Booger and Lacey

My partner Carolyn has written a children's book about our 2 dogs Booger and Lacey. The book is a picture book so I put the pictures in the timeline, added music and dialog - easy peasy. Zero work for me! And this is my first time I have approached a book's author for permission to turn it into a film. I have always wanted to produce a children's film and I reckon this one is a beauty! Thanks Carolyn.

Bitter Harvest

Bitter Harvest  grew out of observing the cat's behaviour, plus a crazy idea for a comedy that I'd come up with. Our cat Meow Meow's performance was very good, although I only wanted her to do stuff that comes naturally anyway. The music once again is by Kevin MacLeod and fits perfectly into the tone of this film. I am very happy with the way that Bitter Harvest has turned out considering the wacky underlying idea behind it.

Some News!!

I was lucky enough to have the ABC decide to show my film Video Postcard from A Country Station,  on the ABC Open program on ABC News 24 on Friday, September 6 (6:45pm AEST). This is a shortened version (90 seconds) and features narration - which are the rules of the Video Postcards series.
Plus:
I recently got in touch with Steve Galley - a very talented composer from Adelaide. Steve has agreed to supply me with some music for a number of my upcoming films! I have worked with Steve before and his music has a very interesting original sound. I am excited to be collaborating with him again and look forward to producing more films together!

This Message Will Self Destruct

THIS MESSAGE WILL SELF DESTRUCT was created for Newcastle Video Makers one minute competition. The D.O.P. for the shoot was the ever helpful Mark Owens. The day we shot this was really hot ( as you can see by the highly exposed footage). Mark and I worked on this film for around 5 hours and I copped the worst sunburn! We tried to mix our shot selections up a bit and we used a dolly and a crane where we could to create movement. Carolyn Starr plays a lawyer in the short final scene. I have played the film quite a bit and mostly get no reaction to the Occupational Health & Safety joke at the end.

A Slither of Snakes

I shot A Slither Of Snakes in my friend Greg Lenaghan's shed! Greg lives quite close to the swamp and these 5 big carpet pythons come and stay in the rafters of his shed each year for around 6 weeks - and Greg thinks they are there to mate. The roller doors don't get used (which is a good thing because you'd have some confused and cranky snakes when the door gets rolled up...) Once again I was so lucky to get this footage - it was very exciting but a real pleasure too. I chose 'ARCADIA' by Kevin Macleod for the film. This tune has a'wonder' feel to it . I didn't want to put creepy music to the visuals. I feel that snakes aren't creepy or evil - they are just living their lives. I entered this film in my club's one minute competition and later on I did a show and tell - I'd brought along a green shopping bag with a 10ft long snake skin which the snake in the roller door had shed. Then I asked for a volunteer from the audience(to help me roll out this skin but the audience didn't know what I had in the bag and you could feel the tension starting to rise. It was very funny...) I've never been in the company of so many snakes before. They were mainly placid but they just wanted to be left alone - and that will do me.

A Country Station

My latest film A Country Station is a work in progress. I shot this film at Harden railway station. I'd been down there previously and noticed a huge spillage of grain on the railway tracks which was attracting a large amount of birds. Most of this seed was gone but the birds were still there but a lot fewer in number. The station is still in use but was very quiet and mostly unvisited by people. I went down to do some filming around mid afternoon and then once again close to dusk. The evening before I observed a full moon rising over the hill and I was lucky enough to position my camera and score a wonderful moon rise on film! I also had been on the lookout for a country link train to come barrelling through the station and scatter the birds - but it was not to be. I did manage to film 2 loco's creeping along to park for the night at the station. I had to speed this footage up greatly, but I do like the night time lens flare of the train's headlights. I gave my raw footage to my great friend and colleague Geoff Peel. Geoff has a very good 'eye' and a very different editing style to me, and he has promised to have a crack at editing my footage. I'll be very interested to see what Geoff comes up with. Once again the music is by Kevin Macleod. I know his music is much used by short film makers but it is such a windfall to have music of such a high standard available, and his tune 'Windswept' is just a lovely fit to the footage. Hope you enjoy A COUNTRY STATION.

New Seasons Robes

I made New Seasons Robes for my club's one minute comp. I had shot all of my scenes in the car and operating the roller door earlier and had set up the green screen on the front of my house, and unfortunately my actor couldn't make it. So at short notice I stepped in and played the roll of GOD also. I've acted before but never opposite myself - now I know how Kirk Douglas feels ! But honestly it was a hoot. Cars would drive past and see this crazy God apparition on our front veranda.. Our neighbours must be wondering about me! Once again Caroly Starr was the D.O.P and she did a fine job. My green screen was a bit scratchy but I'm learning.This was another entry in the one minute comp and overall I'm very happy with the final film.