Lullaby Of Birdland

Filming for my updated version of my HSC Art Short film is currently, in my opinion, ninety-two percent completed. I had a lot of fun piecing together the stylized Colour-Film-Noir composition and setting up the different coloured lights that really brought life to the film. 

I was strongly influenced later on with the framing techniques of Wes Anderson, and planned to reciprocate his unique style within my own film. The title 'Lullaby of Birdland' is adopted from the Jazz standard which can be heard drifting through the main character Tasman's (Henry Hulme) bedroom window. 

I was so lucky to have so many of my friends willing to help me, and even members of my family (my ninety-one year old grandmother making a brilliantly acted appearance). I can't wait to have a finished product to submit, and hopefully it can earn me some good marks. 

Above, HENRY HULME; From left, GEORGIA MORRISSON, TAYLA BULL, MAX WARREN.

Any Progress is Good Progress

The editing process of ADA has taking a great many twists and turns, but finally there is a strict layout and easy to follow guideline that will have the footage edited and pieced together, hopefully, by September. There is definitely a lot of potential in what we have filmed so far. 'It will be a relatively quick process,' said principle editor, Sam Hall. His editing software and storage capabilities are at the heart of bringing ADA to life. All that remains is for me to find some extra time here and there to enter the different clips I want used. In the mean time, my dear friend Tayla Bull will be taking on the responsibility of publicist and hopefully gain some wider interest in the project. To satiate the needs of anxious waiters I have created a small behind the scenes clip of the bookstore set that we used - keep an eye out, there might be some clues that might come in handy later on. Thank you for your patience.

Click here to view

HSC Art

What I failed to update on my blog was that I am going through the gruelling process of pre-producing a short film for HSC Art. I started preparation at the end of last year and have since made my way through two very different ideas and settled on the second. During the summer holidays, I found some time to do some filming from the script of my first idea but have since realised this footage will no longer be used. The new idea is largely based on the Hitchcock' classic thriller 'Rear Window' and follows an evening in the life of Tasman Gyngell, an alcoholic novelist struggling to overcome writer's block. He uses the people in surrounding apartments and imagined relatives to work as inspiration for his crime novel.
I am looking largely to the Film Noir period for how I want to compose the shots, and the lighting within them and have become fond of the works of Wes Anderson to how my direction and characters will play out. I plan to start filming it in the following weeks for a submission of progress on the 26th. Below are some images from the shooting in the holidays that will no longer be used.

Promotional Trailer

Today saw me working very hard to piece together this very authentic, very corny promotional trailer for our new film 'A Deliberate Accident'. The process has been very long but I can safely say that people will be able to see the final product very soon (like I said in May, April, August and September). Please give the video a look and show your friends so we can gain even more interest than we already have.

https://vimeo.com/76034711

Steve Jobs.

Pimbleton Or Bust!

During my last break I had the pleasure to be surrounded by the beautiful natural wonder of Noosa Heads. I stayed there for just over a week with my family and could not get over the beautiful warm climate, days in the sun on the beach, the views from the national park and the abundance of bush turkeys.
It was here, in Noosa, that I started writing a screenplay intended to be the pilot for a mini-series. It is a crime thriller, still without a name, based on the murder of a man on the fictional island of Pimbleton off the Devon coast in England. It is in the vein of the recently aired 'Broadchurch' and a much loved BBC favourite mini-series 'The Shadow Line' and deals with the lives of two police officers entangled in the man's mysterious murder. From there the two uncover a great deal of secrecy and corruption and the issue of the hidden identity of the murderer soon takes a back seat to a much more intense political scandal that involves only the very top of Britain's political figures.
I lent the script to a friend of mine, Isabelle Atton (who appears briefly in 'A Deliberate Accident'), and she gave such a positive response that she asked me desperately to write a second one. I doubt I will, but seeing as though she enjoyed it so much, I thought I might create a small extract for readers to have a look at.

Pimbleton.PDF

Cutting and Pasting

'Tedious, I know' I said to Joe as we settled in for our second of two editing sessions we embarked on this weekend (the first taking three hours and producing close to two minutes of film). It's refreshing to see all the footage stuck together and running smoothly. That's right editing has begun which means it won't be long now until everyone will be able to participate in this 12 pound baby of a project. Technical issues come in their multitudes and I can't count the number of times Joe and I jumped out of our seats at the noise of a shouting lunatic director (regrettably me) saying something that now seems so irrelevant that it's embarrassing. Plus, whole portions of the footage is just people laughing, partly because we're all so tired and the other from too many eccentric actors being in the same space for too long. I have to admit my excitement as I wait for one last (full) day of filming before I can loosen the collars on all the amazing cast members (some of which are knee deep in HSC-weed [say it out loud, you'll hear the pun]) and set them free, the next phone call being to invite them to what promises to be a thrilling premiere! We left at a dryly humorous scene with Wally Galbraith (below) who looks so different now, I'm sure everyone will have a hard time recognizing him.

A Deliberate Accident - Update

 So far I am extremely happy with the ways things are going with HMH Pictures' new 'feature-length' film: A Deliberate Accident.
We have had so much help from the community, including The Berry Tea Shop (http://www.theberryteashop.com.au/) and Broughton Mill Farm (http://www.broughtonmillfarm.com.au/), two incredible locations that you will see in the film. There is less than a quarter to go, this holidays however we didn't get as much done as we would've liked to, but the footage we did get is exemplary. My cousin Sam is such a big support for this film, he is holding it together with his practicality and normal human qualities (something a lot of us don't have).
As a story, ADA promises a lot of twists and turns and an outstanding ensemble cast! I've recently been talking to Renny Beazley, Art Design Media student at COFA, and she's agreed to draw up some eye-catching poster designs for the movie. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. Keep your eyes on the blog for some exclusive content on ADA, like first access to trailers, clips and promo pics. As for now, ADA takes another, very temporary, break in production but the apple grown on the tree for longer, is always the more juicer and satisfying apple ... or something like that. Over and out! William.