adrift with a camera

Tumbling from now on....

2011-04-16T14:11:00.005-07:00

I've decided to switch to Tumblr. I don't really find the time to blog regularly, and Tumblr seems a more intutitive interface for sharing news, links, but most importantly pics (or galleries of pics). Please update your link - I'm http://rohanspong.tumblr.com/. Enjoy! x

'All The Way Through Evening'

2011-04-16T14:02:00.002-07:00

In an apartment on 12th Street, a chatty mature woman sits in a cluttered room of sheet music that very few people remember. She tinkles occassionally at the piano as she speaks - any interview with the eccentric Mimi Stern-Wolfe is always punctuated by music. The Benson salons, as Mimi calls them, were a regular meeting of artists and composers in a downtown Manhattan loft owned by Eric Benson, her dear friend and musical collaborator. At this loft, writers and composers showcased new classical and populist musical works and an artistic community thrived. Amongst them were Chris DeBlasio, composer; Robert Chesley, critic and composer and Kevin Oldham, concert pianist and composer.

When the HIV/AIDS epidemic swept through New York, and indeed the world, in the early 1980s, each were infected and the majority of people who attended the soirees, including the composers themselves, were dead by the early 1990s. After these deaths, Mimi devoted much of her life to The Benson AIDS Series, an annual concert of works by composers who were lost to HIV/AIDS, which she performs on World AIDS Day.

Directed by Rohan Spong (whose first feature documentary, T IS FOR TEACHER was acclaimed by two Australian film reviewers as amongst "the best films of 2009"), ALL THE WAY THROUGH EVENING will follow Mimi as she prepares for one such concert - a small but proud figure, gallantly rousing a remembrance in the shadow of bustling Manhattan. Her interviews recount the glory days at the Benson Salons, the initial awareness of HIV/AIDS and provide a character portrait of some of the original composers. The film also includes touching interviews with some of the surviving family members and musical collaborators of these men.

Much of the moving music from this period is presented from Mimi's concert as part of the documentary. Kevin Oldham's Not Even If I Try sees a tenor lamenting his lost lover amongst a bittersweet piano arrangment. Robert Chesley's Autumn is based on a De La Mare poem (of the same name) and features a counter tenor who notes that there is now "silence where hope was". Perhaps the most evocative and well known of these art songs is Walt Whitman in 1989, a collaboration by poet Perry Brass and emerging composer Chris DeBlasio, in which the famed historical poet Walt Whitman arrives in the AIDS ward of a New York hospital in 1989, nurses a dying man, and transports his body away on a boat which sails "...all the way through evening."

ALL THE WAY THROUGH EVENING
English Language, 80 mins [approx]
DVCPRO HD 16:9 - Colour

Directed by Rohan Spong
Produced by Rohan Spong and Brad Heard.
In association with Downtown Music Productions

http://www.allthewaythroughevening.com

'All the King's Men'

2010-09-11T21:52:00.002-07:00

Directed by Rohan Spong
Makeup by Helen Keegan
Cinematography by Rohan Spong and Simon Matthews
Props by Simon Matthews
Edit / FX by Rohan Spong

Starring Georgia Fields as 'Betty Blade' and Nick Barker Pendree as 'Sailor'.

Sept 10 2010.

Special Thanks to Warren Bowen, Ash Flanders, Phillip J Riley and Sue Jackal.

Taken from the album 'Georgia Fields' released October 9 2010.

Moonlite

2010-06-22T03:18:00.003-07:00

Principal photography on Moonlite was wrapped at the start of May. It was a pretty gruelling shoot - 16 days, all on greenscreen, some 70 scenes and all in period costumes. We were very blessed to have an amazing cast (and bar one role, managed to secure all of my first choices). Amongt the finer moments on set to report - Barry Crocker stealing the show as the villainous Judge Redmond Barry, Tasma Walton as a drunk 1880s nymphomaniac, Val Jellay as a gun toting grandmother, Abby Dobson croons a barroom saloon number and Ian Roberts is a [ridiculously mustachioed] police assassin. In the leads, Richard Stables and Angus Grant have a great onscreen rapport and chemistry as Captain Moonlite and James Nesbitt respectively, whilst Sarah Bollenberg lurks as the mysterious Lady in Black.

Already there's a bit of press for the film beginning to appear which is very affirming - people are very interested in the story we are trying to tell and the very unusual way in which it is to be told.

Some links to images are here and here . There are also some interviews here and here.

'Something Borrowed, Something Blue'

2010-02-26T19:20:00.002-08:00

Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Georgia Fields

Music Video
dir. Rohan Spong

Released March 2010

Premiere

2010-02-20T09:19:00.008-08:00

Cantor Abelson performs Unter Dayne Vayse Schtern
in a studio in New York.

The Songs They Sang
****World Premiere****
Opening Night film at the Bayside Film Festival
7:15PM, 14th July 2010.
Brighton Bayside Cinema
Melbourne, Australia

The Songs They Sang is the untold true story of the amazing musical and artistic performances that took place at the Vilna Ghetto, Lithuania, during WW11. These performances brought hope to the Jewish people in the Ghetto whilst they faced the daily horror of genocide.

The film’s focus is on these remarkable songs and the music composed and performed by Jewish musicians, songwriters and singers primarily held in the Vilna Ghetto during the Holocaust. These songs and the music will be reprised and performed once again by professional musicians, survivors, family members of composers who wrote works during the Holocaust and a Cantor in New York.

In addition to this, Holocaust survivors and family members recall their experiences of Ghetto daily life, a partisan revisits the site of a mass grave in the Ponar forest, and the legacy of a talented lyricist is remembered during Shiva - the seven day period of mourning following his death.

Some of the inspiring figures profiled in the film include Shmerke Kaczerginski, one of the popular songwriters who wrote lyrics and organized musical performances in the Vilna ghetto. Along with Abraham Sutzkever, he risked his life during the war to preserve these writings and the music created to record life within the ghetto. After the war, Kaczerginski made it his life’s work to compile the songs and poetry created by people during the Holocaust.

Sutzkever, a respected poet and scholar, wrote the startling lyric to Unter DayneVayse Shtern (Under the white stars), which reveals the spiritual resistance and position of faith of those inside the ghetto. In later life he wrote poetry in Yiddish and helped to keep a struggling language alive.

The film also includes an extended interview with Alexander Tamir, the last surviving composer of Vilna. His bittersweet composition, "Shtiler Shtiler" (Quiet, Quiet) reveals the perspective of children held in Vilna ghetto.

The documentary also considers the various people preserving such music and memories today: Sutzkever’s granddaughter who travels the world performing her late grandfather's text, an Italian musical arranger catalogues all known music from the Holocaust in a repository in Rome, a Melbourne composer and performer who busily arrange music from the Vilna ghetto to be recorded and performed before a contemporary audience, and a young Jewish community leader who reveals the struggles to retain the culture and language of his forebears in Lithuania today.

The film has been shot across 6 countries and in 5 languages, and is directed by Rohan Spong (the director of the critically acclaimed T is for Teacher).

Knackered

2010-02-20T09:16:00.003-08:00

LAX. Bain of my existence, with its lack of powerpoints, grumpy staff and overzealous security. I don’t even have time enough to leave the airport and have a drink with friends. I’m on my way back to Australia though, so there certainly is cause to smile, despite my frustration.

I’m pretty knackered. 6 countries (and countless stopovers) in 5 weeks. Airport food, jetlag, several foot of snow, some pretty heavy camera gear, nearly three days worth of footage, a recording session in Manhattan and the bulk of The Songs They Sang is now filmed. There’s a few important loose ends I need to film in Melbourne, but for the most part, I’m ready to hit the editing suite.

In the last 5 weeks, I’ve met some amazing and inspiring people, heard inspirational and harrowing stories, listened to (and recorded) some beautiful music and survived -19C temperatures in Lithuania. It’s fair to say that the production of this particular project has taken me further geographically, technically and mentally than I have ever gone before, and has probably been the biggest challenge of my career (if not my life) to date. I’m feeling a little fragile, but am quietly satisfied that I managed to accomplish what I set out to do, if not more.

A big shout out needs to go to the people that helped me along the way, or offered accommodation – Hale and Yaara in Israel, Sean in Paris, Simon and the the community in Vilnius, (Mommies) Sylvia and Erma in New York and the cheeky boys of 2129 in Washington.

And of course, there’s been a slew of supportive people back home – the producers of the film, Pauline and Greg who set me on this journey in the first place and my long suffering mother who can find a webcam in just about any city (usually in order to check the weather). I hope the end result does you all, and the people of Vilna (those tragically lost, and those who survived to tell and sing their story) proud.

Alexander Tamir recalls composing Shtiler, Shtiler in Vilna Ghetto 1941, whilst interviewed
in Jerusalem, 2010.

Year in review

2010-01-06T14:49:00.002-08:00

Wow. 2009 has been a bumper year. A feature documentary, five music videos, a commercial photoshoot, a photography exhibition, funding approval for another feature length documentary, pre production for a low budget feature film... T is for Teacher screened at a slew of film festivals (alongide Oscar contenders!), and remains a benchmark for future work I make. It has appeared as an honourable mention amongst best films of 2009 (!) here and here.

Ahead in 2010 there's the (international) shoot / edit / premiere of The Songs They Sang (I'm still only 50/50 on the title), the shoot and (hefty) postproduction for Moonlite and probably only a few music vids.... I think my hands will be pretty full.

I had hoped for maybe 10 music videos by mid 2010. I think my revised goal is for 6 (four down, two to go) + the completion of The Songs They Sang.

Amongst my favourate memories of 2009 - meeting the Long Islanders, lunch in LA, my mother overhearing transwomens unanimous support of the film in the ACMI women's bathroom, The Age naming the film a Top Weekend Pick, running amok on Hanging Rock, the Bayside screening (and woozy boozy after drinks) and (early) Christmas in Fitzroy and relaxing lakeside in Udaipur.

2010 looks pretty good already... Which is just as well... Because 2009 will be a hard act to follow.

3 + 2 = Mayhem

2009-12-11T01:44:00.003-08:00

3 music videos. 2 feature length projects (a feature doc in production, and a feature film in pre production due to film in mid 2010).

There's a whole lot going on, on the radar of Rohan, at the moment. All the while, Im travelling, filming, photographing, writing. It's like my senses (along with my aspirations) have hit overdrive. It's like there's just not enough hours in the day to be knee deep in work. Surely this isn't healthy, but it certainly is thrilling.

Moonlite
A rollicking bushranger adventure tale, based on the Australian historical figure, Captain Moonlite. To be shot "graphic noval style" in mid 2010.

The Songs They Sang (working title only)
A feature length documentary about the music composed in the Vilna ghetto during the Holocaust, and the people who remember and perform such music today.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue
A music video for Georgia Fields. Kooky narrative about a woman who works in a mannequin factory. Completed and due to be released in March 2010.

Sinking Relation Ship
Another music video for Georgia (a B-Side type arrangement to Something Borrowed), to be released in March. A slow mournful sea shanty about love gone wrong, performed against an array of moody old school Hollywood style back projections.

Successional
A completely improvised super 8mm silent film / music video, shot guerilla style across Melbourne, to accompany Gemma Turvey's jazz track, Successional. Completed and due to be released in Jan.

In the meantime - I'm off to India. 3 weeks of filming what I please with a view to assembling something on the other side, with my spare time (assuming I ever have spare time again).

Exhibition

2009-12-11T01:37:00.003-08:00

I will be exhibiting photographs as part of the Transmasculinities exhibition. The details are below.

Transmasculinities
Opening Friday 22nd January 6-8pm
Running from 22nd January - 6th of February, 2010.
Red Gallery
157 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North VIC 3068
(03) 9482 3550

Gypsy

2009-11-15T17:14:00.004-08:00

I was lucky enough to have spent this afternoon feasting (ok and drinking margheritas) with the old crew during a six hour stopover in Los Angeles, and am I am currently onboard a flight for JFK airport, New York. (WiFi on flights?! What will they think of next?!). "New York?", you may be asking.With some fantastic support from the festival, I’ve come out to New York to see T is for Teacher screen at the LIGLIFF.

Whilst in New York, I’ll be doing some further research for the documentary film I plan to film in earnest in Jan / Feb. It tentatively has the working title The Songs They Sang (and you can read more about it here). I also plan to have a few days off and go see the Statue of liberty (which I didn’t get to do properly last time) and hopefully the Grey Gardens house that the Beales lived in.

Airports, jetlag, shit food, reunions, separations and departures… the gypsy life has started up once again. Whilst I haven’t got exact dates yet, the places I am set to travel to in the coming six months include India, Thailand (mostly for kicks, but a small amount of filming), then Lithuania, Rome, Tel Aviv, Washington and New York (again). There’s not much budget to stretch on this film, but it’s definitely being stretched far and there’s already some interesting material and exciting collaboration on the horizon.

Barely 24 hours ago, I was filming another two music videos for Georgia Fields (One of them hilariously kooky - See above) and the other moody, evocative, with old school back projections and some simple shots. They won't see the light of day till Feb, but it's by far my best work yet. Huge thanks to Rosie (best AD ever), hilarious actor Ash Flanders and hair / makeup whizz gals Helen and Mel. After the 18 hour shoot, there was then a mad rush to get from A to B (a high school reunion, documentary meetings, some friends I'd been neglecting) before getting on a plane... I'm so deliriously tired, but given that my flight gets into JFK airport at 12:30am, I think I'll hit the hay straight away and bypass jetlag all together.... well, it makes for a good plan, right?

Links

2009-10-08T01:58:00.007-07:00

Georgia Fields' music video has been slowly gaining momentum on Youtube in the lead up to television transmission. There's a lovely review of the song and clip here.

T is for Teacher now has a dedicated site here. The film has just been selected for the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (New York) in November and a few interested parties have emailed me about the possibility of aquisition, transmission. It's still very early days, but it's really lovely that the film is still on peoples radar.

'One Finger' - Music Video

2009-09-20T09:25:00.002-07:00

And then…

2009-08-30T09:48:00.005-07:00

I’m just adding the finishing touches to Georgia Field’s music video… something that got put on the backburner whilst a nursed a flu, chased some grants, fraternised with some lovely film festivals.

Georgia Fields in the One Finger music video

There’s a whole heap of stuff popping up on the horizon. Moonlite is going into production in early December. Without going into too much detail, it’s the story of Andrew George Scott, aka the notorious Australian bushranger, Captain Moonlite. Simon Matthews has been developing his (already moving) play into a brilliant script for film – tight, thrilling and (perhaps most importantly) fun. We’ve been meeting weekly, and I’ve been helping to tighten, tweak, script edit, offer moral support, and start to assemble a team to help us get the whole thing on the road. We intend to shoot entirely in studio early December and present the final film as a sort of graphic noval (with a twist) in mid/late 2010. I’ve done a couple of tests and although there’s a long way to go, I’m pretty confident that we are working on is something pretty special, both in terms of form and content.

Richard Stables as Scott, Moonlite, test shoot.

As soon as Moonlite is shot, I’m holidaying in India for a few weeks over the Christmas break, revisiting places I’ve been before, exploring places I’d like to go, and just generally running amok in the chaos. I’m intending to shoot some Super 8mm, perhaps with a view of editing it into a short documentary, but also just to document some of my experiences. There’ll probably be a tonne of black and white 35mm shots (my still image format de’jour) as well. Even whilst envisaging a holiday, I’m thinking about all the interesting, exciting things to shoot overseas.

All the while, there’s another feature length documentary on the burner – I’ve been doing a heap of research, I’ve organised some local interviews, and I’m looking at the international scope of the story with a view to travelling overseas. There’s a pair of brilliant producers behind the scenes, and we’re angling to have me do my one-man-band documentarian routine in Lithuania (!), Italy and parts of America. Nothing’s entirely sorted yet, but the wheels are definitely in motion. There’ll be more on this soon.

Vivid

2009-08-18T03:59:00.001-07:00

Here are some medium format colour shots of John from the same shoot - got them back from the lab last week. Multiple exposures based an on experiment I shot in California last year.

Scottsdale

2009-08-17T02:05:00.004-07:00

T is for Teacher has now also been selected by the Scottsdale International Film Festival, a prestigious major festival in Arizona, USA. This is going to be a particularly special screening, because Michelle, one of the main documentary subjects will be able to attend, along with a gaggle of other participants (students and staff at Desert Hills School). Having the film at mainstream festivals for the general public is very encouraging and satisfying. The teachers are in many ways role models to the queer community, but I'd like to think that their various hardships and triumphs have a universal resonance and shed light on the experiences of many transgendered individuals. I'm slowly beginning to think that screening queer work to an audience of queer documentary filmgoers is, in many ways, preaching to the converted. Perhaps my apathy about queer film is further coloured by a run in with queerDOC (Sydney) who (very rudely) didn't bother to email receipt of the screener, respond to correspondence, nor have the courtesy to notify me whether the film was in or out (out). They did however manage to fill my email inbox with a variety of gawdy promotion emails. It's little wonder that my interest in making queer work has completely waned. In the meantime, I guess I've a lot to be grateful for - Scottsdale and Kansas are worth a thousand niche queer documentary festivals, and I have an array of interesting (non queer) projects for the rest of 2009/10 lined up.

Exhausted

2009-07-29T00:51:00.002-07:00

Last week I took some promo pics for a mate, musician John Lingard. We're currently wading through the 35mm proofs, but here's one of my favourates.

The next feature project (Moonlite) (more on this soon) is slowly evolving too. Tomorrow I'm shooting a promo / music video / silent film hybrid for a classical jazz artist (a paid gig, shot guerilla style on Super 8mm) and it looks like the funding for another doc is about to come through. Life is a bit chaotic atm - lots of different projects on the go, no time to rest, deadlines approaching, but loving every bloody second.

Kansas

2009-07-27T06:34:00.003-07:00

Just heard word that T is for Teacher is headed to the Kansas International Film Festival. Very exciting stuff. They had some brilliant films last year, so it's a very flattering acknowledgment. More news as I have it.

Went to the Melbourne International Film Festival opening night (yes, black tie and all)... and found Balibo to be an astounding, exceptional film work that all Australians should be proud of, but perhaps more importantly, go and see when it inevitably comes to a cinema. Brilliant.

Content

2009-07-19T01:53:00.004-07:00

The Bayside screening came and went in a few hours - the usual deal of me sitting rather nervously for 70 mins and then being apparently articulate at Q and A, despite being a little too dazed to really remember what was being said. People really are moved by this film, and it's something I'm immensely proud of. In all, the film (and the brilliant publicist's pitching) managed to wrangle a great deal more press coverage in Melbourne Weekly Times, Bayside Times, Mx and The Age, not to mention interviews on 3CR, RRR, 3MBS, SynFM, ABC774 and JoyFM, as well as appearing on Channel 31 and the Around Melbourne podcast series. There was also a (glowing) review published at Cinema Autopsy.

I went along to the closing night screening (I wanted to do opening night too, but had an interview booked with ABC) of Billy the Kid (2007) - completely unlike anything I'd ever imagine making (really low fi, gritty), but utterly engaging and totally moving. If you get a chance to see it, it's a brilliant documentary with some poignant messages.

I still cannot believe that I got featured alongside Adam Elliot - someone whose work I strongly admire. Feeling pretty content about the whole Bayside experience right about now...

Hobby

2009-07-13T07:46:00.002-07:00

I had the closest thing to a day off last week - and I decided to process the rolls of film that have been piling up in my room. All were taken on 35mm with an archaic (but oh-so-cute) Canon A-1 camera from the early 70s. It was the first time in 9 years I had processed films, and I have to say, I forgot how addictive the whle excercise was. Here are some of my favourates (Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Hanging Rock).

If only I had more time, I'd do more photography...

Scramble

2009-07-04T09:08:00.005-07:00

I'm just heading to bed, but couldn't quite turn the light out before blogging.

My computers are roaring away rendering the graphics for Georgia Field's (very) nearly finished music video (sneak peek, above). Can't wait for people to see it. Aside from the fact that I've put a lot of work into it, it's easily the most fun, viewable, accessable piece of work I've made to date... and I think people will dig the song too.

This week is going to be MEGA. I've a few more media interviews about the upcoming Bayside Film Festival (Annette, PR person for the festival has been brilliant...), I'm shooting test stuff for the feature project I am to shoot at the end of the year (in studio, Tues), I'm processing the squillions of photos I've been taking the last few months (with a pair of experienced hands, nearby), I'm in pre production for another music video (on Super 8mm), and I'm also prepping for one of those (vaguely intimidating) PhD progress meetings. There's also a steady stream of correspondence with film festivals (and even a few interested television networks)... The thing is... that... by and large, I'm doing (or promoting) things I love. So, I really have no complaints about the mad scramble that's going on.

I was looking at booking a few weeks trekking holiday in September, but I definitely can't fit it in now. Going in, say, November, is out of the question now that I've decided what major project I'll be working on next, and am slowly gearing towards a late Nov / early Dec shoot (of at least 10 days)... I'll either forego holidaying in 2009 (a pity, but perhaps necessary), or downscale somewhat. Watch this (hastily scheduled) space.

Global

2009-06-05T08:16:00.005-07:00

As I type this, the 20 minute doc Queer Science is about to be screened on the other side of the world as part of NewFest, in New York City. Michael Vallarelli, composer extraordinaire, will be in attendance. I toyed with the idea of going, but there's so much on my plate, and it seemed a lot of money, time and jetlag for 20 minutes of film, particularly as I'm now trying to get the Teacher doc out and about, and may travel with that film in 2009/10. Regardless, my work has suddenly gone irreversably global.

T is for Teacher (70 mins) has been selected for the International Film Festival of Ireland (at Galway, to be sure), which will be in September. A lot of festivals have started sending me emails requesting screener copies for both, and I'm now on first name basis with my local Australia Post staff. Cable networks have contacted me out of the blue with a view to consider purchase of T is for Teacher. It's an exciting time, but it's also a bit of a hard juggle, managing to get the film dubs and dvds out to festivals, the endless correspondence, and just keeping up with my current schedule of projects, phd and the "next big [top secret] thing" currently in the works.

For all you Melbournians, on the heels of the MQFF screening at ACMI, T is for Teacher is one of the main features of this years Bayside Film Festival, at Brighton Palace Cinemas.

I've also finally put my website together. I've been a bit selective about what work to feature on it, focussing mainly on the projects that I am proud to be associated with, but also which have been publicly recognised. When I put together a shortlist of things I had worked on, I was staggered by how much ground I have made since When Darkness Falls. I think sometimes, in the mad flurry of things, it's easy to be hard on yourself, and certainly doubt where you're headed, but the experience of putting the site together has really reinforced that I've had some amazing artistic experiences in the last few years. I'm fairly happy with the design for now, but I'm sure it will need tweaking as more content is added.

Stretched

2009-05-10T01:26:00.003-07:00

At the moment, I'm stretched thin over a few projects... I've just filmed a music video for the utterly adorable and brilliant Georgia Fields, which will be completed sometime this month (though the single launch isn't until August, so I don't think it will start circulating until mid year). I've also begun preparing work with a writing partner for a possible pitch later in the year, and have been blogging other gems of script away in a private wordpress account, with a view to putting another pitch together in 2010. There have been talks of further collaboration with X:Machine which will be a nice way to pay bills doing things I love with a bunch of creative types... and of course, there's still a lot of festivalin' to do with my current documentaries. The plate is definitely full... I just need to find enough time to eat...

Screenings

2009-05-01T23:14:00.003-07:00

T is for Teacher has been picked up by Bayside Film Festival (Melbourne). It's great that it will have a second festival screening in my home town - something that often doesn't happen with documentary works. Queer Science, the shorter documentary, will be screening at Newfest (New York). Both screenings take place in July, but I don't have specific dates or times yet. There has been a lot of interest in T is for Teacher, Stateside, but I haven't secured the American premiere yet (I didn't have a final edit of Teacher finished for the NY deadline).

...pictures

2009-04-30T21:28:00.003-07:00

Some of my favourates from the SLAP! campaign photoshoot. These (and the rest) will be online when the company website goes live, sometime in the next month.

Pretty...

2009-04-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

Mad weekend. Socializing, catching up with people, prepping for music video production and all day Saturday spent doing a photoshoot. The shoot was for SLAP! cosmetics, a Melbourne based company, and had a very quirky early 80s studio photography vibe. A long day, but a lot of fun. I'll post some of the final images here in the coming week.

yawn

2009-04-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

What a mad few weeks.

Have done a tonne of press for the screening (SBS worldview, RRR, 3CR, JoyFM, BentTV, The Age, MCV, Star Observer)... I guess I'm getting adept at answering questions with some degree of clarity. Interestingly, there were only some 70 tickets left *before* the press went out, and at time of writing, there's still tickets left. I don't know whether doing press has really added to ticket sales, but I guess it is nice in terms of preparation for the film Q and A and raises profile for future projects. The preview DVDs for reviewers/interviewers seem to have gone down well, so I'm not tooooo nervous about how the film will be recieved. Come Saturday, I'm sure I'll be a mess though. There's been a few issues getting the dubs done for the MQFF, but thankfully that's now past tense.... There seems to be a recurring pattern for Spong screenings - strong press / public interest and frustrating technical hitches just [days] before the show.

I guess I have a lot to be happy and excited about. And I am. But, I'm also pretty exhausted. I'm juggling work / short course / film admin / festival applications / press. I've barely seen my friends. I haven't taken a photo in what feels like years. I haven't been eating well. Or exercising. Or watching films. I'm missing California a little.... and I'm missing travel a LOT.

I think I'll organise a weekend away somewhere as soon as this is all over.

Impatient

2009-04-14T20:58:00.003-07:00

Suddenly there's a *lot* of stuff on the horizon.

Collaborations, stuff being negotiated, me being considered for a few plum gigs. It's all rather exciting... but sadly, none of it is concrete yet, so I have to keep mum. There's really quite a lot of waiting going on, actually... to hear back from people, to lock in dates, to hear whether the documentary is screening overseas (and when). I'm not good at waiting... or these "in-between" times. I'm much better when I have tangible dates and confirmation. In the meantime, my brain is soup.... and I'm getting impatient.

I've decided I'm going to start processing my own B&W pics. Aside from the cost of getting process/scan done, and the fact that I don't like going to my local - VanBars (there are a few staff there who are just so rude!) .. I figure I don't really give myself enough downtime... and at least this way, I'll be doing something productive with my downtime :)

I've been working on a website to showcase some of my work, but I'm finding it a bit laborious optimizing graphics and video for the web. There are so many moments that I feel bogged down with nuts and bolts activity, and would rather just be creating stuff.

Aftermath

2009-04-07T22:35:00.001-07:00

The premiere on Sat 28th went well, though it’s all a little hazy in my brain. Soft focus, dreamlike… a mixture of adrenalin, anxiety and then relief… I awoke to find that the film was listed as No. 2 in the Top 10 weekend movie picks of the Saturday Age. A deeply flattering gesture that had me pretty speechless. After attempting breakfast, I meandered into ACMI to do the meet-and-greet, before taking a seat, a bundle of nerves…. the lights went down… and I waited. The moment (or 90) of truth had finally arrived.

The films were (very) well received. More than a few people admitted to “moist eye syndrome” by the conclusion of T is for Teacher. People were very complimentary in the Q and A that followed, and I was pretty grateful for not having to answer too many curly questions given that my brain had now turned to mush. We (myself and a posse of housemates, mates) retired to the banks of the Yarra to gorge on wine and gourmet sausages courtesy of Riverland Bar. A brilliant epilogue to a kickarse day.

On an amusing side note, the interview I had done for MCV never appeared, apparently due to space issues. That said - my friends and I have spent the week giggling about the fact that even though there wasn’t space to cover a Melbourne filmmaker’s queer themed film, there was in fact room to print an (informative?!) article about an international porn star’s appendage (No! Really!). I did have to laugh. I guess in some circles, it was a cutting edge, insightful read.

All in all, it was a great week. Thrilling at times, moments of (unnecessary) anxiety and and that stellar Age aknowledgment…. But now, it’s all past tense. I’m jumping back into PhD writing… and dreaming of adventures (international and cinematic) once more.

2:28am...

2009-03-09T07:28:00.005-08:00

...and the sound for T is for Teacher and Queer Science is finally mixed.

A final late night session with the brilliant (and utterly patient) Martin Kay. Woah. DVD burning etc., starts in earnest tommorrow. I'm not sure whether to be elated (It's finished!) or down (It's the end of an era!). One thing I am excited about is getting somewhere in the vicinity of 6 hours sleep tonight.

Did a long rambling interview with Richard Watts (MCV ) today, probably me giving my worst interview ever (it was pre-coffee o'clock), but a nice morning nonetheless, before I had to dash into MU and be charismatic lecturer/tutor on 4 hours sleep. Richard liked the film. Given that about 10 people have seen T is for Teacher , and we can safely assume at least 8 like it, I'm utterly stoked... and trying not to fret too much about the big prem.

Dashing.

2009-03-06T21:19:00.002-08:00

At the moment I'm a dashing young man. Not in the handsome sense, but rather, in the running from place to place sense. There's some music vids and a short lined up.... sending the works I made in the US to film festivals (minus sound mix, apparently finished this weekend)... teaching at MU again (one last time)... a short course... and returning to PhD study. I'm also applying for film grants and this week will be involved in some press interviews for the film festival. I'm definitely spread thin, but I don't mind, so long as I am busy. I recently acquired an iphone, so that alleviates some of the issues stemming from "life on the go", and helps me keep up to date with my calendar and email. I'm seriously wondering how I managed before I owned it.

The films I made whilst overseas are premiering at Melbourne Queer Film Festival, March 28th. To find out more, go here.

Resolutions

2009-01-19T20:56:00.004-08:00

Christmas passed by with the usual overindulgence and family visits. I took some time out to take some pics on the Diana in Terang and Peterborough (the best, below). I came home to enjoy New Years with my friends in Melbourne. I had spent virtually all of December working long, late hour in order to put together a (very) roughcut of the feature length documentary ("T is for Teacher", more information shortly) together for some film festival deadlines, so by the time the holiday season had rolled around, I was certainly feeling a little burnt out. On Boxing Day, however, I was glad to have pushed myself, given that I was notified that I had secured a very cool event to premiere both documentary works at (again - more information when the finer details are resolved).

2009 is going to be a bumpy ride - I'll be making a lot of smaller works again (ideally, just music videos... I'm gonna go out on a limb here and aim to complete 10 by Jan 2010) and will hopefully have wrangled a script for something larger by the years end. I'll also be finishing the PhD. It's gonna be a year of juggling, filming, studying... and ideally, a lot of film festival exposure for the work I made in 2008.

Random

2008-11-18T23:14:00.002-08:00

I had some old rolls of film from the Diana laying around, and had them processed with the travel pics. I was really excited by what was on these “mystery rolls”. Some of them captured some of the people, place and atmosphere I encountered along the way, really well. I’ve posted a few of my favourites.

My all time favourate pic on the Diana. Dana and Trav in KS.

Film festival – goers in KS.

Trav and Dana run amok at the art gallery in KS.

Another day, another airport, another cheesy face.

Art and Brando at Halloween.

Trav and LA, Temescal Canyon, CA.

Me and LA, Temescal Canyon, CA.

A truck on the road, Nevada. Only in the US.

No place like it

2008-11-18T23:13:00.000-08:00

I’m back in Melbourne.

I had an AMAZING farewell dinner in Santa Monica with Travis and my mates. It was a great night and I was sorry to say goodbye to so many wonderful people in one hit.

Made it back on a long flight seated in front of some bogans who didn’t realise that passengers are actually allowed to recline, especially during overnight flights, and proceeded to crop the ‘c’ bomb at the flight attendants. Everyone sounded SO Australian, and I realised I hadn’t spoken to a countrymen other than friends living in or passing through LA, for like, 9 months. When I arrived, the newspapers seemed obsessed with a footballer who had managed to pass a drug test (!). And there was… silence…. but for a magpie. It was (culture) shocking. Here I was sitting still for the first time in ages. In the quiet. In the suburbs. In the silence. Even the remote jungle of Guatemala was teeming with noise (Howler Monkeys make the best alarm clocks).

I was glad to be back in the city vicinity on Friday for drinks / reunion / screening, and a weekend of social engagements…. And was ecstatic to see all my old dear crew of friends… But, as loathe as I am to admit it…. I’m missing LA. Even with its brashness, and pollution and its dull concrete expanses. I’m missing the traffic, and the feeling that I’m holding on with just a bare grasp on the deadlines and adventures laid out in front of me. I’m missing my friends, and the cheeky, handsome, prank-playing bloke from Denver. I’m missing knowing exactly where what I do as an indie filmmaker fits as part of a larger film industry.

I realise this is all normal, that resuming life here will take some adjustment. And I am open to that. But for now… it’s just really weird.

Belize / Guatemala

2008-11-18T23:01:00.003-08:00

Travis and I flew into Belize on Halloween afternoon, the roads still submerged and washed out by a particularly rainy season. Houses on stilts sat atop great plains of water, and I worried that the taxi transporting us would get bogged or flood with water, but we made it in one piece. Being a Friday night, and Halloween, the cheeky locals were very sociable and invited us to eat some great cuisine, in thick Caribbean accents. Belize is a dusty little town, steeped in Catholicism and built around a harbour of a small but busy fishing trade.

Fishing boats

Moored in the sunshine

Windows on a missionary

Belize by night was ablaze with colour. My black and white film wouldn’t really do it justice. Here are a few of my favourate pics from the portable digital camera taken by both Travis and myself.

We bussed across the border to Flores, Guatemala, a 5 hour bus ride, and watched as the road wound through jungle, across farming plains. Flores is an island in a vast lake, accessable by a man made causeway and bridge. The town is a cobble stoned mass of quaint streets, each house or shop painted and decorated in its own vivid colour scheme. Here we met with Lucian, who was fresh from adventures in Honduras, and explored the maze of streets, road into the “mainland” Santa Elena, and just gorged ourselves of Spanish food and photogenic streets.

Travis set about playing possibly the best prank ever, convincing me that it would the politest way to explain my lack of Spanish would be: “Yo soy embarassada. No ablo Espaniol!”. Whilst it sounded like a legitimate sentence to me, what I was actually telling the locals was that I was pregnant, and couldn’t speak Spanish. I couldn’t understand why people were laughing or staring, but the penny finally dropped when I picked up on a conversation Travis was having with a shopkeeper about the size of my baby.

The causeway / bridge

The lakeview of our hotel

Lucian

The prankster

“I’m pregnant and I don’t speak Spanish.”

Hairdresser

Local boatman

Lucian, as Katharine Hepburn, on safari

After a few days in Flores, we went to Tikal, a completely excavated city of the Mayan empire. We stayed until after the sunset (a little dangerous, given that I very nearly was bitten by a venomous coral snake, whilst walking back to our hotel in the dark) and woke before sunrise in order to photograph the Grand Plaza of temples. Trav and I spent a whole day climbing and exploring all of the temples and spaces, admiring the ancient workmanship, spotting wildlife and pondering life in the Mayan empire.

The temples jutting out above the treeline

…and again

Denver’s answer to Indiana Jones

The following day, we farewelled Lucian and set about an arduous six day trek into the northern jungle of Guatemala, clad in insect repellent and often wading up to our knees in swamp / water / mud, and climbing a number of small hills. We were accompanied by a guide and two lovely Dutch travellers, Judith and Ralph, who played a mean game of cards and were great company. The days were long – sometimes 8 hours of trekking in really challenging conditions, but by the end of the second day, we had reached our main destination, the “lost” city of El Mirador. El Mirador is a 26 km wide city of the ancient Mayan world, only recently found, and subject to current archaeological excavation. It is a complex consisting of several large temples which rise above the treeline of the jungle, and can only be reached at certain times of the year. It is believed that the civilisation grew too big for itself, and could not sustain its population’s need for fuel, water and food. I found visiting the city of El Mirador haunting, in that the legend of its downfall reflects very current concerns about the lack of quality food, clean water and fuel in many modern civilisations. The roundtrip included another, smaller “lost” city, Nakbe, and we arrived back in Flores having walked some 100km in the jungle.

Battered sign, shot on exposed filmstock.

Travis trying to get reception to see if Obama won… we found out DAYS later.

Lovely Dutchies

Our guide, Alex

The sunset that made it all worthwhile

After an overnight bus and three flights, we were back in California, away from the mosquitos, but with a tonne of great adventures and interesting pics under our belt.

Delirium

2008-11-11T00:49:00.001-08:00

An overnight bus from Flores to Guatemala City... followed by connecting flights.... Guatemala City > Managua (Nicuragua, for those not in the know)> Panama > LAX... and to think... this time tommorrow I'll be 1 hour into that 15+ hour flight home (LAX to Melbourne). What day is it, again?

Joshua Tree

2008-10-26T20:52:00.002-08:00

Two Saturdays ago, Claire (from Australia), Trav and I took a daytrip to Joshua Tree National park to explore and take pictures. Here are some of my favourate images, back from the photo lab.

Drinks...

2008-10-22T18:11:00.001-07:00

"In a moment / I'll wake up..."

2008-10-16T12:48:00.002-07:00

I spent the weekend before last on a small side project - the music video for James Lanman's 'In a Moment', taken from the album 'Asphalt Roads', avalaible on iTunes. It has been made available through my YouTube channel (1000 hits in the first 30 hours!), and has been lined up for some television airplay. You can view it here:

Given all of my other commitments (the documentaries), I was really keen on getting involved, but concerned about how I was going to squeeze it all in to my ever expanding schedule of US deadlines. The shoot was a long day, with many complicated setups. The entire clip is shot in timelapse, all of the camera moves were done 'live' to musical cues, and the staging for the actors was complex, and involved moving very slowly along strict trajectories. For example, the opening sequence by the pool is a continuous 40- 50 minute take, equating to only 35 seconds of screen time. Poor James had the very difficult task of lip syncing at a ridiculously slow speed, with the help of a monitor. It was all something of an experiment, but I'm very pleased with the results. The edit was a breeze, just some basic cuts and fades, a bit of pumping up the colors in a grade and a wee bit of matteing. Barely 24 hours of editing, and online by the following weekend. We actually shot a second video on the following day (a greenscreen shoot of 4 hours), but this will be off the agenda until I get back to Melbourne, and the buzz around this clip has completely subsided.

In other news, I have exactly two weeks to hand over the first of the two documentaries. A scary thought, but one I am working steadily towards, nonetheless. I must say, it's nice to be working with some engaging interviews and cutting around an AMAZING suite of original music by a talented New York composer. The absolute dream that has been the last couple of months (traveling the States, working towards a feature documentary, doing some fun small side projects) is coming to an end. It's been chaotic, tumultuous, often jetlagged and with terrible, terrible food... but, it has also been the experience of a lifetime, and included some wonderful learning curves and some utterly beautiful people ('beautiful' in the 'wonderful' sense, not 'beautiful' in the 'LA' sense - although there's been a fair share of those too!) It's going to be very weird returning home. Don't get me wrong, it will be lovely to see people and run amok / start some new projects with my summer... It's just that, I'm not entirely sure that I equate 'Melbourne' to 'home', anymore...

Work and play

2008-09-17T23:21:00.001-07:00

I have been chaining myself to the macbook as I undertake the editing of my documentary project. It’s a hard slog, several hours (well actually, 2 days!) worth of footage to utilize, not to mention photos, archive video, and documents which are relevant to the stories. There are a wide range of issues discussed in the material, and I now think that I will definitely be able to make a second work. The real question is time – how complete will this second work be? How long will it be? How best will I organise my time before I head home? So many questions… at this stage all I really know for sure is that there is a lot of long hours, coffee and midnight oil to come.

In other news, I have booked a mini holiday for the fortnight between my finish date at work and my return to Australia. Travis and I are flying into Belize City, Belize for Halloween and will then bussing across the border to Guatemala in order to witness Day of the Dead celebrations. We haven’t really decided what to do next, but doubtless it will involve some trekking, some exploring, some relaxing and a hell of a lot of photography. If I weren’t so preoccupied by work, I think I’d be excited.

I'm a gamblin' man...

2008-09-14T22:50:00.005-07:00

I’m writing this as Travis navigates us back through the desert on the I-15 highway that runs between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It’s a nice drive sit in the passenger seat – a smooth road which sets forth between wide desert plains, punctuated only by the occasional billboard, telephone pole, or even more occasional small town.

In late August, I went to New Mexico briefly, in order to interview a retired school teacher. It was a tiresome leg of travel: layovers, delayed flights (something one comes to expect in America) shuttles and cabs. All in desert heat. It didn’t help that the week I had selected to travel was also the week of the local jewellery / culture fair, and Santa Fe was awash with tourists. It’s nice to know that across the globe, on a far flung alien landscape, like that of Santa Fe, there’s still a plethora of middle aged woman finding spiritualism through the purchase of an overpriced dolphin decorated dream catcher or turquoise necklace.

Last week, I was in Toronto, Canada, interviewing the stellar Professor Sheila Cavanagh, who has recently published a book. It was, to put it bluntly, a kick arse interview. I wasn’t overly keen on Toronto itself. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. The weather was grim, downtown wasn’t that aesthetically pleasing, and I felt that the city suffered from the North American phenomenon of being spread far and wide with lacklustre (2 stars) public transport… when this latter thought struck me, my mind filled with so many things. Greenhouse Emissions. Global Warming. Melbourne’s great public transport. Barack Obama’s commitment to attempting to resolve an environmental crisis. McCain and Palin’s commitment to further oil dependency. I spent a few spare hours ruminating with (another lacklustre) coffee. Yes – it’s clear we all have to do our part with regards to the environment. But surely governments play a more important role in helping to create less fuel dependent societies? The western world cannot stop using cars point blank. That is clear. We need government commitment to developing environmentally friendly energy and fuel. We need realistic public transport options and [American] cities [other than New York, Chicago] that incorporate public transport into their design. I hate to think of Americans voting for a party who does not seek to address these issues. But it’s only the tip of the iceberg as to why Americans (and indeed the world at large) so desperately need Obama to be elected President. If you are at all interested in the campaign, or wish to read about some of the important (and often overlooked) election issues, go here.

Someone had remarked that: “It’s a romantic life, the one man documentary crew travelling the country”. Romantic, but lonely too. I was homesick that night. The first night in ages. Homesickness seems to stalk budget motels. I wanted to be in a familiar city with good public transport, nice coffee, some friends. I missed liberal attitudes and being able to speak my mind, and just… well… speak in my accent and slang and be understood. Homesickness is always fleeting though. There’s always something new and distracting on my plate, the thrill of a project, the moments “on the go”.

This weekend, Trav treated me to a birthday treat. A weekend away in Vegas, living it up poolside, in the hilarious casinos (“Come try our looser slots! New hot games every week!”), and overstuffing ourselves in the buffets. Trav’s lovely mum (or rather, “mom”) came along for the ride and showed us how to do Vegas in style. We all had a blast. I lost my gambling virginity, along with a small sum of USD.

Pensive and down $15.00 outside of the Flamingo Casino

Extreme Makeover

2008-08-23T10:23:00.005-07:00

Everything is in a state of flux at the moment. I have decided (given the inflexibility of my VISA and the dissolution of the faculty/school I was studying under at Melbourne University), that I will return home to complete my PhD. At this stage, I will be aiming to return to the States a year later, presumably on a different VISA, and *ahem* as Dr. Spong. I’ll be home, jetlagged and no doubt in need of a very stiff drink, on November 13th.

It does feel strangely like a defeat or regression. I’m not really sure why this is. I have actually achieved far far more than I intended to – it looks like I will have enough material for two distinctly different documentaries, and I have had offers to shoot a few more music videos and will collaborate on a (very) short film before I leave. I’ve found a little time to do some writing and come up with ideas for “the next big thing”. Maybe it is returning to life as a post graduate, rather than the enjoying the excitement of being a cocky young filmmaker who has adventures. I’ve also come to really love Venice Beach, California’s amazing weather, my apartment, the sweet friends I have met along the way, and of course, one particular corn fed bloke from Denver.

It seemed appropriate that the blog get an overhaul. The excitement of being in LA (“LA: The place where dreams come true!”. TM) has worn off, and ultimately, I'm going to be coming and going anyway. I also no longer feel just like “the boy that made that lesbian Detective film”. I’ll always love those dark (gender bending) dames, but they are firmly back in the 1940s, at least for the foreseeable future. For now, I’m someone that dabbles in a variety of film forms, and takes (and shares) photos along with way, usually with laughably old school cameras.

Me (tiny) up near the peak of Mt Evans, CO.

Airline Vent

2008-08-23T09:32:00.002-07:00

Much of my life seems to be spent in airports. Queues. Delayed flights. Missed connections. Altering shuttles, meetings and schedules because of the airline incompetence.

A number of things strike me about how airline service (at least within America) could be improved. Generally all airport gates lack sufficient seating to accommodate an entire group of passengers. If 100 people are waiting to get on a flight (or worse, have to wait around for a delayed flight), why aren’t there 100 seats at or near the actual gate?
In the event that a flight is delayed, why is it that two fight attendants are left scrambling to manually check and organise new connecting flights for passengers travelling several legs. Surely there must be some computer programming which could cross reference available connections? Failing that, why can’t more staff come and help. Clearly, manually altering 100 odd complicated reservations is too much work for two staff, already busy answering questions, allying passenger frustration and getting updates on the delay. Finally – it seems sort of simple, but a number of ailrline staff seem downright incapable of using an intercom. They speak too loudly into the intercom, or place their mouth to close to the receiver. This is especially frustrating when the accent or language is foreign to you. US and United are particularly bad offenders at this. If a simple intercom poses a challenge to staff, one wonders how they cope with arguably more important tasks, related to passenger safety and the event of an emergency.

I’m sure I’m not imagining that the service from US carriers is more chaotic and less reliable than the bus stations of Kathmandu or the train stations of Dehli.

Pretty little pictures...

2008-08-17T22:58:00.003-07:00

Naturally, I’ve been taken dozens of medium format low fi pics on my travels – the photos are too numerous to post (and one roll was fairly destroyed by the airport x ray machine, despite the verbal assurances of airport staff) but I figured I’d post some of the highlights in chronological order. They do lose some appeal by appearing here as 400px X 400px, but... well... you get the idea :).

The view from Brooklyn bridge

New York's amazing subway system (Time exposure)

...and again (Time exposure)

Grand Central Station (Time exposure)

Travis goes a photographin' in Denver

Mt Evans, CO.

Man with performing lion/dog at Venice Beach

I try to out-cool the three storey high Jim Morrison, Venice Beach.

Gas pump outside of Phoenix, AZ.

Signage in ghosttown outside of Phoenix, AZ.

The world's creepiest (apparently haunted) hotel, AZ.

Hoover Dam

Travis, in the worlds coolest t-shirt, Salt Lake flats, UT.

CA/CO/NV/AZ/UT/CA

2008-08-17T21:56:00.004-07:00

Me (x8), Hoover Dam, Aug '08 - Courtesy of Travis' Oktograph Lomo Camera.

I find it sweet and highly amusing that my inbox this week has been full of lots of the same request / query. Update the blog. Had I given up blogging? Was I alive? How was the doco (or “doc”, as the Americans abbreviate) coming together?

We’ll here is all is, albeit with a delay– it has been a VERY busy couple of months. After the success and excitement of the Minneapolis / New York trips, I spent a week reviewing and logging the footage, deciding what to use, how I might getting my bearing with the stories and what was most important to their telling… and before I could get my teeth into preparing an edit, I started the process of setting up the next leg of interviews. I was surprised by how much I had missed (and been missed by) Travis, the corn fed Denver lad, who came to pick me up at the airport, brandishing a curious home made sign advertising for his “top Aussie bloke” (which I succeeded in sleepily walking straight past). He’s been a great friend / partner-in-crime / mischief wrangler and has really made my time in LA fly by.

I went to Denver for a few days to pick up one interview, some B roll and spend the 4th of July with Americans who celebrated it in style. Fireworks, decorations, crashing dinner parties and BBQs and just generally having a rollicking good time. It was very reminiscent of Australian Christmas (boozed up relatives / rich food / fun times). Travis and I spent an afternoon hiking around the glorious peak of Mount Evans (my second encounter with snow), and taking pics. My favourite day spent in the US, to date.

In mid July, my mate Nick arrived from Melbourne, and it has been nice to have some familiar company, even if we have been cramped into my ultra cute, but ultra small Venice Beach pad. In mid / late July I embarked on an epic 2+ week road trip with Nick at the wheel, to do some more filming for the doc in Nevada and in Arizona (Reno, Phoenix). They were long hot days, exhaustive road travel, coupled with large stretches of shooting, stressing over the rising gas prices and having to take an excessive detour after a road was washed out by a freak storm… I came up with the most brilliant (!) idea that I didn’t need weekends per say, and would use these days, not to rest, but rather to film Nick a music video. Looking back at the footage, I am immensely proud of the achievement, but at the time, it was a mammoth undertaking, and mentally I was very burnt out - really just running on coffee (or the American pitiful excuse for coffee), call times, substandard food and the encouragement and patience of those around me. Phoenix was certainly was the most challenging environment I have ever shot in – the heat, the noise of crickets (and Phoenix’s obligatory air conditioning) interfering with the sound recording, the unforgiving cloudless sky, hours spent on the road, the rising cost of gas, etc. I managed though – and everyone I came across was triply supportive of the long hours I was working, and the strain of being a one-man-band. I spent a spare evening filming interview material for a local charity’s promo video – something I again, probably shouldn’t have offered to do, given the exhaustion, but rewarding nonetheless.

I had a presentation the following week, where I was to explain my progress with the documentary. I have to say, I was somewhat nervous – I had shot a lot of footage, made a lot of my own discoveries, but was having trouble working out how to collate the common elements. I resolved on cutting together the opening 5 minutes of the documentary and watched very uncomfortably as it was screened. To my relief it was very well received. (“Wow”, “You’ve really got my attention”, “What happens next?– I want to see more”, “I really care for this character already”). All my doubts about where the project was headed dissolved. I’m cockily proud of the fact that I’m onto a winner…

The next weekend I went with Travis and his sweet lass Tasha, to Salt Lake City (again in road tripping style) to see his documentary screen at the film festival there. It was my second pass through Hoover Dam (an art deco dam in the middle of the desert!) in as many weeks, and I relished being able to take photos and not stress about call times, or losing light, or gas prices. I have been annoyed that my US sojourn has coincided with what I hear is an amazing art deco exhibition in Melbourne, but hey - I have been to the Chrysler, the Empire State and Hoover Dam, so I guess I have nothing to complain about. I have seen Travis’ film Next Exit, Main Street several times now… it’s a very tautly edited feature doc(o) about American politics and the polarization of the current party system. I am incredibly biased of course, but I feel it is doco storytelling at its finest, and covers some very relevant subject matter. It moved several members of the audience to tears. Check it out here.

I have two more mini-trips to go (Santa Fe, NM and Toronto, Canada) and have begun editing in earnest. I am ecstatic to be working with an amazing music composer I met in New York. There are a lot of long hours editing to be done, and a few interesting things popping up on the horizon (more music videos / a short / an extended stint wrapping up the PhD in Australia). I have as full a plate as ever, but am just grateful for the opportunities as they arise…

Pack / Unpack

2008-06-21T22:02:00.002-07:00

So, the first leg of the shoot went really well...

Minneapolis is one of the most green, picturesque places I have ever seen. The people I interviewed were very sweet, very patient and overwhelmingly welcoming. I'm hoping the film gets into a festival there, just so I have an excuse to go back. It all got a bit frantic thereafter, with bad weather, a string of cancelled flights, sleeping overnight in Chicago Airport and a mad dash to make it (late) to an interview.

I had a mini drama in Batavia, NY, when one of my organized interviews cancelled (somewhat frustrating given I had effectively come all the way from Los Angeles, if not Melbourne, to interview them - but hey, such is life). Catastrophe was averted when both the local drinking establishment and coffee shop and allowed me to set up shop for the afternoon and interview passing customers, including some well spoken teens, who made for great interviews. New York City was even more amazing than my high expectations. Huge chookas to Caroline for putting me up (read= putting up with me) in a part of Brooklyn that suspiciously resembled Sesame Street. Not only did I manage to get some stellar interviews, but I got to do the city as well on my day off, and fell in love with the subway system, especially as it crosses the mighty Hudson River. I really fell in love with the city, but in particular the obvious touristy locations - Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State and the Chrysler. Overall - I feel it was a hugely successful venture - sure my back was sore, and I was sick of airports, but I came away with some great footage. I wish I had got some more B roll, but I think i might be able to fudge it but picking up some more at other locations. As I start to edit, I hear Travis' mantra ringing in my head : "You can never have enough B roll!".

So I am back, barely unpacked, and already working out more flights and travel. I have a road trip to Phoenix booked in mid July (!)... If the camera doesn't melt, and I don't die of thirst as we cross Death Valley, then I will be rather grateful, and there's a bounty of interview material with a very welcoming school. Nick is coming over to do his music tour (check out the dates here), and so we will be sharing cars and the nastiest of motels along the way. Then, I'm off to Santa Fe, NM for a day or two. And a brief jaunt in San Fran.

Air - Waves

2008-05-28T18:30:00.002-07:00

The ipod is chockers. The bags are packed. The Mac book is prepped with a number of distractions. The Holga is at the ready…. And I have morphed into a mutant packhorse come traveller. I’m pretty adept at packing light – but the film gear is pretty heavy. Minneapolis, Chicago (stop over) then upstate New York and New York City.

There was a huge last minute panic which stemmed from the fact that the Panasonic HVX camera I was sent is a dud, and I have had to wrangle warranties, replacement and all of that malarky… this panic was further exacerbated by the fact that it all happened over Memorial Day weekend and shops and technical support lines were closed. It was a stressful 48 hours, but with support from a number of people (Thanks Mum, Travis, Jerry) I have sourced a cheaper, but still decent, Sony HDV Camera to take on the road, and negotiated a replacement to arrive in time for my second leg of shooting… Is the Sony a little heavier – or am I just a little wearier after the last mad couple of days?

I couldn’t really think of anything spectacular to blog about… so I thought I would be completely self-indulgent and share my favourite “on the road again” songs.

The Long Way Home
The Tom Waits or the Norah Jones version.

Riverwide
Sheryl Crow’s homage to Walt Whitman's 'Among the Multitude' stirs me up a bit. Yeah she shagged Eric Clapton… and wrote some hilariously bad pop tunes, but Shezza has her moments.

So Far Away
Carole King’s classic doesn’t so much make me want to go home, as to wish that people from home could come along for the ride.

24 Hours from Tulsa
Makes me think of Aussie bound road trips. Peterborough with Mum and Dad (it was usually the Tom Jones version on cassette) as a kid. Sarah and I belting along to Dusty in the back of Nick’s car on the way to an infamous weekend in Kennett River also garners a mention. We’re such dags, really.

Leaving on a Jet Plane
(Well obviously). Doesn’t really matter who sings it, its still terribly accurate. I guess most musicians hit the road in some sense and therefore, can’t help but to interpret it with some truth. Look - I said I was a dag, okay?.

Wear and Tear
LA singer songwriter Tom Bresseau’s ode to a hometown (his own?) makes me want to take long uncomfortable train rides across America.

Roadhouse Blues
Jim Morrisson died too young.

Fool for a Lonesome Train
Ben Harper’s whole Lifeline album really. Makes me think of the to and fro, those heady months and that hot summer, flying in and out of Melbourne in late 07 / early 08.

Rocket Man
Well the Elton version is okay, but Kate Bush’s is wonderfully wacky. Particularly at high altitudes.

Refuge in the Roads
Joni Mitchell pays tribute to road trips. We should all go on more road trips. Really. The album this is from, Hejira plays at least once a week.

Things to see and do

2008-05-09T17:21:00.004-07:00

Lately - there's been a real joy about things...

I wish I could explain it better, but I can't. I have had bouts of homesickness, but overall, LA offers a stream of interesting things and cool people... and slowly, opportunities are presenting themselves to me. In no particular order, here's a list of things that have made my last fortnight so much fun... AKA a list of things to see and do:

There's an amazing exhibition on at the Hammer at the moment. Kara Walker is a well established contemporary American artist whose work has been featured across the States and overseas. Consisting of drawings, paintings, paper cut outs (from small works to large room encompassing plateaus), projection and film, her retrospective "My Compliment, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love", broaches issues of race, cultural identity and sexual violence. Some of my favourite pieces were paper cutouts, mounted on walls, featuring life sized silhouettes of African American experience during white settlement of America. The lighting of much of the exhibition cast the viewers own silhouette onto the scene, and raised a number of issues regarding how we situate ourselves in relationship to racism and sexual violence. Her work moves beyond the complaint that history and representation are mythologies written largely by white men. She weaves her own personal voice, and its wider concerns, amongst common stereotypes of African American people, often adopting said stereotypes to depict uncomfortable scenarios. Utterly moving and very worthwhile.

Do. Not. Miss. Son of Rambow. One of the most joyous afternoons that I have spent at the cinema in a long time. This is the story of two unlikely friends who set out to make their own mini Rambo style movie (complete with D.I.Y. costumes and stunts). It is very engaging and I laughed very very hard. This is not an action movie, or mindless Hollywood schlock ala Stallone, but a simple story about friendship, imagination and coming of age, expertly told. Performances were stellar, the script was water tight, and most of all, it was just a whole heap of gratuitous fun. It's not rocket science, but it is still some kickarse cinema. Enjoy.

Doctor Who. Yes, (Dame) Billie Piper is coming back. Yes, annoying Freema Agyeman has been making re appearances (grrr), and yes David Tennant is still mind bogglingly good at channelling Tom Baker's Doctor for a new generation. It's a flagship program and it looks it - great effects, stellar performances, beautiful music and usually some exceptional writing... but lately, it's got even better - I'm not sure whether its because I am finding it all the more poignant because I am in the earthbound equivalent to outer space (L.A.), or whether it is the addition of Catherine Tate and Bernard Cribbins to the cast (as Donna and Gramps), but I have been quite moved by my weekly slice of escapism these last few weeks. Series 3 was so so. Series 4 has been impressive.

There's a tonne of other (small, banal, ridiculous) things that have put rocked my world... Quesedilla, Eve Arnold's photography book about the making of The Misfits, my Aussie friends calling me (a little bit tipsy, across time zones) from a karaoke bar, photographing the things and people around me with the Holga, Orange Sherbet ice cream, my documentary, having Jonothan visit and having Nick plan a visit, finding somewhere that makes a decent coffee, riding the buses, wearing my red thongs (flip flops) everywhere, thinking up ideas for video clips... hell, even going to the gym has been fun (maybe I have an imbalance).

On a wing and a prayer

2008-05-02T16:58:00.003-07:00

The documentary is really hitting its stride. I'll start booking my travel early next week... and I look set to cross the continent (and return) once by plane, do a few short jaunts on bus, and then finally, two road trips when one Nick Tiliacos gets here in July... We are going to try and synchronize my travel with his playing gigs in some major cities.

There's not much to say about the documentary - I don't really feel it is appropriate to go into detail until I am done shooting - but for the most part people have been very cooperative, and are generally happy to talk on camera. About 70% of my contacts are made, and I've had a good strike rate with convincing these people to talk on camera. The gear has arrived, my schedule is starting to form... all I really have left to do is continue contacting people and to write the actual questions. I feel very good about this project - its an amazing set of interwoven stories - my real challenge is to do each element justice, allow each voice to be heard and to be objective and sensitive to everyone involved. I'm rip rearing to go!

Jonathan from Melbourne came to stay for a few days - drifting through LA (everyone here seems to be drifting in some sense) on the way to a conference. It was AMAZING to a) hear the Aussie accent in all its *ahem* colour (Honest mum, I tried to keep my potty mouth in check), b) just hear about all out mutual friends and acquaintances and c) get some MILO! (Oh MILO - I have missed thee). Of course, it was nice to see Jono too - we caught up on old times, wandered around Venice (I got to play tour guide) and then be mega tacky tourists in Hollywood (Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater etc). I was truly sad to see him go, even though my shoebox apartment is less than ideal for sharing.

Otherwise, I'm wondering about my future. I had figured I'd do the documentary and then just get the hell out of here... but I'm beginning to see some Pros: I have made some really special friends and peers in the industry, and can see myself having (at least a short term) stint living here. In the past my holidays have always been a little limited by my ability to get to a given country from Australia... with the US as my starting point, Europe and the Andes are a lot closer.... Hell, I even have a favourate restaurant (Cha Cha Chicken in Santa Monica, you rock my world). I really just don't know. If the documentary has some sort of success, maybe this will translate into a job offer, but maybe not. If I can't find good work, then I won't stay (well I can't stay, VISA wise; but also I wonder whether there would be much point in staying doing a dead end job I didn't feel passionate about). I am missing teaching university students, but I'm not 100% sure what it is I ought to be teaching, or what my likelihood of picking up teaching work is. Nothing can be decided yet... but... I can't help wondering what will become of the future. All I really know for certain is this... I'll always miss Australia to some extent, but right now I'm happy, sorted and have a great project in my hands.

Holga #8,#9

2008-05-02T16:21:00.003-07:00

Lately my lomography has been a bit hit and miss.

The slide film from Tucson was terrible... apparently you really have to get the lighting conditions and aperture settings right for exceptional slide film... but the colours were brilliant. It's something I'd attempt again... but maybe in a controlled lighting environment.

Then, there was a great set of B & W portraits I took of mates (Jerry, Libby and Suzanne), but these were sort of "happy snaps", bar the broody one of me that Jerry took on the heights of Runyan Canyon, with me surveying Hollywood and greater LA.

The next colour roll was a disaster - I had the time exposure switch set to B (Bulb) which means that I was unwittingly taking time exposures and had a roll which consisted mostly of blurry shots. Sometimes these images have a dreamlike quality, almost implying memories, but mostly (when I had unsteady hands) they are non descriptive coloured smears. I guess it is a small lesson that had to learn eventually.

Out of the 12 colour shots, I am rather proud of my use of colour flash to depict Travis as the See/Hear/Speak No Evil monkey... but I think the result would have been nicer if I had taken it in a darker space.

The most recent of set of B & W fare better and capture some odd moments and strange places in my travels.

The next phase

2008-04-18T13:27:00.002-07:00

Looking out over Hollywood and greater LA, from Runyan Canyon

I have been contacting people to be interviewed for the documentary with a fairly good response rate.
It is going to be a logistical nightmare carting my gear around, but I'll manage. I just might do the whole trip as a "scruffy looking packhorse / backpacker" rather than a "swish looking documentarian", but I'm fine with that. I really want to get as many different opinions / responses as possible, but that also means traveling to some far flung locations. Whilst it would have been nice to have the ease to fly everywhere, my travel budget won't allow it. There will probably be some long Greyhound bus rides.... but hell, there's much more to see out of a bus window...

Holga #5. Tucson AZ.

2008-04-08T17:04:00.003-07:00

"Yeehawr..."
I have just returned from a conference in Tucson AZ. It's a pretty nice town actually, and the locals were very charming, if not extremely curious as to why I was visiting. I got the whole "We don't get Aus -sies around these parts, much" guff a bit, but now that I am over my homesickness, I find it easier to talk about home, and why I have come here... the differences between Aus-sie land and the States... and the things / people / lifestyle that I miss. I'm almost sounding patriotic!

I decided not to tape the Holga up this time round and allow in some of the light leaks that have made the camera (in)famous. Holga #4 is still being processed (I shot on a slide film stock to see the difference). Thanks to passing Tucsonian for taking the pic of me. Gee - the surrounding cacti (and the new gym membership in Santa Monica) almost have me looking fit.

Holga Roll #3

2008-03-29T11:03:00.005-08:00

Holga roll #3 was a bit of a disappointment....
It was a bit of an experimental phase for me (attempting some time exposures, double exposures, working in different lighting conditions). There are no guides about which film types work best for time exposures and how long to open the shutter for. I was also lacking a tripod, so in this image, I rested the camera on the surface of the boardwalk. I think if I had opened the shutter for less time I probably would have captured the brilliant reds and yellows of the fair lights. I took 12 exposures of many different subjects, of which I felt there were maybe 4 reasonable shots, and this one "good" one.

Santa Monica Pier has a very magical feel at night. Sure, it's noisy, and there are lots of obnoxious children running amok.... but it's also very pretty (the coloured lights, the movement... ok and it was a featured location in a little film called Xanadu...) and I definitely want to go back and take more photos when I get a tripod (this week hopefully) and some more film.

In other news, the doco is really starting to come together... I have a vast list of contacts and am slowly working my way through them. My equipment is ordered, but some of the parts are on back order, which is a little frustrating. All that really remains is working out people's availability and finding a cheap and effective route though some 4 states of North America. Looks like the old traveling bag will be packed again... I'm excited about doing the doco, but I must admit, it was refreshing to spend the last couple of weeks in Venice living out of an apartment /cupboards/drawers/neighbourhood... and making friends locally... doing the quiet life. That said, I clearly have to come to terms with the fact that I can't have it both ways, and I'm sure if I were to just stay in Venice 24 / 7, in 6 months time I'd be pining for the open road / sky / water again.

L.A. life in black and white

2008-03-19T17:17:00.002-08:00

Holga medium format roll #2.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how these pics came out (they are presented below most recent to oldest, so it's fair to say I am slowly improving) and have been thoroughly enjoying playing with my new toy. The medium format style image (basically a square) certainly stretches my brain which has been so used to working in 16:9 or occasionally 4:3.

Generally speaking it's hard to get a really correct exposure with the Holga, because it only has two shutter speeds... amusingly labelled "sunny" or "overcast"... so I am fairly happy with the exposures. A few of the images are slightly soft of focus, but again the possible focus settings are a little rudimentary. I really could tighten up on framing (go in closer and get the horizon line straight).

Not too shabby for my second go with the beast, though.

The freakshow entrance, about 30 second walk from my house.

Daytime on Venice Beach.

One of the many fortune tellers on Venice Beach. I would have gone closer but feared it would cost me some cash to take the pic.

The canals which give Venice its name.

Randy and Sven : Two reasons why you should go to the gym.

Sunset and a life guard tower in Santa Monica.

Donna Summer was right. Old men really do play Chinese Checkers, by the trees.

Mannequin VS giant insect: my favourate shop window, off Rodeo Drive.

Venice Beach

2008-03-03T15:09:00.003-08:00

I live on Venice Beach.

Well not actually on the beach (all that sand would be rather impractical). But... a mere 20-30 second walk to the beach.

Huge chookas to Sven for the second hand furniture which (strangely) totally matches everything inside my new place, and Danny for being an extra pair of moving hands.

Now I have a place... the doco research is starting to come together.... and I'm fighting fit, with the perfect suburb to go for long jogs around... My glass is seriously half full... Though - the half full glass phenomenon may be somewhat reflexive of American restaurents penchant for offering free refillable soda.

(Home) sick

2008-02-17T03:12:00.002-08:00

I've been terribly ill.

I've basically had the worst case of flu / fever I think I have ever had in my life. I have run all kinds of weird temperatures, been sweaty, been frozen, been shaken, too inert to move, too manic to sleep.... Put in basic terms, I've been in that sort of theatrical fevered delirious state you see death bed ridden characters in during old episodes of Little House on the Prairie etc.. I know I took a few phone calls in my crazy sleepy flu ridden state... God know who they were from.... Hopefully it will come to me and I will get back to you.

I think being so sick has really made me realize just how far from home I am. The one moment I wanted to call someone I realised (a) what it what cost to talk for long enough to ellicit any real comfort, and more importantly (b) what time it was in Australia. I've been sick overseas before (short bouts of food sickness in India and Nepal) but, never to this extreme.

Ahhh well... I'm running at 70% of my full capabilities. I'm on the mend. Apparently there's an epidemic sized wave of flu passing through LA. I guess I'm just one of the locals now.

Postcards home...

2008-02-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

I feel like I am slowly starting to get into the swing of LA life. I’m still not entirely sure where I would like to live – part of the problem of moving (even temporarily) to a place of this scale is that you cannot really visit each little area before you have to start making decisions about where to live. I’m currently in a quirky little boardinghouse south of Beverly Hills… and it’s a nice enough area. Everyone has a different opinion about where I should settle. Weho can be a bit tacky but its central, good for getting about sans car, and close to Runyan Canyon (the only place worth jobbing around). Santa Monica is also quite nice, but a bit further, and a bit more geared at rich tourists.

I’ve had a few great adventures out on the town – Bowling in Beverly Hills, hotstepping it in WeHo’s finest (or should that be tackiest?) nightspots, catching some remarkable live soul music at a lateshow in the Kibbitz Room, and meandering around Runyan Canyon with its glorious views of LA and the Hollywood Hills. I’ve also seen this city at it’s quirkiest… A Jocelyn Wildenstein look a like (or maybe it was actually her - Frankly, I doubt she recognises herself these days) with her surgery swollen head being photgraphed outside the Beverly Centre, the emphatic group of anti scientology protestors shouting in their V for Vendetta masks, (masks because scientologists were filming them from inside their buildings), the wig shops, the all American diners with their all American (cough) “cuisine”, the cowboy carrying a cumbersom pile of hatboxes (presumably containing cowboy hats), and the touts along Sunset with their maps and tours of stars homes. Some of this I have caught with my trusty new Holga camera (with mixed results).

Backup girl and soul singer watch the next act.(Not sure about the red flash)

This sign is out the front of "Trashy Lingerie". Ummm. Yeah.

One of the many cool views from Runyan Canyon.

Yes, I gave her the dollar.

Still a way to go in really getting to grips with the Holga.... but hey ho, there's certainly lots to photograph in LA... And it's nice to be doing something creative with my spare time.

Taste(s) of things to come...

2008-02-03T12:45:00.001-08:00

I've started work on the documentary, but there are a few hold ups.
There's a few meetings which need to take place before the ball gets rolling, and basically the people involved have other commitments for the next two weeks... So I'll be spending a bit more time researching more equip (the price of cameras is wildly different (both cheaper and more expensive than in Australia), and considering methods for getting the doco screened / sold / distrbuted.

Went to a very fun party last night in WeHo (aka West Hollywood) (I think it's hilarious - "We ho" = "We whore"), thanks to an invitation extended by my very thoughtful colleague. I now know a few more LA peeps, and have a greater sense of what area I might want to live in, etc, and where the IKEA is... just the sort of nuts and bolts insider information you need when settling in a new place. Some of the people in this town are very charming and charismatic, but perhaps I am confusing the "what-did-you-say-in-your-whacky-accent?" face for the "I'm-oh-so-intently-listening" face. People were very friendly and interested in what brought me to LA and what I wished to achieve here, and I suddenly wasn't intimidated by this mammoth city any longer.

Here's something I stumbled across on the internet... (admittedly its a crap camera'd version - I'll update when a better one becomes available) but how exciting! I found a lot of Series 3 of Doctor Who to be very dissappointing. Series Four looks amazing though! Catherine Tate! Rome! Agatha Christie! (and then Freema Agyeman returns, which is a bit annoying because I loathe her.... but hey.... she looks sort of frozen... a clever plot device to disguise her terribly wooden performances, perhaps?).. not to mention the long awaited return of Dame Billie Piper! Oh... I'm so unapologetic about being a nerd right now. This all looks great!

Land of celluloid dreams and mammoth food

2008-01-26T18:09:00.000-08:00

EXT : DAY - WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES.
It's been raining for the last three days, but finally starting to clear up today.
I've arrived and am settling in pretty well... It is a MAMMOTH city, everything is huge. The city itself is spread out. The roads are wide. The cars on them are all huge 4WD style beasts. The plates of food dished up are ridiculously large. A big coffee at Starbucks (the only "real" coffee - snigger - oh to have a Lygon St) is about a litre... People are referring to me as thin. Ahhh well, I guess it ain't all bad.

It's been a great couple of days, and I have begun to get my bearings. People on buses and the street are very very helpful, and I have managed to see most of the districts within my price range for accommodation. Some things to report home, which amused or fascinated me:

- a burger chain entitled simply "FATBURGER" - well, I guess there's no point beating around the bush.
- a film shoot in Westwood, where I saw Carmen Electra, or at the very least Carmen Electra's double. To be honest, I have a feeling that the double would have more charisma.
- cheeky gayboys at the West Hollywood Starbucks nicknaming me "Dundee" and calling *everyone* "honey".
- a very cool bookshop which only sells mystery novals, and in particular the cheesy pulp 40's / 50's kind - She couldn't be Good!, The Fate of the Immodest Blonde, Coffin for a Cutie etc.

Made a few wonderful mates already, and have started to think about where to live (Downtown, Mid Wilshire), and seen some glorious art deco buildings which make me wanna hole up and write more Dark Dames material. Haven't taken any photos yet - the weather has been so dreary, but hope to post some soon.

Hope everyone is well... Dundee xxx

Farewell / Screening

2008-01-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

I had an absolutely ripper night - and I was overwhelmed by how many people came to encourage and support the move O/S.
The sheer number of people made it seem like an episode of This is your life, only there was no Mike Monroe, and well... a lot more booze at the afterparty.

The screening of Nick's video clip Rose Dust went well, bar the very dark projector; and the (very) rough cut of Libido Ex Machina was very well recieved and sparked a great deal of debate, readings and some thought provoking responses. Needless to say, all at Robot Nun HQ found this very encouraging and will be adding finishing touches when the jetlag and stardust clears.

Glitch were (as always) wonderfully attentive. A huge thanks to everyone who showed up. I'm so sorry if I didn't get much of a chance to say goodbye one on one. You all rock! Also - chookas to Lucian for the glamourous B&W photos. Oh, we all look so frighteningly hip in B&W.

Couldn't have wished for a better send off.

Invitation to farewell drinks...

2007-12-30T23:20:00.000-08:00

Glitch are letting me have a goodbye drinks / screening before I fly out of Melbourne. Friday 18th Jan. Be there... At least one (but possibly both) of Nick's new video clips and the film Libido Ex Machina (Desire in the Machine) will be screening...

A travel diary of sorts....

2007-12-30T00:35:00.000-08:00

I’m back… albeit temporarily.

Melbourne has been buzzing with Christmas and now New Years, I am slowly plowing my way through my full inbox, and I have still got so so much to do before I jet off to LA. Guess I should share a rundown of my recent adventures.

KATHMANDU
I arrived in Kathmandu a little bewildered. It had been a busy couple of days in the lead up to jetting off. It’s a busy, noisy little place. Chaotic. Just my cup of tea. Tourist center Thamel offered some entertaining (but somewhat draining) time wandering around, chatting to locals, window shopping, and seeing the sights. Also worth a visit was bustling Darbur Square where I came face to face with the Kumari (a living virgin goddess). The Kumari is not supposed to be photographed by tourists (so naturally, I didn’t take any photos), but here is is a publicity portrait of her. (Even goddesses have agents and press packs, it seems).

It’s a fascinating custom, and one which I have very mixed feelings about. Whilst I won’t go into detail, you can learn more by visitinghere . I also spend some time in Kathmandu teaching English at the local school which was very rewarding and frankly a far greater stretch than tertiary teaching and lecturing. I visitied the nearby Monkey temple which was a steep walk / climb and provided a nice teaser for the trekking I was about to embark on. The far reaching view from the monkey temple also offered my first glimpse of snow – something I’ve never experienced in Australia.

Kathmandu Valley, as seen from the Monkey Temple.

Sunrise in the historic city of Bhaktapan.

Having an Indiana Jones moment at the outdoor bath in Bhaktapan.

Marketplace in Bhaktapan.

The nearby "Sleeping Buddha" monument, adorned for worship.

Prayer flags atop a temple in Thamel.

ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT
From Kathmandu, I joined a small trekking team of 6 and drove to Besisahar… and then… when the jeep stopped as the road finished, I threw on a backpack and started walking… and barely stopped, spending some 19 days trekking the Annapurna region. The whole trekking experience was really amazing… waking around dawn, walking for 5 – 9 hours, covering anywhere from 10 – 25 (mountainous) kilometres and taking in some breathtaking views. I had worried that simply traipsing through the hills was going to get boring. I couldn’t be more wrong. Dependent upon altitude and latitude, the Annapurna circuit passes through jungle, rainforest, green farming pastures, desert, tundra and snow capped mountain ranges. I didn’t find the trekking to be difficult, nor did I encounter any of the symptoms of altitude sickness. My stomach did get a little grumpy with the limited menu on offer, which resulted in some spectacular food poisoning at 5400 metres. On the day of crossing the Thorung Pass, I finally saw the snow, touched the snow, and the sheer excitement (combined with some bad food) spelled a hasty dash behind a large rock to throw up all over the snow. The group was somewhat amused by this, but moreso by my ski jacket which I had hired in Kathmandu and was an alarming shade of lime green. Andrew (a cheeky Brit) and I spent much of the walk down from the Pass putting on David Attenborough voices and talking of “the rare sightings of the Lesser Spotted Spong…. with its extravagant plumage”. Much giggling. As the trek passed through Pokhara, I decided to leave the small group and spend a week exploring Pokhara’s sights.

Schoolgirls outside Besisahar.

The view from Bandipur.

The view from Bandipur at sunset.

A buddhist shrine outside Manang.

The wintery landscape of Manang.

The Annapurna range.

A battered sign warns of a landslide. The real thing. Not the Stevie Nicks song.

Nearly there! Snow! Argh - Foodpoisoning! The Pass is in sight.

Still managing to pull cheesy faces at 5416 metres.

Unusual detail of a temple interior just beyond the Pass.

POKHARA
Pokhara is a beautiful town surrounding a vast lake and boasts some of the best eating and chilled out café culture in Nepal. There are a tonne of interesting things to see, and nearby towns to walk or bike to. I spent most of this week with a very funny actress called Claudia, and we had a heap of misadventures, drinking, playing cards, eating gorgeous food and getting lost somewhere every other day. I went rowing on the lake, read, drew, walked to the nearby Peace Pagoda, and just generally chilled out. I actually was very productive with this down time, writing some Phd, reading some texts which were relevant to the new post at UCLA.

Peace Pagoda, as seen through prayer flags at a lookout point.

Pokhara and the lake, as seen from the Peace Pagoda.

BANGKOK
What a place. I’m sure it would be tiring if you were to stay for more than a week, but man, I love the place. Yes, it’s messy and cheap, and loud and brash…. (hmmm, wonder why I felt at home there). I met up with Adrian, high school mate extraordinaire, on his way home from the UK and indulged in some shopping, far too much street food, a bicycle tour through the backstreets of town, a bit of temple hopping, night markets, a movie and the worlds most dangerous motorbike taxi ride.

Monks worshipping at an innercity temple.

Group excercise in the park.

Sunset boat ride through Bangkok.

KOH PANGANG
I spent 3 nights on the island od Koh Pangang; swimming, reading, drawing, trying not to get sunburnt, and just generally taking stock of the wild things I’d seen and the exciting adventure which is about to unfold in the U.S. The sea was warm, the sky a little stormy and the jungle walks were teeming with life. Having to wait for a family of 40 or so frogs to jump across a rain covered path sure beats having to sit on a Melbourne tram stuck in a traffic jam. After three days, I returned to Bangkok for one last day of exploring before heading home to Melbourne.

View from the beachside hut I stayed in.

Thick jungle.

I had planned to visit Vietnam and go to the My Son ruins, but given that I was going to have to spend at least 1 to 2 days travelling to the site, I figured I would need longer than a week to truly “do” Vietnam… I was also beginning to come to terms with the fact that although I am not a “Christmassy” type person, this could very well be the last time I spend Christmas in Melbourne for as long as three years. I had had enough Tomb Raider style adventures for the time being (although the Inca trail / the Andes are both looking mighty fine) and it didn’t cost me anything to come back a week early and begin to settle up my affairs. I can't describe how lovely it was to have my most outrageous friends Nicko and Sarah picking me up from the airport, and then to be sharing my tales, photos, trinkets and celebrating our reunion with some quality duty free beverages. My parents and grandparents (down in Melbourne to celebrate family Christmas) were also very keen to hear about my adventures.

So here I am, a Melbournian again, for a few fleeting weeks before I arrive in the city of angels. Nick’s Rose Dust clip is rendering away and I’m putting finishing touches to a fine edit of Desire in the Machine ( the quirky nun film, I shot on bolex stock in September)... All the loose ends are tying themselves up. Roll on L.A....

In transit

2007-11-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

Airports are odd places....They are not without their entertainment. Great for people watching.

I've been spending a little too much time in transit of late... but that's cool. I've got it down pat - ipod, a book, inflight entertainment and copious amounts of water. Okay - then there's the complimentary Thai Airways wine which may have influenced my decision to watch the Nancy Drew movie... It wasn't sooooooo bad...

The last couple of weeks have been fever pitch. Nick's vid clips are coming along beautifully. I have learnt a whole heap of new skills in making some CGI creatures in Cinema 4d. (I'll post some examples when I get back into civilisation). Now I'm in Thailand (brief stopover - airport hours to kill). The contents of my life are scattered across the world - a hefty backpack I'll be living out of for a while, boxes shipping and flying to the US, and a few thing under my parents house. (Thanks Mum - xx). Weirdest of all - my keyring now has no keys on it. I have no "home". It's daunting - but has really made me take stock of the people that matter and the people I shall miss.

Thanks to the gang for a great night out on Victoria Street pre flight. Chookas to Allen, Soira and Nick for making airport waiting time and goodbyes so sweet. Was nice to have you with me :). I hope you enjoyed that Chesty Morgan.... *ahem*... I mean "art movie" you watched when you got home.

Studio Time

2007-10-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

Film studio time is rather similar to jetlag. You might spend hours and hours and hours without seeing the sun. Moments stretch out into hours. Hours condense into minutes (and these minutes might only translate to seconds of screen time). Adrenalin rushes get bookended by fatigue. Ultimately, the body's clock gets rather scrambled.

Today I shot not one, but two video clips for Nick Tiliacos. "Rose Dust" is a Fleetwood Mac (I think) styled folk rock number. The music video is set in a rather dusty attic full of creepy items (including some stuffed dead animals). The concept was based very loosely on an episode of Doctor Who which creeped me out as child, entitled "Ghost Light". Midway through the video clip, some strange lighting setups forewarn the audience of a bizarre visual climax which mixes CGI and live action. I shot and directed consistently from 10:30 am until 5:30 pm, with a spare fifteen minutes of lunch squeezed in there somewhere. A tonne of lighting setups and a truckload of shots. A very productive shoot. The second video clip is for "Not Better", a very ambient slow folk / pop song. The shoot consisted of eight shots of Nick singing against bluescreen and was completed in under an hour. Needless to say there will be the usual Rohan fanfare of post production (animation, compositing and the dreaded render time). There is a whole range of visual influences to this project : Psyop's amazing video clip for Sheryl Crow's "Good is Good", the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are", and a range of sketches and collage artworks I did many years ago.

So now it's nearing 3:00am and the whole stop start of studio time has completely scrambled me. I've barely slept in 24 hours, and all I want to do is go for a long jog. Pity there's no light at this kooky hour.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped today. Helen (the world's very best makeup girl who worked fast and tirelessly all day), John (a wonderful Assistant Director) and Andrew (who took these cool stills). Also - the band for their patience and professionalism and Nick for the very best home made catering spread seen in on low budget shoot.

Boxes

2007-10-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

The boxes are filling up.
Stuff to go to the US. Stuff to stay behind. Stuff that it's high time to throw out.

My Calendar is also filling up. A few weeks in Melbourne (so many old friends to catch up with), Nick's video clip shoot (yeah I'm doing another two video clips for the man :)).... then Hawaii... then a few more weeks, then Nepal trek.... and then of course LA from January '08 (Visa notwithstanding).

So many odd little things to organise. Tax. Getting some of my bigger furniture items to my parents. Organising a dub session for the nun film...

Yikes. Aside from plane rides it's gonna be go go go for the next few weeks.

City of angels

2007-10-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

L.A. is sorted (well almost). I’ve got all the official confirmation of my “paid” status. Hoorah! As of Jan ’08, I will be living in the city of angels, making a doco about some exciting research and the relationship between scientists and their human subjects (amongst a range of other things – some of them somewhat provocative, but still too early to commit to writing). It is vulgar to talk about money… (I’ve watched enough period drama in my time to know this. Period drama is good like that… Now I also know which direction to pass the port in, and that tough talking flapper / showgirl types are likely to have a small revolver tucked into their stockings… but also… on a more practical front, to start with the outside set of utensils and work inwards during those stifling silver service scenarios)… so yeah, money and vulgarity…. Needless to say, there is enough money to cover my costs and make something of a professional standard with some very cool equipment… And the subject matter of the doco is something I think a lot of people will be VERY interested in watching. I’m really very excited… and already researching like mad.

Of course the whole confirmation-in-my-hand also means that I’ve started to take stock of what it is I’ll miss about Melbourne. It’s the little things really… Jogs along Merri Creek (and occasionally around Albert Park Lake). Coffee from the Potter as I’m rushing into work. Cinemateque with Claire (always with one eye on her in order that she doesn’t fall asleep during the movie… again). Eating on Victoria Street. And of course all my friends.

On Sunday Nick moved into a gorgeous new pad in Clifton Hill (that figures – a mate in walking distance from my house just as I’m about to fly out of town) and Sarah and I went around for a sake / champagne infused housewarming. We had a great evening eating, chatting, catching some AbFab and docos and chasing each other around the house doing owl faces (!). There was a great deal of giggling (My stomach still hurts, guys). I really hope we make the time to break out some of the ridiculously Eurovision style dance moves we came up with (to the Divinyls) before I head overseas.

I am impatiently awaiting the arrival of my new Apple Macbook Pro. I ordered it before I organised LA – and now I’m so grateful I did… I’m definitely going to need it for all the ichat with the folks back home, not to mention all the mini trips (New York, San Fran, Chicago) to do interviews with specialists.

I’m also booked to go to Hawaii (as if Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and a move to L.A. weren’t enough?!)… to do some preliminary work at the end of the month. Wow. All this jetsetting. I'm finally going to have some time to catch some movies (courtesy of in flight entertainment).

The urge for going...

2007-09-30T01:55:00.000-07:00

Ok. Deep breath.

Now my life has actually become that travelogue.

Aside from Nepal and Thailand and Vietnam... Let's add Hawaii and L.A to the list. No sooner than I book a holiday to take me far away from home... then there are talks which make me reevaluate whether Melbourne really is home, and what opportunities might exist by basing myself overseas. It's too soon to say too much (don't wanna jinx it), but it looks like work is going to take me abroad, with a filming / teaching opportunity arising in L.A. (Will I stay 3 months? 6? A year?). Organising VISAs and working out what to take, what to sell, what to store and give away as we speak... watch this space. Should have all the concrete details by end of next week...

I know this is a huge step... and that I'm gonna miss all my pals like crazy... but there's a once in a lifetime fully funded film project (totally within the sphere of what interests me as an academic and a filmmaker) attached and I'd be downright stupid to turn it down....

Have been shopping for packs for the Nepal trek.

Looks like I'm gonna need the bigger bag after all.

The refuge of the road

2007-09-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

That change I so desperately wanted *is* hanging in the air. It smells remarkably like an aeroplane ticket. Yes. You guessed it. I booked a kickass holiday to sort out my restlessness... Nepal, Bangkok, Vietnam. 6+ weeks of trekking adventure. Roughing it / trekking for 4 weeks in Nepal. Kicking back with Adrian (my old school best bud) in Bangkok (1 week). Trekking and exploring some more in Vietnam. Home in time for New Years.

I'm turning some more corners with my PhD... I'm much happier talking about films, than talking about theorists... and now that I've jumped that initial hurdle of purely talking dry theory in my lit review (Chapter One), everything is really falling into place quite beautifully. In fact... the only thing that ISN'T falling into place is the Jocasta script. I feel like I have a few more leads on where to take it and what isn't working... but there's still so much to do. I plan on working on it while I am travelling. Fresh surroundings might give me some interesting inroads.

I had a great birthday weekend. Saturday was chockablock with errands and Olivia and Alex's engagement party (congrats again, guys). Drinks with friends on Sunday night were anything less than quiet... and this decadent evening involved an unruly adventure of venue hopping, drink swilling, Billie Piper dancing and hilarity... not to mention a rather phallic Vietnamese deep fried banana birthday cake. Thanks everyone. Had a blast.

Finally - Shakespeare / Othello themed short film / animation is finished! Some screencaps from word:play are below. I am relatively happy with it. It is not at all how I imagined it would turn out. I had envisaged it to have a high cntrast, block print, collage, almost graphic noval style look to it, but I found that such an image obliterated too much of the actors nuances. I added watery layers of colour over the top and it now has a more "hand tinted" "1940s lobby card" look about it. I wish I had spent longer resolving how the final image was going to look, or even shot some tests beforehand. Martin Kay has done an amazing job with sound design.

From the top: Me (Iago), Curtis Fernandez (Othello), Lauren Clair (Desdemona's ghost).

"And your life becomes a travelogue..."

2007-09-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

Of late my musical taste has not been as varied as it usually is...

Gone is the ambient (Air, Film scores) and the old school stuff (Ella, Nina, Louis) from my ipod...

Everything now sits in two camps. The first camp is cheesy pop music for jogging. (Camp 1 = " the camp camp"). The second camp has tended to be a collection of songs about escaping, travelling, seachanges, and a variety of similar naval gazing topics. They make me want to drop everything and run away. Not in a "Eeek! Let's flee!" sense, but rather, an excitable, "Let's drop everything! Let's go somewhere strange and have another adventure!". (Camp 2 = "You're getting restless, Rohan").

I've been looking into cheap holidays. My gameplan was to finish my PhD and move overseas at the start of '09 with a view to getting a place teaching at some European University... but.. here's the crunch. The more I think about, the more I KNOW I can't wait another 18 months. I really need to stretch my legs again (even just for a month, but preferably more), and get inspired. I'd like to intersect travel plans with my mate Adrian who will slowly be making his way home from the UK (just before Christmas) and then go somewhere to trek. Nepal? Vietnam? Is the Inca trail out of my price range? Then I guess I'll came back and nut it out for a year... and dissappear somewhere else.

I've been slowly putting the finishing touches to my Shakespeare piece for Fringe. I have had a little difficulty. Firstly the render time of the animation, CGI, has gone through the roof. This is deeply frustrating. But it does allow time to collect my thoughts (and blog). Secondly, I needed some footage of the ocean so I went to St Kilda, and found it so dull and uninspiring. As a result of this, I refamiliarised myself with Terragen (Terrain Generator), a ridiculously user friendly 3d scenery modelling program. The results I came up with were far better... but I then found myself spending (read "wasting") lots of time creating all kinds of ocean images (tropical, polluted, sunsets, icy, the works). The final resolved model I have decided to use has a much richer colour palette than anything I could have shot in St Kilda... in fact, it reminds me of the wide, wide Ganges river, slightly polluted, with the smokey reddish haze created by the ceremonial burnings. Again, all I long to do is go somewhere else.... I guess the whole St Kilda thing is case in point really. Once you've seen the grand waterways of Varanasi, the dull grey of Port Phillip Bay holds very little interest.

I wonder whether I'd feel this way if I hadn't gone to India. If I hadn't thought on a whim one day : "Go on, test yourself, son. Drop yourself in the deep end and swim a little". But then... I wonder whether I would have even had that thought, had I not been brimming with confidence (and the restlessness that followed) after When Darkness Falls screened so well in mid / late 2006. It's cause and effect... One event influences the next, and all of a sudden my life is being mapped out. The endgame I had once imagined for myself (a flat with a partner, the quiet life, teaching and chasing the film dream in Melbourne) is not even on the radar anymore. I've had more offers of romantic entanglement than I ever had as a bright young thing, and I'm just not in the headspace to pursue any of it.

****Warning : mega naval gazing alert****
Maybe that's all life is. A collection of people who sit in two camps. People who made their firm "life" decisions young, who settled and had families and partners and mortgages and sensible regular jobs... and people who never got around to doing any of that, who never stood still long enough to acquire a sense of "home". I wonder whether the decisions I've made have led me to want to resist putting any kind of roots down. I've found myself mentally complicit in this second camp... and even if I could change my mindset, I'm not entirely sure that I'd want to.

The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons
If it gets through to you
And your life becomes a travelogue
Full of picture postcard charms...

(Amelia, Joni Mitchell (Who else?! :))

The Devil and Mr. Spong

2007-08-27T08:14:00.002-07:00

Whilst spending hours computer-bound working on this rather quirky film / animation, (an eyes only task), I have been listening to Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion on audio book (an ears only task). I had read it before, and found it to be "not-put-down-able", and kept planning to re read it (until I realised this was a futile plan given my schedule, and thus got the audio book). For those not in the know, The God Delusion is a collection of arguments (scientific, mathematical, philosophical, logical) as to why (any) (G)od does not exist... (or at the very least why it is HIGHLY improbable (H)e exists) (and thus supports the notion that religion is not worth all the arguments, anxieties, dodgy fundraising or wars which take place in its name). It's a fascinating read, regardless of what your beliefs are.

Working overtime (in “Mantights”)

2007-08-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

I have been absolutely flat chat of late.

Firstly, I was invited to screen a work as part of a Melbourne Fringe show (more details coming shortly) and have been working around the clock on a 3 minute piece which will screen late September. All of the short works curated for this night of screening and performances are Shakespeare related, and my piece specifically deals with the characters in Othello… It’s basically a mixture of monologues to camera (shot on bluescreen) which will be heavily manipulated and added to an animated environment. I’m using this exercise as the opportunity to play with some ideas for effects that I might use for the Jocasta film. I’m actually in front of the camera, doing a small bit of “acting”. It was actually very daunting, and gave me a lot of insight into the actors experience of being on set (particularly a set with limited stimuli, such as the bluescreen studio). It will be interesting to see whether I have picked anything up from the wonderful actors I have worked with. I shot 8 monologues in total, but only 5 are making it to the final cut – partially because of time restrictions for the film, but also because I wasn’t happy with my writing.

Lauren as Desdemona's ghost. Very cool performance.

Rohan / Iago : "I'm sure by drawing on a moustache, noone will susbect my hair is actually pubes.."

This is in addition to the nun film (Libido Ex Machina) for which I did the second days shoot a week ago. The shoot went very well, virtually no hitches, and I am picking up the film from the lab tomorrow to send it off for telecine. I have a gut feeling that we won’t need any more material (which is probably more wishful than anything… Josh and I don’t have time to shoot anything else!). Will hopefully start the edit early next week. Sarah (teaching mate) was indispensible on this shoot. Extraing, ironing, getting food, running errands, carrying stuff... and even encouraging me to flirt with cute receptionist at the location we were shooting at (another story for another time, perhaps). Thus, I have sainted her. I only used a little Photoshop to "embellish" her pre existing halo.

"And the Lord said, thou shalt film with efficiency thanks to divine intervention... Gin, anyone?"

I have now written 25,000 words of PhD. I have heard from a few objective sources that some of these words may actually be good. (For those of you not up with the number crunching… I have to write 40-50,000 and submit the Jocasta film script).

This weekend I’m off to Yak. Yakandandah. I’m basically tagging along with my mate Nick, and his band Goodnight Thomas, who are playing the Spring Migration Festival there. I will hopefully get a few quiet country hours to write a little more Jocasta film.

Part of my ability to juggle so much of late has been my reinstalled body clock… all thanks to an exercise binge. My (famously long) jogs are now a lot more regular (and are now the ripe old distance of 12 km). I have also added swimming to the repertoire. I have had to invest in new trainers… and *gasp* men’s running leggings… AKA…. Mantights. Whilst buying the mantights involved a great deal of giggling in change rooms, I can happily announce that they have in fact resolved any chafing issues I may have had and thus allowed me to jog for longer distances and at faster speeds…. Even if (as my mate Sarah points out) I look like a pantomime villain.

My real aim is to one day beat someone in an arm wrestle. Recent attempts have been embarrassing to say the least.

Madness, Sydney, Study...

2007-07-20T00:45:00.001-07:00

What a mad week...

A week of "in's"... I've been interstate, in transit, in class (I returned to teaching) and face deep in books.... This darn phd business is clearly no walk in the park...

Off to Sydney on Monday night with a crew of academics... It was a very last minute trip... and I had a few days to walk around town (what a great city for travelling on foot!), study, do some quality eating, study some more... and wrangle some of the most fascinating and thought provoking conversations I think I've ever had with a French geneticist / neuroscientist, who specializes in gender and sexuality... (Perhaps what really added to these conversations was that each took place in one of Sydney's most picturesque locations - the Botanical Gardens, some random Art Deco street, the Rocks, the Pier). I was definately in the company of a sciencey brain- but thankfully one who was patient enough to explain things to a mere film postgrad.. We talked about the possibility of shooting a doco about his area of expertise, when future developments / discoveries are made... Doco film is not something I've ever been hugely interested in working in, but I found the discussions to be so entertaining and the material would lend itself to something a little more involved than just a "talking heads" style documentary... A doco shoot is certainly not something that is going to happen anytime soon... but perhaps a blip on the distant distant radar.... So after all of that, I flew back into Melb and taxied into Burwood to start teaching Thursday morning... I found it strangely comforting going back to work...

I've been progressing well with my PhD writing... I wouldn't say I was a fan of Douglas Sirk's work.... but doing the reading and watching the films is getting easier... And it's the least difficult of anything I have worked on with regards to the PhD so far. There's room for a number of readings, a lot of analysis and a lot of discussion.

I was directed to this clip on Youtube (Man, I love Youtube) by Eric (clever French dude) and it made me laugh so hard I thought I'd share it with the world.

"Nice shoes!" Ba ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

The rushes are in....

2007-07-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

... and Josh and I are pretty damn happy. 18 minutes of film.... and no focus issues... a few exposures that will need to be tweaked, but overall it's absolutely smashing stuff :) Great make up artistry (thanks Helen!) and some hot performances...
I've added a sneak peek below:

Sooooo relieved. That hideous stress that comes from working on film has subsided...... for now :)

Another blog, another shoot...

2007-07-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

7am, 9th July, Abbotsford convent : This is an image of an indie filmmaker… taken just after a frosty dawn… I'm out getting some cutaway shots for the latest venture (after breathlessly lugging heavy bolex equipment single handedly 5 blocks).

Ahhh yes. Indie filmmaker. How exhillerating. And not just because of the crispy dawn weather, either….

So how did THAT come to pass? After all, for those in the know, surely I have been wallowing in my pokey office, PhDing my butt off, during the semester break… I had called the “Jocasta” shoot off because it wasn’t developed enough (in terms of script, nor in terms of how I was going to create some of these FX sequences)…

One day though, whilst having coffee with Josh (MU pal, fellow tutor, WDF fan and PhD sufferee), I realised I was coming down with a case of the blues. Until… it all dawned on me, all epiphany-like… Yes…. I have had no creative outlet! I haven’t had a creative outlet since Feb!

So…. Josh and I devised a script that would only take a few days prep and two days shoot. I opted to shoot on film, thinking it would be good practice, and well, there was a bit of “Jocasta” savings around… not to mention the offer of some free(ish) telecine….

So last Thursday, I was in Queens College chapel shooting Libido Ex Machine (Desire in the Machine) , a quirky little 8 mins (ish) short about nuns and clockwork. Kindof Black Narcissus meets Metropolis. Straight drama, some in camera effects, and some dream sequencey stuff….

The cast and crew could not have been anymore wonderful... I hope the final product does them proud. One of the two days shooting is done, and Josh (co writer, director) and I are anxiously awaiting to see how this initial stuff turned out, in order that we can do some pickups if necessary, on the second day. The waiting game is NOT cool.

Other than that, it’s been a rather uneventful Semester break… as I said, lots of PhDing. I have reworked the intro and Chapter One (effectively my lit review)… I have moved on from the dark days of “Lacan writes like a wanker” and throwing my copy of Deleuze and Guattari across the room in disgust. It is now all starting to click! Hurrah! In my thesis discussion, I have moved on from Pabst’s Pandora’s Box (chapter 2), and am now discussing Sirk’s (ultra boring) Written on the Wind (chapter 3)…. But I guess what all this academic name dropping means is that I am actually making real progress…. And I’m feeling a lot better about it all. I have accepted that it really isn’t a “side dish” but an integral part of my life for the next 18 months.

In other news…. I am super happy that absolutely terrible actress Freema Agyeman has been written out of the new series of Doctor Who… Maybe it's the Katy Manning connection, or maybe it's just that I am intolerant of bad acting given how many wonderful out of work actors there are.... but Freema really ruined my weekly fix of guilty sci fi pleasure... On a more highbrow note, I have decided to get back into the swing of going to Cinematheque regularly on a Wednesday with lovely Claire…. a regular stress release.

The long distance jogging is getting harder in these colder months, so I have downloaded a whole new slew of ultra craptastic pop tunes. Some of the least classy ones include The Corrs “Breathless” and Dame Billie Piper’s “Day and Night”… It all ushers in memories of me dancing around like a dickhead (underage) in some very cheesy nightspots. Too too tacky. But when these little pop-gems-best-forgotten arrive on the ipod, my brain says no, but my calves (….perhaps sensing a long distant previous work out to such pop artefacts….) shout a resounding : “Yes!”. Aside from the regular calve workout of dancing till dawn, I really don't miss those heady nightclub days...

The break has been fantastic… I feel SO revived. I’m actually almost itching to get back into the classroom.

A reading and a romance...

2007-05-16T04:59:00.002-07:00

Olivia Crang (actress / animateur extraordinaire) recently offered to do a reading of my script for the Jocasta film with a bunch of actors... We've always been big supporters of each others work, and I guess this was her way of continuing the (long) string of favours we do for each other.... I gotta admit I was a little sceptical about whether this would be a helpful excercise.... not to mention a little nervous about airing "rough as guts" unfinished script with some strangers.... I couldn't be more wrong. Doing the reading has really raised some questions about plotting, character motivation AND helped me find a more naturalistic style of dialogue... (By God, its easy to write a high camp romp.... but serious drama / tragedy is like pulling hairs).

I have since been writing / rewriting in a frenzy and have decided to postpone the shoot until later in the year. Maybe November, after my Semester Two teaching commitments are finished... It's dissappointing to put the shoot off... but by the same token, I really feel that this work is going to be of a great deal of importance (both in a cultural context, but also amongst my own catalogue of work) and I am adamant that I want to get it right.

I took some time out to shoot some black and white shots with the Bolex 16mm film camera... and I'm hoping these images can be used as Alpha maps for the dream sequences of the film (an alpha map is a black and white image which uses tones of black / white / greys to describe the transparency or opacity of another image). Hanging out to see how this turned out. Should be back from the lab Thursday.

I'm going away this weekend with Nick (of Goodnight Thomas fame) and Sarah (shits and giggles mate / phd student / professional writing tutor) to concentrate on our respective writings. It will be a weekend of phones being turned off and a concentrated workload (with movies / red wine /commune style cooked meals in the evening). Ideally I will have finished a new draft of the script by the end of the weekend away.

I am having the biggest love affair with Nick's amazing tunes right now.

A week of half full glasses...

2007-05-06T06:40:00.002-07:00

Hmmm… I’ve spent the last couple of weeks juggling an intense workload at work, and preparing for the Masters to PhD conversion. I’ve also been jogging my butt off, with a view to running in a 14km race in Syd, come August. Needless to say, I ran myself quite down and resolved to re-establish a bit more order / rest.

And to be honest, I’ve had the most WONDERFUL week.

Last Sunday I spent most of the day in a rowboat with an old mate, catching up on gossip and taking in the scenery from Fairfield boathouse. It was an afternoon of good company, a whole lot of giggling, some zig zagged rowing (and more giggling), some nasty blisters, and a torrential downpour just 100 metres from finishing (cue crippling giggle fest).

Monday, I had a panel meeting for my bid to convert from Masters to PhD. It went far better than I’d hoped – I had some really positive feedback and some constructive criticism.

I also saw some great flicks … “Priceless” – a French romantic comedy romp which had some really intelligent dialogue and some wonderful acting. Audrey Tatou was so completely removed from the doe – eyed do gooder we tend to see her portray. I also saw “Paris, je t'aime” - a collection of short vignettes about falling in love in (and with) Paris. Whilst the short films (all by different directors) were a little bit hit and miss (Alexander Payne’s segment "14ème Arrondissemen” about a Denver postwoman-come-tourist had me in stitches; and I loved the energy of Richard LaGravenese "Pigalle" about a sexually frustrated middle aged couple looking to spice up their love life), they made a very satisfactory whole. Perhaps most resonant was “The History Boys”, a coming of age story about a group of boys studying desperately for a place at prestigous Oxford University. The various subplots dealt with the teachers who mentor them. There was some really intelligent humour and some scenes which I felt really captured the ebb and flow of a classroom atmosphere so succinctly. I guess as someone who is now comfortable with the mantle of teacher, it made me think about the way different approaches to a subject matter are always going to appeal to, or get varying results with different students, and also about how invigorating it is to see students become passionate about the subject matter.

And then, to top it all off, this weekend I developed a bit of a crush. I guess I’m not entirely comfortable writing so soon about someone who is relatively new in my life… nor with sharing my romantic entanglements online… but it has been an unexpected and thoroughly lovely surprise… Life really does have a way of throwing you a few treats when you’ve been working hard.…

"Where's Rohan?" - a fashion faux pas

2007-04-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

The other day I went in to work only to discover that my mate and colleague Claudia and I had had some sort of telepathic communication with regards to our wardrobe. (See below).

At first, I'm sure we thought we looked rather cool. A little bit matching ghetto, a little bit mixed race United Colours of Benneton (sp?!) advertising campaign.

I'm now a little concerned that we resemble not only each other, but this rather notorious gentleman, pictured below.

'Grey Gardens' (1975)

2007-04-07T00:19:00.000-07:00

I've been haunted all week by something I watched last Friday. "Grey Gardens" (1975) is a documentary film about the lives of Edith "Big Edie" Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale, who are the aunt and the first cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. The setting for the film is Grey Gardens, a once beautiful 28-room mansion and property, now falling apart and infested by stray cats and vermin. Big and Little Edie allow the filmmakers to come inside the house and document their lives over one summer.

There are certainly lots of interesting aspects to the film. The director / producer team of the Maysles brothers have captured so much with this work - both mother and daughter are delusional about their lives : Big Edie believes that life in the house is perfect and that she has given her daughter an exemplary upbringing, and Little Edie believes she could sustain a life for herself as some kind of performer. There is an unflinching stoicism about the two women, soldiering on as their lifestyle quite literally crumbles around them. The two women have a kind of competitiveness for the attentions of the camera men (their only regular visitors, apart from a maintenance boy). There is an overtone of melancholy, as each woman considers the choices she has made with her life, and the opportunities lost, (perhaps most poignantly played out when Little Edie misquotes Frost's "The Road Less Travelled"). All the while, the audience begins to feel a little bit guilty and voyeuristic as the players become more candid with the documentary crew. It's a gritty and "warts and all" depiction of life that the Maysels are filming... but the film is simultaneously exploitative. The camera lingers on Big Edie's disintegrating aristocratic ego and Little Edie's mental illness (which admittedly both make very fascinating spectacles).

As the film concludes you can't help but feel sorry for either of the players. Big Edie has clung to her daughter when all others (including her husband, suitors and sons) have dissappeared. Little Edie appears to be coming unhinged, and is unsuited to the stifling and monotonous life as her mother's carer. "I can't bear another winter here," she is heard to mutter. Depressing (at times), funny (in a dark kindof way) and ultimately quite moving.... "Grey Gardens" is a very haunting depiction of real lives, and a film you are unlikely to forget in a hurry. While the current crop of reality TV shows seems hell bent on the mindless exploitation of real people for no obvious outcome other than the network's advertising dollar, a work like "Grey Gardens" arguably exploits the lives of these women, but is at least able to form a commentary on the human condition.

Midnight March Ramblings

2007-03-04T04:33:00.001-08:00

There’s a strange feeling of change hanging in the air. The video clip ride is now totally over (it’s now even uploaded and circulating on YouTube). The theatrical production of BIAS is finished. I’m back living in Abbotsford and back at the two universities teaching. My plate is clearing itself again!

I’ve just wrangled a murky little office space at Melbourne Uni, which is great. I guess one of my goals for 2007 is to try and create a bit more of a distinction between home time and work time. Hopefully having this space is going to help me keep studying / teaching / film prac fully separated from my downtime. I’m just about to head into the second week of teaching – I’ve actually really missed teaching over the holiday break, and it was nice seeing the familiar faces (staff and ex students) on my first week back… I’ve also been blessed in that giggly gal pal Sarah has just got herself a cool job teaching at Deakin also, so no doubt knockoff time on Thursdays (the end of my work week – oh this is the life!) will be met with cheap jokes, cheap food and even cheap booze:)

The screenplay for the Oedipus / Jocasta film is still humming along. Still no name for the film. Perhaps I should just call it : “Rohan’s special effects filled extravaganza about some guy who marries his mum”. I’m hoping to have it (the screenplay, not the title) close to finished by the end of this week or the next. When I’ve got a full draft script I guess I’ll start the whole film pre production wagon again, with a view to shooting in July (mid year semester break).

Close Your Eyes finished video

2007-03-04T04:28:00.000-08:00

Long time between drinks...

2007-03-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

Well admittedly it has been far too long between posts…. I’m not really sure what the reasons would be…. A bit of upheaval on lots of fronts – I’ve been working around the clock on so many things of late… I am going to try and post a little more regularly though. I looked over all my posts earlier and it was nice – a kind of time capsule… particularly of the time that When Darkness Falls started screening…. So even if noone reads my rambling, I’d like to continue… I’ve bundled up what’s been going on in recent weeks into a mega post.

FEBRUARY
February was possibly the most hectic month of my life to date… I barely had time to eat or sleep (I probably wound up doing too much of the former (stress eaters, raise your hands) and certainly nowhere near enough of the latter).

During February I completed the last tweaks on the Goodnight Thomas video clip. Some screencaps are below.

I kept developing the concept as I worked, adding layers and layers of footage and animation. The final video incorporates 290 + layers of stuff. I ultimately spent too long on it; kind of moving beyond the allocated hours that would be covered in my fee for the work… Whilst it was probably a bad business practice, I’m glad I did spend the extra time - because the work itself was very rewarding, and I think the feature length film I’d like to shoot would benefit greatly from this time “playing”. I’m fresh with a whole new brand of special FX ideas and (most importantly) Nick (lead singer of the band) and I are really stoked with the result…. There’s not really much I’d like to change about it.

February also saw my involvment in BIAS: a theatrical work in development, partially funded by the Victorian Arts Council and directed by powerhouse Olivia Crang. I helped out with some techie stuff and shot and edited all the video footage to be projected during the showing. The project itself will hopefully develop into a full length piece and is a kind of absurdist ‘media circus’, incorporating multimedia, acrobalance and illusion. It was rehearsed and shown in a warehouse space amusingly emblazoned with the company title “Beaver Packaging Company”, which accounted for a lot of giggling during rehearsal time… God help me, but I just love a low brow joke. The intensive two and a bit weeks working day and night on the project really gave me a longing to get working on my own narrative film piece, basically so that I could start getting into the studio and working with a cast and crew again. The team mentality of “we’re making something” is just the most exhilarating ride, particularly when the project itself is challenging, and its a shared responsibility to devise outcomes and improvise. Trained actors are the strangest and funniest of people to know. Perfect company to whittle away the hours – there’s never a dull moment.

I was also house sitting in a rather plush house in St Kilda. It was nice having my computer in a room other than my bedroom, and being able to “go to work” so to speak, rather than my usual deal of having a blurry relationship between work life / home life / life as an arts practitioner, all confined to my pokey Abbotsford room. Aside from the exorbinant prices of groceries on Chapel and Carlisle Streets, the change of scene was almost like a bit of a holiday. Albert Park Lake proved good jogging route, when I had the time or energy.

I also did few test shoots for the (STILL!) untitled film reworking of Jocasta and Oedipus. I’ve got some really unique especial effects techniques I’ve been playing with. Perhaps I’ll show some screencaps on here when the ideas and processes are a little more refined.

JANUARY
During January I was madly flipping between working on my Masters / PhD conversion material and finishing off the video clip. Basically daytimes I was a recluse working on either or both.

After dark, I was a regular night cat, and took several opportunities to catch up with a lot of the friends and family I had missed since being in India. There were a few rather hazey nights out on the town (and some even hazier hung over mornings), some gallery openings, a bunch of films and whole lot of nice jaunts eating out. Man I love living in Melbourne.

Christmas was its usual mixed bag of good cheer, family squabbling and overindulgence. I realised it was near impossible to fully describe my recent Indian adventures – either in prose or conversation. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is true of everyone’s trips abroad and that adventures are not really to be talked about. Christmas was spent down at Peterborough, near Port Campbell, with the extended rellies – my usual routine as a single lad. The sun was shining, the walks were good, and that super fresh sea breeze was a far cry from the smog of Dehli or Varanasi.

About this time, I chatted to Claudia (dear friend and cinematographer extraordinaire) about my urge to travel again. We are both keen to go trekking the Inca trail – so hopefully at the end of the year 2007, I’ll grab 4 weeks in South America. Damn that travel bug. I got it bad.

Screencaps from "Close your eyes" video clip

2006-12-21T11:13:00.000-08:00

Below are some screen caps from the video clip I have been making for Goodnight Thomas' debut "Close your eyes". The choruses are set in a cloudy romantic starscape.

There's no place like home...

2006-12-17T03:09:00.000-08:00

I had barely stepped of the plane when I was off to a performance of Kylie’s concert at Rod Laver. I was pretty jetlagged, but really glad I made the effort to front up. Aside from having amazing seats (some 5 metres from our perky national icon – my lovely sister always wrangles amazing seats), the show was spectacularly designed, costumed and choreographed. The visual bombardment made me even more deliriously jetlagged and I was glad to go home and crash for a few hours.

I was glad to return to a degree of normality and relished the chance to go jogging in the sunshine (though my month away from the track meant that I was rather stiff the next morning). It was also nice to just chill with the family and gorge myself on Western food.

Tonight, I also had the privelage of going to a session of Short and Sweet, a theatrical season of 10 minute plays at the Art Centre, courtesy of a comp ticket from one Elizabeth Sandy (Betsy in When Darkness Falls).War Poems was a really intricate piece of theatre, thoughtfully staged and expertly directed by Kimberly Grigg. Libs was really touching as a WWI widow in search of her missing soldier husband (played by Justin Hosking – another WDF kid). Sarah Bollenberg (Virginia in WDF) was also in excellent form (and completely starkers) as Eve in a comedic reinterpretation of the biblical Adam and Eve tale, entitled Paradise. Paradise went on to become a finalist for the entire Short and Sweet Festival – Good luck, Sar.

Right now my body clock is still a bit screwy, but my room is tidy(er), I’ve put in a few more hours on the video clip, and I’m just really glad to be home and around the people I’ve missed.

My Indian adventure....

2006-12-17T02:48:00.001-08:00

Excuse the mega post. It seemed the easiest way to recount my trip for those that were interested.

Flying into Delhi late at night, I taxied out to Karol Bagh (the area of the city in which I was staying). I wouldn’t say I experienced any initial culture shock – I think shock is probably too strong a word to describe what I was feeling –but those first few hours certainly provided for some cultural bemusement: Rats running around the airport; anyone who noticed my nationality as Australian remarking simply “Ricky Ponting”; the tame stray dogs roaming the street and picking through rubbish; the cows wandering across roads causing traffic jams, the chaotic approach to driving lanes / traffic lights / speed limits / indication and right of way; the rather cavalier method of wiring power lines and electrical sockets. Over the next few days I ventured out to see the grand old fort (the first of many), and amazingly detailed Muslim mosque, and the narrow alleyways of the spice markets and bazaars, and got acquainted with my Intrepid travel group with whom I would be doing the majority of my traveling. I wasn’t a fan of Delhi – the smell and the pollution didn’t phase me, nor the continuous stares I elicited – but there was an indifference about people in the places I visited – The vast population meant that people didn’t acknowledge each other with the trademark friendliness we encountered elsewhere.

An overnight train (which yielded a frankly remarkable 12 hour nights sleep) took us to the state of Rajisthan, near the border of Pakistan, where the Intrepid group was staying in the town of Jaisalmer. Quite literally a paradise, Jaisalmer is the most utterly romantic place I have ever been. Like a Persian citadel, the gold sandstone fortified palace is built on a mountain overlooking the dusty Thar Desert. No water pressure, fallible electricity and the modest way of life didn’t grate on me one bit. When you spend the morning watching the sun rise and set from a rooftop, and spend the day immersed in a beautifully constructed sandstone maze, there really is very little to complain about. A camel trek allowed us the opportunity to spend a night sleeping under the stars. Without pollution or conventional lighting, I was able to see squillions of stars, certainly many more than I had seen before. It was a humbling thought to see the universe unfolding infinitely outwards; each of those tiny lights might have had there own planets, with their own alien occupants stargazing outwards – equally awed and rendered equally insignificant.

Jodphur was another spectacular city to look at – the massive Meherangarh Fort dominates the skyline atop a high plateau; there is a maze of beautiful cream and lavender painted houses scattered for miles, a bazaar containing beautiful second hand sari fabric, and main streets littered with thousands of dusty billboards. The fort itself was amazing (I never thought an audio headset tour could be so entertaining), and I was particularly fascinated by the tales of Indian royalty: the mosaic adorned suites they lived in, their trips to the British empire, their photographs taken in the early part of the 20sth century dressed like silent film stars.

Udaipur was a really charming little town overlooking a lake and in which are built some spectacular white palaces… but for locals and tourists alike it will be known as the home of bad Roger Moore 007 film Octopussy on account of it being the main location used. I was amused to find that local restaurants all showed the film in unison at 7pm, and also by hearing this strange Western artifact muttered about in thick Indian accents. I soon made a rather cheeky (and juvenile) game of trying to get as many locals as possible to say the magic word. ME: “Is the film Goldfinger? From Russia With Love?” LOCALS: “No, no friend… You mean Octopussy!”. There was a little shopping to be done here, and a great cooking class, but after I had done these things, I reveled in the chance to let my hair down, enjoy some giggles in the company of some locals, eat the local food, drink the local drink and revel in some B grade local Bond film. This hedonism was to have consequences…. In the form of a hellish 24 hours of Delhi Belly…. Most of which was spent at the next destination.

With crippling gastro (I’m sure if I drop the phrases “projectile” and “both ends” in here, you can form an idea) (an idea was about all I could form at the time), I was pleased to see that the next destination was a very tiny town with no major activity. There genuinely was nothing much to do here except hang by the hotel pool / balconies, reading novels with a Western air of comfort and glamour. Needless to say a good sleep and some simple food and I was right as rain for the next stop.

Our guide joked that Pushkar was the only place in India where the locals were the ethnic minority, and he wasn’t far wrong. Drugged hippies wandered the streets and seemed intent on ignoring me and the other travelers. There was this strange undercurrent of “I’m having my India experience, would you kindly get out of it!... I left the west and came here to find myself, and all I found was more westerners.” It’s a pity these folk were so intent on ignoring us, because I’m sure they could have ‘found themselves’ in some of the quieter places I’d been - namely Jelsamir. Elsewhere in India I found travelers to be a wonderful resource for trading advice and explaining the places they had been to. It is a little known fact that photographs of cobras in books fascinated me as a kid (I wonder what Freud would think). But when a local guy opened a basket to reveal none other than one of these venomous critters I got rather alarmed. I’ve seen a lot of snakes in Australia, even had a few hairy moments, but this one was a whole new brand of terrifying. Even relatively placid, it frightened me. It’s eyes seemed angrier, the scales more angular, and the muscles along its back flexed and contorted as though it could move with speed, precision and power…. Needless to say I could barely look and backed off at a great speed. *Rohan does cough that sounds remarkably like : “Nancy boy”*.

Also known as the Pink City on account of the rose tinged sandstone and dust, Jaipur is a pretty busy little city, with a large population and a heap of bazaars. The highlight of my visit was easily the impressive Amber fort, which supplied some magnificent views. From here I hiked uphill to a higher fortified outpost, which was a nice challenge and the only real exercise I did while away (save some laps in the pool at Singapore). We saw a Bollywood movie by the name of Apna Sapna Money Money which was pretty thin on plot and pretty heavy handed with optical filters and shallow depth of field, whilst completely ignoring some of the camera placement / linear editing conventions used in Western films that I teach to students. The next day, whilst at the City Palace (which incidentally is really dull and the only place I went to that I dubbed “not worth a visit”), I had a second encounter with a snake charmer and managed to watch from a discreet distance. It was fascinating, but I began to think it was also a little cruel, using this animal as a spectacle by which to demonstrate man’s apparent mastery of nature. The more I considered it, the more I thought: Dancing Bear.

The world famous Taj Mahal was pretty yes… the gardens around it even prettier… the city outside a bit of a gauntlet though. Being the attraction that it is, the Taj seems to attract a whole lot of souvenir selling. Not really my scene. The Red Fort (by this time I was a bit over visiting temples, but forts I could do till the sacred cows came home) was a far more rewarding visit, because it offered a lot of insight into royal life, centuries ago.

Varanasi was a beautiful city drenched in smoke, music, incense, rituals, shopping and activity. If Jelsamir was the most romantic destination, Varanassi was the most fascinating. Burning bodies by the Ganges, People bathing and doing laundry, ceremonial prayer candles floating off into the night, the silk traders and their hand embroidering looms – there was so much to fall in love with here – definitely a place to return to. I bought a lot of fabric for my next film, had some clothes made and wandered around the ghats. Probably my favorite of the places we visited.

A night train (complete with rat inhabitants) took us to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) where the tour wound down. I visited Mother Theresa’s house (understandably modest, but still very inspiring) and the Queen Victoria Memorial (amazing exterior). What fascinated me most about Kolkata was the architecture – having been a British colony and once the capital of India, the buildings are a mix of Victorian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. Some of them were very run down and I took a lot of photos with a view to using these images in CGI models for my next film. The place also had a very Western vibe about it – there was a shopping strip with Levis, Starbucks etc, everyone spoke fluent English, one shop was playing Kylie Minogue and I awoke one morning to find Dot and the Kangaroo the featured movie on the cable network. It was little wonder that by this time I had developed a little homesickness – and thankfully I didn’t have to wait for long, I was home (via Singapore for one night) soon after.

That was India. Some of it anyway… At times, it felt like 6 months rather than 1… there was just so much to absorb, so many amazing sights and people… and ideas. And now I’m home… with a completely new frame of mind about what it is that I want to do with my life. Aside from feeling completely fresh mentally, the time away has opened my eyes to the fact that I’m immensely fortunate that I get to pursue my lofty aspirations; that life in the west has allowed me so many privileges I often take for granted.

I can also honestly say for the first time in my life I have no baggage… Yep, you read that correctly. None. No exs, no nasty past experiences, no irrational fears weighing heavily on me. None. I think in time I will be utterly relieved and euphoric in light of this revelation. For now though, it’s a little bewildering. I’m trying to give myself time out, make some plans and create some new habits in light of my recently cleared head.

I didn’t go to India to find myself (which is good really, because what I mostly found was a whole bunch of Indians and some cut price fabric for my next film)… but I could certainly say that I left bits of myself behind and I’m much better for it.

It’d be too simple to end with the cliché that travel really does broaden the mind… But then clichés become clichés for a reason I guess.

Stargazing : The pre India post.

2006-11-16T11:32:00.000-08:00

This is the pre India blog post.

Looks like I am not going to get the video clip finished... Which is a pity really... Because aside from the fact that it would be nice to close another chapter - I'm just really excited about showing it to people, it is very visually striking so far. I have to basically stop now and sort myself out for India... I also have to stop because those dreaded Malaria tablets are taking hold...

I won't say I'm not dissapointed about the video clip... I really thought i would get it done... SO CLOSE... AND YET SO FAR!

It's difficult to say why it wasn't finished on time: Of course I always take on too much, and underestimate how much work a project is going to be - but the whole computer crash knocked me for six - my G5 is the only computer I have access to that is remotely equipped to deal with the high res HDV format I have been working in... The emac (and pretty much all the Melb Uni computers) have been struggling... Oh to have a high end post production suite at my disposal! Several all nighters have been in vain... but I'm not remotely bothered... This project has been so rewarding.... The constellation sequences (the song's choruses) will definitly go down on the showreel of work Im ecstatic with... I hope the band like them.

I love the universe... I hate mathematics...

2006-11-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

I hate mathematics. There - I said it. The number crunching of doing a percentage, working out portions of time in 24s or 25s (film and video generally work to a scale of 24 or 25 frames per second), and now converting dollars to rupees are all things I'd rather not have to do ever again, but ultimately will need to.... I thought about my best mate Adrian for the first time in a while and wished desperately he were still in the country. He'd have had my number woes sorted over a cuppa, "quicksticks"...

Today I spent about an hour purely crunching numbers for the "Goodnight Thomas" video clip. This work has (to date) involved the most collaboration (Alex's program, the bands music, pitching ideas, learning about HDV with Claudia)... it's also the work that is my most commercial (it is after all a video clip, helping to sell a product) and yet the most experimental (turning Alex's drawing program software on its head)... All this aside, I will probably go on to remember the film as being the most mathematical of my career. My desk is littered with scraps of paper scrawled with numbers (very Russell Crowe "A beautiful mind" - I abhor him and that movie, for the record). I am creating depth of field, and perspective between elements which were all shot seperately, as they move about the screen - so I've created these tables which descibe how fast something would move past the camera based on its distance from it, and how much the object / person would or wouldnt be in focus.... Confused yet? I am.

On top of this, Alex's drawing program cannot apply its whacky effects to footage like a normal program... it has to do it in real time, that is, while you are feeding the video into the computer from a camera, it does it live. Sounds simple... but it comes with a catch - the program isn't fast enough to process all 25 frames per second, in fact, it barely processes 2 / 100 frames, and skips anything in between. It took me quite some time (and a calculator, and some scribbling) to work out that this means I have to slow all the footage down to 1.6% of its original speed in order to get all 25 frames. This means long render time.... and working into the wee hours to compensate...

On the positive angle of late nights - I have made some amazing creative breakthoughs.... Aside from the fact that I work better alone and at night without distraction (*Rohan does cough that sounds remarkably like "Oprah"*), the owl hours have actually started to feed into the work itself. A great deal of the FX imagery involves stars and constellations, and while looking up the night sky (on the ubiquitous Choccy Milk trek to 7/11 at 3am), I was hit with waves of inspiration about how I would tie the two mileus of the video clip together using animations of stars. I love the universe (and my chocolate milkohalism).

At the end of the day - I'm still not sure all those whacked up figures are right... So if anyone has any suggestions, or whackier formulae, I'd love to hear em... Russell, if you are reading this (he strikes me as the type to google himself).... the movie wasn't *that* bad.... (but you are still a shithouse singer).

Dawn blogging : A new day...

2006-11-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

As I jogged past Collingwood Children's Farm at 5:45 this morning (yep, you read that correctly) (and that was the 10th of the 12 kilometres I jogged - mwa ha ha, I am uber fit), I was thinking how great everything had been lately... The sky was a pink smeared dawn and a huge sense of contentment and relief washed over me - and not just because the jog was nearly over.

My life is pretty alright. I'm living in a great house, career wise I'm lightyears from where I was three years ago, my family have been really accepting and supportive of most of the key decisions I've made, I've made a bold opening move into the world of indy filmmaking, I'm brimming with half a dozen other bold ideas, I've got a whole slew of fabulous talented collaborators and I'm about to go an overseas adventure... What's not to love? For the first time in a long time, I feel in the swing of things and really fulfilled.

It's easy to get down when you've got a stomach cramp, or when your computer plays up, or when you have a "fat" day... But in the bigger scheme of things, there's so much I ought to simply be grateful for.

Sure, I'd like to be a bit more organised, and I'd like to meet someone stimulating and adorable to share my life with.... Maybe these things will come along, maybe not. For now though, my glass is not just half full - I've got a tankard and it's overflowing.

Apple... Not that reliable.

2006-10-30T01:50:00.000-08:00

Well if you believe all that advertising : Apple macs don't get viruses.... but they do occassionally crash. And my beloved G5 has. ArgH! Just as I was getting ahead of the game with the video clip, the bugger decides to pack it in. Bitchin. Here was I thinking I'd get a few days of breathing space before I head off to India. Not anymore... With G5 out of action for at least 4 days, I'm doing my editing on the grunty little emac I picked up off ebay. Not half as powerful, but nevertheless, it's better to slow down with a project than grind to a complete halt...

I must say, it bothers me that I have to pay to have a 5K computer fixed just some 13 months after I bought it (Murphy's law - machine breaks 1 month out of warranty). I do love Apple... really I do.... innovative software, gorgeous looking machines, the way all the devices connect and are interactive with each other... but jesus... you pay through the nose for this stuff.

MOMENT OF THE DAY:
Smug gay call centre boy reminds me I could have paid more for an AppleCare extended warranty... I icily reply that given I had already paid some 5 GRAND I didn't really expect this superior machine to fail me... this gay-boy-bitch-off culminates in: "It's a pity Apple don't spend some of thier squillions making such a high cost machine more reliable (pause for effect) ...rather than squandering it training call centre staff to be so rude and unsympathetic... Or perhaps you're just naturally like that."

Ahh well... I guess being wannabe filmmaker collaborating on experimental special FX processes doesn't pay as well as being rude from a call centre... but doubtless it's a little more rewarding....

Packing up... Moving on...

2006-10-29T01:23:00.000-08:00

It feels like the WHEN DARKNESS FALLS trip is over... We did quite well at this last night of screenings, but it's time to move on. I guess I feel a bit sad - it is like saying Bon Voyage to an old friend (something I've been doing a lot of lately). Of course I will court a few more festivals, but there will be no more organising of these independent style screenings. I really need to focus on what comes next for me, rather than living alongside this quirky little film that was spawned some 3 or 4 years ago...

God it has been a wild ride... Watching an idea germinate into a feature script, watching my sketches evolve into a physical reality... The shock of that first day on set where Virginia and Betsy were alive, dressed in their 40s clothes, going through their hard boiled dialogue... All that press, those glowing reviews, a festival, the public... building a team of wonderful people for future collaboration.... working with hot property (Nat Bassingthwaighte)... working with the stuff of legend (and a childhood icon to boot): the irrepressable and wickedly funny Katy Manning....

I was saying to some punters last night that the film isn't really a film to me anymore... It isn't a narrative... It's now a yearbook, a diary... every shot has a dozen memories and ideas tied to it... a shopping trip for those earrings, the superglue holding the gun together, the fits of giggles, Mel's drive and team mentality, the time limit we had with location X or actor Y.

So that's it... the DVDs are burning as we speak... I am printing off festival entry paperwork.... and if it were to end here, if this were the last stop (Rohan reverts back to the trip metaphor), then it still surpasses what I expected, one hundred fold. Thanks guys... all of you... what a f@%&#g blast!

So it's the video clip for a couple of weeks... and then India... and then some solid writing time for the Jocasta project.

Grotesque: Me (10kgs heavier) and Manning (made up to be 20 years older), 2004.

ROHAN (can barely string a sentence) : "Thank you so much for agreeing to all of this"
KATY (throwing handbag down) : "Oh, I won't hear any more of it, honey... Now, where's my costume? This is gonna be great, kid!"

Post Production, Postgraduate stuff and Poochsitting

2006-10-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

The video clip shoot went really well... and strangely i am still not sick of hearing the song. I am beginning a rough edit of the material today and am really loving 90 % percent of what was shot, which is really nice. Claudia has done an amazing job of lighting and framing the band members, and I'm really digging the quality, film - look and higher detail of the HDV format we have been shooting on.... Very exciting stuff. I can really see thsi video clip turning into something really special.

My sister's beloved poochies have come to visit. Basically they were driving her neighbours mad in her absence overseas so I offered to look after them for the last week of her trip. They are high maintenance (in a "look at me, walk me, pat me, give me attention" way, as opposed to a "shampoo me, I have special eating requirements, Paris Hilton's dog" kinda way), but to be honest, it's kindof nice to have a little company when I am sitting on the computer doing all this editing.

Work is wrapping up for the year... India is drawing close... and finally my postgraduate writing is having a bit of a re look, re think and re edit.

Joni Mitchell : She's back!

2006-10-15T05:25:00.000-07:00

Here's that optimistic blog entry:
Anyone that knows me at all well will attest that I am a *HUGE* Joni Mitchell fan... And today I discovered she has come out of retirement and is writing a new album of orginal material... After being inspired by both the state of the music industry and the world's political stage... there are apparently 5 new songs already written and recorded. This is very cool. Her writing and strong (publicly vocalised) convictions have inspired so many artists - certainly me. I cannot wait.

Friday nite wine (whine?!).

2006-10-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

I promised myself I would one day write a blog entry where I wasn't bitching and moaning about having very little down time and having to juggle so much. This isn't going to be it. I am Knackered. Capital 'K'.

Sometimes I imagine that if I cut myself really badly the only thing that would happen would be that a whole lot of coffee (with too much milk and sugar) would rush out. It seems to be the only thing that's kept me going other than one poor excuse for a sleep in this week. So it's now Friday night, and I've renegged on going out with three seperate parties because... well... quite frankly, once in a while, you need to sit alone in your room with a very full glass of red and listen to Joni Mitchell's 'Hejira' at a very loud volume. I think people generally understand.

I couldn't zone out for long though and I have spent a few spare minutes putting together an emailable invite for the Sat 28th screening of "When Darkness Falls". I've made it ultra long and scrolling in order to put in some of our positive press.... Please download it and send it on to your peeps:

Lately I have been thinking about what would happen next for Virginia and Betsy... I'm certainly not about to propose shooting a sequel, but it's such an interesting concept. Would make a good series of novals, a tv series etc. How does thier relationship develop? How does Betsy cope with coming out? What characters would stand between them getting together (either because they dissapprove or because they are attarcted to one or both?), and finally - how would Virginia cope with having to share her feelings and commit to someone once and for all?

Oh yeah... and in manner of nerdish teenage boy... Am getting very excited about impending arrival of Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood. John Barrowman. Mmmmmm. I wonder if he likes Joni Mitchell?

VIDEO CLIP: And so it begins...

2006-09-30T04:18:00.000-07:00

Some tests and pre production for the video clip began today (I was very good and spent half of the day on PHD stuff and half on the video clip, never fear). Olivia Crang (Josephine in WDF and all round acting powerhouse)'s boyfriend Alex has created this amazing digital drawing technology and I approached him about using it as a special FX process, which he was very keen on, and thus we are collaborating. Put in basic terms, I will be turning his process (in which he uses video frames and draws quirky outlines based on form and contrast) into video, applying effects to imply depth of field and creating 3d environments in which to house the whole shebang - then compositing the band players inside it all. We are still at a development stage, but I'm *really* excited. Small project. Tiny turn around (Want it off my plate pre India). Loads of experience. Something totally unique. The finished visuals are gonna be like nothing anyone has seen before, it's a very experimental approach to a commercial project.

Oh and by the way, the song is "Close your eyes" by the band Goodnight Thomas. They are amazing!

And just when you thought it was over....

2006-09-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER SCREENING! Glitch were so happy with our last screenings that they want us back! Sat 28th of October to be precise. Miss Mel, producer, pal, d.o.p. extraordinaire will be gone overseas of course.... so it won't be quite the same, but still...

I have been desperately trying to put some time aside to work on my postgrad writing and research with mixed results... Finally managed to put quite a few hours in today, alternating between that and the dreaded student marking... Started thinking "ahhh, getting on top of things" - right up until the phone rang with a deal clincher regarding a music video clip shoot. A few more phone calls and it was all on. No rest for the wicked and all that jazz... (I must have done something really F&$%#n wicked it seems) More news on the video clip shoot when I get the final go ahead... But it promises to be really rewarding, plush visuals, short turn around, a bit of cash and one AMAZING band (think the Verve with Jeff Buckley as the lead singer and you are halfway there).

All this fluster cemented my plans to get away from it all... I took some time out to book a short holiday. I need it, no? Goodbye Melbourne and Hello India (just for a few weeks) (just before Xmas) (AbFab's Edina: "Money, Tickets, Passport!").

Carrot cake and full house frivolity!

2006-09-16T22:24:00.000-07:00

We did marginally better last night (!) with 3 and a half fullish houses, a lot of buzz and some more gluten free birthday cake, this time courtesy of one Claire Henry. Go team. Virtually all of these people were legit punters completely unrelated to the film, and the feedback was resoundingly positive. Quite a few wanted to chat and it was actually really constructive getting feedback from objective eyes. I was glowing. May have had something to do with hot temperatures and the barman's stiff concoctions but it was a great night. A big thanks to Paul Harris's RRR program for interviewing us, it really helped put a few bums on seats.

Birthday boy's big night....

2006-09-15T22:36:00.000-07:00

I had a marvelous night, which could have only been made better if I had got a little more sleep the night before and wasn't so delerious. We had 3 fullish houses and one half full which was great. The reception was very positive which was really warming. In particular people were a huge rap for Sarah, Libby and Katy, the musical numbers and the dream sequences. A lot of people also commented on how hard it must have been and many hours must have been involved - and that was REALLY appreciated. I think it's easy to forget that so much work has been put in by so many people on each tiny little shot. The great turnout was about what we anticipated. What happens tonight is anyone's guess. Still laboring over what to wear. Fag director's worst nightmare - what do I wear to my screening!?

Sarah made a lovely gluten free cheesecake and I got embarressed with the song etc.

This morning Mel and I also had a sizeable interview on RRRs Film Buff's Forecast with Paul Harris. He was really lovely and had a number of interesting takes on the film. The station played a bit of Nat's song and the argument scene by way of advertisment. By pure chance, quite a few people heard it and rang me afterwards commenting that I had never sounded so articulate. Probably something to do with *FINALLY* getting some serious sleep (6 hours... hurrah!). Mel was a great buddy in that interview situation, really adding to what was being asked and said and helping me to remember to cover all the bases (Sarah, Elizabeth, Natalie, Katy, 1940s, bluescreen etc).

Still haven't caught up with my family to do the birthday shenanigans which is a pity. I'd really love to, but we are all so busy at the moment. I have been a bit overworked and stressed. I guess I need some downtime, maybe a holiday and definately a bit more sleep.

Articles, exhaustion and one very expensive shirt.

2006-09-14T01:06:00.000-07:00

Knackered... as is usually the case on Thrusday afternoons. I teach three classes back to back and today was particularly long... Didn't actually get a break and therefore started to feel faint until I got my hands on my beloved Big M. Ahh Big M.

The film screening nights of "When Darkness Falls" are ready to go. We have been taking bookings for the last few days (we weren't actually taking bookings to begin with, but I guess it's been good to help us forecast which sessions are going to be packed). Friday at 7:30 looks set to be sold out. Crazy. But very flattering...

There have been articles in Melbourne Leader, Progress Leader, Heidleberg Leader and my personal favourate The Melbourne Star Observer. The Star were gracious enough to basically over all the key bases in their lovely piece (Me, Sarah, Elizabeth, Katy, Nat) and a photo + the web address. Gold. It's great to think that there's a press story in this work, that people would be interested in reading about it. Again, very flattering... Even if the film tanked, I guess its nice to think that the concept of quirky 1940s lesbian detective film has captured people's imaginations.

I bought a hot shirt for tomorrow (some $100.00+ worth of hot shirt)(I can't actually allow myself to type the full price). Ahh well. You only do film screenings once in a while, right?! Still, Im a bit of a dag when it comes to buying nice fashionable things - I much prefer buying cheap knockoffs.. so this shirt is now the most expensive item of clothing I own. Best not think about it in terms of how much filmstock I could buy with that cash... Probably best to steer clear of the red wine too...

Mum has been away in NZ and my best mate Adrian is overseas, so Ive been a bit of a lost soul in terms of finding people to toast with. Ah well... better wait to see how the next bunch of punters enjoy the film before I consider toasting anyhow. What is it they say about chickens, counting and hatching?

And I had totally forgotten it was my birthday tomorrow until students reminded me of the date. I feel like I have sleep walked through the week.

The article I mention is also available online on the Star Observer website.

Press Release a go go...

2006-08-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

We have put out a handful fo press releases regarding the film and hopefully will be able to get one or two articles published to generate some publicity... I hope we get bums on seats. I would love to pay all the patient acors what they are worth, but even half of that would be : "just swell" as Betsy would probably say.

Had a chat to Katy this week and she was so encouraging and supportive and gave me a few ripper quotes - Her enthusiasm and encouragment has been so good for the group morale. I have been revisiting my PHD of late, but I'm just soooo tired. The film screening admin, PHD, a shoot, trying to squeeze some time into the next script(s).

Saw Picasso exhibition - was amazing. He was quite prolific and he's work spanned so many mediums - but you definatly get the sense there was little struggle in his life. No class wars, no sense or marginilisation, no poverty. It would be great to be an arts practitioner and just get up in the morning and do what you do, but I dont think that will happen to me for a few more years. Something nice to work towards.

Below are the flyers for the film screenings:

Screening plans..

2006-08-13T04:37:00.000-07:00

At this stage it looks like we will screen the film at Glitch a couple of times on Friday 15th Sept (perhaps with a birthday cake for yours truly) (gluten free, naturally)and also on Sat 16th (complete with a bonus short film about drag kings by WDF crew member Claire Henry).

Am starting to put together promotional materials to advertise these screenings. Prices will be $8 full, $6 concession. Rob (bro in law and web designer extraordinaire), has helped me to start upgrading the website, so check back in the next couple of days for a trailer, some images, more news, press releases etc.

Hurrah! Will finally be able to pay something to my wonderful wonderful actors.

Glitch's good news... 2 more screenings!

2006-08-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Glitch bar will be helping us fundraise to pay our actors with two nights of screenings coming up. Fri 15th and Sat 16th of September. Times, prices etc when we decide upon them. (And yes, for those of you playing at home, Fri 15th is in fact my birthday - so I guess there will be twice as much celebrating to do, no?).

I am madly working on PHD, Film Festival applications, the possibility of shooting a video clip, and of course the script for the next film. All this while teaching at the universities. God, I'm knackered, but I'm really happy too - people have responded to the film so warmly - that means a lot. It has also given me the confidence to pursue all these other exciting avenues.

On a sad note: Literally as I type, my best friend Adrian flies out of town and to Holland / UK this afternoon. Whilst I am so excited (and perhaps a tiny bit jealous) with regards to all his overseas adventures, I will definitly miss him. He has done odd jobs from sound to photography on all of my film shoots to date, and always lends a kind ear and encouragment. It seems odd planning shoots, knowing he wont be around - but still, new doors, new phases and all that jazz. Good luck buddy - I'll try and get into a festival overseas so we can catch up.