Beehive Trailer and Crowd Funding

It’s been a year since I finished writing the script for my short film ‘Beehive’ and now we are nearing the end of post production, excited about sending it to festivals and sharing it with audiences. We are just nearing the end of our crowd funding campaign.

The Trailer

Where did Beehive come from?

Beehive is a short film which I wrote a little over a year ago. I had been freelancing for 18 months and was looking for an opportunity to push my creativity further than what I was able to on other projects that were operating on a shoe-string budget. I wanted to overcome my fear of writing and create something that would be visually stimulating as well as, at the core of it, have a solid story filled with great characters.

I also wanted this to be a great opportunity for the crew so I decided to put more funds into the project so each department could have a budget to play with to help create the world of the lead character ‘Penny’ as well as have some creative input themselves. What is the point of having a fantastic team of creatives if they can’t bring those skills to your project?!?!

Other than my personal desire to grow as a filmmaker Beehive certainly came from a few things. I had seen moments of a child playing cricket with his mum in my apartment car park, of frustrating customers who don’t appreciate vintage and was all too familiar with women who confidently flirted with men to feel better about themselves but would drop them in an instant. All these and more became moments in the film which shaped the story.

Developing the characters

For some time I had been wanting to write a character that was riddled with flaws and was completely oblivious to it. I loved the idea of a quirky girl who loved to twist, had her own style and was infectious. Once I realised that it was a great tool for her to hide behind, then the story followed shortly after.

The story was of a seemingly confident girl who needed to find courage to be vulnerable and show that she needed someone. Regardless of whether she finds love at the end or not it doesn’t matter, it’s her inner battle that needs to be faced and is the essence of the story. I also wanted to write a very flawed character because people have bad sides to their character and sometimes that can become a huge problem for people if they get caught up being one side and ignoring other parts of themselves.

I also had a good base for each of the men at the beginning of the story who I feel every girl has come across, the confident cocky guy who tries so hard to be cool it’s daggy, the guy who thinks that a few killer dance moves will have the girls begging for him and the one that parties just a little too hard that it ends up ruining the evening. They were fun characters to explore and I couldn’t be happier with who we cast for them.

Angus was a challenge as I wanted to write him as the ideal suitor for Penny. But then he seemed very two-dimensional and with some great feedback from Ted Crosby, who ended up playing the role. He was too nice and needed some bite. So I rewrote him as a bit of an impatient jerk and I think he is somehow all the more charming for it.

Writing the script and building a team.

I worked on the script for a very long time. As I had pretty low confidence in my abilities as a writer I was also facing my own personal battles with it – so it took longer. I hadn’t written in a long time so took time to face the weaknesses I was aware of until I felt I had overcome that hurdle.

In the end I feel very proud of the script and was excited to hand it over to Alastair Wharton who directed it. It was certainly a struggle to let go completely of the script and let someone else bring in their ideas, but I feel better for having done it and am well aware that much of the strength of the film is from the creative input from the whole team. It wouldn’t have been the same with out them.

If you would like to read more about writing the script (and writing tips) check out my script writing post here: ‘The Making of Beehive:The Script’

When the script was almost complete I brought on Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher as producer to help me as I hadn’t done a film out of school, so it was the first time that I had a film from scratch-no supplied crew or gear. So I wanted the best help I could get.

We asked Alastair to come on board, after having worked with him on ‘In Transit’. After which we then talked to him and started filling in the roles. We ended up having an enormous crew but they all played a very important role.

If you would like to read more about how we found the crew and how to deal with finding a team for a no budget project read my post here: ‘The Making of Beehive: Finding a Crew’

Finding the Cast

Alastair, Chloe and I pooled our ideas of people that we thought would be suitable for the roles but we also wanted to reach further to see if there were actors out there that would be better suited. So we had open auditions. We saw about 50 actors of various ages and levels of experience and it was absolutely mind-boggling. For me, this was the first time I had seen my script read aloud and it certainly showed me a few areas which needed work in the script but also highlighted areas that were much better than I had realised.

We all learnt a lot from the auditions and many of the actors gave us great food for thought when it came to shaping the characters. We couldn’t be more thankful for everyone who showed an interest and are so pleased with who we found in the end. We saw some fantastic actors across the board but are so happy with who we chose to bring our characters to life.

If you’d like to read a bit more about the auditions check out ‘Auditions Day 1’

The Shoot

Obviously pre production was very important. Once we had locked in our crew it was all systems go in regards to finding costumes, locations, set dressing and then of course rehearsing, scheduling, booking and borrowing gear and managing a tiny tiny budget so it could stretch to all the departments. Somehow Chloe and I managed without killing each other.

Finally it was the big day. We got to the first location early and started to set up. We were in an antique store and soon found ourselves with not much room to move. With at least 20 people moving about trying to do their jobs as well as gear being shipped back and forth, it was quite overwhelming. We found ourselves running out of time very quickly. Eventually we got on a roll and managed to get our coverage. So then we were out on the street to do all our exteriors.

It was hot. Summer was on us, the street was busy with cars and people, the air was stale and we had to walk the gear to each new location. I had scouted King Street in Newtown for a range of places as close together as I could. However the heat was making it very hard.
We got through all our scenes and were pretty excited with how they had turned out. The highlight of the day was an amazing shot we had gotten of our lead actress Aimee-lee Druett walking down the street. She looked amazing!

At the end of the day, we had packed up. As I started to drive home I spotted Alastair and Chloe at the side of the road unpacking Chloes’ car. It seemed she had gotten a flat and had to unpack the car to get to the spare. Al saved the day and Chloe was soon on her way.

The second day ran much smoother. This location proved a challenge, again because of space, but also for production design. Our designer, Diva Abrahamian had to turn the location, which was a boys bedroom into an extremely feminine bedroom. She brought in bed sheets, fake wall paper, lamps, trinkets and all sorts of pretty things to really give some insight into Pennys personal space. We kept the coverage simple and even in the edit we only used half the shots we got. The performance was enough that it really didn’t need much.

We then headed to film a scene with Joseph Famularo and Amanda Wiltshire. This soon became a race against the sun to try to get the performances we needed but also deal with a few surprise challenges. It seemed the car we were shooting in couldn’t open the boot. So instead of filming from outside I ended up having to sit in the car to get the shot. Along with that, the car was very wobbly. So every shake or bump would nearly ruin a take. We managed to get all our coverage even though eventually we ran out of light.

Day 3 was the big one. We had to empty a location which was set up as a bedroom and dress it as a lounge room. We also discovered we couldn’t hang anything on the walls so the art department were stressed. I think what was managed in the end was pretty good. So I hope they can use those ideas for another project.

Aimee-lee was a champion. The poor thing smoked herbal cigarettes the entire day and danced and danced and danced. By 3 in the morning we had wrapped. We were exhausted and people were wrecked. The only thing that kept us going was the fact that we all knew that what we were getting was incredible; the lighting, the room, the mood, the acting;  slow motion and some amazing music. It was all happening and it felt good. Needless to say we were happy when we wrapped.

We set the house back up and packed the cars. By 5am we were ready to go. Then my car got a flat tyre. So we had to unpack everything, fix it and then finally as the sun was coming up Alastair and I headed off. Ready for a day of rest.

It was a short-lived break as gear had to be returned. To keep the budget low we’d had to borrow things from all over so I spent much of the following days driving things all over Sydney. Eventually my lounge room looked normal again and my attention shifted to the edit.

The Edit Room.

We decided that Alastair and the editor Alana Greig should spend a bit of time themselves sorting out an edit. It was a bit scary to leave it with them after being so heavily involved but I knew they would be fine. After some time I finally got to check out what they had and it was great. From that point on we had regular editing sessions. Many Sunday evenings of pizzas and Thai takeaway later we had an edit we were pretty happy with.

We took some time to share it with a few friends to get an idea of what they thought and then took on board some of the feedback and worked towards a locked off picture.

The next step – Crowd funding

We have finished the edit but need to do more ADR, sound design – the ever important colour grade – music rights so we can include a huge array of local Australian artists. We found their songs and they are KILLER!!

Up until this point I personally had funded the production but unfortunately need help to cover the expensive costs of post production we started up a crowd funding campaign. We launched the campaign and our trailer at a trivia night. We had 40 friends and family come along to The Vic Hotel in Enmore to show their support for the film but also to have a fun night of trivia. We are now just 4 days away from completing our crowd funding campaign and have about $500 to raise.

We have organised a HUGE array of rewards as a special thank you for your donations. These include a photo shoot with esteemed photographer Stephen Godfrey, Classic bow ties, retro circle skirts, The Rude Heads EP, Handmade jewellery from Sorry I’m Late, Posters and of course a copy of BEEHIVE ON DVD (not to mention our eternal gratitude)!!!

If you would like to help please have a look at our campaign at www.pozible.com/beehive

Check out Beehive on Facebook at www.facebook.com/beehive.film

If you liked this post please ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page and ‘FOLLOW’ my blog. I keep them up to date with; projects I’m involved in, reviews & tutorials and share interesting tid-bits to make you smile.

“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.”

The Making of Beehive ~ Part 3: Getting the Wheels in Motion

In film school you generally ended up being a one person film crew. Writer, director, producer cinematographer, first ad, editor… the list goes on. Now out of school, I had finally assembled a crew for my new film Beehive, but I had to actually figure out the most effective way to get everyone started and taking ownership over their own departments.

Pre-Production plan

Before Chloe Lawrence Hartcher (Producer), Alastair Wharton (Director) and I (Writer, Cinematographer, Exec-Producer) started talking to the crew we came up with a pre-production plan. We had a lot to arrange and a lot of people to share the workload around. Of course the plan was even more important as it gave us deadlines to work towards as well as an indication of things that needed to be done by certain dates as some jobs couldn’t be started until another had been finished.For example we couldn’t lock in costumes until after we had our cast which we couldn’t have until we had held auditions that we couldn’t host until we had posted an ad seeking actors.

This is an example of quite a complicated pre-production schedule that I did in 2010 for Pixie Rose and Johnny Sienna, a short film set in the 1950’s, where I had to do everything myself. So having a team for Beehive, a film with strong 1960’s production design, was an absolute dream!

Delegation

Once we had broken down all of the jobs that had to be done we then spoke to our heads of departments one at a time, Cinematography, Producing and Art Department. Each of these meetings covered what needed to be done and we discussed ways that they could be achieved as well as any new ideas.

It was then their job to meet with their teams and break up the workload even further. So for Art Department, our production designer Diva Abrahamian had a meeting with the director and cinematographer then went to her costume stylist and the head of makeup to pass on what looks we had all decided we wanted and then she oversaw the progress of getting that departments jobs checked off.

Communication

It sounds like it should be the easiest part of making a film; telling others what you need and they run off and get it done for you. Well, it’s more complicated than that. It takes a lot of communication; Emails, phone calls, one on one meetings and more emails. Communication can get messy, either you have no communication and people getting stressed or things are being over communicated, or communicated wrong. It’s definitely an art to making sure you are doing things right and not wasting time.

Overall I was very VERY happy to have a team around me. As I have said in previous posts it took me a little time to get used to it but it is obviously necessary to be able to work as a team if you are going to make it in the industry.

If there was one thing that I would do differently, it would be to establish a clear communication system from the start. Find out how everyone likes to work and come up with a  structure for how this particular project is going to work. There were times where I felt I didn’t know what was going on and I got stressed and upset.  What I didn’t know was that the person responsible thought they were doing me a favour by not overwhelming me with emails and updates and preferred to block larger amounts of info in fewer emails. They couldn’t understand why I was getting stressed and I couldn’t understand why they were upset with all my hassling for information. If we had talked about it at the start we could have saved a lot of stress and may have been more efficient.

So keep that in mind, communication is very very important!

Tune in next week!

So much went on in the pre production stage so I’m going to break down how each department was handled in future posts so stay tuned!

If you liked this post please ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page and ‘FOLLOW’ my blog. I keep them up to date with; projects I’m involved in, reviews & tutorials and share interesting tid-bits to make you smile.

“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.”

Making of Beehive ~ Part 2: Finding a Crew

Finishing a script is a huge achievement. Over the past few months or years you’ve dominated conversations with this “great new script” you’re working on, written in every local café to get inspiration, scribbled on napkins, or the back of your hand when a sudden idea comes, destroyed your body clock by many late nights re-writing and survived the grueling process of getting feedback.
Unfortunately your script is absolutely nothing unless you actually get it filmed. So you HAVE to break up with your computer and start getting people involved to bring it off the page. So here is how we did it for ‘Beehive’.

Being realistic and resourceful

Finding a crew for a low-budget, low pay, independent film can be a challenge. I recently blogged about the importance of networking, It’s times like this where all the favours you’ve done for others, your contacts and previous set experience comes in handy. The more people you know in the industry, the easier it is to pull together a strong team for your film. Especially if you have to ask them to volunteer their time.

Something to keep in mind when people are volunteering is to completely appreciate and recognise that they are not only giving their time for free for your vision, but they may also be giving up other opportunities to make themselves available. In some cases a ‘can’t miss’ opportunity may come up for them and you may have to take it on the chin if they have to jump ship and take up another job. Try if you can to be prepared for these sorts of things. Most crew, will let you know if they will need to take up another offer if it comes along, which helps.

Finding our core crew

The first step is to pull together the heads of departments; a Producer, Director, Cinematographer and Production Designer. These are such critical roles and picking the right people can make or break the success of your film.

I knew as the executive producer, I needed someone who I could trust as producer. A producer essentially pulls together the entire film, from sourcing crew, locations, permissions, overseeing the shoot right through to post production; sourcing funding, marketing and getting the film to festivals. So deciding who is going to take your script and make your film a success shouldn’t be done lightly.

For me I was very fortunate. I had worked on over 6 different film projects within the year with Chlow Lawrence-Hartcher. This meant I was aware of how hard she worked, her work ethic, her approach to projects, her experience and her high standards. I approached Chloe with the specifics.
“I have a film. This is my budget and how I hope to go ahead from here.”

We took a few weeks to think over directors we had worked with in the past. We knew that we needed a director who would be able to handle the deeper emotional elements of the story as well as embrace the artistic and stylized side.
So we came across Alastair Wharton. We had each worked with him in the past and after talking about the project with him he seemed to have a very mature understanding of it.

I had already decided that I wanted to be the cinematographer, I selfishly wrote the film partially for that opportunity, so we didn’t have any issues filling that role 🙂
I had particularly wanted to do a film of this style to push myself in regards to lighting and my film style.

And so it was, we had our key three crew.

Finding the rest of the team

In the lead up to Christmas, the three of us got together and discussed the team we had in mind. Most of them we had worked with before and we knew that they would be fabulous and great assets to have with us. Alastair agreed to the list Chloe and I had come up with and so we  began to make enquiries.

It took longer than expected to lock people in. Because of the time of year it was much harder to get in touch with people. Eventually we pretty much got most of our dream team, though of course some were unavailable. This threw a slight spanner in the works but we counted ourselves lucky with the crew we had managed so far.
We then chatted to various contacts we had for their own recommendations of people they knew. We also put a call out on social media for applications of interest. Eventually we found  some newcomers which we were thrilled to bring to the family and to have a chance to work with for the first time. (To meet the full team click here).

The benefit to the crew

It was important to me that everyone on the team, camera assistants, art department, costume design, sound, were given every opportunity and encouragement to take charge of their role and bring their own pizzaz to it. I wanted to make this a fun, creative and stimulating project for them to grow with.

All new filmmakers are lured into projects that will be a “great opportunity for experience” with a promise of a credit. Unfortunately you can only say this for so long until the crew you need already are experienced and are trying to make a living off their passion.

I have read of a great trifecta for why creative people should consider taking on a job. It should be at least two of the following three things. Paid, Stimulating or experience. For example; I don’t mind doing something for free if it’s creatively stimulating and good experience. (See Living With A Creative Mind below.)

I had saved for some time to raise a budget to fund the expenses of the film but also saved some extra so that each department had funds to play with. I felt that, even though it was a difficult expense for myself, it was a necessary but very beneficial one. In most cases, low-budget independent films don’t have a budget for art dept, camera, hair and make up. So it is a huge strain on the team who are already volunteering their time as it means that as well as that they have to also run around and source things for free; costumes, locations, set dressing, props, you name it. Quite often a talented team will pull together a masterpiece.

I felt that this time we could have gone down that road, but as I myself wanted to film on something other than a DSLR for a change, I wanted to give the other departments something as well. It would be in everyone’s best interests for there to be a small budget. To make their lives easier but also give them a chance to push their creativity.

I feel I made a good decision and that from what I have seen of the film so far, it was worth every penny.

Resources

Living With A Creative Mind – An operating handbook for creative people. An inspiring and encouraging book

Starnow – A free Australian/New Zealand website where you can advertise roles as well as search for job opportunities

Screenhub – Includes the latest news in the film industry but is also a professional site for Job/crew notifications. However you need to be a member.

Calling All Crew – An Australian based crewing agency. You can contact their trainees. This could be an opportunity to find people looking for experience.

Top Technicians – If you get really stuck and can afford it, Top Technicians is one of Australias leading crewing agencies. You could try to find a volunteer or discount rate, but generally these are professionals.

If you liked this post please ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page and ‘FOLLOW’ my blog. I keep them up to date with; projects I’m involved in, reviews & tutorials and share interesting tid-bits to make you smile.

“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.” 

Beehive Official Facebook Page

Not long now till I give you all the goss on what happened on set of Beehive and what it was to make the film.
We have finally wrapped the film and I am pleased as punch to introduce the Official ‘Beehive’ facebook page to you.

Here the team will keep you up to date with photos, blog posts, videos and much more for the making of the film and the people that made it.

Follow the below link and be sure to hit ‘LIKE’ and ‘SHOW IN NEWS FEED’ to get all the updates.

CLICK HERE>BEEHIVE OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE<CLICK HERE

Photo by Pollyanna Nowicki

 

If you liked this post please ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page and ‘FOLLOW’ my blog. I keep them up to date with; projects I’m involved in, reviews & tutorials and share interesting tid-bits to make you smile.

“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.” 

Two weeks till we shoot.

Counting down the days now until we shoot Beehive. 14 to go.

It was always destined to be a tight pre-production schedule.

Weeks 1 – 2 Finding my key team and Christmas

I tried to start 6 weeks ago with the hope of shooting at the end of January. Christmas and New Years didn’t help at all. I tried to counteract that by getting people on board a month before Christmas, but obviously December is just a busy time of the year.
So after a slow start, we decided to push the shoot back, which at the time meant missing out on a feature I was working on, but better to get it done late, then not at all.
In a fantastic turn of events, the other project, The Margin Of Things, has just been pushed back also. So now I don’t miss anything. Woohoo!
That was just a bit lucky really. I guess in future I’ll think twice about trying to get a film going so close to the holiday season, at least, an unpaid one.

First point of call was to lock in a director. It took a few weeks but finally I found the amazing Alastair Wharton who was keen as beans to take on the film. Months earlier I had already locked in my producer Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher (I was quick to realise that she was a woman I wanted on my side). Once we got the key team locked in, things started to run a lot smoother. The director Alastair Wharton and I spent a fair bit of time discussing the film and the characters and got the storyboard done early as it helped him get a good idea of what kind of vibe the film had, when he had only a short time with the script before we had to start casting. I had written it, but for a director, I was aware that he needed to grasp it very quickly so we could move on and start casting.

Weeks 3-4 Story boards and visual style.

The first two weeks were slow. It wasn’t until the new years vibe really worked off that we started to sink our teeth in. As I mentioned we did the storyboard early. By the 3rd week it was locked in and the shot list had been drafted. This was really helpful to me as a cinematographer as it meant I knew what gear to look into and could do that in my free time while the rest of the team started to work on their own prep.

We also thought a lot about the visual style referencing many films ‘Heartbeats, Cemetary Junkyard, A Single Man, A Simple Man, In The Mood For Love, My Blueberry Nights, Closer, Mad Men, Pans Labyrinth, Blade Runner, Revolutionary Road, The Commitments, Black Swan and In Bruges – Just to name a few (are you getting a sense of the style.

With this in mind I threw together a mood book for the designer to give her an idea of what feel I was looking for and my ideas for the lighting.

Weeks 5-6 Casting and building the crew.

This last fortnight was enormous. Mostly for casting. We had 3 days of back to back auditions for all 10 roles (slap me next time I write a film with so many characters!).
We had the wonderful help of our producing assistant, Liam Egan who helped us out as a reader. For the male actors, our brave and fearless producer Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher stepped in and read (and danced) for us.

Our auditions were fun. It was hard because we saw so many people and the repetition was a challenge. Thankfully, because part of the film involved dancing, we got people to show us their dance moves in a cheeky cat and mouse style between a ‘flirty girl’ and her next victim. With a swingin’ tune it was all smiles and in most cases a fantastic experience seeing each new persons dance steps. Even I had to be a reader for a handful of people.

Following our auditions we had an extremely hard time picking our lead characters, for good reasons; they were all so talented! Alastair and I tossed and turned over our leading lady and our leading man. We held call backs for a handful. I think it may have only been the second time I had done call backs for a short film. It was certainly a different dynamic, and really did give Alastair the opportunity to really hone in on what he was looking for in the character.

Soon after the call backs we were able to lock our male lead in, but it took us a little while to settle on our lady. Everyone was so good. After many long conversations and nit picking of tiny differences here and there for the various actresses – we came to a decision (which I can’t reveal just yet.)

Also a big thing for weeks 5-6 was the push to get the art department going. We met with the production designer Diva Abrahamian who had the most wonderful ideas for the hair, costumes and set dressing. I was a wee bit excited. So after those initial meetings she set off with her stylist to start sourcing props and locations.

Which brings me to today. After locking in the look we are going for, today we have the joy of location scouting. A bit of an arty film, is really limiting the kinds of locations we are looking for. I’m up early this morning to head out to Kings Cross to then make my way through Surry Hills, Newtown and back to mine (thank goodness it’s tidy). So hopefully by the end of the day we will have made a solid start on our locations as we will need to lock them in soon.

Speaking of scouting, I had better go. I’ve got to try to beat peak hour traffic.
If you liked this post please ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page and ‘FOLLOW’ my blog. I keep them up to date with; projects I’m involved in, reviews & tutorials and share interesting tid-bits to make you smile.

“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.” 

Meet the ‘Beehive’ team

In 15 days the camera rolls on my new short film Beehive (for more info on the film click here) and the team are starting to run around like mad to pull everything together in time.

I’ve been a tad quiet on the old blog as it’s been one hellova week. We held 3 days of back to back auditions, 4 call backs, an art department meeting, did location scouting, were finding crew, sourcing gear for as little as possible and in between all that about a billion meetings, phone calls and emails between director Alastair Wharton, Producer Chloe Lawrence Hartcher and myself. See more about our auditions here.

After all that we have gotten so much done. We’ve almost locked in our full cast (just waiting to hear back from a few), so I can’t share them with you just yet. But on the other hand it appears we have locked in our crew. YAY!

I tell you what, I am so lucky. These guys are the hardest working bunch around and I can’t believe the dedication and hard work they have put into this film already. Right from the moment they come on board they have each owned their role and offered their full support to do what they need to help make this film possible.

So I am proud as punch to introduce them all to you now.

Head of Departments

The core crew is made up by the Director, Cinematographer, Producer and Production Designer.
The four of us work extremely closely to try to achieve our vision, focusing primarily on our own departments but also collaborating with the other departments to compliment each aspect of the film. The cinematography wouldn’t be the same without the set dressing, the actors wouldn’t give off the same vibe without the costume choices, and none of that can come together without the guidance of the producer.

For more info about each of the HOD, check out another blog post here

Ehran Edwards

Writer, Cinematographer and Executive Producer

A graduate of The International Film School Sydney in Cinematography,  Ehran has written & directed 14 shorts and worked as cinematographer/camera operator on over 20 projects including music video ‘Only Only’ by Brendan Maclean. Ehran is proud to have the crew on board to make her new film a success.

Alastair Wharton

Director

In 2009, Alastair began his film career by studying Media Arts and Production at the University of Technology, Sydney. After graduating in 2011, he worked as 1st AD on the award-winning web series ‘SYD2030’. He was also the Director of the comedy web series ‘In Transit’.

Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher

Producer

Currently studying producing at AFTRS, Chloe spent 2012 with her thumb deeply embedded in an array of projects. From web series ‘In Transit’ to the ‘Wear It Purple’ Promo and documentary, Chloe has worked wonders with her attention to detail and ability to inspire her team around her (and keep them on time.)
Chloe also worked as first AD for the principal part of the shoot.

Diva Abrahamian

Production Designer

The stylish and marvellous Diva is lending us her midas artistic touch as Production Designer. Diva studied at The University of Technology and has worked alongside Alastair, Ehran and Chloe on various projects including ‘In Transit’, the ‘Wear It Purple Promo’ and the soon to be released music video ‘Tonight’ by Glass Towers.

On Set Crew

Even though these guys aren’t running a department, they each are bringing a lot of prep and experience to the shoot. Meetings with the heads of their department to bring the necessary stuff to set, gear booking, hair styling etc. As much as we would like to think so, we really couldn’t make the film without these guys helping us.

Camera Department

Ryan Somerfield

Steadicam Operator

Ryan graduated from Participate Film Academy and has since founded R.J Studios. He works as a Director, Cinematographer, Steadicam Owner and Operator. His most recent film ‘Pie’ took out 6 awards at the 24/7 Youth Film Festival 2012.

Tim Oxford

1st Camera Assistant

Tim graduated from Metro Screen and has recently been accepted into AFTRS cinematography course.
“Nothing excites me more than seeing the elements combine to connect with an audience and deliver a message.”

James Shepherd

2nd Camera Assistant

The multi-skilled James freelances as a writer, actor, director and cinematographer. He recently performed ‘Somniloquy’, a play he co-wrote/co-starred with Pollyanna Nowicki, at Shopfront theatre. He also won best cinematography for ‘Pie’.

Dimitri Zaunders

Gaffer

Dimitri has freelanced as a camera assistant, operator, lighting technician and director of photography both in the US and Australia. He has made a number of TVCs and worked on TV series’ such as Australian Idol and Underbelly

Art Department

Olivera Jovanoska

Costuming/Stylist

Oli Likes work that is not only beautiful to watch but also inspires the person watching to change their life. She has worked on the Great Gatsby and various other short films alongside working on some television shows including ‘Housos’ and ‘The Cut.

Nick Plummer

Hair and Makeup

I met Nick on ‘In Transit’, a web-series directed by Alastair Wharton. We have since worked together on a soon-to-be-released music video, ‘Tonight’ for Glass Towers. Nick is currently studying a Cert IV in Makeup and Special Effects at ACMUSE.

Aidan Hirn

Makeup artist

Aidan Hirn worked as a makeup artist on Beehive, and was responsible for all of the gorgeous 60’s inspired looks worn by Penny (Amiee-Lee Druitt).
Aidan has worked extensively in fashion, film and theatre; on projects such as music videos for Chance Waters and X Factor act, Fourtunate, and the 2013 Sydney Mardi Gras Parade, as head of makeup on the ‘Marry the Night’ finale float.
Check out more of his work at:http://www.facebook.com/aidanhirnmua

Sound Department

Adam Newell

Sound recordist

Adam is currently studying B Sound and music design at The University of Technology.

 

 

Matthew ‘Sooty’ Morgan

Sound recordist

Having met Matthew on In Transit also, we have since worked together on a narrative short film for a couple’s wedding.
Matthew is currently studying a Bachelor of Sound and Music Design at The University of Technology and works as a freelance sound engineer.

Continuity

Rebecca Anderson

Continuity

Rebecca worked as continuity for the principal shooting period.
Hailing from Queensland, Rebecca is currently in her third semester studying screenwriting, directing and producing at The International Film School Sydney. She is just heading into pre-production for her first major project.

Michael Wray

Continuity

Michael  stepped in as continuity for our reshoot day.
A lifelong cinephile, Michael has completed a Bachelor of Media in Film Production at Macquarie University. Aside from working as a freelance Script Supervisor on a few feature films & numerous shorts & commercials, he is also a voracious reader & collector of books on film history & film making.

Producing/ Assistant Directors

Maren Smith

First AD

Maren worked as First AD for the Beehive reshoot day.
Maren completed a double Bachelor of Arts in Communications (Media Arts and Production) and International Studies (German) at UTS in 2011, then Film Studies at USyd in 2012. She can be heard on Eastside 89.7FM, reviewing on Cinemascape and producing arts show Something Else. Maren’s work as an assistant director includes commercial and short films with action thriller ‘Pandorian’ to be released in 2013.

Liam Egan

Assistant Producer

Liam currently studies at The University of Technology and is involved in the theatre group ‘Backstage’.

 

 

Ted Crosby

Assistant Producer

Ted is an actor, writer, director and producer. The first time I met Ted I had to wrap him up in bubble wrap. Since then we have worked on a number of short films and the ‘Can’t TVC‘. Ted is a co-founder of ‘Unpathed Theatre Company’.

Well, that’s the team. Of course there are always more people involved, but I will get to them very soon. For now, these are my team. Say hello team!

Photographers

Stephen J Godfrey

Stephen is happiest when there is a camera in his hand about to be rised to his eye. Involved in a number of art projects Stephen believes in running a client-friendly, service-oriented business where great creativity often is the result of team effort. He values working closely with clients to create powerful imagery. “Seeing is not enough; you have to feel what you photograph” – Andre Kertesz

Pollyanna Nowicki

Pollyanna is an international award winning actor of the stage and screen.
With skills in physical theatre, singing, accents, directing, writing, videography and photography.
Pollyanna recently featured in ATYP stage production ‘TEASE’ and is soon to grace the stage again in Shakespeare’s ‘Timon of Athens‘.

Also check out our INCREDIBLE CAST here.

If you liked this post please ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page and ‘FOLLOW’ my blog. I keep them up to date with; projects I’m involved in, reviews & tutorials and share interesting tid-bits to make you smile.

“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.” 

Auditions for ‘Beehive’ have begun

I was so excited yesterday for the first day of auditions for my new film ‘Beehive’ (see details here). I had trouble getting to sleep the night before as my mind wouldn’t stop ticking over ideas for my film. I have trouble getting to sleep every night for the same reason. Whether I am thinking about character arcs, camera angles, lighting, set design or pre-production – this little ducky is definately going to sleep later than she should.

But on this particular evening it was worse than ever, it was a terrible concoction of stress and excitement mixed in one. ‘Have we contacted everyone we want? Have they been told to prepare a scene? Have we asked them to prepare the right character? Is there anyone else I haven’t thought of? Should I bring food? Do I need music? Should I print off more copies of the script? Is the room booked? Do we have a reader?

What it is that finally helps me get to sleep, I don’t know, but it’s probably the fact that I have amazing producer, Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher, on board. Chloe has taken this project on board and ensured everyone of my questions has an answer (generally DONE and DON’T WORRY). She’s the best.

Chloe and I worked on so many projects together last year. Having met on ‘In Transit‘ where she worked as First Ad and me as 1st Camera Assist. We then went on to work on 5 other productions. It got to the point where it seemed we couldn’t get a job without the other already being involved! So Chloe was an obvious choice. Any girl who works that hard has to be on my team!

So after another sleepless night I woke up to day one for auditions – slightly groggy but too nervous to notice or care.

I headed off to The University of Technology where we are hosting the auditions. As I walked down the hall toward the room I could faintly hear the ‘Toot Toot Toots‘ song ‘Fools Gold‘ blaring from crackly speakers. As we entered I was delighted to see that Chloe and director Alastair Wharton had set the room up. It finally dawned on me that it was really happening now. It wasn’t just a project in my head, things were happening around me without me managing every little detail. What a relief! 

Yesterday we saw our first group of auditions. It kicked off to a strong start with a bubbly actress who seemed to wash away all our nerves the moment she burst into the room. From then on, each person brought their own flair and the night was filled with such fun and laughter that at times we had to remind ourselves this was work.

I found a quote yesterday before the first round of auditions, which at first I thought was really great.

“Disney has the best casting. If he doesn’t like an actor he just tears them up.”

– Alfred Hitchcock

Now that I have seen some actors I don’t agree with Hitchcock completely. I think there is something amazing that an individual actor can bring to a role that the writer, director or producer haven’t even thought of. Which is why casting is such a wonderful experience. Not saying that the long days and the repetition (or the occasional cringe-worthy performance) doesn’t make it hard. Just overall, it’s a unique experience that starts to give you a hint of the possibilities of your project and makes the script seem to come to life (something that Disney may have struggled to find to bring personality to his characters).

If you liked this post please ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page and ‘FOLLOW’ my blog. I keep them up to date with; projects I’m involved in, reviews & tutorials and share interesting tid-bits to make you smile.

“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.” 

Introducing “Beehive” A new short film by Ehran Edwards

About 6 weeks ago I hinted that I had just finished a new script. I couldn’t believe that I had been out of film school over a year, and though I had worked on so many projects, I hadn’t started my own.

I was a little slow off the starting line getting it going, but I am super thrilled to let you know that IT’S OFFICIALLY HAPPENING! ‘Beehive’ is now in Pre-production.

I have found the best team to work on this production and I am very excited about where it is heading. We plan to film in early February and right off the back of Christmas we have all been working so hard to pull it off within the 6 weeks before we shoot.

About the film.

‘Beehive’ is an exciting new Australian short film written by Cinematographer Ehran Edwards, directed by Alastair Wharton and Produced by Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher.

An emotionally repressed girl hides behind her sexuality, but when confronted with an honest reflection of her short-comings, she is pushed to admit her desire for intimacy

Colourful, alluring, sexy and vulnerable, this visually stylized, character driven film is inspired by European cinema and a love of the 1960s youth, freedom and energy.

Meet the AMAZING team

‘Beehive’ is the third collaborative effort between Alastair Wharton, Ehran Edwards, Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher and Diva Abrahamian. After meeting during the making of hit web-series ‘In Transit’, the team then went on to make a short documentary and Promo for ‘Wear It Purple’ and have joined forces again for their first short film together.

These are just the head honchos though. The film couldn’t possibly be made with just us. We are also joined by a huge team of dedicated people filling in roles such as sound, camera assist, steadicam, grip, continuity, makeup, costume, catering (very important) and editing. Once everyone is locked in I’ll let you know.

Ehran Edwards ~ Writer, Cinematographer & Executive Producer

A graduate of The International Film School Sydney in Cinematography and The Canberra Institute of technology in Media Production, Ehran has written & directed 14 shorts and worked as cinematographer/camera operator on over 20 projects. Her music video ‘Only Only’ by Brendan Maclean was ‘Indie Clip of the Week’ on Rage 2012. Ehran is proud to have the crew on board to make her new film a success.

Alastair Wharton ~ Director

In 2009, Alastair began his film career by studying Media Arts and Production at the University of Technology, Sydney, where he wrote and directed the short film ‘Cycles’. After finishing studying in 2011, he worked as 1st AD on the award-winning web series ‘SYD2030’. He was also the Director of the comedy web series ‘In Transit’.

Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher ~ Producer and First AD

Currently studying producing at AFTRS, Chloe spent 2012 with her thumb deeply embedded in an array of projects. From 8-part web series ‘In Transit’, futuristic short film ‘Chart Star‘ to the ‘Wear It Purple’ Promo and documentary for supporting youth, Chloe has worked wonders with her attention to detail and ability to inspire her team around her (and keep them on time.)

Diva Abrahamian ~ Production Designer

The stylish and marvellous Diva is lending us her midas artistic touch as Production Designer. Diva studied at The University of Technology and has worked alongside Alastair, Ehran and Chloe on various projects including ‘In Transit’, the ‘Wear It Purple Promo’ and the soon to be released music video ‘Tonight’ by Glass Towers.

Making a movie

Pre-production

For 6 weeks the team will be scouting locations, locking in gear, drawing story boards, scheduling, casting and rehearsing (including learning to dance). It’s a busy time and I am positively overwhelmed by all the hard work that everyone has put into getting the ball rolling so quickly (especially over the holiday season). We have just locked in our storyboard and are looking forward to the first meeting with the art department to discuss the visual concepts and possibilities. We currently have a call out for actors and are psyched to start the auditioning process next week.

Production

Shooting is over 3 days, the second weekend of February. It will be a tight shoot but we are working hard now to try to make it run as smooth as possible.
Filming will be in the Sydney area.

Post Production

Once the filming has wrapped, the footage then heads off to an editor, sound designer and colour grader to polish it off. After which we hope to get the final film in festivals.

It’s shaping up to be a fun film. I can’t wait to show it to you. In the mean time, I’ll keep you posted on our progress.
Wish us luck!

If you liked this post and would like to see more like it, please follow/like my Facebook Fan page. I keep it up to date with all the projects I am working on and promote opportunities for others when I hear of them.