It’s definitely shooting season for 12:12. We just shot two more shorts in the space of five days. Films eight and nine are no longer pieces of paper, scripts and storyboards. They are real. For real.
Going Down
The first of the two is a short called Going Down – a black comedy about a legendary voice over artist having a very bad day.
The story is set in a sound studio during a recording session making pre-recorded announcements for an airline. In the room is Terry, the voice over artist (played by Tina Bursill), the client (Cheree Cassidy), the copywriter (Grant Cartwright) and the sound designer (Christian Willis).
We shot at Sound Reservoir in Pyrmont, a studio I know intimately as an advertising creative doing voice over sessions over the years. This was the place I had in mind as I wrote the script, so it was a real boon to be able to shoot there. Huge thanks to everyone at Sound Res, they were incredibly kind in helping to make this happen.
The shoot was a lot of fun, though we packed a lot into a short space of time so the pace was swift to say the least. I was well pleased with what we got and was incredibly impressed with both the cast and the crew.
For this short I worked with DoP Alex Glucina. We’ve been trying to shoot one of these shorts together from the beginning, so it was great to finally get him – and he was brilliant. I also worked with a great Sound Recordist, Jean-Marc Serret, for the first time. He was fantastic.
And I should definitely mention our most regular crew member Micheline Siou Cam San, our very talented Hair and Makeup Artist who’s done consistently excellent work over six of our nine shorts.
The cast, too were fantastic – I really can’t wait to show you this one, they nailed it. Tina Bursill, our lead, stayed on to the bitter end to give us take after take of both hilarious and moving performances. I had a lump in my throat for much of it. I think one of the single most rewarding aspects of making films for me is watching as actors take the words on the page and take them far beyond what is written, to the point where I think to myself, “wow, are those really the words I wrote?”.
Special thanks also to our runner Sean Nunan, and Annetta Velkovski who provided all the delicious catering for the film as her birthday present to me!
Software
The second of the two shorts just shot is Software and this one breaks a new record for turn-around times. I had this idea last Tuesday while I was in pre-production to shoot Going Down and we shot the thing the following Wednesday.
Obviously a great deal has to happen between having an idea and shooting it and it’s a real buzz to realise that's something I never could have pulled off when I started this eight months ago.
One of the reasons I now can is because of the amazing group of people I have around me. A network talented people and incredibly generous people.
Another reason this had to come together so quickly is because a location we had access to was only available until Wednesday. I immediately made contact with Production Designer Vicki Nhieu, DoP Kelvin Saik and Makeup Artist Micheline Siou Cam San and they were all willing and able, so we decided to go for. The location ended up changing but we decided to keep working to that date.
For the role of ‘Gabe’ I called on Philippe Klaus, one of the actors I met with at the very start of 12:12 in April and asked if he would be interested in the role. Thankfully, he was.
Software is the simplest of the short films to date. It’s a parody, set in the future, of the often nightmarish experience many of us have updating system software.
To create the future look I wanted to poke fun at those clichéd images of a clean, pristine and almost sterilised future – where everything is minimalist, stark and white. Vicki did a great job meeting this brief.
And Philippe was perfect in the role of Gabe as the hapless victim of unforgiving technology. Once again Kelvin and Micheline did a brilliant job.
So. Nine films shot, three left to shoot. The final three shorts are scheduled for early next year, so it’s time now to get stuck into the editing. This year’s shooting schedule has been met – it’s a great feeling. Thanks to the many dozens of amazing people who have helped get us there.
I have to say it will be great to take a break from the relentless cycle of pre-production, production and straight back into pre-production. It’s time now for a little post-production – something I’ve been itching to do for a long time.
Before I fire up the editing software, I might just do a quick system software update...