Matthew
08-08-2003, 11:13 PM
FILM SCHOOL
With 12 distinctly different narrative films under way, the school is now running with all the bustle of a fullyfledged production house. What's more, it's operating with a conglomerate unique to Australian production.
The cameramen are Bill Constable, Tom Cowan, Peter James, Ross King and Ross Wood; the editors Rod Adamson, Tony Buckley and Graham Chase. Sound recordists, continuity girls, grips, gaffers and electricians are similarly of long experience.
Working from a preliminary budget, an assumed cast of two or three characters and a 16 mm shooting ratio of between three and five to one, each director has rationalised his or her budget in terms of production priorities. This has ranged from the hire of an Alemade dolly to the burning city supplied by Yoram Gross for Ron Saunders "1 mark 2."
Projects besides "mark 2" now editing are David Stocker's "Ten minutes" (script: Colin Free), John Papaclopoulos's "The offering" (story idea: David Ireland), Graham Shirley's "Transition", James Ricketson's "Reflections" (both of them from an idea by Tom Keneally) and Phil Noyce's "Caravan park" (from a short story by John Emery). All are working titles.
The duration of each drama is be tween ten and 15 minutes. A standard three-day shooting schedule has required obtaining four or five minutes of on-screen material per day and for most the pace has been rushed, but no less exhilarating. For the four of us whose backgrounds lie in the industry itself, the chance of running a professional cast and crew is an unprecedented godsend.
As Sylvia Lawson put it during a recent visit, "You've been given the train set".
GRAHAM SHIRLEY
With 12 distinctly different narrative films under way, the school is now running with all the bustle of a fullyfledged production house. What's more, it's operating with a conglomerate unique to Australian production.
The cameramen are Bill Constable, Tom Cowan, Peter James, Ross King and Ross Wood; the editors Rod Adamson, Tony Buckley and Graham Chase. Sound recordists, continuity girls, grips, gaffers and electricians are similarly of long experience.
Working from a preliminary budget, an assumed cast of two or three characters and a 16 mm shooting ratio of between three and five to one, each director has rationalised his or her budget in terms of production priorities. This has ranged from the hire of an Alemade dolly to the burning city supplied by Yoram Gross for Ron Saunders "1 mark 2."
Projects besides "mark 2" now editing are David Stocker's "Ten minutes" (script: Colin Free), John Papaclopoulos's "The offering" (story idea: David Ireland), Graham Shirley's "Transition", James Ricketson's "Reflections" (both of them from an idea by Tom Keneally) and Phil Noyce's "Caravan park" (from a short story by John Emery). All are working titles.
The duration of each drama is be tween ten and 15 minutes. A standard three-day shooting schedule has required obtaining four or five minutes of on-screen material per day and for most the pace has been rushed, but no less exhilarating. For the four of us whose backgrounds lie in the industry itself, the chance of running a professional cast and crew is an unprecedented godsend.
As Sylvia Lawson put it during a recent visit, "You've been given the train set".
GRAHAM SHIRLEY