We had our first day's shooting yesterday - and although we
haven't seen the film yet it went extremely well I think. It was the
first scene in the script which goes for a few minutes, and we'll
double this footage as a test of the camera so we won't shoot anymore
till we get this developed and telecined - which we'll try and have
done over the next 12 days
It was an intermittently cloudy and sunny day (we shot from about
10 till 1:30) and so the changing sunlight was our only real concern as
we were doing it, the back ground noise wasn't too bad
Alan took some digital footage next to our footage with the Super
8 so he could compare the two - which will be interesting - I'll post
pictures of the two side by side here so everyone can see for
themselves - I also took a number of still photos which I'll post when
they're developed as well
All in all it was a great day - but there's still alot of work ahead of us!
28/3/2001
Got the film back today - I've looked at 3 of the 4 rolls in my
editor/viewer and it looks fantastic - I don't want to look at the
fourth one in case I run the risk of scratches, so we'll consider all
is fine with the camera etc and see about this getting telecined in due
course -- we recommence shooting this coming weekend too
2/4/2001
Continued shooting last Saturday and Sunday - all going well, though we had to postpone one location due to the weather
3/5/2001
Well it's all moving too quickly to really sit down and write
alot of info here - it's going well but I'm extremely busy at the moment
We're about to head up to the dairy farm at Natural Arch to film our highland scenes, which is quite exciting
I've written a bit of a blurb
which I'm going to send into QPIX for the newsletter - I don't know yet
if they'll want to publish it, most likely will - but I'll put it in
our publicity/articles page anyway - it's a bit of an update as of a
week or so ago - a bit general, not quite as detailed as the info here
but it'll do! :-)
Came back a few days ago from the Natural Arch trip -
unfortunately 2 people were sick, one of the actors and one of the crew
members, so we could only do about 60 or so percent of what we had
hoped, and though this was dissapointing the health of the people
involved is much more important ~ and it was good to remember that as
enticing and addictive as film work is - it's no where near as
important as life and people's health - so we did what we could, and
are gladly rescheduling the rest around the time necessary for peolpe
to recover and get back on top of things
I sent ninety four rolls off this morning to get processed - fingers crossed it all goes well
Before we left for the trip we had shot just over 50% of the
script and used 90 rolls; that was for 62 pages filmed - so say
approximately 62 minutes, and at 25fps we're getting 2mins 20seconds
per roll - so ninety rolls of that is 210 minutes --- 210 divided by 62
is 3.38 -- so a shooting ratio of 1:3.38 so far which is not too bad,
and I think it will tighten a bit with what we have coming up to shoot;
and since we haven't timed the script (althought the format should give
one minute per page) that figure at this stage really is how many rolls
per one page --- but not too bad anyway; I had bought 150 rolls so will
have to buy some more. We've been taking bets on how many rolls it will
take to finish the film - which I find quite macabre given how much
more I could be paying!, but it is a constant source of amusement!
Matt Pacini's Super 8 movie Lost Tribes arrived last week - and I've been eagerly watching bits of it when I can, between everything else at the moment
We got back the 94 rolls a few days ago - and have looked at
about 12 or so of them in the editor/viewer - and over all they look
fantastic - which is very very heartening ~ it makes me feel like we're
actually making a film not just doing some long and protacted weird
thing on the weekends! We're not going to look at the all of the
footage until it's telecined, just to reduce the risk of scratching the
film
Filming continues and we're making slow but sure progress ~ not
too slow, it's just a long process and there's a bit of a time issue
now with people's availabilities etc - but I think we should have it
all shot by the end of June
29/5/2001
Well I feel like the end is within reach now - filming wise - all
the editing of course is to go -- but we've got about another 4 or 5
shooting days to go and then that's it - there'll be the odd pick up
shot (particulalry of some sun rises) - but if everything goes to plan
we'll have the shooting finished by the 23rd of June -- there are a few
important scenes in there though, so still alot of work of course
Bought another 50 rolls of K40 today - which would make the total
200 - so far we've shot about 135 rolls I think - and that is for about
75% of the script
12/6/2001
We've just had one intense long weekend of film-making! Saturday
was filming out at Brookfield on some private land that looks alot like
the country on the farm near Natural Arch where we filmed - this had to
double as the highlands as well, but we shot here to save a number of
the actors a trip up to Natural Arch for just one or two scenes. Most
of what we shot was set on an aerodrome so we had to set up a number of
the shots to allow for the DC-3 that is going to be composited in
afterwards by Andrew Jackson, this setting up took a fair bit of time
but was quite interesting to do.
After all of these scenes we then shot the murder scene at night
in which T'Laupo attacks Wilu with an axe - and let me just say after
some very powerful and gutsy acting by Justin and Pelly we were all
scared *%$#less. Probley enough said but seeing one person lie still
while another axes all around him with a genuine highland New Guinea
axe, whilst dressed in full traditional outfit leaves you speechless.
And of course thankfully know one was hurt, thanks to some very
intelligent and courageous work by Justin and Pelly - but just the site
was enough to scare the daylights out of us, and if it comes out as
well on film it will be awesome -- it was shot in sillhoutte so it
should look great, though very disturbing ~ which is how I want it to
The following day was pretty straight forward - just one scene in
the morning, in which I meet the judge for the first time, and then
that was it - this now means the only scenes left to do are between me
and Joseph who plays Jainantu. It's all the ones in his hut - which
we'll do next Sunday, then all some more at Natural Arch which we'll do
the following Saturday - and then that's it! Woohoo - it's within reach
now - there'll be the odd pick up shot (there's one sunrise I need to
film) but if all goes to plan that'll be the end of the main
photography - and when I come back from a holiday, it'll be pretty well
in to editing
After all that - on Monday virtually all of our crew then shot a short film, tentativley titled The Letter.
The film is set in East Timor and is about an Australian Army captain
having to write a letter to the parents of one of the soldiers
explaining his death. It was quite an emotional piece to do and
involves a mixture of live action and claymation and should be quite a
good film I think. It was directed by Richard Greenhalgh, and written
by Liz Norman and Richard Greenhalgh, and shot on a Canon XL-1 miniDV
camera
Decided I'm going to add a downloads section to the site with
various film-making resources on it - that we've used or come across
24/6/2001
Finished! Finished finished finished
FINISHED!
(well this part anyway) ~ Yes finished the shooting
yesterday, and it's still really only just sinking in - it's been such
a big thing for the last three months - we went back to the farm near
Natural Arch, and filmed the bits that we couldn't do earlier --
unfortunately the battery died on my still camera so we couldn't take
any still photos, but it all went well, though we were pushed for time
The last scene we shot there (which is the last scene in the
film) was in a beautiful river valley surrounded by rainforest trees
and hanging vines, the sun was getting quite low though and there were
problems with cloud cover, but it broke through just enough times in
order for us to film it (though quickly!) - and if it comes out alright
it should look quite pretty with the dappled light and the maginificent
trees and the stoney creek -- I thought later with it looking so nice
and it getting done in just enough time that the universe was smiling
on us ~ but of course it was what we made of it
We then returned and shot one scene by my character's hutchie at
night - and that was it! - the principal photography done -- there's
one sunrise to shoot - which I'll do later in the year, and maybe a few
things which will reveal themself as we edit - but the main part of the
shooting's done - now for the post-production!
I've also bought a Beaulieu R16 on eBay in the last week and if I
can afford the stock the next film will be on 16mm. I haven't found too
many resources on the net for them (certainly not as much as there is
general support for Super 8) so I am going to start a web page about
them, and have also started a forum
on them as well. What I bought was just the body of the camera - but
the battery that was made for my 4008ZMII will work on it, as will the
lense (though not through it's full range) - but that's okay for
starters
I've also got www.mango-a-gogo.com set up now - and though it's a bit basic at the moment, it'll be added to in due course
Last Sunday we shot the scenes inside Jainantu's hut - which was
set up in a backyard shed - it was a long day, but everything went well
- the photos from that day, and earlier shoots too were added last week
as well
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