Bang Bang

The dual project weekend has come and gone, like an absolute cyclone, and while I can't talk much about the Redeemed stuff (until the trailer is launched) the final scene for my short film went off! Like a blank in a gun! Wait...that was lame. But the guns were cool, see!

Satoru and Quentin were fantastic in their portrayal of brothers and the emotions running wild during a massive firefight! Robin, Dean and James were brilliant as viscious professional thugs protecting their boss. Of the 8 thugs that said they would turn up on the day, these 5 did and put their heart into it, which is what I was after! Thanks guys!

In the lead up to the shoot, I had been desperately seeking a major prop piece for one scene of the Redeemed day. A bath. A free standing, portable bath to make it more difficult. So I put out a call on Twitter, and got one response back by @kyza who pointed me to Josh Levi galleries. I emailed him about it. To cut a long story short, he pointed me to the guy who had one, who let me borrow it for a case of german beer. Beer economy still works for film makers! Problem was, now that I found it, how was I going to get it to the studio, since I don't have a ute.

A callout on facebook resulted in the cousin of one of my best mates offering to pick it up and drop it off. Score! Done and delivered to the studio location of Sunday, while I was filming a gun battle and getting badly sunburnt!

Sunday went brilliantly, Jeff flew up from Sydney, a genuine professional that brought his own edge to the character, and went the distance with the scene requirements, putting his own physical comfort on the line for the shot!

The girls went into hair and make up, and the costumes looked amazing on them, the 6 weeks of making them paid off with the incredible look that my costume designer @V_CreatiV made! I can't wait to show everyone! But you'll all have to wait till the trailer launch and then I'll do a big post on costume design with all the photos I've taken documenting the mammoth task. But Sunday Dec 19 was worth it!

We got what we needed, the Monastery Nightclub were amazing in looking after us as a location, and it really added to the atmosphere and dark theme of the gangster, so big thanks to them!

I can't thank the girls, Imogen, Andre'a, Veronica and Skylar enough for being a part of this, consumate professionals! The amazing special effects and stylised make up of Charmaine Orchard of Shoot the Town Red, with her offsider and hair stylist extraordinaire Renee Steele were an essential part of making my ideas a reality, thank you so much!

Thank you to Dr Mark Ryan for your timely input and efforts, thanks to my offsider Keith Camilleri and thanks to my darling wife for all her support through all of this madness! Thanks to my mum for helping everyone, running actors around and picking up after us as we dashed about madly!

Normally I would save the thanks for crew till the end of the polished product, but a lot of people busted their ass to get this phase of the concept to happen and I am very grateful for all these people believing in me!

I can't wait for phase two! But for now, I'm taking a break from the projects in the lead up to christmas, and I'll switch back on afterwards. I'll report more then! The short film is in the can, and the Redeemed concept trailer has advanced...two projects one weekend, mission accomplished!

Fear

That most insipid of emotions, coiling deep within, affecting our thoughts, actions, choices, writing and speech. I have one scene left to film of my short film. 9 thugs with pistols, blasting away at nothing, considering the lead actor is now in America, and I only have one chance of getting this in the can...at least for this year. And the rains are here...and exterior shoot, with real weapons and guys in suits who won't want to get them muddy (because I can't pay for dry cleaning)

The funds are perilously low, Christmas coming and all, so the weekend of the 18/19 must work. I've taken a risk by combining two project shoots into one weekend, both must work to make the equipment hire and props worth the hire.

Dec 19th's Redeemed phase two hangs by a thread, literally. The costumes which I have designed have been cut, sewn and constructed. Nearly 3 weeks of work has gone into the girls costumes, because of what is required. Once the trailer launches I can detail how we made them, but, so as not to reduce the impact of the trailer, all I can tell you is that my costume designer is ready to kill me. In fact, the costumes are something she has never attempted before, and others who are very experienced have said they would never have tried due to the complexity!

Will it work? Will they be ready in time? Will a major prop set piece be found in time? Will rain destroy my chances of getting these short film resources lined up again? 2 projects, one weekend.

Fear. It coils and tightens. The effort and time and my own money going into the Redeemed project, and combined resources of my cowriter Chris Allen and myself for our short film, so many things riding on it. And then there's the thought...the Redeemed script, is it good enough? All this effort and is the very idea good enough, is it worth it? I'm trying to show it is. But can I create this SAS story? The men themselves are larger than life, a special breed, can I even attempt to convey a fictional story about one of their own? It is a movie but it has to be grounded in reality, and the reality is, SAS troopers are some of the best and toughest in the world...can my character even compete? Can the script? (There's a doco on SBS tonight about the SAS selection process...it will be a good gauge)

I guess I will have to tamp down on the fear and try anyway...Ex Pertinacia Victoria