Believe it or not, another short is shot.
I landed in Sydney at 9am on Monday morning after wrapping short number four at 9pm the previous evening and went straight into production on short number five.
We needed locations, a Director of Photography, a Sound Recordist, a camera, wardrobe, a car and a mum and two kids. With the help of producer Cassie Collin, we managed to pull all this together just in time for our shoot on Saturday.
The short is called ‘Father’s Day’, an idea dreamed up as I lay in bed on Father’s Day a little over a month ago. It’s an ode to all the dads who have little or no access to their own children. There’s a lot of them out there and it’s a heart-breaking situation with little public awareness.
We already had our lead actor on board, Ben Wood, and his enthusiasm for the project made all the difference when I realised he was about the only aspect of the film I did have in place at the start of the week.
So how did we pull it all together? If you’ve got the time, below is a rough breakdown of how it all went down.
Tuesday
This was the day we found our main location. It was a huge relief as this was the trickiest part of the puzzle to solve. We needed a café with very specific features: it had to have window seating, be on a busy road – but with room for us to shoot on, not allow parking in front, have no outdoor seating and of course, look good.
I was starting to think this didn’t actually exist when I drove past The Pig & Pastry in Petersham on the way to dropping off props from our previous shoot. I saw it in the corner of my eye and nearly went off the road. It was absolutely perfect.
Wednesday
The next day returned to The Pig & Pastry. I was so nervous about asking if we could shoot! I couldn’t imagine there would be another café that ticked all those boxes. They had to say yes! And luckily for me, they did.
We also got our DP, Aaron McLisky on board on Wednesday. I met with him at his place and we spent a few hours carefully planning out all the shots we needed.
Thursday
On Thursday I visited lead actor Ben Wood and worked out all his wardrobe and made some finishing touches to the script. Ben’s input here was invaluable, as I've found it so often is with actors. No one interrogates a script like an actor who has to inhabit that role.
Then I called on my friend Eleanor Cyron and her two kids Lily and Sonny who had kindly agreed to play the mother and kids and gave them the low down. Then we raided their wardrobes.
Later in the day Cassie managed to find us our Sound Recordist, Leigh Bramall. It was all coming together.
Friday
What still remained to find was the car – a pretty key prop in the film, as you’ll see. I had seen the perfect car a few blocks from my place parked on the side of the road, but we hadn’t been able to find anything like it to hire or borrow. I left a note under their windscreen wiper offering the owner some cash if we could use the car, but didn’t get a reply.
By Friday I was getting a little concerned. Eventually I found a rental that looked OK (not great, just OK) through a new service Car Next Door – but when I showed to pick it up, it had their stickers all over it.
Back to square one. I was just in the process of organising a friend’s car when my phone rang – it was the owner of the car I had seen on the side of the road. The dream car. And it belonged to a very lovely chap called Christian who said ‘yes’ to letting us use it.
That was a good moment. Much of this process is stressful and frustrating, but this was one of those good moments. As you will see it is the perfect car for the character and the story and should add a distinctive look to the film.
Saturday
And on Saturday we shot. It was a scorcher of a day and we were outside for most of it but it all went really well. The Pig & Pastry were great, Ben Wood was incredible, the crew all did an amazing job and El, Lily and Sonny were absolute stars.
Big thanks to Cassie Collin, Aaron McLisky, Campbell Brown (Camera Operator – and owner!), Leigh Bramall and Micheline Siou Cam San (Hair & Make-up).