We filmed yesterday and the day before - the film is at the lab
now - so fingers crossed - we think it went well but until we see it we
won't know -- there were of course a few glitches being the first day,
the second day went pretty well I thought -- anyway too tired to put in
much detail now - but will shortly - here are some pics - explanations
to follow too
These are all from just digital stills taken on the set - we
won't be getting any telecine (and frame grabs) till after the whole
film is shot
Okay to cut a long story short we found there is a registration
problem with the camera - this problem was definitely not there last
time I used it, but it means we have to scrap all the footage we shot
(this was 3 days worth). Major bummer. We did plan on doing a test in
the week before we started shooting but given that the camera was fine
the last time I used it (late last year) I was pretty confident it
would be alright :-( I guess the moral of the story is to double check!
The following are some pics from the shooting on the second
weekend (which was also scrapped) (the car boot shot is a make shift
darkroom/change bag!)
So anyway with alot of money and film blown and costumes still
hired and loactions and extras all lined up I had to make the decision
to switch to HD. I'd much prefer 16mm but I just couldn't afford the
extra time it was going to take to get the camera sorted out - or the
hire of another 16mm camera. The money we would have used for
development and telecine is now going to the hire of the HD camera.
We're using the new Sony HVR-Z1P which shoots 1080i under the HDV
standard.
The good thing about using this camera is that it gives us alot
of confidence and reliability witht he camera end of things which we
didn't have before, it is also pretty manouverable which is good too.
However we are using it on a shoulder mount and the LCD view finder is
in a bad position for that (too high). One thing that did worry us
though is the decreased exposure latitude of it compared to film -
particulalry since we're mainly shooting in the bush in direct sunlight
- however we're going to make this work for us and are actually
intentionally over exposing it a bit to make it look drier and hotter -
we'll probably desaturate the colours a bit in post too, to add to this
look.
On the side I'm going to do some more tests with my 16mm camera
and get it fixed - I still much prefer the film look so I'll get it
sorted out and running properly for other projects. I'm still most
likely going to use this for some time lapse scenes for this film yet.
Below is some stills from the two days - a big thanks to Don Ross
(all 3 generations!) and everyone else who came back to help us reshoot
the wagon scene. Some frame grabs are included after.
The following are all frame grabs from the miniDV tape - at the
moment I'm just downconverting in the camera from HD to SD and
capturing in that way - later on (after we've shot the whole film) I'll
look at capturing and editing in HD ~ in which case I'll just use the
EDL I've generated from my SD edit if the film.
We're having this coming weekend off then the following weekend we're shooting the opening scene with the boats and another few scenes - mainly of me going through the mangroves and coastal salt marshes
27/4/2005
All went well with the big shoot not last weekend but the one
before - the better part of Saturday was spent wading through mangroves
and mud and bush (love it!) - and Sunday out rowing -- frame grabs are
below
I've been able to piece together just over 10 minutes of footage
now with various sequences which is a great help in terms of showing us
how we're going and what we need to both maintain and improve
I've also been experimenting with the look a bit and giving the
image a film like gamma curve and desatuarating the colours (none of
which is shown in these pics) which is looking quite good - and the
final version will be something like that
As much as I hate to say it - it's probably been a blessing in
disguise the fact that we've switched to HD as the camera is alot more
manueverable and easier to use which is important in some of these
sequences we're trying to pull off. I'd still much rather shoot it on
film though but as I've come to learn you really need more organisation
and resources than we have at the moment to that sufficiently well.
I do still plan to shoot some time lapse stuff though on 16mm for
various cut aways in the bush and am starting to test and try and work
out what the cause of the problems was - it's either the camera or
magazines
There will be a private screening of the footage edited so far, sometime this week, for all who have been involved to see
A big thank you to Geoff Taylor for the use of his wonderful
handmade wooden boat, and for Michael Howcroft for his boat to film from
First of all we took a break for a few months - this was due to
other commitments on my part and was something that was known in
advance and scheduled for - in this time I edited "an assemblage" of
all the stuff shot so far - which gives an idea of how it's looking and
what needs to be done (or redone!)
We resumed on the 16th of June and shot some stuff mainly of just
me in a dry creek bed - hearing the gun shots - and finding the
sleeping spot for that night. We also got some nice backlit shots
through a run of tall grass. We got a wallaby close up too which
hopefully will cut well with the scenes of Bevan hunting. I'm a bit
worried about the shots of me continuity wise - I don't think the beard
stubble is long enough to cut well with the other shots so we'll see.
Keeping continuity in the shots over such protracted shooting period is
quite a challenge actually and to be honest not one we've put enough
work into -- but overall though I think it will be alright.
After this (the next week - the 23rd) we did some swimming shots
- now this was the funnest and freeziest day I've had filming. The
first sequence was where I arrive on shore so we shot from a beach
looking out towards the bay - this was in the middle winter and
although it was a sunny day it was freezing and the water was freezing
- and of course I had to get wet and stumble in and collapse - if it
weren't for a cold thermos of soup I would have collapsed for real! A
man walking his dog (right through our shots) helpfully reminded us it
would have been better had we shot it in summer. Such insight.
That was in the morning then we proceded to the next shot - which
was really fun - we had to do shots back towards the land - now in
Brisbane there's not that many beaches (as opposed to mud flats) and
not very many with no buildings etc behind them. There is some near
Redcliffe though - on the left as you go over the bridge towards the
peninsula. We once tried to bush bash our way through the mangroves to
the beach but couldn't (and really only got out cause I brought a
compass) - so we resolved to hire a boat. We did this this day and a
had hoot - a little tinny - big enough for me, David (DOP) and Elisa
(Make-up). We chugged along the passage till we got to the beach and
landed. It was great - apart from a fair bit of litter :-( it was
obviously a place hardly ever touched by people and was perfect for
filming back towards the land. It was a bit of an adventure though -
the tide was going out big time (quite a current) and we got about
three quarters of our shots done then a storm blew over - so we had to
wait for breaks in the clouds and wind to just finish our shots. While
we were waiting the current was looking quite strong and I had serious
doubts that we were able to make it back up with our little outboard
engine - fortunately it had slowed down a bit by the time we were ready
to leave - but the beach was now huge and the boat a long way from the
water. This little tinny we found suddenly weighed a tonne when we had
to drag it to the water - but we eventually made it and set off. Coming
back we ran aground about three times into sand bars even though we
followed the channel markers - but we eventually got the boat and
ourselves and the footage back in one piece - it was such great fun!
Funny thing too filming in the mangroves there we were swarmed by
mozzies - including the camera and they look the size of fruit bats as
they swarmed up around the lense. Driving back too we saw a mob of big
Eastern-Grey Kangaroos on a farm and got a few quick shots of them -
nice to seem them so close to population. Of course it was freezing and
quite windy on that little beach too %->
It was quite scenic that day - this is part of the storm coming through
On the beach with Make-up Artist/Flecky girl extraordinaire Elisa Lago
The next stuff we did too was on the 16th of July - just me in
the bush again - I originally wanted to do a scene where my character
stumbled across a Bora ring - I knew this was going to be problematic
to get permission and information about them - and decided just finding
an Aboriginal implement in the bush would give the same effect - ie
there being a sophisticated culture living out there - so we went with
that - where I find a wooden carrying tray - however in the end we did
actually get permission to film on a Bora ground but I decided not too
as we would have to recreate it as it would have been in the old days -
and that was really beyond our art department time and money etc. The
dry creek bed we had shot in the other day was now full so we shot
another scene in that creek where I basically have a swim and a wash -
freezing of course but a good shot for the film.
We then went and did some pick ups - some shots with Jane
FitzGerald who plays my wife - who couldn't be there on the whipping
day -- and all of Bevan's remaining shots - we got some good shots I
think. The two shots below are from the scene where my character
imagines his wife coming to him - we shot it in late afternoon -
basically day for night underexposed and keeping the sky out of shot.
The frame on the left is straight from the tape and on the frame on the
right is with a bit of prcessing - similar to how it will look in the
final film. We had no idea at the time that it would look like a
Frederick McCubbin painting! - a happy co-incidence :-)
The next thing we had to do was reshoot the picnic scene - which
we did on the 23rd. Everyday we'd had lovely sunny weather until now -
Renee who plays Isabel had to come up from the Gold Coast - she'd
actually been busy on Superman down in Sydney and this was
about the only day we could squeeze it in - it was overcast at the
crack of dawn but we thought we'd give it ago and we got just enough
sun shine in the morning to pull it off. In the two pics below the one
of Janus playing the Priest is straight off the tape, whilst I've done
a bit of a film effect processing on the close up of Renee - although
the final film won't look like this (I've been experimenting with a
desaturated look). On the day Renee had to go to get a plane down to
Sydney for more reshoots and we discovered there was one shot of her we
missed - my pov from behind her as she's sitting down - we really
needed the shot so we debated it and decided I should wear the dress
and David get the shot - so I begrudgingly put it on, hid behind the
parasol as people walked around on the path near us - and we got the
shots. Of course I look like a gorilla in it (it wouldn't even do up at
the front) and to be honest most of it is unusable because even from
behind it looks so different to her - but there's one or two shots that
will be alright - the things we do.......
The next thing we shot was the scene with the model hut. Overall
this worked well - though the edge of the platform is going to need a
bit of blending in post - but the hut looks pretty good I think. Thanks
to Roger Evans for introducing me to the whole foreground miniature
technique and Rosemary Barret for her great model. If you have a look
at the picture below the biggest thing that needs correcting is the
edge of the support which you can see on the right of the model - this
was in the overscan area in the lcd monitor (otherwise we would have
edged it out of frame). The leading edge of the base was a bit abrupt
and although we put grass on it, it will need work on it as well. Being
video with a rock solid frame I'm sure we can do all of this correction
in post no worries. We surrounded the platform with dirt from the scene
which worked great until the sun got really bright and dried out the
dirt - or just made it look different anyway.
The other interesting thing about this day was the use of two
ducks. That had to look like wild ducks which were shot - so I made
heaps of phone calls trying to hunt down duck farms or breeders - but
got nowhere - so in the end I bought two Mallards - that kind of look
wild! - anyway they were so cute I couldn't have them killed so I took
them to a vet who prescribed a sedative we could give them - which
worked pretty well on the day - except for the big one which kept
coming to - but that was okay - it looked like it was half alive/half
shot! Local musician Rhett Brambleby also made his acting debut today -
and has found an undiscovered talent I think!
The next thing to do is to finish the opening scene on the beach
which we can't do till the September school holidays due the
availability of an actor - but this is a good thing as it gives me time
to edit everything together and see how it all looks. On that weekend
we'll also do a few shots swimming in the water so am going to build
some kind of underwater housing for the camera -- and there's a few
other shots as well - including the flash back to when my character is
first captured in England.
Another thing which I've got to do is some time lapse shots of
the bush in various locations - I'm tossing up whether to do this on
16mm or the HDV - if I do it on 16mm I'm worried it won't cut too well
because it will look better - but I won't have to hire the camera. I'll
probably do it on 16 just to save the money and have the flexibility
with time - but then I'll have to fiddle with it a bit in post to give
it the lower resolution and exposure lattitude of the HDV - with a bit
of work I'm sure it will be alright. I guess I can give it a go first
and then if that doesn't work I'll just hire the HDV camera again.
I've decided I'm going to enter this in the Cannes Film Festival next year (providing it all finishes up okay!)
Editing continuing well
11/11/2005
We just finished filming last weekend and all went well - David
(DOP) couldn't be there so Patrick Hine filled in for him. It was quite
a stormy weekend but we managed to pull it off though with out any real
trouble from the rain.
We did the scene where I sleep for the first night, the remainder
of the beach scene, and the flashback scene - for which we built a
fairly extensive set
Now for the editing! About three quarters of it is edited already
- but to get in and finish the rest - I'm aiming for a 15 minute cut
for Cannes - but there'll probably be a longer version as well. The
audio editing will take quite a while though - with lots of foley work
to be done
I've been watching Barry Lyndon lately and am greatly enamoured
of it's lighting style - and hoped to get a similar kind of a glow that
they did in our night flash back scenes - we however used powered
lights! :-)
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