Notes from our meeting on Thursday 16 February
We had a good turnout of 18 members and 3 guests: Sage, Aveena and Malcolm. Sage and Aveena starred in A Matter of Choice, which is to be screened soon as part of the 11 Tomorrows. Unfortunately Glenn, Sally and Neal were unable to attend and therefore were unable to present their Director's Cuts.
Peter thanked the following members for putting their names forth in volunteer positions to support the Committee:
Marketing - Damian & David
Web site - Paul
Equipment Officer - Nigel
Club History Officer - Neal
Activities - Glenn
Hub Liaison - Peter
Memberships
A reminder that memberships are due. We do need you to complete an application form as many members details have changed.
Director's Cut - Mascot
We then 'cut' to the first of 3 presentations for the evening, starting with Peter for the Director's cut of 'Mascot'
Mascot is a Mockumemtary about the selection of the mascot for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, which was shot over 3 days in January and on a club meeting night. It is set in Brisbane in 2030. Newly elected Premier, Greens Leader Jasmine Plant and Media Head of the Olympics Justin Thyme meet to hear the pitches of those shortlisted - Fabian and his Brissie the Blue Banded Bee; Himari and Brigit Brolga and Sally who has painted Meanjin the Echidna, Will Sally make it to the pitch in time? Who will be chosen as the winner? With the climax pending Jasmine, the Premier, has a Jasmine face plant.
Casting Peter reached out and cast people he knew.
Equipment & Crew 3 camera men all with same camera Panasonic s5, two Rode II mics recently acquired by the club, a boom mic, make-up artist and 2 lighting sets.
What worked well
The actors performed well, there was chemistry, they came prepared and knew their lines and were convincing in their delivery. The crew did a great job and (mostly) stuck to the schedule. The locations he chose to film in turned out perfectly. The art work was all original, prepared by a few of the talented actors. Overall, the shoot had a vibe of enthusiasm and fun, and went as Peter envisaged. Using the same camera makes and models usually meant it was possible to better match the camera's in post.
Challenges
As always, sound in any production can be a challenge when using on-camera, boom, radio and XLR mics, in addition to the varying voice strength of the actors, requiring some post-production to correct.
Often our productions have to keep to a schedule, therefore not all the shots planned are executed, and that included the grabbing of more B roll.
What would Peter do differently? As there were 5 major actors, giving 2 alternative weekends would have made planning and production more straightforward. Whilst the shoot used the same make and model of camera, having the operators get together to ensure same settings before each shoot would have all but guaranteed matching shots. Whilst you can never bring enough gear to shoot, it always pays to have redundancy in key equipment, such as boom mics! Peter mentioned that if he had had more time, he would done an on set shot review before moving on to the next scene to ensure the scene was shot correctly. Lastly, Peter regretted not allocating someone to do a 'behind the scenes' of the making of mascot.
What did Peter learn?
Making a film together is fun!
The Eleven Tomorrows
David was pleased to announce that the following were in various stages of production. Unfortunately, the portmanteau feature film will not make World Futures Day on March 1, so David is going to go 'Back To The Future' style to create a time paradox and alter the fabric of the space-time continuum and change it to a date in May.
The Clown: screenplay, Heather Jones
Custody: screenplay, Heather Jones (feedback)
A Matter of Choice: writer-director, Glenn Bruce
MASCOT: writer-director, Peter Waterman
Time and Time Again: writer-director Neal Reville
The Festival: based on H P Lovecraft, director, Sage Daniel
The Story of Brisbane: Tim & Therese Playabout Productions 4 x vignettes. - Histories of Brisbane place names - Steele Rudd At the University filmed in the Botanic Gardens - Andrew McGahan’s Last Drinks: - Brisvegas, music by JFK
Tony St. George’s indigenous Brisbane futures graphic novel
Warren Palmer’s World: The Futures Neuroses (Temporal Disorder)
Therapist: writer-director, DLW
Hidden Love: writer, Michael Major with Heather Jones as script advisor
David then showed trailers of Steele Rudd at the University and Last Drinks
So, what's left to do besides finish off 11 films (or rename the Eight Tomorrows :-)),
- launch the marketing/advertising campaign,
- hold a red carpet event,
- extract the best-of films and develop them as separate feature film projects,
- launch it at International film festivals,
- add another 0 to the budget and make a real Eleven Tomorrows, and
- translate the concept to other locations e.g. Toowoomba’s Eleven Tomorrows?
Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Not!
If anybody has a story, it’s not too late!
The Clown
The last brief presentation of the night was from Justin, the Director of The Clown, which is in the final stages of post-production of music scoring, dialogue editing and editing tweaks such as speed ramping.
Next Meeting
We have a very special presentation from Veronica and Alicia from Bus Stop Films. It teaches adults with disabilities and others from marginalised communities film studies. As an inclusive organisation, it uses filmmaking and the film industry to change community attitudes globally around the rights and contribution to society of and by people with disability. It should make for a very entertaining evening.
It's also judging night for the UGG Competition, with the theme of Your community – people/places, so get your entries in!
