Hanging at Picnic Rock

HAPR Belgrave Screening

2012-01-19T22:56:00.000-08:00

Hanging at Picnic Rock is screening again. This time at the Cameo in Belgrave as part of a festival called threesixoh on Sat Feb the 25th.

Unfortunately I can't be there as I'll be here,

Balgo, teaching the world's oldest living culture how to use photoshop.

POSTER DESIGNS

2011-12-03T00:38:00.000-08:00

This poster I did for a test screening of a rough cut. I think it all look's a bit disjointed even though I like how she is coming up behind him.

I put this one together with my producer. It's much more connected. I think this one will be the official one.

RETRIBUTION ARTWORK III

2011-12-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

RETRIBUTION ARTWORK II

2011-12-02T16:40:00.001-08:00

RETRIBUTION ARTWORK I

2011-12-02T16:36:00.001-08:00

Hanging at Picnic Rock - online

2011-11-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

It's done it's rounds. It's two years old. Time to release it to the internet.

There are actually website links that claim to have this movie for you to download but they are fake. They've just got the name from IMDB.

Idiots!

Beer Coasters

2011-11-16T21:11:00.001-08:00

Most of time I've been on a shoot there's a panic when art department realize that can't show any logo's so they cover everything up. That's just stupid and lazy. Make your own it's easy.

Retribution (Making of) Intro

2011-11-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

This cucking funt of a blog won't let me post 6 pages without squashing one of them so here it is below in two halves.

It's the comic I did as my last school assignment.

Retribution (Making of) Part I

2011-11-10T20:41:00.001-08:00

RETRIBUTION (Making of) Part II

2011-11-09T23:18:00.000-08:00

I plan to do this for most of my other films. It's going to take a while. I think there will be about 10 chapters.

Retribution Trailer

2011-11-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

It's not very long.

Maybe I will do another one later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O-BZ-QzTrU

My Corner at VCA

2011-10-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

I'm going to miss this place. I going to miss it because after spending every waking hour of every day for the last 4 months stuck to this fuking chair constantly drawing people I could have just filmed I'm going to make damn sure I never go near it again!

The Ghost Hole

2011-08-06T07:27:00.001-07:00

A comic I did at the 24 hr comic jam held on Thursday night as part of Inherent Vice at NGV.

The story is also partly responsible for Retribution so it was in my mind at the time. At one point I considered doing something like this as my animation. Would of been a hell of a lot simpler.

I think I spelt lonley wrong. Lonely?

Retribution Shoot Day 3

2011-07-13T04:47:00.000-07:00

Child labor is supposed to be a cheap alternative to paying adults decent wages or anything at all. This one cost me a plane fair, chocolates, tickets to Harry Potter and a day at Luna Park. Everyone else was happy(enough) with a free lunch.

If people don't smoke then how do you see them in the dark?

Retribution Shoot Day 2

2011-07-13T04:42:00.000-07:00

Computers fix everything.

Before,

After,

Retribution Shoot Day 1

2011-06-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

How good does Adrian look. I'm sure if I looked half as good as he does I'd be in a meaningful and rewarding relationship with some 24 yr old Brazilian art student instead of the patchy string of car-wrecks that I remember as relationships with girls who were so lonely that they'd go out with me only to justify their own self-loathing until they could find someone that they could show to their friends without cringing with embarrassment.

Having him on this is like finding a young Robert De Niro homeless and broke and begging for lose change in a doorway just when you need an actor for your student project.

I don't want him to know that I've spent the whole day writing his name all over my school ruler in three different colours of biro.

Here is Stephen waiting for his scene after asking "what's my motivation?" I had the boys from the camera department take him into the alley and kick the shit out him until he "felt" the role. breaking his arm might of been going a bit far but we can digitally remove that in post.

Actually Stephen is a very nice guy and important member of the art community. He has his own website. http://www.stephennallart.com/ He also did a great job of looking suitably distressed.

Computers are magic and will fix everything (like extending this wall). Just knowing people who will go home from their soul destroying jobs back to their unloving partners and their ugly children and stay up all hours of the night to digitally paint and correct, frame by frame, errors in your school assignment just so their name will flash onto a screen for a nano-second so that some day, some how, it may help them claw their way out of their miserable existence...well.. it's like living next door to Mexico.

Props

2011-06-14T23:45:00.001-07:00

I've often planned to make my own cigarette labels for films but usually run out of time. Now that I've got people doing stuff for me I can just do the designs and they'll put it together.

This is a wallpaper design for Minnie's room. White Cara lilies were often seen as a symbol of purity and innocence and placed on the graves of children. The rare black Cara lily, a symbol of mystery and elegance, is used for goodbyes to the departed or lovers.

May

2011-06-08T23:06:00.000-07:00

May is an elusive ghost. Difficult to catch hold of, she is often seen out of the corner of Ben's eye or just out of reach.

Casting May is like chasing an elusive ghost. Difficult to catch hold of, she is often seen out of the corner of my eye or just out of reach.

I want to get somebody who looks something like this.

The Minnie Doll

2011-06-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

It's just not that practical to have a kid on set and have her sitting in the background for a long day of filming so I've built this.

It's already been creeping people out.

That's a good thing.

Old Aussie Horror

2011-06-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

Retribution is inspired by real events that took place in Guyra, NSW. There has been a film made of this before called The Guyra Ghost Mystery by John Cosgove in 1921 (The year the events began, so no messing around there). I haven't been able to track a copy down and I'm not sure if any survive. I contacted the National Film and Sound Archive and they weren't that helpful. In fact the dude, seemed kind of annoyed that anyone had made him look up from his busy filling schedule but he did send me this;

There's a tiny bit from the story of Fisher's Ghost which is also a 1924 film by Raymond Longford of the same name. Can't find that either. Wait what's this in this old tin under granddad's stinky bed? Nuh it's just a complete print of the original Ned Kelly film from 1906. I'll just scratch it with pins and make some cool (but eventually boring and overlong) animation with it.

Gestalt

2011-05-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

The style of this film, Retribution, in script and design, is based on the Closure idea mentioned in Gestalt Psychology. This is where our mind quickly fills in gaps for things we don't see.

eg If you see a bunch of beer cans in a bath full of ice you can read the brands on most of them because you've seen them before. You don't think "that says V on it from this angle but I can't see the B so maybe it's not there ."

Another example may be seeing a girl sitting at a table. You don't tend to look under it before you conclude that her bottom half is actually there.

Here are some less stupid examples.

Schoolgirls and Charles Blackman

2011-05-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

After the traversty that was Hanging at Picnic Rock, I Clint Cure, do solemnly swear to never again make a film that involves murdered schoolgirls. Except this one (and maybe a few others). After reading the script a friend did say, "they are actually letting you make this?" I've spent the afternoon looking at girls school uniforms. It's cold so I'm wearing a long jacket, but bright so I've got my sunglasses on. It's hard to find the style I want second hand and new is expensive. Maybe it would be a lot easier if I just appraoched a group of school girls and offered them money to buy their clothes.

In part, the look of this is inspired by Australian painter Charles Blackmans series of schoolgirl paintings. He was inspired by the 1921 murder of 12 year old Alma Tirtschke in Melbourne.

Random Retribution Storyboards

2011-05-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

Sad News from Christine Schuler's Son.

2011-05-07T23:03:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed this film, and mum did too.

But unfortunately I have to relay some sad and terrible news.

Christine Schuler, My mum (Edith) Died of heart failure in october last year. It was sudden and unexpected, but this thing happens in life.

Thanks again.

Peter Arthur Charles Lawrance (Schuler)

Val Lewton again

2011-04-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

I'd also like to borrow a bit of noire lighting ideas from Val Lewton.

This kind of shot, if you removed the figure at the stop of the stairs, is very evocative of Asian cinema as DOP Christopher Doyle likes to point out.

May Decaying

2011-04-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

Part of an animation test.

Panels

2011-04-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a few random panels I inked to get a feel for the look. Some of them could become storyboards. I like the gestalt idea of losing lines and letting the imagination fill in the rest. Like black hair against a black background.

EC Comics

2011-04-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

I'm going to incorporate a bit of an EC horror comics colour scheme in some of the animation. Bright, simple and totally illogical, they have an overwhelming impact and reflect the mood of the moment.

Here are some samples from Tales from the Crypt.

New Project - The Retribution

2011-04-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

The RETRIBUTION is a ghost story.

Ben, a newspaper reporter, is lead by a ghost wanting to avenge her own death, but Ben's idea of revenge differs greatly to hers.

Visual Style.

Part Film Noir part EC Horror comics, the film will combine live action with animation to move in and out of our world and the ghost realm.

Here is some examples from Val Lewton films to give an impression of how the live action sequences will look.

The Seventh Victim

Isle of the Dead

Cat People

Queer Film Festival Program is Online

2011-03-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

CELLULOID CASSEROLE
Please note that this session requires a gold donation. No tickets are sold to this session.
7:30pm Tue 22 March Loop Session 39
7:30pm Wed 23 March Loop Session 47

HANGING AT PICNIC ROCK
Dir: Clint Cure, Australia, 2010, video, 13min
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Identity: Lesbian

http://www.mqff.com.au

Arts Hub

2011-02-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

Artshub has done a profile on me and it's got a link to the trailer.

Cineteca Nacional De Mexico

2011-01-05T14:47:00.000-08:00

It appears that the Mexican National Cinema has mistaken Hanging at Picnic rock, which they have in their catalog, for it's prequel, Picnic at Hanging Rock and embedded it as the trailer for the wrong movie.

Anyway, that's how I interpret it, have a look yourself.
http://www.cinetecanacional.net/ficha.php?cvePel=3478&o=1

You can't buy this kind of publicity (actually you can but I'm eating $2 instant curries and looking for change down the back of the couch so I can't).

Maybe they'll want to show the real thing.

I went to this cinema last year and bought a couple of DVDs. Maybe it payed off somehow.

Some other stat's; It was posted there on April 5th 2010 and has received 184 views from that site.

Melbourne Queer Film Festival

2010-12-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

"Re: 21st Melbourne Queer Film Festival March 17 - 28, 2011

Dear Clint,
The Melbourne Queer Film Festival is pleased to let you know that it has selected the film HANGING AT PICNIC ROCK to screen at our 21st festival (March 17 – 28, 2011). "

This is great because it'll be screening while I'm at VCA doing my Masters which will give me some cred at school and everyone will like me.

Isn't that what happened last time?

1UP Microcinema

2010-12-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from an art installation called 1UP Microcinema, which was a bunch of experimental films exhibited on old game consoles in a Perth clothing shop put on by a guy called Matthew Darch.

This what he said 'Thank you so much for allowing me to screen your film at 1UP. It was very well received here in Perth and people enjoyed sitting down and watching it.

Attached are some pics of the place at the moment, just to give you an idea of my setup. I screened your film on the dual racing car with wireless headphones. "

I didn't get a link to the event and I'm not sure when it actually took place but here are a couple of links attached to his email.

www.insertcoins.com.au

Facebook

The interesting thing that I'm finding with this film is the interpretation of what it is? This is the second time (at least) it's taken place in an event as experimental art.

It's also been fairly regularly screening since it was first shown in October last year. I think it's screened 22 times at 9 different festivals and events.

Short Win

2010-11-10T00:30:00.000-08:00

BTW. HAPR won best film at the Halloween Short Cut screening which comprised of a bottle of wine and two tickets to the Astor.
Drank the wine, need to find a good movie at the Astor before Dec 20th.

I can now add two of those wreath things to anything I do with it.

The dress up comp had more grog in prizes than the films actually.

This is Not a Film Festival

2010-11-10T00:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I missed this one.
http://www.thisisnotafilmfestival.com
Got the invite while I was in Sydney but anyway, it played on November the 9th.

HAUSTRALIAWEEN

2010-10-30T03:59:00.000-07:00

The film is playing at The Workers Club, corner of Brunswick and Gertrude streets, Fitzroy, at an event called Haustraliaween, tomorrow, Sunday night. It will play after the last band around 11.30pm.

Sounds fun but I can't go cos I'm in Canberra.

I haven't met the person who asked for the film so it seems to be having it's own life.

Short Cut Halloween Night Flyer

2010-10-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

SkyNoise

2010-10-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here's some publicity I didn't know about on Skynoise. I'll have to keep an eye on this.

World War Gay

Also hailing from Melbourne’s Silent Army era (it’s comic veteran day at skynoise), Clint Cure ( Q-Ray) and Kieran Mangan are in the midst of raising funds to produce a short video series for the web. Loosely framed as a John Waters meets John Carpenter / sci-fi / action adventure about the development of an anti-gay serum, at time of writing they’ve raised $426 of their modest $1000 goal. Says Kieran: “Why does a film cost $3 million? Well, I know why, but I also know it doesn’t have to. ” And something that may increase or decrease your likelihood of offering some small support – Clint recently finished a short zombie remake : ‘Hanging at Picnic Rock’. And interestingly, this fundraising is all powered by the new Australian micro-fundraising site Fundbreak, an Australian version of kickstarter.

Hanging at Halloween

2010-10-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

As part of their Halloween night on the 28th of October, Short Cut Short Films is screening Hanging at Picnic Rock.

I wonder what else they are playing?

I'll be giving a talk beforehand apparently.

No Vacancy Screening

2010-07-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

The film is playing this Monday night, 2nd of August, at No Vacancy as part of Beg Scream and Shout.

I think I will go.

Edith's View

2010-07-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

A guy on YouTube saw the clip and told me that his mum played Edith in the original film Picnic at Hanging Rock. So I sent him a copy.

This is what he said;
Mum almost died laughing when the shy prisoner was carried off "MIRANDA DONT GO!!!" and screamed. Her reaction was typical. while finding it difficult to breathe "Put some effort in girl". Whole family loved it.

Apparently she lives in South Australia now "Christine Schuler now known as Christine Lawrance. She studies theology at the Adelaide College of Divinity."

Considering I sent it to Peter Weir, Leigh Whannell and gave one to John Waters it's good to finally get some response from the film world.

Mini MUFF

2010-07-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

1000 POUND BEND
361 Lt Lonsdale st
Melbourne

August, Wednesday 25th at 7pm

Mini MUFF Session 5

THE DEAD WASTES
Dir. Wade K. Savage / 10mins
In a post apocalyptic world, one woman takes on her greatest challenge.

DEEP SPACE LOVE
Dir. Alan Bennett / 9mins
A lone researcher on a space station falls in love with a window-cleaning robot.

HANGING AT PICNIC ROCK
Dir.Clint Cure / 12mins
A female prison gang battle demon possessed private school girls.

PI WEINSTEIN
Dir. David Broder / 20mins
A private eye’s Friday night turns into one hell of an evening.

THE PACKAGE
Dir. Oliver Waghorn / 3mins
Your future is at your doorstep.

ULTRAMAN
Dir. Robin Geradts-Gill & Hannah Moon / 7mins
The story of a suburban superhero in trouble.

THY KILL BE DONE
Dir. Greg Hanson & Casey Regan / 16 mins
A group of nuns vow to revenge their priest’s murder.

MUFF

2010-06-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS! You're IN!

Thankyou for entering the 11th annual Melbourne Underground Film Festival.

We are pleased to inform you that your film has been accepted and will screen as part of this year's festival.

The Melbourne Underground Film Festival will be running from August 20 - August 28 2010 at the following venues: the Classic Cinema in Elsternwick, Thousand Pound Bend in the CBD and Open Channel's Shed 4 Cinema in the Docklands.

SCREENING: The screening date and time of your film will be listed in the MUFF program and schedule, which will be available to download as an Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) document from www.muff.com.au in mid July.

Jacinta Palmer

Things That Never Happened.

2010-05-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

There's been a few things that didn't quite come about.

The film didn't get screened at Tromadance after all. I think it got knocked out by that human centipede thing everyones talking about.

I got a "return to sender" from the other screening in NY. I think I had the right address but there was some confusion as it's a film night at an art gallery.

We sent a copy to Peter Wier but I'm told he no longer lives in Sydney. Surely they'd forward his mail?

I gave a copy to John Waters. He said he'd watch it but I have no idea wether he did or not. I gave him my email (but I guess if he responds then I have his email).

I met Leigh Whannel and he said he liked the name and I should send it to his agent. Which I did. Heard nothing from him either.

There's still some life in the old girl yet.

Street Cred

2010-05-19T23:26:00.000-07:00

Watch RAGE this Friday night, er Saturday Morning to see the music clip I did for Digital Primate.

Early Saturday morning play 4:00 - 6.00am

ZAC BROWN BAND - Chicken Fried
DIGITAL PRIMATE - All Personnel
MA - Light Summer Dress (Isaax LSD Remix)
JAMIE CULLUM - Wheels

A Night of Horror!

2010-03-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Is this saying that it's playing on the 20th or the 23rd?

Hi,

A Night of Horror International Film Festival will be making its public announcement regarding the festival’s official short film selections shortly.

However, we just wanted to personally let you know ahead of time that your film has been selected to screen at the Australian Short Film Showcase at this year’s festival, and to say congratulations! We are delighted to be screening your film. (And please accept our apologies for the late notification.)

The Australian Showcase is taking place at Metro Screen, Paddington Town Hall (Cnr Oxford Street and Oatley Road, Paddington), Tuesday, April 20, at 9:00pm.

Your film will be screening in competition for “Audience Choice Award: Best Australian Short Film”. Votes will be collected at the screening on April 20, and the winner will be announced at the festival's award ceremony, which follows the feature film TRIANGLE at Dendy Newtown, 7:00pm, Friday April 23, at Dendy Cinema Newtown.

http://www.anightofhorror.com/

Double Bill

2010-03-12T16:57:00.000-08:00

HAPR is getting another screening on the 19th at ABC gallery as part of Shadows.

A film night run by PJ who did the music for HAPR.

It's playing before the feature Liquid Sky another very 80's film.

I've been asked to present it. I guess I'm pretending that it was made in the 80's but was too shocking for release and all that stuff. Thats not true you know, I made all that up, I really only made it last week with puppets.

Trasharama Win

2010-03-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

The film came 2nd Place at Trasharama. I wanted to come first. The first place winner was a stop motion called Gumbys New Tit by Alex Machin. So I went round to Alex's house and rolled all his plasticine into one big ball of grey.

Now I can put one of those things with the wreath around it saying winner of blah blah blah. Is there a template for those?
Maybe I can steal one off another site.

Hopscotch did reply after all.

2010-02-16T21:32:00.000-08:00

Hello Clint,

Unfortunately, due to the large amount of submissions we receive and the size of our team (small!), we do not provide evaluations of projects - we simply consider the project.

However, speaking casually: In the case of HANGING AT PICNIC ROCK, I believe we decided not to pursue the project further because of the niche genre, when we are seeking to develop project of much broader appeal.

Again, please do contact us with any future projects you may have on the boil.

Best,

Lucy

Hopscotch Films

2010-02-08T17:37:00.000-08:00

I watched a Metro Screen video (Oz Film vs Oz Audience) recently where Troy Lum (of Hopscotch Films)claimed he read a lot of scripts that should never have been written and why can't somebody write something funny or something that young guys would like to see.

Well...

I thought I had a few ideas that were a no-brainer for just this kind of thing, chief of which is turning Hanging at Picnic Rock into a feature. I mean, I've already made a short of it. Which can be a kind of blueprint. They are going to love it! So I called up Hopscotch to see if they would be interested in backing any of them.

So they sent me this:

With each project, we require the submission of a 1-2 page story outline with the following structure before considering the project further:

Act 1: Problem (1-2 paragraphs)
Act 2: Complication (2-3 paragraphs)
Act 3: Solution (1-2 paragraphs)

So I sent them some outlines, and some pictures to wet the appetite. Then I went to the USA.

While I was there I started to think, "hang on, these are the people who made Somersault." That film where nothing much happens to some really annoying kid (like a French film where nothing ever happens)and they think it's good!!! They're not going to want to make a Trash film about Zombies and lesbians killing each other with bad effects.

Sure enough, when I got back I got this;

Thank you for sending through the information requested. The team has now had a chance to read and discuss the story outlines, and unfortunately, they have decided not to consider the films further. I’m afraid this is a pass on for us on HANGING AT PICNIC ROCK.

I’m sorry we’re not able to be involved, but please don’t hesitate to contact us regarding future projects you wish to discuss.

Oh well. It was kind of polite. But they didn't even want to see it? How can you turn down that title alone? Even if you didn't like the story you could just keep the title and write something else. Leigh Whannell loved it! More on that later.

I did ask about reasons why my ideas were rejected but never got anything back. I think they were genius, everyone else thinks they are shit.

Tromadance

2009-12-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

Anyway, the Troma visit went well and they liked the movie. However, Picnic at Hanging Rock isn't that well known in America so we talked about cutting some of the trailer into the start of the film and submitting it to Tromadance, which will come out in April.

You can see the excitement on the Troma-ites faces in this photo. "Hey! Come back!"

It was great to see the place but Lloyd wasn't there. I got shown around by his assistant Justin. It was all pretty casual actually. Here's a print for the Toxic Avenger laying on the floor. Justin told me they are just starting to work on Toxic Avenger V, The Toxic Twins.

The Invasion of Tromaville

2009-12-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

I managed to infiltrate Troma's top command base in New York

Notice how Lloyd Kaufman's desk is empty.

I took full advantage of this and instantly took over the company.

Here I am having one last look at Troma's collection of 800 films before I had them all incinerated and replaced by my one DVD.

Local Drunk Makes Good!

2009-11-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

Fine, but I didn't say those things. Not like that anyway.

They also stuffed up the youtube link.

http://free-press-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/the-hills-in-scary-flick/

Peter Weir

2009-11-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a letter I sent off to Peter Weir's PO Box with a DVD.
So if he opens his mail, he'll watch it.

Dear Mr Weir

You may notice some resemblance of the enclosed DVD to your movie Picnic at Hanging Rock. Which is a wonderful film, but seems to be lacking in two major areas.

Firstly, “what happened to the girls?” and secondly, “what does Miranda look like with her gear off?”

We have attempted to correct this oversight with our version of an unofficial “sequel” or “final chapter.”

Our complete failure to resolve these two questions in any form has resulted in this travesty of good film making and Australian culture.

We hope you enjoy it and if we ever meet in person that you do not try to kill us.

Sincerely yours

Clint Cure Kieran Mangan

Sedition Films

Electundra 21st Nov

2009-10-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

There's another screening as part of the Electundra Audio Visual Festival.

The session starts a 1pm and goes to about 3pm.
Hanging at Picnic Rock plays around 2pm.

Im not sure yet wether it's at Loop Bar or not. I'll have to wait till they update their site.

Here is the old website from last year;

http://www.electundra.com/

Trasharama Premiere

2009-10-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

Hanging at Picnic Rock's official Australian premiere is at the Trasharama A-Go-Go Festival in Adeladie. It then tours with the Fest on the following nights at a few other states. The Festival itself has a few more shows, as you can see on their website: http://www.trasharama.com.au/
but, to my knowledge, these are the nights, dates and venues for the program that includes PaHR in the line-up.

Be warned, Trasharama A-Go-Go is not for the squeamish. PaHR is one of the more mild films.

Adelaide Mercury Cinema 13 Morphett st, Oct 2nd open 7.30pm

Bendigo Newmarket Hotel beergarden, Oct 6th open 7.30pm

Warranabool Loft, 60 Liebig st, Oct 7th open 7pm

Geelong Barwon Club, 509 Moorabool st, Oct 8th films start 8.30pm

Melb Glitch Oct, 318 Georges Rd, Nth Fitzroy, 9th open films start 7.30 & 9.45pm

Hobart Brisbane Hotel, 3 Brisbane st, Oct 10th films start 8pm

Sydney Mu Mesons, cnr Trafalgar st & Parramatta Rd Fri 16 Oct open 7.30pm

Nimbin Nimbin Hotel, 17th Oct films start 7.30pm

Canberra Tuggeranong Arts Centre, cnr Cowlshaw & Reed st, Oct 14th open 7.30pm

Gold Coast Arts Centre, 'Basement theatre' , 135 Bundall Rd, Surfer Paridise, 28th Oct meals from 6pm films 7.30pm

Brisbane The Globe, 220 Brunswick st, Fortitude Valley, 29th Oct doors open 7.30pm

Rockhampton, Walter Reid Centre, cnr East & Derby st, Nov 6th doors open 7.30pm

Perth The Castle Hotel, cnr Newcastle & Stirling st, Northbridge. Nov 20th films 8.30pm

I'll be going to a few nights so I'll report back to the blog.

Also, coming up, is the Electundra Festival at Loop Bar in November.
I didn't even apply for that one they contacted me.
I've sent off to a couple of other festivals so I'll post any other updates.

ABC Gallery Screening

2009-10-02T18:35:00.001-07:00

Our cast and crew sreening was a hit (amongst cast and crew). Thanks to everyone who dragged them selves away from their Gran Final hangover and came along. I sat the first screening out with the kids, so I didn't get to see what people laughed at. We didn't want them to be exposed to such extreme violence so we sat in my van and watched Elmur Fudd blow Daffy Ducks head off.

My very own personnel highly trained hit squad (photo by Amy even tho she's in it).

See, in real life Michelle and Priscila are friends (photo by Michelle).

Zak and Michelle get ready to re-enact their funniest scene (photo by Michelle).

DVD disc

2009-09-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

It'll look like this in keeping with the theme. I can't afford to print them all so some will be sticky labels.
Hope they are all done in time.

YEP

2009-09-16T03:08:00.001-07:00

I think this is best thing I've ever done. One of my friends said "this is the best film any of our friends have ever made", however, one guy said "well I can't say it's good but...".

I may need to raise some money on the night for his hospital bill.

Cast and Crew Screening

2009-09-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

On Sunday 27th of September at ABC gallery.
Details soon.

Dodgy, Hand-painted Cover Art which Vaguely Resembles Contents of Movie - Check!

2009-08-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

Working on the DVD now. Going for an old VHS look, as with the film itself. I have sent a copy to Trasharama but I think I might get it swapped by the copy I did today.

Which is THE FINAL CUT! on Monday the 31st of August.

Still need to talk to ABC gallery and set a date for the screening.

Almost, but no Banana

2009-08-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

I've sent a copy of the film to Trasharama. But I'm not happy with the sound and plan to re-send it.
I basically want to turn it all down and the music up.

I've also started work on the DVD, the cover, I've decided to hand paint (to the best of my ability) in a Frank Frezetta style.

Here's a dodgy photo of it in progress I took with the world's crapest phone.

Trailer

2009-08-10T17:09:00.001-07:00

I've whiped up a trailer and stuck it on Youtube.

Good thing someone else is doing the titles cos the one I knocked up ain't so hot.

You can hear how well the music works tho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTwlRWgc_80

Music Score

2009-08-09T18:46:00.001-07:00

I spent a couple of sessions with Peter Jetnikoff who has composed and performed the excellent music on an old synthesiser called a KORG MS-20. John Carpenter used it on all of his films and so did all the old Atari games. That's a total lie, but it did come out in 1978, the same year as Halloween. Daft Punk use one as well.

We've gone for a "John Carpenter" feel which a few people will notice, as well as it sounding very eighties.

P.J. also runs a film night, called Shadows, at the ABC gallery where we'll have our cast and crew screening of the film. More about that later. There's a link to Shadows in this blogs profile section.

Sedition Films Logo

2009-07-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

This is an Ident I designed for Sedtion Films, or, in this case, Home Video. You can have a look on Youtube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiNEX8xVEt4

It's meant to look like a really dodgy home video distributor, hence the horrible colours and crappy music. I also dropped it onto video and wrecked the tape a little.

SFX

2009-07-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

Wooh! Does that say SEX? Well unfortunately not. I'm working on the Sound and Special Effects. Mixing a lot of screaming with gurgling blood sounds. I'm also hand doing some of the Visual Effects. Here's a sample frame, which you may be surprised at how well it works moving fast with good sound.

Or maybe you'll think it looks shit, in that case, don't talk to me.

Saturday May 23rd - Last Shoot

2009-07-12T23:21:00.000-07:00

That was the last shoot with any cast. I took along one of my more conservative students, Jamie, pictured above. He is a very "special" person and has some trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality. For example, "you're helping on a film" (reality) "this will go towards your final mark" (fantasy). In this picture he mourns the death of his dummy, Steve, who we dressed in drag and threw off a cliff at Mt Macedon. A place very close to Hanging Rock but not Hanging Rock.
Melanie is wondering what it must be like to teach a class of such "special" people.

Hopefully Jamie's mum doesn't know who I am as I made him late for work.

We also tore off Laura's arms and drenched her in blood in the freezing cold wind and dropped her off home with her favorite jeans stained in red food colouring and sticky carob syrup. Aah she'll get over it.

Thrasharama Deadline

2009-06-18T09:09:00.001-07:00

It's getting close. I better pull it out.

Cast - Zombies - Melinda and Melanie and others.

2009-06-18T09:08:00.001-07:00

Melinda and Melanie? - They kind of play the same person. I couldn't get Melinda back so I asked Melanie to stand in for her. Then I cut out most of her shots. Oh well, (again). You do get a glimpse of her in one shot.
The thing is, I figured I could get away with putting a wig on her and no one would notice that Mel and Mel are completely different people. Melinda has long straight dark hair and Melanie wears a curly, dark purple? wig with a head band? Yep, there was a bit of mix up there. But once again, no one seems to notice. Movies, they are so magical. For example no one got paid in real money! Just pixie dust!

You see? Twins!

Actually Penelope and Priscila also play Zombies in a couple of shots. Why I even put on one of the dresses and ran around in my back yard but I didn't film that. That was a private matter.

Above is Priscila taking some time out to get to know some of the rest of the cast. Hey, don't take her the wrong way. Kissing your severed head is what they do over there.

Cast - Zombies - Lara and Chantelle

2009-06-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

OK, so in the film PAHR, three girls and a school teacher go missing, one of the girls is found so that leaves two and the teacher. Well that's just not enough school girls for the "sequel" HAPR.

In this film there's four (or five), hard to tell really, and who cares? As long there is plenty of mayhem, catfights, dismemberment and zombie blood I don't think anyone will really give a rats.

It's just best if you don't think about it. Like the end of Terminator.

Lara Picone - Is one of those rare actors who will do anything I tell them without asking difficult questions like "isn't this dangerous?", "are we getting paid?", "is it really necessary that the director be nude for this scene?". I love those kinds of people. She was quite willing to be kicked in the gut and fall onto a pile of rocks but I decided to put a mattress down for her as I knew I'd need her in a couple more shots.

Chantelle - Was in the script as a Zombie called ribbons. The idea was that she'd get her head mashed and you'd still identify it by her ribbons. But on the day, I forgot to tell her to wear them. Oh well. Still we stuck a knife in her head and poured a lot of goo in her hair.
Here is a quote from an email she sent me after she read the script "no matter which girl I play I'm still going to die a gruesome bloody death. I've always wanted to be killed in a horror flick."

See how happy I made them?

Dodgy FX Master

2009-06-14T01:20:00.001-07:00

Here's a shot you'll never see. Pasta head! I'm going to have another go at that one. After Karl's excellent "man ripped in half thing" I've gone rather down hill as far as effects go. I read about Troma using effects such as cooked spaghetti so I figured, "hey I'll use pasta, that'll look like bone?"
Not really, as you can see.
Another bit of 'genius' was using canned spaghetti, instead of the long cooked stuff. I seem to have gotten away with that one. If you look closely at the pic below you may even see the can somewhere.

Note to self: if the FX guy leaves the shoot, get another one, don't do it all yourself.

It's a wrap!

2009-05-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

On Sunday 31st at 3:40 pm we got the last shot after 52 takes. You can see from the photo that our hand model, Michelle Clarke, literally sweat blood due to the stress involved from working under such a perfectionist director. Keiran had to interveen as it was obvious I couldn't bring myself to stop. He gently placed his hand on my shoulder and whispered in Latin "is "Consummatum est" in English "it is finished". I began to weep uncontrollably and cry out "Never, Never!" until he spoke the words in Klingon "Dor-sho-gha! Aaron forshak!" or in English "Let's drink Aarons wine".

The wrap party invovled myself and Keiran Mangan dressing up as characters from 2001 a Space Odessy and drinking sherry. It lasted for 8 seconds and the stripper never showed, tho she may have as I don't remember much from those 8 seconds.

The edit is also pretty close to done, just audio tracks, some post FX and a colour grade and it's in the bag!

I'll still review the last 3 weeks of shooting and pop up the single wrap party photo on this blog soon.

I'll have a cast and crew screening in Collingwood and Belgrave when it happens.

So the shoot has taken 4 months. It really should have taken 4 days.

Cast - The Screws - Michelle and Amy

2009-05-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

When I told Michelle about the film she asked me if she could be in it. It suddenly struck me that I role I intended to play myself (in drag) would be perfect for a primary school teacher. Although Michelle doesn't have an offical acting career I am fully aware of the teachers need to put on an act in front of a room full of sceptic's who really want you to crack up and walk off crying.
Michelle plays Appleyard who is the headmistress in the "original" film.

Amy plays a gaurd called Porter, which is a dummed down version of the french teachers name, Mlle. de Poitiers, which I can't pronounce properly anyway. And I'm meant to be French.
There's also an Irma, Sara and Marion, who I have changed to Irma, Sarah and Maria. How clever is that?

Amy has been a first AD on a few projects but has given it up to pursue a lucrative career in acting. By some bizarre accident she stumbled onto this film and became sidetracked. Her life is now in ruins and you can often find her sitting outside Young and Jacksons on Flinders street with a bottle of cheap cooking sherry and wreaking of vomit.

Worst Director Ever

2009-05-18T00:11:00.000-07:00

This cartoon, by Tilman, warrants some explanation. This might take a while. It's referring to my last student shoot which went quite badly. On our return to school I had discovered that word had already got around that I was wreaking of alcohol, stoned, and that I'd nearly killed my dog.

THE DOG - The shoot was on location in Castlemaine, which seemed like a nice place. I'd booked cast and crew into a hotel and a caravan park. I brought my dog with me as I figured he could sleep in my van at night and hang around with us in the day.
When we got to the GREAT NORTHERN Hotel in Castlemaine it was discovered that out room didn't have a key. "It's OK, we just leave everything open." Of course no one wanted to stay there so I decided to stay in the Northern myself as I'd already paid for it (more of that later) as the caravan park would not take the van in with my dog in it, so I left it outside with him tied to it. One day, I was meant to drop in for a quick meeting and left the dog in the car, WITH THE WINDOW OPEN and a BUCKET OF WATER! After a HALF HOUR! someone noticed so I went and got him out. It WASN'T REALLY THAT HOT COS I HAD THE WINDOW OPEN!

STONED - Apparently the volunteer caterers supplied some "special" muffins to cast and crew on the night of the shoot. I wasn't aware of this until much later but while it was used against me at school some of the crew said "I wouldn't have got through that night if it wasn't for those muffins."

DRUNK - Towards the end of the shoot one of the actors gave me a shot of whisky from his hip flask. OK, I shouldn't have and he shouldn't have been drinking but it was late, cold, we were nearly finished and it was ONE SHOT for fuks sake. It may have been that or it may have been that I'd been up all night in my clothes as the arseholes at the Great Northern would stay up and party all night then their ugly teenage kids would get up in the morning and shout obscene things to each other outside my door.

IN CONCLUSION - What did I learn from this experience? I'm not really sure but I did learn that some people really are arseholes and when you're falling they'd rather kick the shit out of you than help you up. DON'T HAVE THESE SORT OF PEOPLE ON SET!

Crew - Kieran Mangan

2009-05-17T23:51:00.000-07:00

Ever heard of "suffering for your art"? Well bollocks to that! Do what I do and get someone else to suffer for you. Kieran has helped me on a number of projects including walking the streets of Brunswick in a blood covered suit, holding up things, carrying things, being attacked by sandflys on a hot beach, holding up things, scriptwriting, taking over direction when I'm too stressed to think, carrying things etc
On this shoot he is doing a lot of D.O.P. work but is quite happy to hand me the camera and carry heavy objects when I don't feel like it.

Kieran Mangan, everyone should have one!

Cast - Prisoners. Laura, Tahnee and Priscila.

2009-05-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

Here we see Laura and Karl with Karl's common expression "stay away from my ex" he often directs towards me. Laura wanted to be a Zombie but I made her be a prisoner. She would of made a fine Zombie but I think she has a bit of a bad girl look going on already so I stuck her in the chain gang.

Disclaimer - none of this is true. Karl and I often swap X and current girlfriends at our cocaine fueled orgy's.

This is Tahnee waving goodbye as she is escorted off the set for her outlandish and crude sense of humour. Her vulgar antics are not tolerated on a film of this calibre and so she's being sent back to the more appropriate Channel 31 where she is a host of a children's television show. Apparently kids like this sort of thing.
Tahnee wanted to be Porter but her police record barred her from carrying a gun of any sort.

Disclaimer - of course none of this is true. Just look at her, as if.

It wasn't until Priscila was telling me about life in Rio De Janeiro by swearing at me in Portuguese and holding a knife to my throat that I decided she should be in this film. I also like to hang out with her and see my ex's faces drop when they meet her. I was considering wooing her with my charming ways until I realized she'd rather stay with her wife-beating, crack-head, boyfriend than go out with an internationly award winning film maker.

Disclaimer - Priscila's Boyfriend works full time helping homeless children in impoverished third world countries. He is a close friend of Bishop Desmund Tutu and an award winning chef and state champion steer wrestler.

Crew - Karl VonBamburga (or something)

2009-05-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Karl was in charge of our high budget special effects. In this photo you can see that he's about to dig a tunnel when it was noticed on arrival, on the first day of shooting, that the entire film was meant to be located in a vast underground network of criss-crossing caves and not a sunny forest setting at all.
His job also included throwing goo onto girls dresses which, luckily, he has a fondness for but seemed to often miss and get their faces instead.
Unfortunately Karl had to leave the production, half way through, when he was attacked and eaten by a Gorilla from another shoot.

Props - Vomit Girl

2009-05-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

The popular "vomit-girl" magazine was created by Aaron Odonnel and was inspired by a party invite I have somewhere of a cute girl vomiting in the gutter.
In fact it's proving to be so popular that another issue may show up in another film. Watch out for it, it's great!

In the photo above Zak proudly shows off a picture of his mum whilst Tahnee trys to find contact information to sign up as a vomit magazine model. Michelle looks on with approval as she remembers her time as a vomit girl magazine pin up very fondly.

Coincidence or Syncronicity

2009-05-13T23:55:00.001-07:00

Is it just me or does Aaron look a bit like Dur Golem in that last pic?

Blood

2009-05-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

We are using a lot of fake blood on this shoot (as Penelope discovered). I found a few useful recipes off this site;

http://www.halloween-website.com/fake_blood.htm

This is the one we've used the most (or something like it)

"Homemade Fake Blood

1 c. Karo Syrup
1 Tbsp Water
2 Tbsp Red Food Coloring
1 tsp Yellow Food Coloring

Mix together in a mixing bowl and you're done. Try adding blue or yellow for a different shade."

I've also used the chocolate one, and the gravy one looks easy and cheap. The Karo ones good but a little hard to find bulk Karo Syrup. It also washes out of peoples clothes very easily if you soak them in Napi-san.

We mix three different colours, red for humans and black and yellow for zombies as I didn't want to use green. We're in the bush, there's green everywhere, how much green do you want?

Funny enough, black and yellow, together make green.

I have also found that you need to store the stuff in the fridge or it grows mould after a week or so.

Cast - Samantha Hill

2009-05-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

Samantha plays Edith who I describe as someone who really shouldn't be in prison. In fact all I had to say to Sam was "you shouldn't be here" and she got it. I gave her the biggest pair of overalls so she'd look as awkward as possible, which she'd use by pulling her large sleeves over her hands when she was threatened.
A very talented actor, I've never seen someone so "in the moment" and so able to switch it on and off at anytime.
Sam is also the only person I cast who auditioned on tape. I was thinking of putting the audition tapes on the DVD but Sam's was so moving and personnel that I've since decided against it.

Early on, when the prisoners first got together, they decided to work out their own personnel histories. Apparently Edith is a kleptomaniac, not sure what the others are but I'd like to find out.

She also had to scream a lot and get goo chucked on her.

Pick Ups 1 - Stuntman Aaron

2009-05-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

OK. So it's a good looking bike but it runs like shit. A few shoots back we took the bike along and tried to get some shots of Penelope and Samantha riding it. It has a few problems and has to be roll started. The plan was to get it going and then get Pen and Sam to hop on. However we couldn't get it to keep running and so tried to roll the bike in with them on it. Hopefully building up enough speed for them to balance. As the bike is really not made for a passenger this proved to be way too difficult to balance, especially for someone who has only just started to learn how to ride a motorcycle.
I decided to have another go, this time with Aaron (an experienced rider and owner of the vehicle in question) and his better half, Michelle.
This was another frustrating day as the old engine just seemed to get worse each time we started it. For some reason the clutch is not holding properly which means that the bike wants to pull away when its stopped and then conks out, which is why we tried to roll it on the previous shoot.
I went back to Wrights Forest as its more hilly and we ran it sometimes and rolled it other times. It was still very difficult to balance a passenger on the back and so I tried out a few different angles.
We didn't get much done and gave up when the light went but when I looked at the footage later, it actually doesn't look too bad.

Shoot Day 7 - April 25th

2009-04-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

Well, that's the last big day over. And I had to cut that one short due to the grim weather. Still we got a lot done and even a bit of sun. Most of the cast have finished up but there's still a sequence to shoot where Laura has her arms torn off which requires a few people. I've put that off due to the weather again. I'm shooting some pick ups this weekend but we've really knocked off most of the film now. It's all down hill from here. Yipee!

Music Clip

2009-04-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

On a side note. My music clip did play in Fed Square, but I unfortunately never got to see it.
Brad Picken, who organised the event, took these photos.

Shoot Day 6

2009-04-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 28th March. At Shiprock Falls again, this time with a bigger cast and crew and a motorcycle wrangler; Rodford Belchur.
Things went well again but we did have had a couple of problems, we couldn't work out how to turn off the zebra stripes for a while and when I looked at the rushes I found that the first shots we took were out of focus.
But the biggest problem was the bike, it would start up but kept conking out so we tried to roll it in but couldn't get up enough speed for it.
I'm thinking of taking it back to Wrights forest where we have more of a hill.

Of the more successful things to stand out was Lara poking out Tahnee's eyes.
It really looks like she's gouging away.
A little bit hard to see in this still but it looks great when its moving.

Locations

2009-04-14T05:05:00.000-07:00

I always like location scouting. You start to get into the mood and visualize the film.
I went out with Keiran, Karl and Laura to Hanging Rock for a look around but thought it was just a bit too hard to get to and too many tourists.
Still we had a nice day.

I asked a few people about somewhere closer and it was Dan Burke who suggested Shiprock Falls which is where we've been doing most of the filming.

The other location is Wrights forest near Cockatoo which is where we were the first day. All very picturesque.

You can see most of them on this YouTube clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxFL1-PNfFY

The Bike

2009-04-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

Everybody wants to buy this motorbike but it's owner is Aaron O'donnell and he doesn't want to sell it. Not yet anyway.

It's labelled as a 1950's Excelsior but Aaron claims it's actually a 1951 Ambassador Supreme with a British Villiers engine. It sounds strange now, but at the time, there were a few dozen motorcycle manufacturers, who would make the frames, suspension etc but only one manufacturer of motorcycle engines so they'd all install the same one.

We are having some trouble getting it going as we need to roll start it then keep reving it. It's conking out but I may have the fuel/oil mix wrong as its a 2 stroke. It's quite small and light, 200cc.

I like the flat seat.

Shoot Day 4

2009-04-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

We shot all of Sabina's shots in half a day on Sunday March 22nd. We started off OK but I made a big boo-boo and left Sabina's dress at home. I thought a white sheet in the box was it. Lucky for me Sabina was happy enough to go back to my house and get it while we started shooting. It was a small cast; Penelope and Sabina, and a small crew; myself, Kieran and Karl and the rest of the day went pretty smooth.
The biggest event of the shoot was trying to simulate zombie blood pouring out of Sabina's neck as she sat on the Penelope. I don't think anyone was ready for the amount of liquid that poured out, drenching both the Actors.
The still below shows a couple of streams pouring out of a tube in to Sabina's hair. You can just see Karl's hand holding a tube on the back of Sabina's neck. She made the comment "If you had told me you were going to do this, I would of said no."
Interesting.

Cast - Sabina

2009-04-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

Sabina Lokic I recruited from Filmnet, a website that lists jobs and events on a messageboard. She has done a lot of professional acting (including playing a character called Mandi Rogers on Neighbors) and besides being very pretty she does have a tendency to look really evil.

She plays one of the zombie/school girls who is in the script as Blondie. I gave the names of the original school girls to the prisoners and then had to come up with some titles to differentiate the zombie characters.

She has also been doing the zombies makeup and helped out by organizing lunch for us on a day my 1st AD decided not to come. She had a party come up and went to that instead. That happens a lot.

Tagline

2009-04-02T00:28:00.002-07:00

On February 14 1910 four private school girls disappeared at Picnic Rock, Victoria, under mysterious circumstances.

On February 15 2010 they return.

Shoot Day 3 - Rained Out

2009-04-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday 14th March was predicted to rain in the morning and clear up in the afternoon. Bu the mountains have their own weather. It was sunny when we got to the location at Ship Rock Falls. Just as we got the camera out the clouds came over and it started to rain. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the storm would pass over but no luck.
We gave up and went home, I bought everyone lunch at Belgraves unfriendliest CAFE, where I came up with a plan to split the shoot over the next two weekends so that I didn't need so many people to come back. So it was still kind of an all right day.

Kind of.

Costume

2009-03-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to create an impression of the dresses from the original film rather than try to recreate them. However, finding 4 white dresses that look similar in Savers, the Salvos or wherever proved to be a lot harder than I thought. So they were going to have to be made from scratch. I did this with the help of Beckett Rozental, who found and adapted a dress pattern that matched what we were doing and took me on a shopping trip to Lincraft (and opened my eyes to another world).
She had to head back to Tassie for a family emergency so we passed the pattern onto Caroline Thompson who did a great and very fast job of sewing 4 dresses together in as many days. I got her to do a couple more as spares.
The dresses add an easily recognizable link to the "other film" which even people walking past the shoot have commented on.
They also look very nice in the green bush.

The prisoners all wear overalls with an old convict style arrow sprayed on the back. I wanted numbers on their back, or the name of the correctional facility, but ran out of time. I also wanted them to be orange at one stage, and there are plenty of
2nd hand orange overalls but it's hard to find any in a small size. Even the "small" size is very big. Also, orange against green? You have to think about those things.

Speaking of time, the dresses became one of those things that I didn't think would take too long to organize but ended up taking over the pre-production time. You never know what these things will be.

Hanging at Picnic Rock

2009-03-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

The name is Aaron O'Donnell's idea but if you google it you'll find a song with the same name and a comedy skit. A couple of people have told me that they had an idea for an updated version of Picnic at Hanging Rock but had never finished a script.

There is a picnic in this story but no hanging. No one seems to have noticed so far.

Storyboards

2009-03-31T16:57:00.001-07:00

The entire film is storyboarded which is a process I did as I went along. Initially I didn't want to do too much storyboarding, as it tends to lock you in, but a few things made it necessary.
First, special effects (and there's a few) need to be storyboarded to work out whats needed, and not needed, for the shot and get the idea across.

Action sequences are also helped by a good storyboard to make sure we are getting all the shots we need.

It also saves time on the actual shoot day if I limit the amount of coverage we can try to get and just go for the shots we need with a few extras.
Finally, due to my large cast, I needed to stage the actors and work out who was needed on what day. This is proving quite a difficult thing to juggle as not everyone is available at the same time.
I turned down a lot of people to get a group who would be able to show up together on the first shoot day. After that, it hasn't mattered so much, but its still been quite hard to coordinate.
I've kept the storyboard art fairly simple, as Its easy to "read" and quick to draw but sometimes I've been drawing storyboards the night before the shoot so they vary in quality.

See what I mean? Some I had to do again as I couldn't work out what I'd drawn.

The Cast. Penelope

2009-03-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

Penelope Arvanitakis plays Miranda; a tough prison dyke who doesn't shy away from a bit of shot gun decapitation.
I met Penelope on a student music clip shoot for a song called "Cry Like You Mean It", where she had to stand dead-still in a room full of light bulbs. I worked with her again on a couple of other student films and liked her attitude and energy. When I ran into her on the street in Belgrave I told her about the project and offered her the lead role without telling her too much. I was a little apprehensive that, after she read the script, she would either jump at the opportunity to try out a character unlike anything she'd done before or throw the script away and never talk to me again.
There is a bit of Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron in Monster)and Snake Plisskin (Kurt Russel in Escape From New York)in her character and I did have a Tattooist lined up to give her some (fake) full sleeves of dodgy prison tatts but she traded the mountains for the sea, to get away from the bush fires, and couldn't make it to the shoot.
So the other girls drew a few on with texta.
Its a Trasharama film.

Synopsis

2009-03-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

A 21st Century, all female, prison gang fight for their lives against 19th Century Demon-possessed, private school girls.

Shoot Day 1 and 2

2009-03-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

I had planned to start shooting on Sat Feb 14th, Valentines Day, which would have been great, as the original film is set on that date. However, I pushed it back a week to Sat 21st to give a little more time.
I also thought I could shoot the whole thing in three days, with some pick ups, but I really underestimated the time frame. Usually I'm pretty close, but I'd hadn't taken into account the amount of time we'd need to set up effects shots and getting the large cast to the location took a bit of effort. It went pretty smooth, in the end, but I could have done with one more person to organise a few refreshments.
Luckily, Sabina, one of the Zombies, stepped in and took over catering.
My original 1st AD had pulled out.
I also wanted to shoot in two locations but my second location was blocked off due to bush fires.
This gave us more time to spread a one day shoot over two and everyone seemed to have a nice time in the bush. Except maybe for Zak who was buried up to his waste and covered in stinking guts. The flies were intense.
We shot in Wrights Forest (which is listed as Weights Reserve in Google Maps?), close to Cockatoo, which looked really nice.
Ben Mann took some great photos.

The Look

2009-03-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

While I was at film school I came across a site that is used to find work paid/ and unpaid, in the local film industry. I posted adds for Actors and Crew and what I noticed was the little interest I'd get in anything except for acting roles for females, where I'd get around 80 hits for anything I put up. So the idea of an all girl cast was going to be relatively easy.
Some of the Trasharama films are very low budget, often very amateur and often shot in peoples back yards. They use toy guns, bad effects and peoples friends for actors. This makes for some funny stuff and laid back, unpressured style of film making. At one point I thought of paying for an armourer for the guns in the film but then, due to its budget, the rest would have to be pretty low-tech so they might stand out anyway. I look at the Trasharama style as a genre I decided to keep with it.
I still needed costumes so I drew up some sketches.

The Story

2009-03-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

At first I had the idea to do a short, unofficial, rip-off of Predator. Like the Italians did with Alien. It would be easy, I could shoot it in the bush, wouldn't have to use sets, get some tough looking actors, would need a lot of guns and explosions...
So that was going nowhere, then, driving past Hanging Rock I got the idea for a "sequel" to Peter Wiers, Picnic at Hanging Rock whith the original school girls coming back as Demon Possesed Zombies and attacking modern school girls. It may have been a house I stayed at in Sydney that had a DVD collection of the old Aussie TV show Prisoner, all set in a womens prison, that made me change them to a work gang of prisoners. It just gave a better premise anyway for conflict.
It was on a drive between Sydney and Melbourne that I wrote the script. I'd think for a few hours, stop and write stuff down, think for a few more, write another scene. By the end of the trip I had a Script (in biro).