The Evolution of Bovine Language

I'd heard about the required item for the Rocky Fringe film festival (BULL) and I had an idea, so I story boarded it and pitched it to Ian Huish. And that was the end of my involvement with the film. Huish took the Bull by the horns and ran with it - his finished film had lots of different ideas and jokes, Ian provided all of the wonderful animation, the narration, the Bull's vocals, the sound edit, incidental music. Ian's wife Jen sang the ROCKY'S MOOSLI “keep ya movin” jingle and the eye catching titles - he did the lot! And I think he had a lot of fun making the film. The only other input was my wife Carolyn who gave the film it's title. So we took a punt and flew up to Rockhampton for the Rocky Fringe film festival on the 31st of August earlier this year AND WE WON!!!! Wow, what a huge thrill. It was great to collaborate with Ian - he is such a talent and has a wonderful sense of fun. Thanks mate.

The Hearts Eternal Vow

My friend Jason Paris has provided the music for many of my films over the years and we shot this at a few different locations from about February this year onwards. The film features some shots of a terrific water spout as seen from Newcastle's King Edwards Park. Jason's music is wonderful and this is my first crack at making a music clip. I hope I did his song justice.

The Bully

We made The Bully a few weeks back specifically for the Rocky Fringe film festival. The film features Malcolm Young, Carolyn Starr and me. It was shot in the Teralba Bowling Club. The Saturday morning drinkers were treated to the very odd spectacle of a man in a cat collar blubbering away. Carolyn's performance as "the bully" was spot on and Malcolm always brings his wonderful personality and good humour to our short films. To round out our crew Renee Mondy did her usual fine effort as Director of Photography. Very pleased with this one.

The Staring Competition

We shot this last year at the back of the K Mart car park in Glendale NSW in about 40 minutes. The story comes from a real event, a dog in a Woolworths car park did actually beat me in a staring competition! Carolyn Starr was the D.O.P. for this and does really well considering Chloe the dog wasn't keen sitting in the car for very long! Nathan Searle was Chloe's owner and Dog Wrangler in the shoot and was a big help to the overall look of the finished film. Jeremy Sherman's wonderful tune "Showdown" was perfect and is probably the closest I'll ever get to making a western. The Staring Competition will also be screened at the Good Dog Film Festival at the Balmain town hall next weekend - 17th, 18th & 19th of August.

Goog Dog Festival

I have 3 Films showing at the Good Dog Festival starting on the 17th and finishing 19th August. Go Weave, Dr Boogers Casebook and the Staring Competition. Go Weave is being shown 3 times!!

Llynda Nairn Lady Juggler

Llynda Nairn Lady Juggler was shot earlier this year whilst Llynda was performing at a local shopping complex. She is such a talent and the children just loved her awesome juggling skills. During her show Llynda sings and does humorous banter. Sadly we couldn't use the raw audio because the backing tracks were all copy write. The music that we did use however, was by Sarah De Jong and mixed by Phillip Howe. We had 3 cameras on this one: a wide shot from me on a tripod behind the children; Mark Owens with his wonderful camera work doing various angles; and Graham Bryant who had a roving commission and did a lot of hand held stuff - including some quite lovely reaction shots on the kid's faces. The 3 cameras made a huge difference in the choices we had available to us in the final edit. Ultimately the success of the film lies squarely with Llynda. Check out the cups and saucers on her head.

A Home Away From Home

Great mate Mark Jones owns a houseboat moored at Bulahdelah and he was kind enough to let me film A Home Away From Home on his boat going down river and onto the Myall lakes. Mark is very comfortable on camera and has a warm personality. The scenes at the leafy camp site and again with Mark around the camp fire worked out fine. But I hope we achieved our main aim which was to give the viewer a feeling of: " oh wouldn't it be nice to go for a ride on a boat..." Thanks Mark, it was a lot of fun!

More from FAMM

Here is another article from the Australian Film and Video Magazine.

5th Place

I was included in an article in this Winters edition of FAMM. I entered Rope into the one minute comp and it placed 5th. Ian Huish came 1st with Belonging.

www.famm.org.au

 

 

I will be posting a film shortly which includes a great friend of mine Mark jones, who owns a houseboat moored at Bulahdelah NSW.

Dr Boogers Casebook

We made this one at home with Renee Mondy once again doing a marvellous job as D.O.P. Our 2 year old Dachshund Booger ( I picked his name...) did very well under highly unusual circumstances and completed his acting duties with great style, having only small dog treats as his reward. What a pity I can't get all my other actors to work for this! Our set was a green screen in the back yard in the bright sunshine with the veranda table in front of it. For a very short one joke film I think DR. BOOGER'S CASEBOOK works well. The main thing is I haven't been sick since I took the prescription!!

Punxatawney Phil

We shot PUNXATAWNEY PHIL over 2 days ( wow - first GROUND HOG DAY reference) about 2 weeks ago at a very steep set of stairs in Newcastle. The crew was Graham Bryant and myself. Graham is a member of our club, Newcastle Video Makers Club and a very experienced film maker. You'll notice from his work on LLYND NAIRN LADY JUGGLER and this film, that his specialty is close ups. And he shot this hand held and it was rock steady, well focused and easy on the eye. It wouldn't have been the same film without him. On the first day's filming we were equipped with large plastic Slinkys and these just didn't work. We couldn't get a decent run out of them. The next day we had smaller metal ones and these weren't much better, I had visions of footage of Slinkys racing up lots of steps chasing me running backwards behind them but the most we could get them to do was 3 or 4 steps! The music comes from my Corel editing package and it works well. We entered our film in our club's latest open competition “Unexpected Outcome or Parkland” and we scored a 2nd place. Graham and I had a lot of fun making it and for a short one joke film I think it works well.

Lair

We shot ‘Lair’ in the ruins of the old Mental Home, a secure facility for the criminally insane near Wyee NSW. The place has been trashed and heavily graffitied , plus it is a perfect ready made set for a movie. It was finished earlier this year and it recently won first prize in our film club's first open competition of the year. Renee Mondy is our sole actor in this one and she does a first fate job as usual under trying circumstances. The damaged buildings and trashed surrounds plus the eerie solitude of the place does give a certain creepiness to our film. I was taken by the graffiti - it seems to be watching, a sort of evil knowing witness. And as luck would have it there was just enough on site for us to complete a story - although, we filmed over a few days ( weeks and months apart ) and some of our featured graffiti would get painted over...I had some old footage of an extreme close up of a camp fire and I used this in our opening credits and end titles - to give our titles a distinctive look. Then I passed the ball to Ian Huish ( a great friend and collaborator ) and Ian provided: the wonderful creepy music; colour grading; sound effects; the animation on the faces of the graffiti; the Devil and fire effects; plus a ton of very helpful advice on this project. He was very much an ace up my sleeve. Thanks man. Lair also represents a very different type of story for me, I usually make short comedies or documentaries and this was my very first drama. We were very pleased with the end result and I think in time I'll have a go at a few more stories with an edge....( queue the crazed laughter...)

Sharks 2 A Bite To Eat

Sharks 2 A Bite To Eat is the first time I've ever done a sequel. We shot this only a few weeks ago with the wonderful Col Marshall starring and Mark Owens as our D.O.P. I was encouraged by Ian Huish to create a sequel. Ian wrote the script for this one, and he's keen for me to do more. I will certainly shoot one more, they're a lot of fun to make and there's a wealth of ideas for the shark to make it's entrance....

I Escaped From KFC

This film was shot at Barnsley NSW by good friend and collaborator Mark Owens, and features a rather strange bird called Cocko, a female Australian white cockatoo. Cocko was owned by an elderly gentleman who sadl passed away. She was very distressed and deliberately pulled out all of her feathers. By the time we had filmed her she was back with a new owner, her spirits had lifted and she was ready to dance again. And what a sight Cocko is, she looks like your lunch is dancing for you! The music for our film is by Jason Paris. Jason has provided a heap of wonderful music for my films and we are currently working on another film together, a music video clip for his song The Hearts Eternal Vow. It was great working with Cocko, she is just so full of mischief and fun. The last thing she said to us as we were packing our gear up to leave was “rahh, get me outa here, rahh!”

The Broughton Island Mystery

This film was based on a true story. We shot this last year at Broughton Island. The film features good friends Trevor Anderson and Fred Vanags plus myself, and our crew on the day were Carolyn Starr and Gillian Smith. Trev has a huge boat and carted us all out there from Nelson Bay. The water was a nippy 16 degrees which made my underwater camera housing fog up quite a bit. I got a cramp and ever helpful Trev bent my foot back the wrong way ( which was fun...!) I'd sourced a bottle of Bell's scotch whiskey and painted it gold to look like a ship's bell, some gold chocolate coins and borrowed a jewellery box to stand in for a sunken ship's treasure. When I was half burying these things the sand felt strangely rubbery. Turns out I was trying to dig into a stingray's back! Mick Rippon again provided the music and sound effects, brilliant work again as usual. And Steve Ezzy created the authentic looking old treasure map of Broughton Island with sea monsters and a tall ship. Our day filming was really a small adventure and I'm very pleased with the end result.

Walkies

I completed Walkies in late January this year for entry into my clubs one minute competition. The film stars Malcolm Young and our two dogs Lacey and Booger. Malcolm does his usual top notch performance.We filmed it at Edwards Park, Lake Macquarrie and DAPA theatre Hamilton with a host of volunteers as our audience. Initially I wanted to film with an orchestra but you can only go so far on a $10 budget....!!

Le Pont D'Amour

I shot the footage for 'Le Pont' in Paris late last year and finished it just in time for entry into my club's one minute competition in February this year. This is my first foreign language film and I think it works well. The actual bridge crosses over the Seine not far from Notre Dame Cathedral, and with all of it's colourful padlocks it provided great subject matter for my film and I'm very pleased with the way it all turned out. The music is called Pavement Cafe and is by Richard Myhill and the French voice over was supplied by Michele Scott and she does a first rate job,which is just as well because the closest I could get to speaking French is probably saying " Oh, Ha,Ha, Hucklesberry..."

A Case Of The Clappers

A Case of the Clappers was shot as a group shoot project for our club Newcastle Video Makers. We shot this at Carrington and Teralba over 2 days in 2010. The film features a huge cast. Malcolm Young, Dani Huish, Emma Elsley, Stella Rose, Zoran Markovski, Danny Di Agostino, Ian Huish and Trevor Anderson. The fabulous special effects we're provided by Ian Huish, look for the shadows below the clapper boards, those flying Clapper boards look awesome! The music and all important sound effects are by the ever reliable Mick Rippon. Mick chose to be a little spare in his score and this works well with Ian's wonderful animations. Our film does look a little blood thirsty but it is cartoon violence and a lot of fun. Clappers went on to win the audience favourite in our club's national competition plus a weekly prize in Harold's Shorts in Sydney. The crew on the film were Me, Mansell Williams, Ian Huish, Mark Owens, Geoff Peel, Laura Owens, Ralf Jorg, Stella Rose, Kathy Prior, John Robertson, Mick Rippon, Carolyn Starr, Renee Mondy and Donna Drysdale. I've just re watched Clappers to write this and remember it was a massive undertaking but it still looks incredible.

More Films

I will be adding some more Films very soon. Watch this space…

Water Spout Footage on NBN Channel

This is my footage shown on the 14th of February on our local television station of some amazing Water Spouts. I was up at King Edward Park shooting a music video clip for my friend musician Jason Paris for his song THE HEART'S ETERNAL VOW, it was around 7.30 PM and we were after a dramatic evening sky as a backdrop. Jason had just run through it when whilst we were recording the spouts started forming up in the background! It was amazing. For me it was a once in a life time opportunity and I ended up with eleven and a half minutes of footage containing the 3 spouts either in the background behind Jason singing or by themselves. Wow, I got lucky!

Suburban Archaeology

This film developed out of a bugger of a job that needed doing. I had to dig out the concrete so why not create a film around this odious chore? Camera man was Renee Mondy. A lot of times Renee is my right hand and she regularly saves my bacon, I wouldn't have made this film without her. Suburban Archaeology was originally shot for one of Newcastle Video Makers one minute competitions, however, when I entered it into the Rocky Fringe film festival they required a 'flame' so I invented another short gag that was slotted onto the end and I think works quite well. Carolyn Starr did the camera work on the short flame section and we shot it during a commercial break as there was something good on the telly!

What’s coming up…..

I've just completed 2 short one minute films - Le Pont D'Amour my first foreign language film and ‘Walkies’ another comedy starring Malcolm Young. This week I'm hoping to complete my next film LAIR. Lair is a creepy atmospheric story and once again Ian Huish has been a big help in bringing my idea to its conclusion.

In the next month I'm filming a gaol story with Don Lowe and two comedies called Back Summie and Earthquake Man. Plus I've already shot, but not edited a film about a comedy juggler. Llynda Nairn. I’m going to be busy.

 

IN THE FUTURE……

The big one for us is on the far distant horizon (four years) we're going to have a crack at making a mainstream movie on a budget that you'd need a microscope to find. And that will be really something to look forward to.

Dirt Doggies

Dirt Doggies was filmed a few years ago at Barnsley NSW. The film features a friend of mine Nathan Searle and a mad keen group of his fellow BMX riders. Nathan and his mates have developed this bush circuit over a number of years and they regularly maintain the track when it rains or is attacked by vandals. It is such an exuberant, high energy sport and I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to make a short film about it. Newcastle Video Makers friend Geoff Peel helped out again as second camera on the day. Music once again was by Mark Salter or Merewether Fats as he is known in Newcastle. Nathan had previously shown me some examples of BMX films and most of these feature Metal or Thrash music but I think Mark Salter's Harmonica blast is just the perfect background for the warp speed BMX action!

Sharks

Sharks was filmed in Gregson park in Hamilton NSW on the 28th of December 2011. On the day our crew were Ian Selby, Mark Owens and Geoff Peel. We also roped in Col Marshall in to act.( Of course Col was brilliant!) Sharks comes from an old joke Ian Selby and I shared 25 years ago. The ever reliable Mark Owens was our second camera and Geoff was main camera and editor. Geoff had the film all but finished by the next day - including music! Ian Huish contributed again with the 'shark bite' opening sequence. I entered it into the Newcastle Video Makers one minute competition in February. The audience gave it a huge laugh and we won 3rd place - with Ian Huish taking out 1st with his film Clay Army.

Every Angle

This film is my first and only experimental film, it was made in 2011 for another Newcastle Video Makers Club open monthly competition. Mt Sugarloaf is the feature we are swinging around at high speed. Young Actress Libby Cherry does a great job and yet again Ian Huish provides first rate special effects, plus Mark Rippon’s musical score is something else. Incredible.