I got up and carefully placed all the props that would be needed for the morning's shoot by the door. The crew were shooting at Tutti Fruitti, a little fruit shop cum cafe all on its own in a field of fruit trees and vines, just a little up the road from Madison's. (Kylie and I had scoped out this place over a year ago and got permission to film there). Hot and cold breakfast was well underway - I got the sense of a juggernaut having started rolling - nothing I could do to halt it or even control it from now on - and that's OK! I went into the kitchen: Neil and Shirley-Anne were hard at work. Shirley-Anne is our other marvelous NZ friend who agreed to cook. She let Neil go with me for the getting of the minivan.
We drove down the mountain and found Freeman's Reach, a typical little Hawkesbury town, and the garage, run by a cheerful Indian couple who confessed they watched Bollywood movies but turned the sound off when the songs came along - and they wanted to make movies in Australia too! The minivan was actually pretty big - a 14 seater. Neil and Rose drove my car back while I drove it back to Tutti Fruitti where shooting was well underway. The scenes were on different days in the script, which meant that the shop had to be completely redressed between takes. One scenario calls for an almost bare and gloomy shop pre-Yowie hoax - and the other has the shop filled with cheerful Yowie merchandise once the hoax has got underway. So the art department and I had to work overtime. Our art department were very professional and photographed everything beforehand so they could replace every thing when we left. A very chic journo turned up from The Hawkesbury Gazette and snapped away at everything. We gave her a press release - can't wait to read the article.
After lunch back at Madison's we started to film in the caravan; hauled to the site on a flatbed truck by Kylie's uncle. Its wheels were kaput - we could not move it at all. The windows were blacked out and 'Bill' got to reminisce in there with a bottle of whiskey (the director preferred the art department's fake bourbon to my bright red bottle of 'Get Younger' Nigerian scotch). Then we moved to a huge sloping area of rock out beyond the Boer goat paddock. Here we filmed scene one (the dream - not a flashback) where Bill 'sees' Marge. Marie had been dragooned into playing Marge and stood on the rock looking wistful. Then we had a scene where Kevin/Chewbacca screams in frustration at Bill. This went spectacularly well as a storm was brewing and the late afternoon golden light contrasted well with the darkening sky and low angle shots. With the last light I had to get into the Yowie suit and throw the Chewbacca head around as I leap up the rocks (final scene). I couldn't see a thing as the eyes fogged up. It was also the first time for years that I'd worn contact lenses! It was virtually dark, and the suit split every time I moved up the rock. I hoped it looked good on film cause it sure didn't feel good in there. The last of the packing up was done in complete darkness; the crew coming up through the bush to a little track where the cars were parked. I was parked up in the paddock beyond the gate and stayed there with my headlights shining into the back of the lighting truck as the boys packed it all up.
Dinner was a marvel of Italian and Greek dishes, salads and desserts (Shirley-Anne's husband is Greek). Everyone was tired but elated. Next day was going to be huge. I left, though many of the others stayed and partied; meantime I spent several hours repairing the Yowie and Chewbacca suits before bed. Marie, Neil and Shirley Anne cleaned up the common room and kitchen.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
The gathering...
I woke at five and ate the rest of the airline biscuits in the little basket by the kettle. Probably I should have brought up some food! At 7.30 Callan the DOP came and got me. Back into the bush in the director's 4WD: we sorted out a few more locations. The heat and the general logistics of getting the cast and crew to some of these glades and slopes was starting to really worry me, but the director and AD were onto it: they had alternatives for everything, which is always a good idea. Film-making is contingent on so many things: weather, time, people's schedules (one of out main actors had to leave at 3.30pm every day as he was taking part in 'Taming of the Shrew' down in the Sydney Botanic gardens); the needs of various proprietors (the resort wanted us out on Thursday night; which meant shooting all Friday in their bush property was now out - playing havoc with the schedule) and the shop we were going to shoot in could only give us a few hours. And so on.
The bush is really quite dangerous: between the trees in the more wooded areas the sandy soil is covered is a deep litter of leaves, bark and sharp branches. Going through there in bare feet is completely out of the question. On the slopes there are small bluffs of sandstone about five metres high which run along the contour line, each separated from the next one below by a an intervening strip of steep bush. Everywhere you look - and you've got to look! - there are biting ants and other creepies, including snakes (we saw two). One thing is for sure, there is no way a real yowie would have long fur, as it's just impossible to push your way through thick NSW bush without it getting caught on everything and festooned with gum leaves, bits of bracken and stray bark. Then there are the pests that seem magnetically attracted to fur - ants, spiders and flies!
We popped out of the bush on one of the many tracks and went to find a good coffee. A little cafe place near Madison's resort run by a genial older man and his bevy of female helpers supplied this, as well as a large bottle of ice-cold local apple juice, which I took with us. We drove down to the pub and checked out the verandah. We returned to the cafe and got meat pies. People started to arrive in the afternoon. Neil (a friend from NZ who had agreed to be one half of the chef team) and Marie and the girls arrived late it the afternoon, with my trailer piled high with food and other goods. Neil had built a sort of wall round the trailer with bits of blue board and this created a deep box in which to pack things. He prepared a vast spread in the early evening while the actors, J and I did a read-through in the gazebo above the dam. This went well - the actors all gel together well. Later on in the big common room J gave a little speech - minimal, as it should be. I looked around: there were about 22 people there, most of whom I didn't know! Assistants to assistants, friends and hangers on maybe: I will discover their functions in the next day or so. They all seem very young. Filming starts at 0730 tomorrow!
Still very hot at 10 at night. Didn't dare open the gauze doors though for fear of mozzies. An anaemic fan stirred the air weakly (expect Peter Lorre behind the potted palm). Our cabin is scattered with bags and boxes of props - each labelled for scene numbers. Neil is crashing on the sofa bed. I set the alarm for early as i had to get down the hill to Freeman's Reach, a village near the Hawkesbury where I was due to pick up a minivan the next day at 0700.
The bush is really quite dangerous: between the trees in the more wooded areas the sandy soil is covered is a deep litter of leaves, bark and sharp branches. Going through there in bare feet is completely out of the question. On the slopes there are small bluffs of sandstone about five metres high which run along the contour line, each separated from the next one below by a an intervening strip of steep bush. Everywhere you look - and you've got to look! - there are biting ants and other creepies, including snakes (we saw two). One thing is for sure, there is no way a real yowie would have long fur, as it's just impossible to push your way through thick NSW bush without it getting caught on everything and festooned with gum leaves, bits of bracken and stray bark. Then there are the pests that seem magnetically attracted to fur - ants, spiders and flies!
We popped out of the bush on one of the many tracks and went to find a good coffee. A little cafe place near Madison's resort run by a genial older man and his bevy of female helpers supplied this, as well as a large bottle of ice-cold local apple juice, which I took with us. We drove down to the pub and checked out the verandah. We returned to the cafe and got meat pies. People started to arrive in the afternoon. Neil (a friend from NZ who had agreed to be one half of the chef team) and Marie and the girls arrived late it the afternoon, with my trailer piled high with food and other goods. Neil had built a sort of wall round the trailer with bits of blue board and this created a deep box in which to pack things. He prepared a vast spread in the early evening while the actors, J and I did a read-through in the gazebo above the dam. This went well - the actors all gel together well. Later on in the big common room J gave a little speech - minimal, as it should be. I looked around: there were about 22 people there, most of whom I didn't know! Assistants to assistants, friends and hangers on maybe: I will discover their functions in the next day or so. They all seem very young. Filming starts at 0730 tomorrow!
Still very hot at 10 at night. Didn't dare open the gauze doors though for fear of mozzies. An anaemic fan stirred the air weakly (expect Peter Lorre behind the potted palm). Our cabin is scattered with bags and boxes of props - each labelled for scene numbers. Neil is crashing on the sofa bed. I set the alarm for early as i had to get down the hill to Freeman's Reach, a village near the Hawkesbury where I was due to pick up a minivan the next day at 0700.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The filming
On 5.12.2009 I was up at 0530. I had a helluva day ahead, and was planning to use my wife's small car so she could come up later with my bigger car and the trailer, jammed with food for cast and crew, children, chef and various props. Loaded to the roof, I finally left Canberra at around nine. I carefully covered the two crossbow props, as I had found out they were illegal (yes, even replica's with no function) in all of Australia except.. Queensland! I drove straight through to Castle Cove, with near disastrous effects on my bladder. Got there at 1pm. In Castle Cove is Mal Green Sound studio, a basement recording studio in the home of Mal Green, who was drummer for Split Enz for ten years. He'd just returned from the UK, with a heavy cold! We laid down the tracks in double quick time, and I got out of there at 3.30pm. I wanted to get over the bridge before the traffic started getting bad.
Got to R and K's home in Tamarama and had a few drinks with them before R walked me to his favourite hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant in Bondi beach. A pizza and a large bowl of mussels were washed down with a good red wine. I hardly slept that night and took off quite early to get back to Mal Green's, where he'd laid down the tracks onto 16-bit CD for me. From there I had to strike out across country to get to route 40 which was the road to Windsor and the Blue Mountains. The north shore's certainly got busier since I lived there more than a decade ago. I made it across to Lane Cove Road and then to route 40. Then I headed west, though no longer a young man.
Got to Madison's resort in the Blue Mountains quite early: a well-laid out series of cabins on long lawn, with a central common room and indoor pool. I found J the director in the cabin next door, frazzled from his busy job, and storyboarding like crazy into several large children's sketch pads. I left him to it, but not before showing him some props and playing the 2 songs to him. I checked out the alpaca herd and the rickety jetty into the dam. I phoned home: a dog had killed one of the chooks. I went round the cabins and met D the first AD, and C the DOP. We all went on a recce trip into the bush. The road was a 4WD track. I was sceptical: how much time were we going to take getting the big camera truck around these sites? It was nearly 40 degrees also - my mind was boggling thinking about the water needed to keep everyone hydrated. Spectacular country though. The film will look good.
Later we all went to the Kurrajong hotel. five of us: J, me, C, D and his partner N (script supervisor and continuity) all chose the Fisherman's Basket! A giant pile of batter and stuff that may once have come from the sea. Bed to a chorus of frogs and bright Orion overhead. Tomorrow things will really get going. Money's pouring out of my pockets like water. Not as if it's easy come, either! Still, 'the film's the thing, wherein to catch the conscience of the Yowie.' Take care of the art and the pennies will take wing of themselves. Note to self: stop mangling idioms.
Got to R and K's home in Tamarama and had a few drinks with them before R walked me to his favourite hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant in Bondi beach. A pizza and a large bowl of mussels were washed down with a good red wine. I hardly slept that night and took off quite early to get back to Mal Green's, where he'd laid down the tracks onto 16-bit CD for me. From there I had to strike out across country to get to route 40 which was the road to Windsor and the Blue Mountains. The north shore's certainly got busier since I lived there more than a decade ago. I made it across to Lane Cove Road and then to route 40. Then I headed west, though no longer a young man.
Got to Madison's resort in the Blue Mountains quite early: a well-laid out series of cabins on long lawn, with a central common room and indoor pool. I found J the director in the cabin next door, frazzled from his busy job, and storyboarding like crazy into several large children's sketch pads. I left him to it, but not before showing him some props and playing the 2 songs to him. I checked out the alpaca herd and the rickety jetty into the dam. I phoned home: a dog had killed one of the chooks. I went round the cabins and met D the first AD, and C the DOP. We all went on a recce trip into the bush. The road was a 4WD track. I was sceptical: how much time were we going to take getting the big camera truck around these sites? It was nearly 40 degrees also - my mind was boggling thinking about the water needed to keep everyone hydrated. Spectacular country though. The film will look good.
Later we all went to the Kurrajong hotel. five of us: J, me, C, D and his partner N (script supervisor and continuity) all chose the Fisherman's Basket! A giant pile of batter and stuff that may once have come from the sea. Bed to a chorus of frogs and bright Orion overhead. Tomorrow things will really get going. Money's pouring out of my pockets like water. Not as if it's easy come, either! Still, 'the film's the thing, wherein to catch the conscience of the Yowie.' Take care of the art and the pennies will take wing of themselves. Note to self: stop mangling idioms.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Raising the steaks
Last day of work, so tonight (Friday) I'll have to pack like a maniac and get everything in my wife's tiny car. I leave tomorrow for Sydney, where I'll spend Saturday afternoon in a recording studio doing two songs for the production. My wife will follow later in the big car with the trailer full of food for the cast and crew, who now number about 30! Everyone, it seems, has an assistant or two - I think the Yowie should get an assistant, just a small one, who could attend to her wardrobe and catering needs ('I'll just have a banana, thanks - Oh, and did you get the carpet shampoo?'). Scheduling hiccups have been more or less ironed out, though one of the days will be 12 long hours on set. The cast did a read-through last night and it all seemed to go well - or at least so I'm told, because I haven't actually met any of them yet. My friend N from New Zealand is flying over tomorrow to help with catering. A small newspaper in the Blue Mountains has heard of the project and wants to do an article. We'll have to keep the Yowie away from them though, as we don't want to reveal her in her full glory. Except on this blog, of course, oh lucky readers. I think we have all the props. A couple of scenes may be a bit spartan; the art department asked if I had had a newspaper printed up, a faked, complete newspaper, so Bill can 'read it' on camera without copyright issues. I'd never thought of such a thing and anyway it would be far too expensive. I suggested a 1956 Illustrated London News instead - being more than 50 years old no-one can complain about copyright - blow me down when I opened the 1956 ILN I just happened to have and there was a full article on 'Candidates for the Yeti' with pictures and all: a bear, a langur, and so on. Bill reading this with interest would really fit well with the story. We have primed a few extras to turn up in the pub at 8am and pretend it's a jolly evening - they've got to have Yowie Tshirts, cameras.. and zinc on their noses. A wonderful friend of ours who owns a limo company has agreed to take people up and down the mountain - talk about arriving in style! Not me though, just the writer, folks, ignore me please and get on with your important business - realising the vision.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The skin of our teeth
We have been talking to some experts in the industry, and according to them we probably do not have to conform with the onerous demands of a big production because we are under 15 minutes. We had been told we needed all sorts of documentation and contracts and so on. Anyway, it now feels like a threshold has been crossed and the rest is a done deal. Though we still haven't cast our major Aboriginal Actress - she's a pivotal part so we're getting worried. I went up Red Hill with my daughter Rose today looking for a kangaroo carcase to pose the Yowie over for a new Youtube video. Saw live roo's but no dead ones. As we came off the hill a security guard gave us a hard look because we had parked at the back of Telstra - so we gave him a little wave. Made a fake bottle of Yowie oil ('the good oil') today for a funny new montage that J the director has come up with. At least the coffee cups, Tshirts, hats, costumes, crossbows, whiskey bottles, (and so on) are all done. I am exhausted. But of course I can't afford to be; nothing's happened yet! There are some creative tensions which are quite understandable. Naturally the visual people want the most spectacular golden vista's imaginable - the dramatic types want darkness and tension - the producers want everything set in concrete and time-limited - the director and writer are still tweaking the script - and so on. Watch this space.
UPDATE: We've cast our Geraldine character. This is a breakthrough. And everyone's now fixed up for insurances, we think. Accommodation is more or less arranged and food is allocated for a week. My friend N is flying over form NZ to help with the vittles. He'll be ably assisted by another NZ friend and by my wife and daughters. My daughters originally had speaking parts in the movie and were each going to be clutching a toy. That was several years ago, and the eldest is now a teenager. So much for toys and the passage of time!
UPDATE: We've cast our Geraldine character. This is a breakthrough. And everyone's now fixed up for insurances, we think. Accommodation is more or less arranged and food is allocated for a week. My friend N is flying over form NZ to help with the vittles. He'll be ably assisted by another NZ friend and by my wife and daughters. My daughters originally had speaking parts in the movie and were each going to be clutching a toy. That was several years ago, and the eldest is now a teenager. So much for toys and the passage of time!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Bigger than Ben who?
I started by trying to get a few good people together to make this movie. They in turn have attracted their friends, and suddenly there's a crack team to take this project to a very high level indeed. I'm not exactly sidelined but I've definitely been given my own little niche - which suits me fine - and let the knowledgeable people do their thing. For weeks it was: F900 or Red camera? do we have the budget for Red? probably not - OK, whose arm can we twist? leg can we pull? back can we scratch? (strange how these are all anatomic terms!) - to get the best deal on the best gear. Various favours and friends are called upon, and suddenly it's all done - we have the Red camera and the award winning team clustered around it. Super. Now what? Well, it's more production meetings and tying up of loose ends. Accommodation is arranged and sandwiches galore are planned, along with barbecues and salads. A beer sponsor is on the counter - yippee! and even a wine sponsor. Most people have waived their fees, which is great - all for the love of film and a week in the Blue mountains spinning yarns over a few red wines.
In the last few weeks I have made: two crossbows, about 15 Tshirts; ten coffee cups; three facial wounds; an orbital contusion (an early black eye), various envelopes, cards and photo's, and refined two monkey suits. Next week I'm going to get contact lenses - Yowies generally don't wear glasses. I saw a wonderful Yeti suit by Weta studios (check out 'NZ rescue yeti' on Youtube) and asked if I could hire it - a mere $15000 a week. I said thanks, I'll do my own. So far the Yowie suit's cost me about $1000.
In the last few weeks I have made: two crossbows, about 15 Tshirts; ten coffee cups; three facial wounds; an orbital contusion (an early black eye), various envelopes, cards and photo's, and refined two monkey suits. Next week I'm going to get contact lenses - Yowies generally don't wear glasses. I saw a wonderful Yeti suit by Weta studios (check out 'NZ rescue yeti' on Youtube) and asked if I could hire it - a mere $15000 a week. I said thanks, I'll do my own. So far the Yowie suit's cost me about $1000.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Deejax voox, mes amis
Summer has rolled around again - we are promised thunderstorms this evening but it's absolutely cloudless right now in Canberra. Packed up my studio today - slight feelings of regret, but its purpose as far as Yowie goes is over - I've used it to do all of 'Kevin's artwork'. I was sent an art props spreadsheet by Kylie and looking at it I realise I still have a lot to get done - tomorrow I will go searching the Kingston markets from an old cricket bat and transistor radio. These are getting hard to find! Today the producer, production manager, DOP and Director are all going in a car together up the Blue Mountains to do location scouting. Hmm, hasn't this sort of thing happened before?? About a year ago!? Anyway, hope they don't fight! Marie paid the deposit on the accommodation today; a grand's worth, so the whole thing better not fall over again. Producers and directors seem to have radically different personalities. This evening I will go with my children up Red Hill and do another fake Yowie video - we'll see if we can find a kangaroo carcase and do a 'vicious Yowie eats innocent kangaroo' scenario - then put it on Youtube. I am afraid it will be extremely hot when we film; with me in a yowie suit now heavily padded with extra fur to make it look more convincing. Probably we'll do it early in the morning, and I think the yowie scenes can all be done in one day.
The script is now tighter and more inclusive - every character gets a payoff, including the poor female Yowie, and the whole thing is now 14 minutes. Considering it was once 47 minutes I think I've done pretty well, though the audience will have to pay attention to get every segue and nuance, whereas before it was quite leisurely. Too leisurely. A lot of people have rallied round and offered cheap deals or free work on the raw footage, which is very generous of them. Last week I met with the head of screen australia ACT division, and she suggested we may be able to get money from the government for post-production marketing. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath, having had no help from government ever, for anything. In fact you have to really successful before they give you any money - when in fact you don't need support any more. Still, she was very positive and energetic and something good might happen this time.
I had a brief look at their website. As an example take 'permission for shooting on location.' For this you need to approach three groups right off the bat: the land owner, the local council and the ACT government. Then of course there are fees, deposits, local council officer on the shoot, traffic management plan, waste management plan, health and safety plan, evidence of vast public liability insurance, etc, etc. This is before you actually get permission, which is always conditional. It's enough to drive you mad. This is why there are only two kinds of films: crappy short films (needing no permission 'cause they're filmed on a rainy afternoon in your granny's bedroom) and features, in which a vast army of people within your film company's structure can take on the vast army of bureaucrats opposing them. Nothing in between. Very sad. Mustn't harp on (I always say that after I've been harping on). But we're closer than ever now: actors, DOP, accommodation, some permissions, props and script. What more could a first-time filmmaker want? Footage in the can, that's what.
The script is now tighter and more inclusive - every character gets a payoff, including the poor female Yowie, and the whole thing is now 14 minutes. Considering it was once 47 minutes I think I've done pretty well, though the audience will have to pay attention to get every segue and nuance, whereas before it was quite leisurely. Too leisurely. A lot of people have rallied round and offered cheap deals or free work on the raw footage, which is very generous of them. Last week I met with the head of screen australia ACT division, and she suggested we may be able to get money from the government for post-production marketing. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath, having had no help from government ever, for anything. In fact you have to really successful before they give you any money - when in fact you don't need support any more. Still, she was very positive and energetic and something good might happen this time.
I had a brief look at their website. As an example take 'permission for shooting on location.' For this you need to approach three groups right off the bat: the land owner, the local council and the ACT government. Then of course there are fees, deposits, local council officer on the shoot, traffic management plan, waste management plan, health and safety plan, evidence of vast public liability insurance, etc, etc. This is before you actually get permission, which is always conditional. It's enough to drive you mad. This is why there are only two kinds of films: crappy short films (needing no permission 'cause they're filmed on a rainy afternoon in your granny's bedroom) and features, in which a vast army of people within your film company's structure can take on the vast army of bureaucrats opposing them. Nothing in between. Very sad. Mustn't harp on (I always say that after I've been harping on). But we're closer than ever now: actors, DOP, accommodation, some permissions, props and script. What more could a first-time filmmaker want? Footage in the can, that's what.
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