Finished.

2 boxes. 6 reels. 100 minutes.

Best Graffiti. Ever?

Off topic perhaps... but my sometimes assistant and now projectionist at the Kino Cinema here in Melbourne Dustin Feneley sent me this snap of some graffiti he found on the back of a toilet cubicle door.

"Fuck Digital. The future lies to Analogue Loyalists"

Dustin points out perhaps it should read "The future belongs to rather than lies..." which makes it grammatically correct, but I'm feeling it none the less.

I'm no Luddite and love most of the goodness that digital brings, but give me the warm crackle of vinyl any day over an mp3, pencil and paper over a keyboard and I will forever love film far more than I'll ever love a megapixel.

Finished... almost.

I wanted to be able to write that the film was officially finished today, but a few minor issues have popped up just to make it exciting for everyone involved... Nothing to worry about really. Especially as there are so many people with real worries at the moment due to the horrific bush fires raging about a half hours drive from where I'm tapping. Everything gets put into perspective when tragic things like that happen for sure.

Today we had a screening of the complete film in a Gold Class cinema at the Jam Factory. Really nice to see it so big and lush up there on the big, big screen. It's a beautiful thing, but I must say it's very hard for me to watch. I'm so attached to it, and so aware of all the glue thats holding it together, but others who have been working on the film all the way through were definitely drawn in, the way an audience should be. Which is a very good thing.

I have spent the last few weeks putting the final tweaks to the grade. We were fortunate enough to have Olivier Fontenay do a final pass over the film. Olivier is french guy who graded the film Breaking The Waves by Lars Von Trier, a film that totally changed my life. It forever changed the way I see things, and how I would begin to approach every aspect of my work as a director. It was really cool talking to him about. I thought he might have thought it was daggy, me asking stories about it and all, but I was quite surprised when he told me that working on the film had also changed his life and work process in many ways as well.

But, I don't necessarily want to single out Olivier, because Ian Letcher and the whole team at Deluxe have been a pleasure to work with and have been very supportive of the film from the start.

The Burning Leaves

I was passed some demos by a band called The Burning Leaves about a year ago and after listening once, I knew straight away that they had to play a part in the film in some way. I wrote them a love letter and asked if we could use one of their tracks in the film. They have been a pleasure to work with since.

The Burning Leaves are a young duo from 'The North' of England that are currently building a whole lot of buzz. Their delicate and haunting songs are all recorded on their home 8-track studio. It's this lo-fi approach that helps capture a certain warmth and immediacy in their sound. The kind of quality that gets bled out of the majority of recordings once they enter larger 'professional' studios.

I'm really pleased that these guys are part of the film. They will have an album out soon it seems. I hope it's real soon... I want to be their biggest fan!

Adelaide Screening Announced

Last Ride was partly funded by the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund, and as part of the deal they get to sneak a peak of the film first. Today the full program of the festival was announced. You can now book and buy tickets to see Last Ride on the 27th and 29th of Feb, after that it wont be till mid year until you can see it in theaters. SO if you have been searching for an excuse to visit rAdelaide, here it is.

Hallowed Halls

As I mentioned below, we did our final sound mix at the South Australian Film Corp sound studio. It was good to return to the building we did our pre-production out of 6 months ago. This time I could lift my head and have a look around at where we were, I wasn't burdened with the stress of the impending shoot.

As weird as it has been spending alot of time away from home and family, I really enjoyed returning. I don't know much about the history of the SAFC, but a walk around the corridors with their halls hung with rows of film posters that have been in some way influenced by the SAFC or in particular been created in part in the building, it felt great, even a little humbling. Perhaps I'm overly sentimental and too much of a fan boy, but I love the fact that some of the films that have influenced me over the years were created within the same walls where I was now attempting to make my own film.

One of the posters that kept jumping out at me, no matter how many times I walked past, was Storm Boy.

I remember clearly seeing Storm Boy at the Tamworth Regent Theater when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It connected with me the same way that it connected with everybody who saw it, it was such a simple story about a lonely boy and his friendship with a pelican (Mr Percival). I remember being totally aware of it's use of visual storytelling rather than dialogue. The film had a lot of space and Storm Boy as a character had this universal appeal of being every child. We all knew how he felt.

It's funny how these sort of stories bury themselves deeply within your psyche. I know for sure that Storm Boy has had a deep influence on me as a filmmaker. When it became available on DVD years ago I re watched and even though it was a little more rudimentary than I remembered there were some beautifully poetic sequences and amongst some clumsy plotting towards the end, was a film that felt cinematic and still universal in it's portrayal of childhood. Very much in the same vein of The Red Balloon a film which is a great influence as well. Interestingly like The Red Balloon, Storm Boy was directed by a french guy Henri Safran. Perhaps it's a European sensibility and an outsiders eye to the landscape and story that brought that special quality to it.

It's no secret that one of the things I liked about Tom Russell (who plays Chook in the film) when I saw him the first time was that he reminded me of Greg Rowe who played Storm Boy. So much so in fact that when I cast him we decided to cut his already long hair into a very similar style to that of Greg in Storm Boy. It's a very heartfelt and sincere reference and perhaps even a homage to a film that planted one of the earliest seeds of film making deep within me. Last Ride and Storm Boy are very different films, but thematically and in a desire for simplicity and visual storytelling they are quite similar. I can only hope that Last Ride shares some of the endurance and a place in peoples hearts and memories the way in which Storm Boy has.

Chook vs Storm Boy

The other film poster that I almost bowed to every time I passed it was Rolf de Heer's Bad Boy Bubby (click if you dare). Man, what a film. I went and saw it soon after I moved to Melbourne in 93. I went with my friend Hools to the Hoyts on Bourke Street and we sat in the back row. I don't think I blinked for the first 30 minutes. Surely the first act of that film is one of the most brutally intriguing openings to a film. Ever. It's one of my most fond cinematic moments. At the end of the film I don't thing Hools and I said anything to each other for a good hour or so. We were just so stunned... and I still am just thinking about it.

Everytime I see, hear or think anything about that film my heart beats a little faster.

I also love this french poster for Breaker Morant. Co-incidentally I saw Bryan Brown in the halls while we were in pre-production in June and he was half way through shooting Beautiful Kate in the studio. He asked me how long we had to shoot our film? "Six weeks." I said. "Six weeks eh... allot of film makers complain that six weeks isn't long enough to shoot a film. But we shot Breaker Morant in six weeks and we had the fucking Boer War in the middle of it!" It was a hilarious comment and a very encouraging one. It filled me with some confidence, what ever we were heading off to do for the next six weeks, at least I didn't have to worry about staging a full scale war in there somewhere. Thanks Bryan.

And speaking of Bryan. Another film I love, that was also based out of the SAFC in the 80's and that shares some similarities to Last Ride, particularly in it's themes and locations (and that Antonia Barnard, co-producer of Last Ride was the production manager of) was The Shiralee.

ps: I wonder where Storm Boy is now...?

The Sound Lounge

Last night we finished the sound mix. In some ways it feels like a bigger milestone than locking off the edit. Not sure why. Perhaps it's because even after the edit I still knew there was a long way to go with post, sound being the biggest of all the jobs. I've been obsessed with the sound and music for the film for the past 8 or 9 weeks. Literally. Every moment of my day and night, including many weird dreams and nightmares have been caught up in the sound of the film in one way or another.

And even though I'm feeling a little unsure of what to do with myself now that the mix is set in stone and I cant do anything else to it, I ultimately feel really good about it.

Craig Conway and Paul Shannohan did the initial sound edit at their very sexy new studio Final Sound in Melbourne, and Craig took on the overall sound design as well. I think they worked seven days a week for over a month sourcing, creating and editing 1000's of individual pieces of sound for the film.

John Simpson who co-incidentally lives in Quorn S.A , where a chunk of the film was shot, took on the foley. Check out his cool studio literally in the middle of nowhere.

And as discussed previously Paul Charlier composed the music in Sydney.

We all met up with Gethen Creagh in Adeliade at the South Australian Film Corp mixing theatre and mixed away for 3 intense weeks. I say intense even though most of it for me anyway was spent sitting on a couch drinking gallons of green tea, while others beavered away, pushing buttons and tweaking knobs. But it is an intense experience none the less. I love sound, I think I love it more than image. And I definatley feel more confident talking and discussing sound than I do pictures.

If the films pictures was an apple I could describe to you what the apple looks like, whether it was green or red, or a mixture of both perhaps. How big and or round it is, if it had a stem, and how long that was and which way it bent etc. But if the films sound was an apple, I could think about and explain in obsessive detail not only the colour and shape, etc, but I could discuss the spots and blemishs on the skin, every ripple and dimple, what the stem looks like and how far it reaches inside the apple, how it would feel like in your hand and what it would taste like if you took a bite out of it. (Is that a really crazy analogy..? I think I'm losing it...)

I can just see and hear the detail in sound more easily than I can pictures. And I believe sound is a far more powerfully emotive element than a picture can ever be.

So it's intense in the way that every decision we made was a really important one to me. And for every tweak and modification we made, I wished we could have done 10 more, and then another 10 after that. I think in this part of the process, we didnt so much as finish the mix, but we abandond it when we absolutley ran out of time and could do no more. But as I have mentioned many times on this blog, time is not something you have much of when making a feature film of this size.

Anyway... I'm really happy with the result. And very proud of the talented and colaborative team I had around me.

Adrian Medhurst(Assistant Mixer) Gethen Creagh (mixer) Craig Conway (Sound Designer) Me (in need of a haircut and shave) Paul Charlier (composer) Missing from this picture - Jack Hutchings (editor) and Antonia Barnard (Producer behind the Lens) and also Nick Cole (producer) who graced us with his sage like wisdom and guidance for a couple of days as well.

Paul and I. And Craig obsessing over some minor EQ of his own in the background.

Just a few more weeks to go...

What's The Sound Of Music?

Assistant Steven is smiling cos he can finally get some sleep!

This is a shot of the music cue that the film ends with. It has kept me and others awake for many nights for many different reasons...

Tonight we finished the music. Paul Charlier has created something quite special. In very little time I might add. It's probably been the trickiest part of the process for me personally and I wont say it's been an easy run.

Music is such an intangible thing. Everyone has a different opinion of what they do and don't like. Finding a common language to discuss the intricacies to creating a piece of music is something that will continue to frustrate, confuse but ultimately intrigue me for the rest of my life.

In the end for me it comes down to the fact that all the other aspects of the filmmaking process I can physically get my hands on. I can bash away on a keyboard and write. I can make decisions about casting. I can search for and choose locations. I can attempt to direct. I can physically place a camera and make an assessment on what lens should be used. I can assume people share and understand my vision for things. I can bash and crash an edit together. I can hold a microphone, I can even make the sandwiches if I have to.

But essentially when it comes to music, I cant play an instrument (despite my father and brother being very talented musicians). So I physically cant grab a guitar or a keyboard and play it like I'm hearing it in my head. AND THAT KILLS ME!!!

Jack, Greig and Jo and others that I have worked with over a long period of time, share a common language and set of experiences and references that allow us to communicate in a kind of creative shorthand. It's very easy for us to discuss things of a visual things amongst ourselves. But, I hadnt worked with Paul before and this placed us in the tricky position of finding this language in a very short amount of time. And in my opinion it's far harder to discuss sound than it is pictures.

Perhaps thats why Werner Herzog said he would give 10 years of his life to play the cello. Not so much as to be able to play an instrument but to be able to cut to the chase while working with musicians and composers. It's interesting watching Herzog in that clip. He famously said once that making films is a physical activity more than any other. And there he is in the studio sitting quietly in awe of what the musicians are creating. It's the least active I think I have ever seen him. BTW that clip is from the extra features on Herzog's GRIZZLY MAN one of his most accesable and best films. I highly reccomend it!

I'm obsessed with sound and music. I think about it perhaps more than other other element. In fact if I am really honest, I think I make films cos I can't play an instrument. After all film has much more in common with music than any other form, as like music, film is linear and time based.

I've been in Sydney for the last week working with Paul and we finished today after two days of track laying at Sound Firm. It was such a pleasure to finally hear the tracks being layed down. I cant wait to get to Adelaide now and get into the final mix with the others now that we have all the ingredients to finish the film.

The end is in sight!

SOUND

Right now it's all about sound and music.

Paul Charlier is creating the original soundtrack in Sydney and right now he has his head in a vice trying to squeeze out aural gold! Keep it up Paul!

Final Sound is working on the sound mix in Melbourne and the foley is being created in Quorn, South Australia with John Simpson.

SO the sound elements are currently spread across three states. But I'm glad to be here in Melbourne for this week at least.

I did an ADR session with Tom in Adeliade last week but today I spent time with Tom doing some extra ADR here is Melbourne along with a bunch of lines and some huffing and puffing I tried to get some sounds as if he was drowning without actually drowning him.

Tom chillin at Final Sound like a rock star...

Picture Locked!

This entry is a week late but we LOCKED the picture last Friday.

All the tweaks and final decisions seem to be a bit of blur now, and I know Jack and I will go back in and massage a couple of the edits to add an extra beat here and there. But essentially Last Ride is cut.I'm very happy with the edit and the film we have carved out of all the footage. Jack has done an amazing job. Even though the process has been stressful at times and both Jack and I have had quite a few sleepless nights worrying about the film, I think over all it's been quite an enjoyable experience.

I began reading the Faber and Faber book Minghella On Minghella during the last few weeks of the edit. I'm not a huge fan of his films but his writing and thoughts on the process of making films is a revelation. His approach was so simple, yet it;s really inspired me. A few of the things I read really help me find some clarity and understanding of the process we were deep in the middle of.

One thing I really found helpful was his approach to cutting s

cenes that you are really attached to. I've heard people describe this as 'killing your babies'. But I don't think it's right. The film is the baby, not the individual scenes. jack is quite the butcher, he'll cut anything without hesitation if he thinks it will make the film better. I must say it might take me a little longer but I'm all for getting rid of things if the film might seem stronger without it. Minghella and his editor (the legendary) Walter Murch had a really interesting approach to it...

It's just such a great way of letting stuff go, because essentially it's still there.

And thats kind of where the film is at the moment. The crust is forming.

Now my head spins into sound and music...

Slashing and Burning...

I was well aware of the concept that the edit allows you to re-make your film (again). After writing it once, shooting it second and then editing (re-writing) third.

But what I wasn't aware of was that I would actually go through the process of making it again. The same levels of inspiration, exhaustion, excitement and anxiety...

Jack and I have had a few dark days and sleepless nights piecing together what is essentially a very simple story. One thing we have learnt, particularly at this half way point is to trust the script. Something I have had to do at every stage of the production so far. Especially when confidence is low and confusion abounds it's essential to go back to the written text and use it to navigate your way through.

We are still reducing scenes to their essential and bare minimum, but the beats and their function are still there on the screen. When we do totally cut (as in delete) a scene, particularly ones that I love, I know it's for the greater good for the film. Thank the lord for DVD's and 'deleted scenes', that way I dont have to ever let go totally.

We had a very special guest come to The Butchery this week. Super star Tom Russell popped in with his family to have a sneak peak of the edit, while they were in town for a weeks holiday from Adelaide. Tom was his usual self, unphased by the process but kind of curious to see himself on screen. He blocked his ears to the swear words and complained at the amount that appears to have been cut from the film. It was great to see him and family.

It was a weird experience for Jack to meet Tom in person, as apposed to watching him on screen for the past 10 weeks. "He's much shorter than I thought he would be. I felt a little starstruck." Jack said after they left.

Snip, Snip.

The film in cards. Our new best friend. Jack The Butcher boy.

My own POV for the next couple of months...

I love the editing process. When you are shooting the possibilities are endless. Where should I put the camera? What lens? Where are the actors? What are they doing? How are they doing it? Etc, etc... But when you are in the edit, even though there are still a whole bunch of possibilities, it essentially comes down to - this is what we have, how do we make it work. Simple. Kinda...

We are currently 2 weeks into an 8 week edit. So far, so good. On day 1, Jack sat me down to watch a 2 hour 40 minute assembly of the film (which he had been working on from day 1 of our shot). I really thought I was going to freak out. Assemblies usually do it to me. The film you see is just all the information, without any real attention to rhythm or pacing, story arch or selection of performance. But I think because Jack and I have cut for so long (here is the first thing I cut with Jack about 8 years ago, and another clip I'm really proud of that we did together as well, and this, oh yeah and this, not coincidentally all shot by Greig as well!) and are really good friends, I was amazed at how well it all seemed to fit together.

Jack and I share a very similar head space for film and story telling in general, so we are making the same film. Some sequences obviously looked as though they needed a stack of work, but others seemed to just sit really well on the screen. Kinda how I thought they would. Encouraging!

Then we went back to scene 1 and started to cut. And that's what we have been doing for the past 2 weeks. Curently at scene 151 of 190.

The whole process at this stage is cutting away whats not needed. Cutting lines of dialogue, shots, characters and scenes. I really like to strip things back. Regardless of the blood, sweat and tears it took to get the shot(s) it's so great to just cut it out. To constantly simplify so the viewer has as little information as possible. So they are left asking more questions than there are answers given.

It constantly surprises me how much you cut out of a scene and it still makes sense, or better still it makes MORE sense.

Outside the window at 4pm the other day.

It's been really cold and rainy. I love this kind of weather. Perfect for holing up and sitting in a dark room and cutting.

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Teaser Website Online...

LastRideMovie.com

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WEEK 6 / Sept 3rd 2008

Having been slowed by tiredness and the rlelentless 6 day weeks we bashed our way through the exhaustion and gave it one last blast along the home stretch. We spent most of the last week in the heavenly surrounds of the Wilpena Pound and the Flinders Ranges. After the treeless, dusty desert of Leigh Creek the sight of the giant river gums were humbling.  So much so that with some encouragement, I changed one of the main locations in the film overnight so we could make use of the size and scale of the massive forests. Hugo and Tom look like miniatures within a land of giants.

If you haven't been to Wilpena or the Flinders in general, I strongly recommend it at some point. It is such a beautiful place. A couple of times we had to hold off from shooting because we had kangaroos and on one occasion a family of Emus wandering through our set! Very cool.

Our very last sequence was shot just outside of Adelaide at this weird 'extreme activity' park where you can go and jump motorcycles and race go-carts and do other extreme things.  We finished shooting in Woomera in the am (where we spent 2 days in the flatlands) and then raced for 5 hours to catch the light at dusk at the half-pipe. However, about an hour out we headed into the darkest storm clouds and eventually pelting rain. It was looking like it wasn't going to happen, but I really believed it was going to, I couldn't accept that we had gone this far  and I was going to lose my last scene due to freaking rain. And sure enough as we turned off the highway we drove into breaking clouds and eventually a stunning sunset and dusk. All the rain from that day and previous days had gathered around the skate ramp giving us these amazing pools of water which surrounded the ramp, it looked better than I could have ever imagined!

It was very hard to call 'cut' for the last time. Infact I did one extra take just cos I wasn't quite ready to let go. And even on that 3rd take I was hoping that Greig or the sound guys would give me some technical NG so I could go again with reason. I had such a good time shooting this film, it really was a magic time, and I knew all to well that it will be a long time before I'm on set on my next film, I was very conscience of trying to be in the moment for that very last moment. It was a huge relief though to call wrap finally. More a relief in terms of Tom. The whole film rested on this 10 year old boy, and he came through above and beyond what we could have hoped for. He stepped up to every challenge with confidence. I think in many ways he was an inspiration to us all.

I'm totally in awe of the films cast and crew who helped me through one the most challenging of experiences. People worked so hard to make it happen as best it could. Special mention to Antonia Barnard (Producer) and Louisa Kors (Productiion Manager) for their expertise and support. And to Hugo who gave us a gift in his performance and was a dream to work with both on and off set. I'm thankful for every waking moment that everyone worked on this film with me.

I've learnt alot about what it means to be a director, about people, and what can and cant be in my control on and off set in a production like this. And even though I have months of post production ahead of me I feel as though i have completed something that I set out to do over 20 years ago. Whatever becomes of the film, I feel real good about the marathon that I and 30 odd others have just run.

The dust. The cold. The mud. The rain. The sun, The salt. The tears, the blood and the sweat. The early mornings and the late nights. The last 6 weeks seem to be a blur, but I can remember every detail. In some ways I'm glad it's over and in others I wish it would have never ended. 

When I close my eyes I see a never ending mosaic of shuffling images. Beautiful and brutal. Into the edit now with Jack to try and make sense of them all.

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WEEK 4 & 5 / August 27th 2008

What day is it? Where are we? What are we doing here?

Our shoot is an average length for a low budget Australian film at 6 weeks (32 shooting days). But with the amount of material plus the days of traveling that we have been doing between locations, the shooting schedule is so ruthless and demanding of the cast and crew, at this point i think we are all exhausted. I was kind of prepared for the emotional stress and anxiety that comes with shooting a feature film, but the physical tiredness is something that has just crept up on me and hit hard. We have just over a week to go and it feels all to easy to slip into auto pilot, and accept things that a few weeks ago you wouldn't have. I've been really conscience of this and tried to ride that line of not burning myself out, but also trying to keep things at the level I want them when we are in the edit.

We shot the ending of the film, which was not only a technically tricky sequence of scenes, but also a very emotionally and physically demanding time for Hugo and Tom. We had a extremely cold night shoot, and a final scene that takes place at dawn that we pretty much tried to shoot real time. And Tom had to spend time in freezing water, while performing a pretty tricky and very important scene (which he did brilliantly). All of these sequences pretty much came off without a hitch, and the performances blew me away! In the midst of all this though, I had more than a few moments of thinking "What the hell am I doing this for, and why am I putting all these other people through it as well..." I guess thats what is most inspiring about having a hard working and most importantly a collaborative cast and crew, because at these times of extreme pressure, I have felt totally supported in trying to achieve my vision.

After our luck with animals on the shoot I was very hesitant to be shooting another dawn sequence with 3 camels. I had very low expectations of anything with four feet after the trouble we had with our goat and rabbit friends. But the moment these giant beasts came on set I knew that it was going to be special. I have never been real close to a camel let alone three, and these guys were very calm and co-operative. The did everything on cue and even provided a few moments that I could never have dreamed of getting. And not that it will ever make the film, but we had another scene with a goat that went totally no-where the other day as well. Freaking goats, what were we thinking! If I have learnt anything from this shoot it;s that goats are probably the dumbest animal to write into a film script, let alone trying to get one to do anything on camera even remotely useful. Anyone thinking of writing animals into your scripts, stick to dogs and cats, perhaps a camel or two.

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