15th August,
2002
22nd August,
2002
1st September,
2002
8th September,
2002
15th September,
2002
14th October,
2002
10 November,
2002
8th December,
2002
18th January,
2003
15th August, 2002
The cameras roll on Mr Watt's Time
Machine! Actually, it's just one camera, but you get the idea. First
up was the First Fleet scene, where the kids are reenacting part of
that first transport of convicts to Australia. Got to redress an
unsatisfactory moment from Hamlet,
all those years before. In the video sequence of Hamlet, I tried to
create the illusion of a rocking boat buy tilting an overhead draped
with hessian. I realised later that I should also have moved the
camera! Well, this time, I did it exactly that
way - rocking the camera with the hessian (this time inside a slide
projector). You'll be able to see the result when you view the film!
There were some great shots of Craig
in the hold with his hard-tack (Sao). Lots of takes, though, created
lots of mess, which we later had to clean up - without a vacuum
cleaner! The Saos were a tasty munch between shots, too (at least for
me).
Thanks to Danielle
Logan's great age makeup, Mr Watt looks marvellous in the
"boat" scenes/ We will later re-shoot the more brightly lit
sequences. He needed to look older (Mr Mirana's natural youth shines
through too strongly!).
Praise must also go to Mrs Martin's
First Fleet throwovers. Made in 1993 and still going strong - and in
unusual places too.
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22nd August, 2002
Kids closeups today as Mr Watt was at
a wedding. Hoping to shoot our exterior scene today, but the weather
is cloudy once again. I'm sure we will have an unbroken record of
cloudy Sundays (and perfect every other days!).
The old record of the number of takes
for a single scene was broken today. Fifteen takes on the hatroon
scene breaks the old record held by the submarine scene of Richard
III, though it could be argued that the old record stands as the
hatroom scene was in fact two scene for the Rachel and Sarah version
of the script.
Got some excellent compositions for
some "class working" type inserts to be used whenever, or to
have photos lifted from them. I forget the tripod, so there are some
very nice shots that ended up having to be improvised from available
material. There's a nice set of rack-focus shots on Elizabeth/Api that
were set up on a cubby house that had been made out of TV box. We're
working in a very nice "set" courtesy of Mr Curtis and Ms
McShane of Liverpool Public School.
It was a shorter day today, and we
wrapped at about one.
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1st September,
2002
Today was our third Sunday of
shooting, and our third Sunday without the sunny calm weather needed
to shoot our single, solitary exterior! We had big, elephantine clouds
herding across the heavens all day, along with big gusts of wind that
I'm sure even my stalwart windsock would find too challenging.
Instead, we picked up the Sarah
version of the hatroom scene, hoping for something under last weeks
record fifteen takes - which we got! Still lots of sound troubles with
crunching chip packs during the dialogue. Telling the extras not to do
it was only partway successful in curing the problem.
Moved into the doorway then for shots
of Elizabeth studying Mr Watt's age, with Api studying Elizabeth. The
handy work light from Hardwarehouse made a nice substitute sun for
backlighting - again!
Our classroom extras actually
portrayed two classes today - a Maths class group and the regular
class. Lots of tight shooting from the back will hopefully create and
illusion of two different sets of people.
It one shot, Elizabeth is surprised
to see Mr Watt watching her. For a genuine reaction of shock, I
screamed "Boo!" and Sarah really jumped! I hope it's a take
we can use. Tried it a bit later for the Rachel version - no reaction
of course, having lost the element of surprise. Fortunately, Rachel is
a good enough actress to look shocked even if she isn't.
Got some nice shots of the class
looking at their class photos. Some of the inserts were candid and the
kids didn't know the camera was on. Hopefully, like scaring poor Sarah
out of her shoes, these will add a taste of realism to the final cut.
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8th
September, 2002
A very long day!
But at least the sun came out! We
started late due to the absence of some of our extras and main stars
(some have to come a long way). We got good shots again inside the
classroom. The convict handcuffs proved a painful prop for poor
"Craig". Like the Henry V throne, they had to be used just
so, otherwise the wouldn't fit. I was hoping to use some authentic
pre-Federation cuffs, but had to made due with some things thrown
together from Hardware house (or whatever it is this week).
Yes, a long day. The local church
group made it difficult to get our exterior shot. Their happy singing
made the sound a problem. Interiors were their usual tedious process,
though things brightened up (and the performances improved) when I let
some of the actors take over the directing chair for some scenes (some
good idea from our "Elizabeth" and a former "Richard
III").
Finally grabbed our outside shots,
racing against the light and melting ice-creams. Hate to say it, but a
probable re-shoot.
A magnificent job once again from
Danielle Logan, making Mr Watt look truly decrepit! Thank you to
Danielle, and to all our loyal Extras too. Their last week at school
is next week!
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15th
September, 2002
A successful and productive
day! It started ominously with the entire Sydney basin full of
smoke from backburning out west. The still air and the bright
sun meant it would have otherwise been perfect to re-shoot our
playground scenes. What a need was a strong wind to blow the
smoke out to sea, and then for the wind to die down so that we
could film with good sound.
Well, that's what we got! By
about 11:30 the air was clear and still enough for us to shoot,
and we got much better shots than last week, We also got plenty
of material for the DVD extras.
We also managed to get our
"class photo" at last! It wasn't perfect - we still
had one missing, but it was good enough!
Then we picked up some extra
shots for the first scene. Poor "Craig" had to hold
his hands up against an invisible blackboard for half an hour
while we got the shot we wanted.
The Extras were then finished
for ever and got movie passes and Malteasers for their pains.
We'll see them again at the Premiere!
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14th
October 2002
Back
from the holidays with a rough edit of the first seven and a half
minutes. Looking okay, though with a couple of scenes to re-shoot.
Also, Api had a haircut - so we'll need to wait a few weeks before
resuming with the bus scene.
November
10, 2002
An
enormous day, beginning before 7:00 am for the bus scene, and
stretching into the night, with the scene in Elizabeth's study. We had
the friendliest and most understanding of drivers in Mark Schmidt from
Interline, who took us slowly around and around the streets while we
(repeatedly) tried to get a shot with no mistakes. An expensive scene
to do, because of hiring the bus, and also the scene most like to need
a partial re-shoot. (I haven't been game enough to look at the footage
yet!)
Then off
to our school location for the pivotal confrontation between Elizabeth
and Mr Watt. Dark and moody. A strange case of "Where's that
light coming from?" - definitely not a documentary style location
lighting only.
Then a
reshoot of Elizabeth's closeup of "Do we have to go to Maths
groups?" to solve some technical problems and to get some spicier
acting. We have now lost our "other" Elizabeth (a no-show
for the bus), so we can now focus on extracting the best performance
from our remaining star.
"Peter"
also dropped in on the set to look over his introduction. Peter lived
on the real Darghan Street for many years.
Finally
to Johnny Charisma's place for the scene in Elizabeth's study.
Johnny's dining room was cast in this part as his actual study is too
crammed with piles of manuscripts, screenplays and school curriculum
documents. No dialogue, so "silent movie" style directing
got us through that shoot with a minimum of fuss. A complete,
self-contained internet was created for this scene.
8th
December 2002
Late!
Shooting the the garage scene from about 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm - but at
least some of the actors got to go to the location in style! A limo!
"Craig" kept hoping to see a friend of his on the street so
he could show off!
After
working very intensely with Mr Watt every lunchtime for three weeks,
filming went very smoothly, with a great performance from Elizabeth
and the other kids. The Time Machine prop also made its debut. The
sparking Jacob's Ladder was a hit!
A few
more bloopers for the DVD Special Edition (probably several disks
now!).
Thanks
to Api's family for letting us take over their garage and turn it into
Mr Watt's garage.
18th
January, 2003
The last
scene! And the return of Glenwood Shakespeare Company founding member
Julia Reece! Julia walked in and did the scene like she'd never
stopped performing - word perfect and a lovely interpretation with
minimal rehearsal. Michael's performance as Mr Watt was also very
moving - there's such a good moment when he gives us his little speech
about second chances. He makes the words and the image just glow with
emotion.
We also attempted
a special effect! Done very inexpensively - and like to show it! It's
a small superimpose which involves a portable work lamp, a box covered
with foil and a computer graphic (printed on thin card). It remains to
be seen whether this will be in any way convincing. As the video is
taking large chunks of time and computer memory to edit, by the time I
get around to that scene I may have downloaded a more convincing way
to insert the effect.
If only
I had a budget!
So now
its the long process of editing ahead, as well as shooting the title
sequence and "Peter's" introduction. That and a couple of
other short movies to write, shoot and edit!
I guess
this is only the beginning!
