On the 13th of May, I flew to the Gold Coast Queensland to start production of a Commercial for The Natural Confectionary Company via Production Company Chocolate Studios in Melbourne. While still overseas, I was contacted by EP Dave Ellis, about possibly directing a TV Commercial for them and, in only a few weeks, we developed a really nice treatment.

This job reconnected me with quite a few different people in Melbourne, including former Micronite Producer Barry Cail, who came onboard as a freelance Producer for this TVC. After having worked overseas for an extended period it was refreshing to be able to work locally again. Unfortunately we weren’t shooting in Melbourne but rather sunny Queensland, on the Gold Coast! When I say unfortunately I mean that in the nicest possible way, as I haven’t shot in my own home town for such a long time. Coincidentally, I used to live on the Gold Coast. I had worked at the Warner Movie World Studios for several years on such shows as “Mission Impossible” (the TV series), “Time Trax1&2″, and several “Movie of the week” projects. But that’s digressing!

Australian productions differ substantially from my OS work, in that they are always bound up in some sort of “Australianism” or colloquial detail that makes either the idea or the execution difficult for my overseas clients to understand. Typically a good understanding of both our slang and football is a prerequisite for good comprehension of the message to occur (generalisation but you get the idea). Mostly, I am in the belief that Australian advertising is meant for Australians only and is largely inaccessible to overseas markets which is a shame. I think even in Australia, many of the commercials are not aimed at new immigrants, tourists, business travellers or people who do not care for football, popular culture and trends. That’s a big sector of the community that is left out from targeted advertising. This commercial however was different. That’s why this project was fun to work on. Yes it does still involve some background history if you truly want to fully understand the TVC, however you could completely miss that and still enjoy the Ad!

Through advertising agency, The Ross Partnership in Melbourne, the Commercial was designed to be a parody of the “Action” style of TVC’s made in the early 1980′s, featuring legendary Australian Sportsmen and Woman. It was written by Meg Sorenson for TNCC in an ongoing campaign.I think the TVC is accessible to anyone because it pokes fun at a style that is ubiquitous across the planet in one form or another!

OK enough of the “thoughts behind the Ad”. This TVC was fun to make – pure and simple! We had a glorious sunny day to film the TVC on and a brilliant athlete to feature. Emma Snowsill is a remarkable person, with an amazing focus on her career. You can read more about her here to find out about her amazing achievements. I have never seen a person swim as fast as she could – Quite incredible! Emma is an Olympian gold medalist triathlete (Beijing 2008)! So I had my work cutout keeping up with her all day! The schedule was reasonably gruelling also with a huge list of shots to get in one day. This included shots of her swimming, running and cycling. We filmed the TVC at a popular Gold Coast beach at Currumbin heads. I’ve actually shot there on several occasions and it probably was used in many of those early “Action” sports TVC’s I spoke of earlier, which made it even more perfect! When I was asked by the production staff at Chocolate as to which crew I wanted for this job, I immediately wanted to regroup my usual crew from Queensland. Sadly my frequency is way down these days but mostly they are still all around. I had last worked with the majority of them on “Drop the Bomb” with Hammish & Andy (for a Carlton Draught stunt) which was only a year before I guess. Our Sound Recordist was Craig Walmsley, Camera Assistant was again David Cordell and Keygrip was Leigh Tait. Additionally we had Gaffer Glen Jones and his 2nd join us also. From Melbourne, EP Dave Ellis & Sara De Maria, Makeup Artist Selena Pertzel and Data Wrangler Kevin Wetdewich also joined the production. There were a few others and I’m sorry I haven’t mentioned your names here. Needless to say, it wasn’t a huge crew but a very effective one!

The commercial was shot using both the RED One camera and a combination of Canon DSLR (5DMK2) and GoPro HD cameras. This was really what I would call the secret recipe for this TVC as using traditional film camera gear would have been far too cumbersome and to heavy to deal with for these kinds of activities. In fact, even the RED was too big really. Leigh built a fantastic rig to dolly the RED camera easily across sand dunes as well as providing a nifty trailer (for a Quad bike) for the RED to film low angle, running shots. Mostly though, we used the 5DMK2 for some of the more spectacular shots, such as a really low angle shot of Emma swimming over the camera. That was actually filmed from the bottom of the ocean (about 20 feet down) looking straight up at the sun as Emma powered through the waves. I had Leigh (a licensed PADI diver) shoot that shot for me while I had Dave Cordell film from the beach using the RED camera, a 25-250mm Angenaux zoom lens with a doubler! My game plan for the day revolved around the quick change over from one camera system to the next. So all the land based shots that required sound or were relatively simple to get with our rigs were shot on the RED camera. The rest were shot either on the 5D or Go Pro cameras! This included most of the swimming shots and several of the biking angles.

We did run out of light eventually. During the filming of the bike sequences the light did become a problem. That scene was again largely filmed on the RED One and a few shots from the GoPro camera. There is a low angle shot looking past Emma’s handlebar that was only possible to film using the GoPro as well as a shot of her head as she looks up while riding! Given the limited time we had, I honestly don’t know how else I would have filmed those shots?! After an incredibly successful fun day, we said goodbye to the crew and headed back to Melbourne the next day.

Post production took place at Chocolate Studios in Melbourne. It’s a very beautifully appointed Post Production centre with all the latest gear, including it’s own audio facility. On the 16th of May, we recorded a guide voice over track and then began sifting through a sizeable amount of rushes with my Offline/Online editor Marty. We actually decided that we would take the offline offshore so to speak and for a few days we cut the commercial on a private yacht in Williamstown Melbourne. This would have to be one of the more exotic locations I’ve conducted Post Production but was a lot of fun! The only thing we had to get used to was the unexpected wave action of passing boats in the harbour, which rocked us back and forth, but luckily I’m OK with boats! Any case, I tweeted about my experience and and got quite a strong reaction from many on Twitter! We actually did some pretty amazing work on that boat, despite all the distractions. For those that want to know about the tech side of things, we used Final Cut Pro on a laptop, some raid drives and made use of the onboard HDTV LCD screen!

The final leg of the TNCC journey involved audio Post Production with Paul McCosh at Chocolate, who created a fantastic track out of bits and pieces while the colour grading took place at By Deluxe Melbourne, with colourist Stanley Lopuszanski. We graded all formats from a single file in Scratch, giving each scene a distinctive look. Mostly again the “Looks” were heavily inspired by some of “those” TVC’s from the 80′s & 90′s and Stanley did a fantastic job recreating that experience. While I had the chance, I put the 5DMK2 material against the RED One footage and was amazed how good the 5D looked. It’s not the RED is bad, it’s just if you shoot carefully, using a narrow depth of field, the 5D is an amazing camera. However, Stanley was quick to point out it’s limitation with respect to dynamic range. The 5D does suffer from jagged edges on high contrast lines & detail. Still, it looks great in our TVC and most of the shots wouldn’t have been possible with any other camera system, without more money, time and effort! The Online was a relatively straight forward affair back in Chocolate Studios in Avid DS.

In closing, I have to say this was one of the most fun jobs I’ve shot in recent years. It was a pleasure to work on because the Agency was great, the Client was incredible and the Cast and Crew were absolutely amazing. Add sunshine and surf and you have yourself the perfect mix for a great job!

Here is the Commercial

Packing for any job for me is a huge deal. Most of my work involves travel on airlines not only internally in Australia but quite regularly Internationally. I thought I’d start blogging about my new project “Machette Maidens Unleashed” by talking about the logistics of travelling and working.

The project is uber cool! Directed by Mark Hartley, the project reunites almost all the team who participated in Mark’s other documentary “Not Quite Hollywood”. I return to my former role as Cinematographer. I don’t usually shoot these days for other people but Mark and I are old friends now. Beside “Not Quite Hollywood” was such an amazing experience, I often say “It’s the film school I never had”! So I couldn’t pass on “Machette Maidens” simply because it will be another amazing “film school I never had” experience.

Here is the official blurb on what the project is about:

“Machete Maidens Unleashed! is a fast moving odyssey into the subterranean world of the rarely explored province of Filipino genre filmmaking.

It is the new feature film from Mark Hartley, the director of the award-winning documentary Not Quite Hollywood.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is the first detailed examination and celebration of Filipino genre films and the undervalued auteurs and actors who brought them to life in such an explosive way.

From the early ’70s well into the ’90s the Philippines was a back-lot for a bevy of B-movie mavericks and cinema visionaries alike. The country was utilized for its inexpensive labour, exotic locations and distinct lack of rules. A large body of genre work emerged that somehow managed to capture the raw, chaotic energy of contemporary Filipino culture. These productions (a cavalcade of monster movies, jungle prison movies, blaxploitation and kung fu hybrids) were miraculously made at a time when the country’s political situation was repressive at best.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! begins with the partnership of acclaimed local filmmakers Gerry de Leon and Eddie Romero whose BLOOD ISLAND trilogy found large and enthusiastic drive-in audiences across America. When legendary maverick producer Roger Corman was introduced to Romero and de Leon he instantly discovered the Philippines was economically suited to low- budget filming. Corman quickly set up camp and produced a number of “Woman In Prison” films starring genre favourites Pam Grier and Sid Haig.

Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s the appetites of thrill-hungry cinemagoers around the globe continued to be satisfied by prolific local auteurs Cirio H. Santiago (TNT JACKSON) and Bobby A. Suarez (CLEOPATRA WONG).

In the late 1970’s Francis Ford Coppola re-invigorated a whole new epoch of filmmaking by choosing to shoot APOCALYPSE NOW in the Philippines – leaving the jungle full of discarded sets to be used repeatedly by a host of low budget productions over the next couple of decades.

Our journey climaxes in 1981 when this country fights back and reclaims its very own special national identity via the inaugural Manila International Film Festival and accompanying Film Market. Conceived to showcase the Philippine’s glorious screen culture, the market’s biggest success was FOR Y’UR HEIGHT ONLY, a low budget, home-grown James Bond spoof starring an 83cm primordial dwarf named Weng Weng. The film sold to countless international territories and is now arguably the most well known exemplar of the Filipino genre film abroad.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is the ultimate insiders’ account of genre filmmaking in the Philippines. A role call of local and international survivors from this period will be interviewed all adding their distinct and honest account of this Devil-may-care school of filmmaking. Sitting alongside the talking heads will be a dazzling array of outrageous film clips from key Filipino titles.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is produced by Fury Productions and Bionic Boy Productions. It has been financed by Screen Australia, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Screen Queensland, Film Victoria, ABC Commercial and The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) Premiere Fund.

It will be completed in July 2010.”

Gear

Mostly we are carrying everything we need for the production. Gear has to be light. Here is some of the gear I’m taking with me on this trip and I generally take on every trip:

• My trusty Canon 5DMKII which is still only shooting 30P at the time of writing. I’m hoping a firmware update will see this camera shoot 24/25P.
• Manfrotto 190CXPro4 Carbon Fibre Legs with a 128RC Pan/Tilt Head.
• 100-400mm Canon Zoom
• 50mm f1.4 Prime
• 15mm f2.8mm Prime
• 24-105mm Zoom
• Gorilla Pod
• 9 CF Cards most of which are 16Gig Sand Disk
• Zacuto Z-Finder
• Apature GigTube Viewfinder
• 2 x 580EX Flashes
• 2 x Pocket Wizard Radios + Trigger
• Remote/Intervelometer  controller
• IR Cut Filters
• IR (very dark) filter
• ND8 Filters
• Polar
• UV/Sky Filters

Additionally for the production, we are shooting on a Sony HVR-Z7P HDV based camera, recording sound via a mixer & pro mikes. The decision to shoot on this old school style camera platform has more to do with logistics. Because we are filming for 22 days straight, with little time between interviews, we don’t wont to carry raided drives to download flash based cards to. Instead, we tested several Tape based cameras for sharpness, dynamic range and build quality and arrived on the Sony HVR-Z7P. This was after a full blown lighting test and then grading it on Melbourne Based Lab, By Deluxe’s Scratch system, before printing it back to 35MM film. The tests were so conclusive it actually shocked me. I tested a Canon HDV camcorder and several other systems including the 5dMKII. It looked amazing printed back to film and will be our backup system should the “A” Camera go down. The 5DMKII shoots 30P so it’s not a great option at this stage for that reason alone!

We’re carrying our immediate lighting kit which includes a 1×1 LED litepanel, a Dedo for a backlight and stands. Mostly we will run things off battery (except for the Dedo which we will use a 120V & 240V supply) because we are filming in so many countries with different power systems. On “Not Quite Hollywood” I used a Chimera Ball light as our main key.

The problem with this is that we move so quickly, the 500W globe takes 30 minutes to cool down. This time the Key will be the LED light. It stays cool all the time so we should be able to pack up much quicker then last time. It’s also a bit more hard wearing then a fragile globe. All these kits will be stored in Pelican cases for security. There are some other things like a white bed sheet as a cheap & light weight bounce board, Flexifill’s, Batteries, Adapters & Power boards. That’s actually a major point. I always carry an Australian power board to connect all my chargers & accessories, via one OS adapter, to the local power supply. Seems simple but often forgotten. I also carry an Airport Express base station to create a WiFi zone in my hotel room. There are still many places that offer cable access only so having both my Macbook Pro and my iPhone connect to the internet is important.

Finally everything that doesn’t fit into Pelican cases and my onboard Lowepro All Weather Trekker, goes into a hard shelled suit case. Because we fly domestically and internationally all the time, the cases cannot exceed 20kg per bag. This figure varies with each airline but that’s the general rule. The problem this time is that we are traveling to the Northern Hemisphere for a good portion of the project and then ending at the equator where the temperature is +31ºC all the time with humidity reaching 90%! At the moment, New York is experiencing -9ºC and so is the UK and France! This makes packing for your own personal comfort really hard, while maintaining that 20KG limit! I’m taking a single ski jacket (onboard) a leather jacket and jumper, 2 pairs of jeans, some shirts and a reasonable supply of under garments. The rest is a good set of thermals, 2 pairs of shoes and toiletries! My suitcase is also carrying my Tripod, extra lens bag and flashes, so I’m full! I can’t afford any T-shirts or other clothing and have decided that I’m going to have to buy stuff along the way. We don’t have a lot of time off on the job so I’ve made sure I have enough to cover me for 9 days straight at any given time.

So as you can see, a great deal of thought has gone into the packing process. For me this is actually compounded even further as I will be leaving the production in Singapore and staying on to complete a Canon TVC there. That’s for another 7 days. I then fly to Jakarta Indonesia to shoot another TVC there also before Posting it in Singapore. So I’m actually gone for nearly 2 months.

So Monday 1st of February, we kick off the Doco! We fly to LA and then on to Las Vegas for the first round of interviews. I will do my best to update the blog as I go, but there may be large portions of inactivity due to lack of time or internet access. Cheers!