Production Managing. AKA: How to function on 2 hours sleep a night.

It came to my attention recently that I promised you all recently that I would inform you of my role on the recently produced VCA third year short film "I've Been Here So Long", and how successful the overall production was. In a nutshell, "good" and "good" are two words that can be attributed to those comments. However, I know you are not merely interested in a one-word response so I thought I would give you a bit more insight into how I worked during the production.

I came to be involved on the shoot when I met the producer, Joshua Smith, at the St Kilda Film Festival earlier this year. Josh was acting as the Front of House manager for the festival whilst I was volunteering for IF and at one shift, we discovered that each one of us had a connection to the short film - me being extremely interested after hearing about it at the VCA Pitch Night, and Josh being the producer. When I explained to Josh that I had wanted to approach Rudolf (the film's writer and director) to offer my services as a crew member, Josh offered me the role of producer's assistant. Right there and then. Needless to say, I was floored. Then my mind went into overdrive - Could I do the job? Was I qualified? Did I need to be qualified? Do I have the time? etc, etc. It turned out that over time, a lot of my insecurities about my capabilities for the role were easily quashed but I'll get to that in a second.

The next step was convincing Rudy (Rudolf) that I was going to be a benefit, rather than a hinderance, to the project which involved possibly the longest interview I have ever had for a job at the VCA cafe. Rudy "interrogated" me beyond belief but in a weird way I appreciated the cross-examination as it may me face a lot of the hard questions I would need to answer over time such as, what skills could I provide for the role? and how would I be able to benefit the production? I managed to calm both Rudy and Josh's qualms by explaining that whilst I may not have any formal qualifications, I had the right attitude and if faced with an unknown task, would not stop until I had worked out how to complete it correctly. That approach worked wonders and within 2 hours of the interview, I had received a message from Josh informing me I had the job.

Over the next 2 weeks, I felt slightly useless getting into the swing of things. Coming into a production mid-way through pre-prod is possibly the worst timing because a lot has already happened without you which means you feel pretty dispensable. Luckily for me, Rudy noticed my floundering and gave me a list of jobs to complete during my time with him and Josh. A little more about the film itself at this point may give you a better indication of the scale of this project and the impact one small failure could have on the entire production.

"I've Been Here So Long" is a short film about a young man who's irresponsible lifestyle of partying and general antics is about to come to an abrupt end as he discovers the dynamics within his family are about to change for good. It is an epically majestical production shot not only in Melbourne's outer suburbs but also the beautiful alpine landscape of Lake Mountain, one of Victoria's most breathtaking unknown skiing resorts. The film was to involve many logistical complications from a large crew of around 18 - 20 average; to transporting said crew plus equipment, catering, cast and personal belongings from Melbourne to Lake Mountain for 4 days in the freezing mountain atmosphere. As well as this, the film was being shot on 35mm, an epic ambition in itself which came with its own dilemmas and production issues (i.e requiring a 3 - man camera crew at all times for loading, clapping, and general assisting)

My job within all of this foray eventually became to maintain the online profile of the film through the Facebook, Twitter, and blog set up before production. I found this to be an extremely easy aspect of my job as those online tools have become second hand to me now thanks in part to my experience at RMIT. Related to this however, were a number of other tasks which I was to complete to assist the film financially. This included finding and approaching potential sponsors for the film who would be interested in donating funds towards the film's completion. Despite my efforts, I had no success in this department and felt completely wounded and useless until I had a small win gaining a sponsorship from Lake Mountain Resort in the form of them lending us an entire snow gear range for our 22-man crew up in the snow. After that, a few other successes occurred leading up to the film so that my insecurities about how irrelevant my role was became less impacting.

The shoot itself was an amazing, inspiring experience which brought me right back to 2008 when I worked in Perth. The thrill of being on set for 12 hours a day, working till all hours of the night to prepare for the next day's shoot sounds like a nightmare to some but to me, it's the biggest adrenaline rush. Nothing makes me happier than physically seeing a film being made in front of my eyes. I don't know whether this is because I have not yet reached a point where this experience has become old hat but for now, I still revel at the idea of waking up at 5am after going to bed at 3am to work for 14 hours. Call me weird but I can't helpt it. For the 7 days we filmed, I worked on a variety of tasks ranging from wrangling extras on set, to setting up unit on location, staying on top of paperwork, attempting to source 1990's Nokia mobile phones, finding equipment vans for the snow, and keeping everything in general order amongst the chaos. And believe me, there was chaos. But that I have learnt is to be expected on film sets.

After completing the shoot, I haven't had that much to do with the film as Rudy and Josh have nestled themselves in snuggly amongst the editing suites at the VCA. I have yet to arrange with Rudy's mum and PR guru, AnneMaree Fitzgerald, a handover meeting where I will explain the processes and procedures I implemented for the running of the online profile but as far as I can see for the near future, this will just have to wait until I've completed my short film for RMIT. I'm extremely excited about seeing the final product however and from the rushes I brought back to set during filming, it is going to be look amazing. All in all, it was an amazing experience for which I will forever be indebted to Josh and Rudy for giving me and I hope that I'll be able to work with every one of the amazing crew members on that set sometime soon.

So where have I been in the last 21 days?

I realized today that it has been exactly 21 days since I last posted here and for this, I am extremely apologetic. I was getting into a really good rhythm during the holidays but since starting uni/working at MIFF/finishing the film/travelling, my life has been one hectic day after another after another. So I decided to fill you in on what's been going on in my life in this little time space which will bring you up to speed on where I am now.

So 21 days ago apparently, I finished up my shifts at MIFF. That's the Melbourne International Film Festival for you non-Aussies, a must see exhibition of Australian and the World's finest shorts, documentaries, feature films and seminars related to the wonderful land of filmmaking. I was working for both MIFF and IF which may sound confusing (and trust me, at times it felt like that), which was both a great experience and an amazing opportunity to network with some of the country's best up and coming producers and directors. IF for those of you again who are unaware, stands for Inside Film, Australia's leading independent film magazine which also hosts the IF Awards each year, an event I will also be attending later this year (November 16 to be exact). Volunteering for both companies allowed me to not only see a whole bunch of films for free but to also meet some of the filmmakers, most importantly, Andrew Kavanagh who created "At The Formal" and Katrina Mathers, producer of the animated short "Nullarbor" which did extremely well at the festival winning the award for Best Animation. I didn't get much of a chance to speak with Katrina as she was on her way out of the screening but Andrew helped me out with my VCA/No-VCA dilemma, repeating what ALL VCA graduates had said which was that without the VCA they would not be at where they are now.

As well as that, MIFF allowed me to witness the unveiling of the highly anticipated series from Matchbox Pictures, "The Slap." I have had my eye on "The Slap" ever since I read the book for the first time all the way back in 2009. It had been a while since I had found a read so engaging and written in such a way that really made the reader feel like they were a part of the story, rather than just the reader. I'm now currently re-reading it and am still finding it to be just as exciting and breathtaking as the first 3 times I read it. As you can imagine, there was tremendous anticipation on my part once I found out the book was being translated into a TV series by Matchbox. When the news was released late last year, I even drafted an email to Matchbox pictures offering my services in any way, shape or form for the set but didn't send it as I knew my life would be too hectic at that time coming back from America and starting up third year. The premiere surpassed my expectations and whilst there were definitely some elements of the book removed, what remained was delightful for the avid fan. Matchbox were extremely successful in capturing the inner monologue of the characters which features so heavily in the book, due in part I feel to the talent of the actors, but credit can also be taken by the directors and scriptwriters. All in all, it was a magically surreal experience and I was even fortunate enough to approach Tony Ayres at the end of the screening (EP of the whole series) to thank him for creating "The Slap." He was extremely grateful for me being such a fan and a lovely guy in general which capped off the night for me immensely.

After the festival, it was time to get serious about uni. We had started a good week before all the other unis for some reason and already, there was a lot going on. First was my production unit which saw me become producer for a short film to be created in conjunction with other people within my class. These students had opted to be selected for particular roles and whilst I have not worked with any of them before, they have certainly proved their stripes thus far. The film has developed extremely well since conception and with the shoot less than 2 weeks away, the nerves are starting to kick in. For more info, check out my next post about how the production is going.

As well as the film, I am studying my final contextual studies unit in the form of Australian Cinema; an online unit title Introduction to Photography (yes it sounds like a cop-out but its actually quite hard!); and finally, a course designed to assist me with my leap into the industry in the form of Media Industries 2, a follow on from last semester's Media Industries 1. Australian Cinema so far has been a little bit of a disappointment as the main focus for this semester is on Indigenous Filmmaking. Now don't take this the wrong way. I have every interest in all forms of filmmaking including Aboriginal filmmaking. It's just that I have a bigger interest in Australian contemporary cinema and Australian cinematic history from the great filmmakers like Peter Weir, George Miller, Jan Chapman etc. Unfortunately, that was not to be this semester but the films we have watched so far have definitely been an enjoyable experience and a great opportunity to be exposed to some new art.

Media Industries, I have to admit, has sat a little further down on my priorites list until recently, with our big seminar due to occur this coming Friday. Hectic. The aim of the course is to prepare students for their entrance into the big wide world of film/TV/advertising/PR whatever tickles your fancy, and the main work for the semester is split between organizing a seminar related to a particular media topic. As I missed the first 2 classes, I had to choose Alternative/Digital media instead of my first preference (Film) however, the group I am working with are really great and motivated and some of the speaker's we have coming to talk are really interesting. The second part to this semester for MI2 is focused on creating your own personal networking report, or rather, an opportunity for you to schmooze others within your field for information related to an interest of your choice. Naturally I chose producing and have already had success in contacting a few people I know in the industry for later interviews and have got quite an extensive list of others who I am interested in interviewing as well.

Other than that, life is just one big snowball growing larger and larger up towards my graduation in December. Its hard to believe that just 3 years ago I began this new cycle of my life and now it is about to end. Whilst I am a little timid about my future prospects, I have to admit I am much more relieved than some of my co-workers. I know exactly what it is that I want to do with my life now and slowly learning how to go about doing just that. It will take time but I know eventually I will become a film and TV producer within this country. Before then though, I have a lot to learn.

For the next 3 months, I will be using this space again to document my experiences at RMIT in my final semester for my production unit and MI2. I will try as much as possible to create other non-RMIT related posts if I have the time but until this short film is wrapped, there is not a lot of that going around. Either way, the work I am producing at RMIT this semester will be extremely interesting to you either way as I will be either reporting on my producing skills, commenting on my success at networking in the industry, or updating you all on new indigenous films I have discovered. Stay tuned and you will be rewarded I promise.

The Exhibitions

So Mel and I have started collecting and collating everyone's work for the purpose of the seminar and its really exciting to be watching/reading/playing with all these products knowing we will soon meet the amazing creators behind them.

From Moop Jaw, we have been given permission from Rhett to present their music videos during the break on the main projector. Mel and I are planning to have these playing whilst everyone is talking and eating to fill the audio space a little bit. They're also amazing videos so I'm sure people will be interested in watching them too. Here is one of my favourites:


Bag Raiders 'Not Over' (Directed by Rhett Wade-Ferrell for MOOPJAW) from Moop Jaw on Vimeo.

From Cam at EA Games, we decided to purchase one of their most successful games but switch it up a bit by buying their iPad version. I have a 1st generation iPad and the idea is that we will have this available on a table for people to play with during the break. Here's the trailer for Mirror's Edge, one of their most successful productions:

At Media Saints, we decided to try and shake things up a bit by displaying one of their websites which, surprisingly, was produced for a client that we all know very, very well. Playschool's website was designed by Michael Woods and his team and is a brilliant example of alternative media production. Here's a link and a screenshot:

Playschool

Finally, for Ariel, we decided to present The Vine online as well as have a few of her articles printed out for people to pick up and read. The Vine is a great example of where your life can go post-uni if you are looking to produce but not necessarily become too involved in creating photo shoots or movies. The Vine is basically a professional blog and relies on the entries of others to support its content which is then monitored by editors like Ariel. Here is an example of one of her articles: Animals with stuffed animals.

The idea on the day is to set up all of these exhibitions around the seminar room so that people physically have to get up and move to interact with them. We're hoping this will lead to a more informed discussion between the audience and the panel with the audience actually being able to ask specific questions related to the content our panel members' produce. This way we should be able to get a better flow of questions. Here's hoping!