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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WEEK 3 / August 20th 2008

3 Weeks down, 3 weeks to go!

(Actually we are well into week 4 as I send this, as we have been without phone and internet *GASP!* out here in the desert!)

This week we moved from Quorn to Mt Ive Station for the salt lake. I think the crew really enjoyed getting on the road proper and this country is some of the most spectacular I've seen. Lake Gardiner is a huge salt lake about 3 hours of dirt road north - west of Port Augusta. It's one of the few salt lakes in the world that you can drive on, and as the script has a sequence that takes place on a salt lake, we were always going to end up here at some point.

I first recce'd the lake in February and fell in love with not only the lake itself, but with the rolling treeless hills that surrounded it. On this first trip, the lake was what you would expect a salt lake to be, brilliant white salt and deep blue sky. Very cool. But when I returned for my 2nd recce a couple of months ago, there was an inch of water from recent rain on the surface which effectively turned the lake into a giant mirror! It made this great location into unbelievably awesome location. The only trick, was that the water layer could never be guaranteed, as it is totally reliant on nature.

When we arrive I went out to inspect the lake, and luckily enough it was perfect. Just the right amount of water to make the whole lake into one of the most surreal places you could ever see. Driving on it felt like a cross between sailing on a water and flying through clouds. When we first stopped at our first location on the lake, I turned around and saw every crew member with a camera taking happy snaps like a bunch of Japanese tourists!

I came away from the two days shooting on the lake, feeling like we had created a sequence thats not only visually stunning, but emotionally engaging, with intense performances from Hugo and Tom. Some pretty full on stuff happens in the scenes and quite a few of the crew told me later that they cried through the takes. I hope it's a good sign, if we can get people to feel moved while on set with all the distractions of people and equipment, I know that once on screen it will be even more powerful.

The Salt Lake was freezing cold and very windy, and we battled through quite a few rain storms that passed over, at one point I really thought it was going to go all La Mancha on our asses. Onscreen I think the salt lake will look more like an ice lake, and I was very proud of little Tom who had to spend alot of his time bracing against the cold in his thinly layered wardrobe, while us crew were rugged up with ever piece of warm clothing we could pile on! I'll say it again, Tom is a Star!

On the flip side continuing with our luck with animals (if you remember we lost 5 of our 6 rabbits on day one) we attempted to shoot a sequence with a family of goats yesterday, we had five to start with, one was big daddy goat who wouldn't stop rooting one of the other goats... then we stupidly lost three as they escaped into the hills before we could even roll camera... then the horny rooting goat must have pulled a muscle or something because he started limping. So we had one goat left, who after one very average first take also ran off into the hills, by this point we had lost most of the crew, who were off trying to catch them all! Needless to say we abandoned the scene, which would normally have been a nightmare, but I think everyone could see how funny it was from the beginning. In the end the ridiculousness of it all probably helped, as I was able to quickly combine what we wanted story wise from the goat scene into another scene and I feel that sequence worked better because of it. I hope the behind the scenes captured some of it, as we will never talk of 'the goat scene' again.

We all pack up and move to Leigh Creek today (8 hours north of Adelaide). There is a special feeling here at Mt Ive. We have been staying in shearing sheds and the frosty nights have been spent around the camp fire. It's basic on all levels but we have more than everything we need. Joy and Len who manage the station here are some of the most hospitable I've met. It will be sad to leave.

Onwards!

This weeks snaps by our very special guest photographer Rhys Graham who joined us for a 4 days, it was so good to see him and apart from a whole bunch of BTS photos, he also took the images which will probably make up our main poster image as well.

WEEK 2 / August 10th 2008

Week 2 done already? Does it feel like we have shot 1/3 of the film? Freaky - if its true.

Shot some beautiful scenes this week, both from a visual and performance aspect. A couple of dawn sequences where the weather looked after us. Magic hour here is just that, the way the light and mist hangs onto the landscape is amazing, freezing cold, but amazing! We have a great crew on board and we have been able to shoot in sequence through the transition of pre-dawn > dawn > sunrise. A very fast and exciting way to work.

We also had the pleasure of having Anita Hegh with us for 3 days for the role of Maryanne. It was such a joy to see her work with Hugo and see them both lift their characters and their broken relationship off the page. Maryanne is only on screen for a short time but she needs to resonate through the rest of the story. I think Anita delivered such a wonderfully rounded and honest performance that will stay with the audience throughout the film and hopefully well after the credits have rolled. The only bummer about working with Anita was that she was with us for a such a short time. Her energy and presence onset was so warm and friendly. We joked about keeping on to assist the Gaffer just to have her there.

We also shot a very scrappy but brutal fight scene with Hugo in a packed pub (full of locals, who couldn't believe they could get paid to hang out in their pub for a day). Hugo does his own fight and stunt work (Hello Agent Smith!) and it was very cool to see the chaos unfurl. I've never really shot a fight scene before but I am really happy with the level of energy and the 'wrongness' in which we were able to choreograph the action so it felt nasty, fast and scarily real.

I'm finding many differences between making a feature film and short films and commercials etc, but the biggest difference is that with the shorter form I find I can always have all the elements of the production in my head. So when you are shooting you can gather all the pieces kind of knowing how they may fit together in the end. But with a feature you have so many different pieces it's near impossible to have all of them in your mind at once. I really felt this towards the end of this second week. The more we shoot and the further I work my way through the script the harder it is to see the overall story working cos you are fixed on making the the 190 or so separate scenes work as best they can. On more than one occasion I have found myself losing my view of the bigger picture, forgetting that we are telling a story, rather than these seemingly random shots. I trust though, this is a normal, and just another part of the process.

Stock, shooting ratio and time are still pressing down on, and perhaps will be for the entire shoot. It's the one and only constant battle so far. A couple of times throughout the week I was trying to summon up the spirit of Nash Edgerton and his way cool ability to block through stunning one shot steadi-cam sequences, but since we are punk-ass and cant afford all the toys all the time (not that Nash can either I 'm sure : ), we are devising simple and hopefully just as effective methods for getting quick and cuttable coverage without compromising performance and the film in general. This is where I really feel I'm at the coal face of that old filmmaking equation, the constant juggle of time, money and quality. However, I feel very confident being surrounded by my cast and crew that we can squeeze every last drop of goodness from the resources and time that we do have.

We are still based in Quorn and we are slowly taking over the town. The locals are great though and very friendly, Jane did a great job wrangling a bunch of people for the pub scene and we feel very at home and welcome. The air is clean. the sun is shining. Mid week we move to Mt Ive Station and Lake Gairdner (Salt Lake!).

ps: Against good advice I rewatched Lost In La Mancha this morning... no matter how hard making this film gets, it's comforting to know it will never be this hard...

TOUCH WOOD!

WEEK 1 / August 3rd 2008

All is good. Having a ball actually.

In the lead up to the shoot I got really nervous, which left me with no real perspective on the film at all. I had been quite calm in the months and weeks leading up to the shoot, dare I say even enjoying myself. But a few days before the shoot, it seemed like such a daunting task. This is my first feature film and I'm leading my cast and crew on a 5000km journey through the deserts of South Australia. So much to think about and work through, so many questions, not enough answers... But now at the end of week one (of six) it's feeling great.

I'm just beginning to find a rhythm and also learning what my role really is as a director, other than dreaming up the dreams and working with the actors. Talk about learning on the job. I've never shot so much, so quickly. But I'm feeling good about what we are creating and what the film is becoming. I guess this first week has been about trying to find a style and approach that works within the massive time and especially stock restraints I have (I have an official shooting ration of 1:12, which is kind of just enough, but as I wanted to shoot on 35mm this is what it has to be... and on Tuesday we shot close to 1:40 of which I was subtly reminded by Nick and Antonia (Producers) that some wildlife documentarians may not shoot as high as that...). So Greig and I are trying to establish a shooting style where we can shoot minimum coverage, with minimum takes but still find an interesting approach without stitching Jack up in the edit.

It's quite a weird feeling shooting this story finally. I've been with this film for almost four years now and there are some images and scenes burnt into my mind since the first time I read the script. So it's very cool seeing these characters and images literally come to life. The scary thing is when the time comes to shoot that image or that scene I have 45 minutes or so to do the whole scene. Which means nailing everything with that minimum coverage and with 1 or 2 takes. Scary, but invigorating. Alot of the morre dialogue heavy scenes (of whcih there are not that many in the film) we have covered as long takes with no cutaways or coverage. Which puts the onus on the Hugo and Tom to get it right in the performance. Kiind of feels the way it should be.

Last night Hugo had to hack all his hair and beard off with a pair of scissors. We only had one take obviously, and that take is one of the most mesmerising things I have seen. Intense, scary and beautiful. There have been a couple of shots where we have only had one take, and I really love shooting that way. The scene is charged with a very special energy. I love the fact that everyone, cast and crew have to hit the right notes. If anything I think it actually relaxes everyone as they know that whatever happens, happens and they know that they will not be standing around doing multiple takes.

Tom the 10 year old boy is constantly surprising me. As a young boy he is incredibly focused and present even more than I hoped he could be. On screen he delivers above and beyond what we would have ever expected. The other night we shot through till 2am, and even though he was really tired. Like falling asleep on the spot tired, he delivered. He had to sit at a table in a fast food resturant and vomit (an idea I introduced to the scene late that day...). Again one take, one mouthful of chicken and vegie soup and he nailed it. Perhaps the best vomit performance I have seen, and being the father of 2 young kids I've seen a bit of good vom action. It's a big relief to know he can bring the character to life and do it under such pressure.

On the flip side, one of the first scenes we shot involved Tom out hunting rabbits. We had a 'animal guy' go out and catch us six proper wild rabbits to use in the scene. They arrived in a animal cage etc. and left in the spot out in the feild where we were going to use them for the shots. When we arrived to shoot. Five of the rabbits had chewed their way through the plastic cage and escaped. Leaving one very scared and stressed little bunny who couldnt do what we wanted it to do anyway. Kids and Animals?

Shooting is a battle against time, money and the elements (90% of our film is exterior! Hello Winter!). Working with Greig (DOP) is the dream you'd think it be. As is working with Jo Ford (Prod Design) and Hugo W (Agent Smith). Infact I know the whole crew is fantastic, and I know I have the right army by my side to fight the good fight so the film keeps moving forward in the best possible way.

It's Sunday afternoon in Quorn population 700. Freezing cold and raining. Rain all you want to today, cos tomorrow we begin week 2 at 4:30am outside in downtown Port Augusta. I'm sure someone in the office has booked the clear skies : )

ps: The images aboved are for the geeks. A car rig designed by Skull (Grip) including an A-frame set up, no low-loader on this shoot. Also note Greigs lighting set up. If you need proof that we are working on a tight budget, every light you see has been bought from Bunnings and modified by Greig and Ari in his hotel room. Christmas lights, poly and gaff tape, thats how we roll on Last Ride! Infact we are using very few film lights on the shoot. Everything is available from your local electrical outlet. And it looks SO good because of it!