On Reflection # 6

End of week 6 and the first days of filming.

We cemented ourselves in Tuggeranong, stalking the same coffeeshops, restaurants and two dollar shops.

We did test shoots on our lenses, newly arrived from Germany. 

We revised scenes, rehearsed, blocked and rewrote, we walked through, danced through and fought through action, dialogue and the many looks and glances that inhabit the film.

We took endless photographs of the actors who, day by day, inhabited their characters more and more until the differences have become indistinguishable.

We tested stunts, played out languid scenes for the camera and tried out subtle variations of lighting in the bedroom where a lot of the action unfolds.

We watched as the first scene we shot was gifted with the most amazing combination of atmospheric elements; incredible sun, gusting wind and dust eddies, and volumes of light. 

We were in awe of our actors. We watched them destroy scenes with subtle, complex performances.

We met our hero great dane and fell in love with him, too. We drove to lookouts at dusk and listened to good tunes and disappeared into the world of the flick. We built things, broke things down, watched things and listened to things. We posted photos and stickers, painted bikes and erected pergolas. We chased kangaroos and chased light and chased the disappearing hours of dusk scenes. And through it all, life was good.

And now, at last, at last, with a breath of relief and bewilderment and anticipation, we disappear entirely into production.

On Reflection #5

End of Week 5 of pre production for Galore. We found a way to distort time so that it, at once, went incredibly slowly, and swiftly at a speed that was beyond belief.

We rehearsed and wandered and let the sun crease our skin.

We took photos and examined faces in different lights. We made up scenarios and improvised endlessly mesmerising variations of the slight emotional powerplays of kids in their late teens.

We watched the sun set over and over. We hiked hills and sat by rivers. We spent impossibly long days doing technical recces, examining shot lists, plans, schedules and storyboards.

We got elated.

We got slammed.

We felt we were making progress. We felt we were going nowhere.

We found the perfect dog and the perfect Corey, Ari and Dewati. We ate bad hotel food and stalked the shopping centres of the far southern suburbs.

We explored locations, fossicked through the belongings of the deceased and we found objects to covet and things - like a strange typewriter test full of cries for help concealed between the lines - to fear.

We played music written for our film and music we want to include in our film. We also played a hell of a lot of shit, and sang Patrick Swayze's 'She's Like The Wind' over and over.

We missed our families and sent love to our siblings, partners, kids and friends...

And through it all, life was sweet.

On Reflection #4

It's the end of week 4 of pre production for Galore.

We tested smoke. We tried on shirts and pants and shorts and undies and singlets and bracelets and hats and sweaters and shoes and slides and dresses and swimmers.

We tested wind. We looked at performances, we talked, we improvised, we watched stuff, listened to stuff, thought about stuff.

We tested ash. We debated and haggled. We planned and blocked. We storyboarded and photographed and rewrote and revised.

We bonded and laughed and questioned and answered. We printed and bound and stapled.

We packed. We took off in cars and headed north. And through it all, life was good.

On Reflection #3

End of week 3 of pre production. 

We tested artificial medical procedures. 

We balanced colours.

We discussed rooms and yards and curtains and hair and shoes and skateboards and light and schedules and cars and sparks and fireworks and darkness and silhouettes.

We storyboarded stunts.

We researched skating and music and bedrooms and illnesses.

We planned rehearsals.

We made mixtapes.

We celebrated the midway point of pre production with paella and beer and tiquitacas.

We got anxious. We got excited. We got inspired. We bought stuff and sold stuff. We looked at endless pictures and listened to new compositions. We made countless phonecalls and had countless conversations about the shifting changing madness that is pre production. And, through it all, life was good.