Publicity, Articles and Reviews

An article on the film from the February 2001 QPIX newsletter, written by Scot McPhie

“In My Image” is a feature film set in New Guinea in 1938. It’s about the friendship between an anthropologist come barrister, David, and a highlander Jainantu. It also involves a court case in which one of the highlanders kills another, within their spiritual beliefs, but is then charged with murder by the colonial administration. David decides to defend the accused in this case which brings back up to the highlands for the first time in five years and back in contact with Jainantu again. However in the intervening years Jainantu has become a Christian and is now the lay preacher at the mission, which as an atheist David finds hard to deal with. The film focuses on what happens to their friendship through this, and in the end is about accepting someone else’s rights to their beliefs, even if you don’t believe in them yourself.

I chose New Guinea because I wanted to work in a colonial context - I just seem to like them as a writer - and as far as New Guinea goes I was fascinated by the fact that as recently as the 1930’s - and even later - there were people there who never knew the outside world ~ and there was all that remarkable 16mm footage that Michael Leahy took - of the first time some of these people saw outsiders - it’s incredible. There’s something very special about it I think, and something very tragic about it at the same time.

We’re shooting the film on Super 8 - and that’s for a number of reasons - firstly I couldn’t afford 16 or 35, but I still wanted to work with film for the quality - though most people don’t realise it Super 8 has higher colour saturation and resolution than even the highest end digital video, so for me it was a better choice than video - although obviously video would be cheaper - but as I want to go on and make larger format films I think the more detailed approach that even Super 8 requires is a good training thing.

We are finishing the film on digital video though - this is because of the difficulties in getting Super 8 films sound striped now and the limited airing possibilities it would have as projected Super 8. This is will also give us the ability to superimpose a few digital effects - for example a 1930’s Junkers aircraft into the background of some scenes. We will be using a Rank scanner for the telecine.

The camera we are using is a Beaulieu 4008 ZM II these were manufactured from 1969 to 1971 and are considered one of the best Super 8 cameras in the world - which is why I bought it, and also because of the support - Beaulieu still make Super 8 cameras, and there is a licensed service agent in Australia, who we have used. Sound synching has always been a problem with Super 8 as only a few Super 8 cameras were or still are being made with a crystal synch motor. Our one doesn’t have a crystal synch motor but we are getting one fitted to it in the United States. We’re also looking into getting an anamorphic lense for it, and will most likely shoot in the 16:9 ratio - which is just an aesthetic decision.

At the time of writing this (early January) we are finalising our casting and crewing - alot of the crew has come through the QPIX crew link and then direct referrals - and the Australian cast is coming through actors I know, and referrals. The Consulate-General of Papua New Guinea, as well as members of the Papua New Guinean community in Brisbane, is helping with the casting of the New Guinean parts.

Most of our exterior shots are going to be around the Lamington National Park - Border Ranges area - and most of the interiors are going to be in and around Brisbane. The rainforest around the Border Ranges is different in many ways to that of the Papua New Guinean highlands, but at our budget level I think that’s okay. We’ll be shooting over the weekends from mid-March to mid-May.

I suppose it’s a big production in some regards, but I wrote the script to be character based and with an eye to the limitations of our budget. I certainly could have done something easier from a technical/film making point of view but I wanted to go with where the themes and inspiration are for me at the moment - and I think the film will be better for it.

As a writer and actor producing has always been a bit of a necessary evil for me - but it’s important to do it initially to get a project up and running - then those roles can be handed over as it developes. As far as getting grants goes I did look at the New Writers scheme with the PFTC early last year - but the timing was wrong and I wouldn’t have had the script ready in time. I did have another look at their grants and the AFC’s a few months ago but they all seemed to be for people with screen credits, and given that virtually all my work has been in theatre and with the high competition for grants I didn’t think I’d either be eligible or stand much of a chance of getting one. I didn’t want to wait and try and develop the project with an established producer and then re-apply because I know that could take quite a few years and at the end you’re still in same position - waiting for someone else to give you permission to make your film - I’d much rather keep the ball in my own court as much as possible and find ways to do it with what resources I can muster and build up from there. It’s a much more self-empowering approach and can still yield quality results - I’m a big believer in the independent approach to film making. I don’t think there’s any thing wrong with grants, but as long as they work in with your over-all plan.

When the film’s finished we’re going to look at various forms of video distribution both here and over seas. If this film makes any money I think it would only be on the back of interest generated by other larger format films I can hopefully go on and make - we’re not under any illusions about the financial realities involved here but for alot of other reasons including presenting this story and it’s themes and the experience of making it - it is worthwhile project to do.

There is a fairly comprehensive web site about the film http://www2.one.net.au/~scot/image.htm which is updated regularly if you want to follow it’s progress. If anyone is interested in being involved that still could be possible so feel free to contact me.

An article on the film written by Scot McPhie on the 30th of April, 2001 for the QPIX newsletter, and unsubmitted at the moment

The film has been progressing well, albeit slowly but that is to be expected – though experiencing that for the first time is something else! We've gone through the usual teething problems for an independent film – a few cast and crew fluctuations etc – but that has settled down now and everyone is getting used to working with each other and a good working relationship amongst everyone has developed.

At the time of writing this we've shot just over 30% of the script and used just under 50% of the film. So we'll have to pull the ratio back a bit, or get more film. Most of the filming so far has been interiors in Brisbane and at the Upper Brookfield Hall, but we'll be heading shortly to Natural Arch to film for 3 days on an old dairy farm there, which is doubling as a Papua New Guinean highland valley. The whole Papua New Guinean aspect of the film is going quite well – with a lot of support and interest from the PNG community in Brisbane – and with a lot of interior and exterior locations available that look a lot like the real thing.

The Super 8 is proving to be an interesting medium to work with. The lighting and camera setting is a lot more detailed than it would be if we shot on video, and particularly since it is a low ASA film, but this is a good thing as I wanted that extra detail as a training exercise for future work on larger gauge film. However the short roll lengths are proving to be a bit frustrating – they're not effecting the acting performances themselves as much as I thought they would, but just working around them and sometimes having to shoot cut aways (or something else which doesn't require a change in set up) because there's only a short length left on the roll is annoying. As is the time delay in changing rolls – it doesn't take long to pop a cartridge in, but when you factor in the extra notation and paper work a break of a minute every few minutes in a heightened scene is a problem. I think it's probably fair to say too you waste more film because it's in shorter rolls – because in some instances when it cuts out you have to go back and repeat certain passages before you can get properly into the new part you were wanting to film, and there's also issues like a small blank roll leader at the start and the extra clapper board footage etc – which does all add up. You can get Super 8 in 200ft cartridges for some Beaulieu cameras – but if you can afford that you can afford 16mm! So whether or not the decision to shoot on Super 8 has paid off yet is undecided – the extra work ethic is worth it, but as long as the result is too. We've got our first 4 rolls developed – it was the first scene which doubled as a camera test – and on a Super 8 viewer they looked quite good – and the colours were very rich. I'm hoping to be getting 70 odd rolls developed shortly and we'll get them telecined with a Rank Cintel – so we'll be able to make a direct comparison with DV then.

We're well in the thick of it now – it's been a good learning curve for me too – as far as instigating the production as a whole I've been in the situation where I can't do it all myself, but I can't wait for others to do it all for me either – so getting the balance has been the issue – and I've been able to progressively off load responsibilities from myself to others as we go, and am continuing to do so, so I can concentrate on my main areas of focus – which is just writing and acting. I think it was a good decision to dive in and start making it when we did – the film obviously would be better if we had more time and money and resources etc. – but how long do you wait for that, especially when it averages almost 5 years to go through the funding bodies in Australia. I'm a strong believer in the independent ethic of art production – and the means with which we have to make the work at the time is as valid a part of the work as what the work is about itself - I mean look at Nirvana's first album - it cost them $600 to record but there it was and it said everything they wanted it to. And apart from making the film itself the other main part of this has been getting a company up and running and together which is starting to happen as well.

We're only shooting on the weekends and we should wrap late May early June, with the film hopefully finished editing around November. There is a comprehensive web page about the film at http://www.users.bigpond.com/scotandjenny/image.htm if anyone wants to have a look - there's more detailed information there and alot of photos. (Please note this is a new URL from the one listed in an earlier article in QPIX news.)

An article from the Courier Mail on the 12th of June 2002

An article written by freelance writer Patrick Hine

Brisbane filmmaker Scot McPhie took on an ambitious project for his self-financed first feature - a legal drama set in 1938 Papua New Guinea - but he hopes his example will inspire others to think big, no matter their budget.

“A few years ago, every independent film or independent bloody TV thing was about people in a share house,” McPhie commented, describing the sort of film he wasn’t interested in making. “I wanted to do something that was really inspiring in terms of the ideas and the settings.”

His film examines the legal and cultural clash when a murder trial puts native religion to the test under a western legal system. This clash is echoed in the fraught friendship of defence barrister, David, an atheist, and highlander Jainantu (who is helping him investigate the murder), a devout Christian and lay preacher to the natives.

“As I was writing it, I realised I’d never thought of Australia as a colonising power,” McPhie explained the starting point for the story. “We’d always been the ones who’d been colonised, in the sense that Australia was a British colony. I never thought of us as actually being the colonisers and, when New Guinea and Papua were both handed over to us, that’s exactly what we were.”

In My Image had its premiere on September 24 at Brisbane’s Screen Resource Centre, QPIX, in Woolloongabba. It was attended by a select group of actors, crew and friends of the film. The film was well received by this audience of perhaps its harshest critics, the ones who had gone through all the sweat and tears to get it to the screen.

More than one crew member marvelled at the visual impact of the film, an aspect which had caused some doubts during the film’s production. Papua New Guinea was effectively doubled by meticulously scouted locations in Brisbane, Townsville and the Border Ranges. “New Guinea once being attached to Australia, a lot of it is similar vegetation and plants and scenery,” the filmmaker said, underlining the scientific basis for his confidence in his ability to mimic the story’s setting.

McPhie sported a huge beard (grown for the Ned Kelly film he plans to shoot this year) for the night, which never obscured his perpetual smile.

A few days later, seated at the computer in his tiny back office at QPIX, McPhie is relaxed and reflective, musing on the path which led him to take on such an ambitious work. “It was probably a mixture of ignorance and inspiration,” McPhie laughed, “If I’d known how hard it would have been, first up, I probably would have chosen an easier project.”

He paused, munching on an apple. “Sorry”, McPhie said, mindful of the tape recorder still running, “I’m starving!” Clean-shaven (the Kelly film had been postponed temporarily), he had the look of a Queensland Ichabod Crane - tall, thin, angular, wearing round glasses, with wiry dark hair cut short, casually dressed in dark shorts and a pale, collared shirt.

“I’m old enough to still remember when Super-8 was the accessible filmmaking medium for people before video,” McPhie said, explaining his decision to shoot using a format still nostalgically associated with home movies in the popular imagination.

While he admitted the actors’ performances may have benefited from the wealth of takes and angles that shooting on video allows, McPhie maintained that Super-8 film best suited his vision. “The actual look of the film suits the period a lot more than video would have. The slightly aged and textured look of it really fits because it is a period piece.”

From start to finish, the film has consumed four years of its creator’s life. The birth of his daughter meant that the first year was occupied exclusively with work on the script. The birth of his son (a year after principal photography was finished) slowed post-production to a crawl. “It really, really slowed down,” McPhie laughs ruefully, before displaying a sense of perspective rare in the monomaniacal world of filmmaking. “But that’s okay, I’d rather have a son than a film!”

With twenty pre-orders for the film’s DVD already taken by McPhie’s website, the value of an internet presence is self-evident. McPhie is realistic about the film’s value. “The main value of this has been as a learning experience,” the first-time filmmaker said. “With a young family now, there’s a lot of money that’s been put into this, that could have gone into a house deposit or something, so I’m very aware of the fact that I don’t want this to be a one-off film.”

McPhie’s advice to other filmmakers is to consider computers and the internet as indispensable filmmaking tools. “If you’re shooting on 16 or 35mm, at least you can telecine it to video, put it into your computer,” he said, referring perhaps to his own future projects. “Do a final cut on the computer, show that to distributors and, if they like it, then they’ll pay for the film blow up. If they don’t like it, then you’ve got a DVD that you can sell yourself.”

The Press Kit for In My Image

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