending the Film Festival while Phil stays home editing.
Iheard on a radio interview today, the director of the festival say
something like, 'we need more venues that screen Australian films'.
What do you think? Do our exhibitors need to support Australian films
better or do Australian filmmakers need to make better films? Have
Aussies lost the love for Aussie cinema? If you think 'we' have can it
be revived?
09 May 2008
Interview with Honourable Peter Garret
After
a few changes to dates and times I had secured an interview with the
relatively new Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts -
The Hon Peter Garrett AM MP and at 5am on Thursday morning Phil and I
packed up the old Honda and headed off to Sydney. As the sun rose a new
day dawned for Into the Shadows as we decided this would be the last
day Phil would shoot any more interviews. He will now go into
post-production hibernation with the goal of having a fine cut of the
film mid July 2008.
While waiting in the nearby cafe Encore Magazine
called us and we did our first 'over-the-phone-interview' we are not
sure when the story will be published but we are told there will be one
written so we will keep you updated on that later.
Shortly
after, we met Peter and interviewed him for the film. He was very
gracious with his limited time and I want to thank his team for helping
to make this happen. We then took advantage of the beautiful Sydney
weather and shot some overlay of the Harbour surrounds before heading
back home.
25 May 2008
Dungog count down
As the new week breaks I am getting ready for the most exciting film festival on the Aussie calendar...Dungog!
Its only in its second year but it is already attracting great aussie films and a following.
Interested to know more about the festival? Find out here.
03 May 2008
Into the Documentary Australia approved list
I know Andrew blogged about this before, but now Into the Shadows is actually on the list!
Click here for more information about the approved list and the awesome Documentary Australia Foundation website.
04 May 2008
More Variety the better
There is a great article in Variety on the possibilities that are emerging for indie filmmakers or DIY filmmakers. The article
talks about the models for online distribution giving an outline of the
challenges that lie ahead before it can fully function. It also
comments on the hard realities that most filmmakers are facing, in that
they are still having to mix between traditional media and online media
to promote themselves.
I think it is clear that there are no
either/ors anymore. It seems that it is all about deciding what best
suits you as a filmmaker (what are your constraints and advantages) but
also and maybe more importantly what medium suits your film?
Check it out here and let me know your thoughts,
Andrew.
10 Apr 2008
First step to getting on IMDb
Into
the Shadows has finally being submitted to IMDb for consideration! For
anyone who wants to submit credits for their own work but does not know
how check out this link
I
had to search and scan to find this little link but it put me on the
path to submitting the infomation IMDb require in order for your
project to be considered for approval. Be prepared to give up half an
hour or so of your time to fill out all the info.
So hopefully in four weeks time Into the Shadows will be on IMDb - fingers crossed!
01 Apr 2008
Richard Harris responds to 'Embracing Innovation - White paper'
Richard Harris: A Response to Robert Connolly's White Paper
Robert Connolly's paper Embracing Innovation
is provocative, thoughtful and immensely timely. Robert is one of the
few people who works successfully as a film practitioner who has the
ability to step back from the industry, examine his own practice and
preconceptions, and really look at how things could be done better.
It's a rare gift.
What has always amazed me in the almost twenty
years I have been in this industry is how resistant it is to change.
This is an industry that prides itself on its creative and
technological innovation and yet it in so many areas it remains locked
into paradigms and methodologies that were developed over 100 years
ago. And there so often seems to be a fear within the industry of
challenging them. This is the reason, whether you agree with Robert's
analysis and recommendations or not, that interventions like this paper
are so valuable.
Robert's paper starts with a look at the
changing framework for filmmaking in this country and with a challenge
to some of the myths and preconceptions that exist in the industry.
However, the greatest strength of the paper is that Robert not only
identifies problems but tries to make recommendations for change where
possible. He is willing to go out on a limb on a number of issues, but
just as importantly he is also willing to recognise that there are some
issues that cannot be solved immediately but will require further
discussion and negotiation with numerous industry players.
In
terms of the analysis itself, Robert makes crucial points about the
state of our sector, and the structural limitations within which
filmmakers operate - the failed business model, the need for
innovation, the perverse incentives that exist, and the bizarre
treatment of income for filmmakers whose films are commercially
successful. These are just some of the big picture issues that he
correctly identifies as needing addressing.
Then he moves his
focus to wages and fees - dangerous territory because there are always
stories of abuse and exploitation in the film industry. What is
important, however, is that he identifies that there are models outside
of Australia that could provide models for moving forward, and that
should be considered.
He correctly questions the fixed
percentage model for producers fees (and also writers and
directors), which has always struck me as an odd invention, because in
a system where there is no incentive for success - because there is no
way to share in it for a producer the only incentive is to bump your
fee up in order for you to survive until you make your next film. The
more the budget is, the more the producer earns surely there has to
be some more sophisticated way of calculating this; surely there needs
to be some connection between success and rewards.
Finally,
Robert looks at cast fees, an issue that has caused much consternation
over the years, because of the seeming contradiction between the need
to attract back our best and brightest stars and the need to keep
budgets more realistic and in line with the size of our market.
Robert's nuanced proposal to cap cast fees is a vast improvement on a
proposal that I made a number of years ago to simply cap, at a fixed
rate, actors fees on FFC films (along the lines of the Fox Searchlight
cap), because Robert's proposal makes allowance for the marketplace
value of that actor. This makes eminent common sense as a proposal, as
it allows flexibility while recognizing the constraints within which
our film financing operates.
Robert's final four recommendations
focus on issues that seem so basic and simple that you wonder why they
have never been addressed until you remember that there are very few
ways for the industry to look at issues at a whole-of-industry level.
Insurance, the seemingly endless expense of legals even on simple
projects, the level of unnecessary reporting required surely some of
these mechanical blockages and expenses can be removed or streamlined
so that filmmakers can get on with the job of filmmaking. It's like the
whole industry needs an enema to clear out all this detritus that has
gathered over the years and I hope Robert would forgive me for
suggesting that that paper is the first dose.
Finally, Robert
touches on just one of the issues of distribution an area that gets
scant attention so often within the production industry, and its
seeming refrain that if we build it they will come! Robert focuses on
the ever increasing delivery demands of the marketplace, which are
becoming more and more excessive and makes a plea for some sanity to
return and for the responsibility not to continue to lie always with
the filmmaker.
In some ways, I see Robert's paper as just the
start of a discussion that needs to continue beyond those structural
areas that he has identified and really delve downwards into the
production methodologies themselves. Why are crew structures the way
they are? Do they need to stay that way? How do we maximize the
benefits that can accrue from new technologies in the actual production
process? There are countless questions about the micro that are worth
asking and that could take the industry in interesting directions if
there was a will to take it there.
This discussion only gets us
so far, because it will not solve the many issues that the industry
faces that are outside the scope of innovation in production and in
particular issues related to financing and distribution.
These will have to be teased out and, who knows, even solved by
Robert's next paper. What this paper does, however, is start the
process on what we can do in our own backyard to fix a few of the
problems that we have right now. He's thinking global but acting
locally (as the slogan goes). And who knows, if we can start to embrace
a culture of innovation within the production sector perhaps we will
even have the guts to begin to challenge the locked marketplace
structure within which filmmakers operate. For encouraging this kind of
radical thinking, Robert Connolly should be applauded.
This article is found on the Centre for Screen Business website.
23 Apr 2008
Just Sincere
I
was thinking of all the different kinds of puns I could use for the
title of this blog, but I thought it best to keep it short and sincere.
Below you will find the first full length feature film to have it's premiere on YouTube.
Its a pretty big step in the whole new technologies thing. And since Four Eyed Monsters was the first full length film (not premiered) on YouTube (foureyedmonsters youtube channel), you can bet you bottom dollar that YouTube have been waiting to premiere one on there for a while!
YouTube
have been pretty savvy so far about a lot of things, and I figure that
they have probably had a lot of offers to premiere a film and wouldn't
want to premiere crap. And after watching the trailer, something tells me they definitely picked the right film here!
I'm am currently letting The Cult of Sincerity load so I can watch the whole thing.
You too can do the same...Enjoy!
04 Mar 2008
New Channel
Hey everyone, we have updated our INTERVIEWEE page. Check it out and add some comments below.
We have also created our own YOUTUBE channel. Keep an eye on this for clips and coming trailers.
13 Mar 2008
Face Space
We have finally done it. Into the Shadows is now not only on Myspace but Facebook too!
We have started the page off very simply, with a Teaser and a forum to discuss the points raised in the teaser. All are welcome to add comments.
So head to Myspace and become a friend or you can head to Facebook and become a FAN! Then again why not just head to both?
18 Mar 2008
Foundation Approved
All our time filling in forms and writing up applications has not been an entire waste!
Into the Shadows has been approved by the Documentary Australia Foundation to
be a documentary deemed worthy of philanthropic support. Phil and I
have issued the Foundation with a production still and synopsis, which
will be added to their website shortly. In time Into the Shadows will appear on the Foundation's website 'Approved List' for all to view.
So, if you or someone you know, would like to donate to the production or post production costs of Into the Shadows
you can, knowing that you are supporting an offical, charitable
production. This also means you can now recieve tax breaks from your
donation to the making of the film.
Support the making of Into the Shadows
and share in the creation of the film that will raise the awareness, of
the need for a fresh, dynamic, vibrant Australian cinema culture.
-Andrew.
19 Mar 2008
What's at Risk: Justice Leauge or the Australian Film Industry?
The Situation:
Justice League Mortal is the film everyone is talking about and its not even in cinemas, yet-
Background:
A new tax incentive for Australian producers has been introduced, its called the Tax Offset
(formally the Tax Rebate) and it provides up to a 40% Offset of budget
of the film, which goes to the Producer. Like all incentives this one
comes with its Red Tape. On this occasion a film must qualify under QAPE (Qualifying Australian Production Expenditure)
to be able to access the Offset. This means that when a film is
submitted, to the powers that be, a panel of assessors decide if the
film is Australian 'enough' and if it is, then it gets the tick of
approval. If not? Then find another country to film in with better tax
breaks or change the script.
Justice League Mortal now sits in production limbo as, rumour has it, the Film Finance Corporation (FFC)
rejected the producers preliminary request for the 40% Offset. So the
question remains, are an Australian director, some key cast and crew
enough to be an Australian Film? Or does the story have to be about a
man cooking 'shrimp' on a Barbie in the outback? In today's times, when
filmmaking is becoming an increasingly global phenomenon the question
is asked, what is an Australian film? And does an industry, that seems
to be all but fading away, have the capacity to let such an investment
go?
Well, on Wednesday, Dr. George Miller (director of Justice League) gave an impassioned response when interviewed by Fran Kelly on ABC Radio National about why he feels Justice League Mortal should receive the Offset.
There is an audio file of the interview and an interesting write up in The Sydney Morning Herald.
What do you think?
Want to know more about Justice League the comic? Find out here.
-Andrew.
07 Apr 2008
Last plane to Melbourne
It's
5am and I am about to head out to the airport for what will hopefully
be our last plane trip to Melbourne (time for a morning coffee).
We have 5 interviews planned with some great Australian directors, an actor and a past exhibitor and all round film buff.
If
all goes to plan we will be back in Canberra on Wednesday night with
plenty to blog about. So until then, stay safe and have a great week!
-Andrew.
08 Apr 2008
Melbourne down, Sydney and Brisbane to go...
After three days in Melbourne we are back home, enthusiastic and ready to continue the hard slog of editing Into the Shadows together.
On Monday, we arrived in Melbourne and after dropping some bags of at our now regular, City Limits hotel, met Paul Coulter. Paul has had a long life in the film industry, from the days of the Melbourne film co-op, Melbourne Film Festival and finally running the Lumiere Cinema for 12 years before closing it in late 2005.
He
made some interesting comments about distribution and exhibition in
Australia and views the need for a vibrant screen culture as very
important. Afterwards he offered us a lift into the city where we met
with Tony Ayres.
Tony is currently producing a TV Series 'Bogan Pride'
and we ended up interviewing him in the art-department store room,
which actually worked out quite well. Tony spoke openly about his
experiences making and releasing The Home Song Stories.
He also commented on the way Australian films are financed and the
grueling development processes that they must go through from script to
screen.
After the interview Phil and I headed back to the hotel, then we were off in search of wood fired pizza and a cold beverage.
Tuesday was not as eventful. Matt Zeremes was unable to do his interview (so we postponed it till later in the month) and I could not get in contact with Matt Saville.
Not wanting to waste a day, we packed up the camera and tripod and went
scouting for overlay. We shot exteriors of some cinemas and imagery of
the city scape then took a taxi out to Westgarth and recorded the old Valhalla cinema (now run by Palace). The building tells its own story of changing times, reflected in the mix of its past and modern architecture.
We then headed back into town to meet Jarred (four4ty),
a singer, song writer and our potential music composer. We talked over
a beer and discussed how we saw the music working in the doco. Jarred
was really receptive and liked the idea of collaborating with us to
create a dynamic soundtrack. Phil and I left the conversation with some
enthusiasm and headed off to Lygon Street for dinner and more filming.
The highlight of the night was getting to film inside the projection room at the Nova followed by a free bottle of wine and great pizza and pasta.
Wednesday, we checked out of the hotel and headed off to meet Clayton Jacobson, the man behind the 2006 Aussie hit 'Kenny'. Clayton
was welcoming from the minute he opened the door to the minute we left.
The interview was insightful on many levels, filmmaking, distribution,
exhibition and audience perception. We chatted with Clayton for a while after the interview and left inspired to continue on in our work for Into the Shadows.
Yet
again Phil and I have returned from the city of Melbourne with more
great stories, experiences and encouragement to keep on keeping on...
24 Feb 2008
New Mags
Just been added to the IF Magazine in production webpage and FILMINK's links page.
Keep an eye out for next month's IF Magazine and the new FILMINK.
24 Feb 2008
AIDC Day 3
After our late night of inspiration how did the final day play out? Read on...
Day 3: Friday
Peter Greenaway
was the keynote speaker of the conference and his session was well
worth the wait. He spoke very provocatively about Documentary itself as
a form and challenged everyone's notion of the context of cinema in
contemporary life. He sees the idea of "the frame" as a limited way of
shooting and exhibiting films and has begun to test new ways of viewing
films and on new subjects. He has been working with artists in Italy
who have been projecting work on massive surfaces, from museum walls
and ceilings to 10m high boards. The most interesting clip he showed
featured Rembrandt's
The Nightwatchman and was originally played during a Rembrandt
exhibition in Amsterdam. Digital composting was used to bring the
painting to life, adding a whole new aspect of light, sound and vision
to the work.
I came away from Greenaway's talk feeling that I
had experienced something new. It is hard to describe but it is as if
something in the new age of cinema is a foot and Peter Greenaway is onto it.
I went to a session run by Bruno Felix, from submarine channel,
about the way documentary and the virtual world is evolving together.
Later, Phil and I both sat in on the session, Basement Tapes by Brett Gaylor.
He is a young director from Canada, making a groundbreaking documentary
on Piracy and copyright in the digital world. He helped establish this
idea of open source cinema,
which encourages re-mixing and re-mashing of one filmmakers work by
another. Another session, another glimpse at what the future of
filmmaking may look like.
The day ended with some padded out sessions including listening to the people behind ABC and SBS explain what they are programming and looking for over the coming year and according to Matt Campbell
Australia's Top Gear did not cost $11m. I was able to meet Jennifer
Collins from ABC and chat about our project, she was interested in it
and recommended we apply for the JTV DOCS funding round.
The
day ended on a high note going for drinks at the Beach Bar, meeting and
greeting other producers, directors and people from state agencies.
With plenty of Little Creatures on offer and a cool setting it was a great way to end a very full three days.
It was then time to say good bye to the Ole B&B and fly back to the East side to our homes in Canberra.
With new deadlines to meet and plenty of business cards to sort through
it's back in front of the computer and into it all over again.
25 Feb 2008
Embracing Innovation - White Paper
Robert Connolly has issued a new White Paper titled, Embracing Innovation: a new methodology for feature film production in Australia.
We have interviewed
Robert for Into the Shadows, during the interview he did discuss some
interesting points of view about the funding models in Australia. We
applaude him for his work on this white paper and encourage you all to
read it.
ConnollyWP%5B1%5D.pdf
28 Feb 2008
Friday Deadline
We are busy working on two applications:
One for AFC production funding and the other to be approved by the Documentary Australia Foundation as an official film that can receive Philanthropic support.
To anyone else out there working hard to get an application in on time- good luck!
01 Mar 2008
Friday is always too far away
Early this afternoon I posted our application to the AFC for production funding.
Phil
has been hanging with his girlfriend all week, as she leaves for
England tomorrow, so it was almost a one-man show. Has anyone else
tried to fill in an AFC application? It’s a lot of work, making sure
every box is ticked.
But the paper work is finally signed, sealed and delivered - Fingers crossed!
I
have just come back from a night out on the town with my mate Dax; it
was a good way to end the week. Hopefully next week will bring some
exciting news as we wait to hear from ScreenACT.
Can't wait til next Friday afternoon.
21 Feb 2008
AIDC Day 1
We have decided to track back the three days at the AIDC:
Day 1: Wednesday
It was a really big day yesterday. There was lots to do and lots to see. Lots of people to meet and lots of coffee to drink...
I went to the round table discussion with Katrina Sedgwick (director of the Adeaide Film Festival) and considering neither of us had been to one before, it went really well.
Katrina
was extremely informative about the investment fund, and I truly
believe our stars and timelines are aligned. We will be submitting an
application to the AFFIF as soon as possible.
Andrew had similar luck with Mitzi Goldman and Susan McKinnon from the Documentary Australia Foundation.
He received really positive feedback from our draft application and
once we get back to Canberra we'll submit our polished application and
hopefully be approved by the foundation so we can go on in our search
for philanthropic support.
Opening night drinks are always good
- especially when the drinks are free - and last night's events were no
exception. We met some really nice people, caught up with our friend
Sophie from Closer Productions, met her (production) partner Bryan, watched an amazing sunset, got drinks spilt on me and almost lost my bag.
A great night, hopefully followed by another great day.
23 Feb 2008
AIDC End
So much for posting an entry every day of the AIDC. I guess that's what you get for not having wireless abilities on your mac.
It's all about meeting people at these conferences. Andrew and I met a lot of people. And I mean, a lot! The common questions of course were what are you doing here and what is your project about?
Personally I liked to talk about anything but my project. It wasn't
because I dont like my project or ashamed or anything like that. In
fact, quite the opposite. I am so proud and happy with our project that
I didn't want to sound conceited.
I talked about my project when
I had to, and I discussed it with enthusiasm when I did. Overall, the
other delgates were very positive with their feedback. Some great
interest from filmmakers, distributors, local broadcasters and
surprisingly, international braodcasters.
Even though Into the Shadows
is a very local story, the international correlations are obvious.
Especially when in Into the Shadows, we turn around and look outward to
see how other countries dealt, deal, and are dealing with the same or
similar struggles and challenges our own filmmakers, distributors,
exhibitors and government funding bodies etcetera are dealing with in
our story.
They seemed to like the Australian focus and felt it could be used as an education of the industry for their industry.
23 Feb 2008
AIDC Day 2
Thinking
back to day 2...it was a day that began quickly, lost its way then
ended with a high energy climax...so what exactly went down?
Day 2: Thursday
First
up was "Who's Who" where all the delegates sat in the audience and were
introduced to the faces behind the networks and broadcasters from all
around the world with likes of National Geographic, Channel 4, ITVS and Verve Entertainment International.
Documart!
For the first time Phil and I watched people giving pitches to
television broadcasters from all around the world; Scotland, Germany,
the USA, Bangladesh and of course SBS and ABC from Australia. This may show my age, but I wonder why commercial networks like Ten, Seven and Nine
don't turn up? Documentary seems to be a hot form at the moment so you
never know...(if anyone does know the answer tell us in the comments)
Some
pitches were great, some were...not so...actually on second thought all
of them were pretty good. The most interesting thing about it was to
watch the re-actions and interactions between "pitcher" and the
"broadcaster". Sometimes broadcasters were nice, interested and right
into the idea and other times they were ice cold. Phil and I will be
mindful of this when we tighten our synopsis and treatments as well as
use this experience to further our pitching skills for the future.
"What's in it for private investors?" was interesting...to sum it up? In our opinion? The new producers offset still has a few bugs to be worked through and the FFC
or the to be new Screen Australia will have to work hard with banks and
institutions to ensure that the offset is seen as a secure viable model
for investing into Australian production. One thing that can be said is
that the offset is not designed for small time independent producers
but for medium to large size companies who can take on a slate of
projects. Instead of trying to make it sound like there are ways for
little indie guys to survive I wish someone would have the guts to say
what is really going on here and that this is not right as it could
destroy the business model for small time players. Some may argue that
this is fine, that they are not needed but if the raw indie producers
are culled off then the industry stands to lose fresh ideas and its
vibrant-risky edge.
The next seminars were so so and our night was drifting nowhere, then by chance we bumped into Tim Sparke from joiningthedots.tv and
had fish and chips for dinner with him. We got talking about our
project and joiningthedots.tv and before we new it we were debating the
current trends in cinema, from England, Australia to the USA and
Europe. Later, Tim worked through our film narrative further. We ended
up getting some contacts from him and at the stroke of midnight
(almost) we met Daryl Karp, Chief Executive Officer of Film Australia. She added some thoughts on our project and with that we walked back to our humble B&B with a renewed focus and vigour.
19 Feb 2008
No Good Night but hopefully plenty of Luck!
I
haven't gone to sleep tonight, and our flight is at 6:50 am so I don't
think I'll get there, plenty of time to rest on the plane...we are off
to the AIDC 2008 in Fremantle. Never been to West Aussie, heard its a great place so I'm looking forward to it.
Last night was Tropfest 08, sorry...last night was SONY TROPFEST 08!
It was packed in Canberra- a 20,000 strong crowd and for once the
weather was hot and sunny! Sometimes I forget if its a marketing event
or a short film festival, either way I suppose its great to bring so
many people together to support short films. I must admit I snuck away
during the interval to have a coffee but congrats to all the winners
and a big shout out to the two local entries from Canberra who made it
into the top 16.
Today Phil added links to the new bios and
should have them up and running tomorrow, if we can fit it in between
the flights, DOCO2012 seminar and drinks. Whilst Phil worked on the
website, I edited our Documentary Australia proposal.
I can finally say that it is done! And I am looking forward to meeting
Mitzi Goldman and Susan MacKinnon on Wednesday at the round table
discussion. If successful Into the Shadows will be given official
recognition by the foundation which will help us in our venture to woo
philanthropic investors.
My right pointer finger is sore from
typing, my neck is creaking and my bag is not packed...time to sign off
and get everything else ready for the trip.
Look out for our daily updates whilst at the AIDC.
12 Feb 2008
Breakdown
Yesterday we packed the car early in the morning and were on the road to Sydney by 6am. We were heading up there to interview Brendan Cowell, the lead actor in Noise and then come back that afternoon. Get up early, leave on time and everything would work out...or so we thought.
Unfortunately,
the car had other ideas. An hour and a half outside of Canberra the car
broke down. First the radio cut out, the digital dashboard went blank
and the Speedo was stuck on 120 so we decided to pull over. As the car
came to a stop it lost all power and stalled on us.
An ABS
light had come on, which the manual told us meant we had no ABS. No
anti-lock braking wasn't the worst thing in the world, so we decided to
keep going. On the second try, the car started and we were on our way...5
minutes later the car conked out again.
This time we did what must be done and called Phil's old man as well as the NRMA.
10mins later the NRMA was there to rescue us, but to no avail. All he
could say was that our alternator might need to be fixed but that
everything else was fine and as long as we kept the radio, air con and
cruise control off (basically everything besides the basic function of
driving) we could try our luck and continue on to Sydney or take a turn
to Moss Vale and find a ford dealer to check over the car.
So
with none of the luxuries we have come to depend on we headed for Moss
Vale. The car was running fine and all was well until the gremlins
struck again and the car blanked out.
By this time Phil's mum
who had decided to drive to our aid and swap cars was coming up to
Goulburn and so she continued to Moss Vale. We called Ford and the
NRMA. 45 mins later Phil's mum turned up, we exchanged cars and were
back on the highway.
Thanks to Phil's stunt man driving and a bit of luck we got to Brendan's place by 11:30am, half an hour late but nonetheless there. Brendan was very gracious about it and so the interview went on.
Huge thanks to Bob and Lorraine for giving up their entire day to ensure we got the interview.
Today we have captured the interview, and are continuing to prepare for the AIDC 2008. We hope to have a complete promo reel done by Friday, so for now it's back to the grindstone.
A side note - FILMINK has also added Into the Shadows to their links page - thanks Dov for your continued support.
08 Feb 2008
AIDC Prep
Weeks
seem to come and go at the moment and there goes another one. We have
been working on a fresh look for our website, including new material:
promos, interviewee bios and our news blog.
We have also been preparing for our trip to the AIDC 2008.
Registration... Check!
Flights... Check!
Accommodation... We had some hick-ups but can now say, check!
We
are aiming to meet and greet other documentary filmmakers at the
conference and find out what other people out there are making. There
are going to be some great seminars run by experienced filmmakers and
industry professionals so it should be an enriching experience.
07 Feb 2008
Office Space
Today
we are working from our new office. No it's not one of those minimalist
design penthouse view offices that have views of the CBD. It's in
Phil's renovated backyard garage, but nonetheless it's an office space
and its working well for us.
Last week we submitted a funding application to ScreenACT. It's the first time the ACT government has issued funding through ScreenACT
specifically for film projects...so fingers crossed. If we receive the
funding we will be able to finish the production stage of our doco. If
we don't, we will be hitting up the credit cards again - either way
this film will be completed.
On some other news, as you may have
noticed we have a new addition to our website - Our news blog! Will we
be adding entries to this more often! It will be a great way to keep up
to date as our project continues and it means you can now comment on
the website and the film.
We have also cut a promo reel and
some clips for Into the Shadows so keep an eye on this space because
they will be up soon - until then go out and make a film! You know you
want to.
14 Jul 2008
New year is here
Happy New Year! Fireworks are over and the Christmas tree is coming down for 2007, so here it is, 2008 upon us already.
We
have been relaxing with family and friends which has been great but now
its time to focus on the documentary again and focus on one thing in
particular- finance! Yep, we are sucking in the footage, cutting a reel
and preparing treatments and budgets for grants.
First cab off
the rank...THE SCREENACT 2008 PROJECT FUND. We need to fill out some
paper work, write a proposal, treatment, cut a reel and have a budget.
Only twenty odd days to go so we better get cracking!
15 Dec 2007
End of the Sydney trip
It's been a long week. More interviews are on tape and our heads are
spinning with excitement as we look to the New Year with anticipation
of cutting together what we have so far.
One of the highlights this week has to be our first radio appearance. After interviewing Megan Spencer
she invited us on, as late replacements, to be interviewed about our
documentary. We were cut from the main broadcast due to the 20/20
cricket and could only be heard streamed live from the web. So our
audience was small but it is a beginning. We also spoke with Paul
Coulter (late owner of the Lumiere in Melbourne) on the phone in a live cross.
Now
its beer o'clock and the cricket is on. Sitting here with our KFC
bucket, air con pumping and our heads chilled back on our pillows. Time
to pop open the draughts and celebrate!
10 Dec 2007
Quit our jobs...but still full steam ahead
This
trip is already frustrating and it's only the end of Day 1. Since
quitting our jobs to work on the documentary full time, money has been
a problem. Not so much a problem but an issue to deal with and it looks
like we will be hitting up the credit card from now on. Which means
debt.
The hotel is not to bad, but it isn't great. The
internet is expensive, the extra comforts of a bedside table are
non-existent and the desk is one of those minimalist ones shoved in the
corner that can hold a skinny TV and that's about it...not the ideal
workspace for traveling filmmakers. Enough complaining - on with the
job at hand.
Today we had two great interviews, firstly Adrianne Pecotic from AFACT, who raised some interesting points about piracy and creative ownership. After lunch we interviewed Stephen Basil-Jones from Sony Pictures Releasing.
He was very encouraging of our work and great to chat with, he had some
upfront thoughts on the real issues facing distributors in this
evolving cinema environment.
08 Dec 2007
Destination: Film Festival
Today we jumped in the Honda and zoomed off to Newton, Sydney for the closing session of Destination Film Festival. We had an interesting drive through Newton finding the place but once we did it was worth it. Carriageworks!
A new contemporary art space transformed from an old railway
station...an unreal space, mixing rustic charm with modern technology
perfectly.
Megan Spencer introduced the session (Cyber-Born Film) and then let the film Four Eyed Monsters do the talking. It's a great film, innovative in everyway. We had watched all their video podcasts but had never seen the film on the BIG SCREEN. Its a testament to how indie filmmakers can use digital distribution
and marketing to get a film out there...hey we just watched their film
on a Big Screen in an old railway station in Sydney! If that's not
getting it out there I don't know what is.
The discussion with the panel afterwards was great with such speakers as Rosemary Blight (Clubland), Rachel Lucas (Bondi Tsunami), Dan & Dominique Angeloro (Soda Jerk) and Toby Ralph (Street Sweeper).
We had some drinks afterwards in a nearby pub, swapped some stories and
bizz cards then were back on the road. A good trip and a good festival.
07 Dec 2007
Highlights so far...
What a whirlwind tour. Interviews, running out of money, changing schedule, the red carpet of the AFI's! It's been hard going but great all the same. We have some really good interviews on tape and great colour from the AFI's.
Highlights of this week included an encouraging chat with Robert Connolly, great discussion with Dee McLachlan and Andrea Buck from The Jammed and interviewing George Miller on the red carpet at the AFI's.