The Shoot Begins (Rusting it Up)

 

For the last week leading up to the shoot I had been working like crazy getting all the props and set dressings in place ready for the shoot. On top of Art Department I was also working on costume, which was a whole other job in itself especially for a post apocalyptic Sci-Fi.

While on set I make a habbit to age and rust anything metal that was too shiny. I left some brand new chains in a bucket with vinegar and bleach over night, the results were delightful. I used the same recipe and added it to a spray bottle and sprayed it on cans, this require a few recoats but it got there eventually.

I created a rust paste out of cinnamon, water and a hint of black paint. I painted it over anything small I may have missed it came in very handy.

This week I began to dress the set for Kane's shelter. The shelter is an old stable with blue stone walls, a small window and brick floors. It's located on my dad's property in Epping, 30 minutes North East from Melbourne.
     To prepare the first thing I needed to do was clean out the remnants of old five year old horse poo and hay which had flatterened out like a pancake onto the brick floor. Luckily I got a lot of help with clean out, gave the dirty floor a good sweep out to really bring up the bricks once again.
     I placed a barbed wire netting over the window to give it a jail look. Here is a photo of the stable before it had been cleaned out:

Retribution Shoot

Shooting for my side project Retribution has began.
One of the main set dressings for the film was the wallpaper which seemed like a pretty easy thing to create, the idea being create a stencil and spray on some white paper.
The first problem was a lack of space and the weather being winter and all wasn't suitable to make outside. My next solution was so create a copy of the stencil and cut out each part then paste it onto a white stripe of paper.

It took a few hours longer then spraying but had a much cleaner result and post people thought I had printed the pattern onto the paper which is what I was hoping it would look like. Here is a snap shot I took from the set:

The second day of shooting went well and found it can save money and effort if you hire props where you can such as a table and chairs for the bar scene. For the bar itself I got a friend to build a portion of a bar which was later extended for the wide shot using black fabric. I was pleased with the end result and the film went well. Hopefully I can upload some stills soon!

A Side Project

I recently offered my help in art department to a former teacher of mine Clint Cure who is currently completing a masters at the VCA. His film entitled The Retribution is part animation part live action and sits somewhere between sin city and a Tim Burton horror comic. Its a stylized piece shot in black white with heavy contrasts.

One of the key props is a antique Gothic style candle stick usually retailing at around 40 plus dollars. When a prop rips into a tight budget the best thing to do is to make one yourself.
I found this online article about DIY candle sticks.

http://733blog.blogspot.com/2010/07/cw-diy-floor-candlesticks.html


Bunnings has pre-made posts which cost about 8 dollars each. I cut of the piece of post I needed, and used the candle stick top from another candle stick and glued it to the top of the post for a more authentic look. I painted it black and gave it a grey trimmings. The final product cost under 15 dollars. 

The Liberator Pre Production

We begin shooting the Liberator in under two months. I've been working on the Production Design since late April. The process so far has been developing a look for the film and working closely with the director Edward Tom to achieve a single vision for the film.

The Liberator is set in a post apocalyptic world and follows a brain washed soldier Sarah who is captured by an enemy boy named Kane. It's through seeing Kane's innocence that Sarah learns compassion again in humanity.



THE LOOK


Unlike most post apocalyptic movies within the last decade Edward Tom the films director did not want a gritty dark world. Having been inspired by 1980’s action films he wanted to incorporate elements which made the era of film so iconic 
such as saturated blue’s, smoke machines and leather, lots of leather.  Think Escape from New York meets The Terminator with a modern daylight feel of District 9.

After speaking with Edward about the look and feel he wanted to achieve I placed upon myself to make an 80’s inspired post apocalyptic film without the cheesy.

I want to create a world that reflects how broken down society has become. The vulnerable landscape is flooded with rubble with remnants 
of a nuclear disaster zone. Everything looks uninviting with the primary colours of rusty reds, dirty oranges, faded greens and muddy 
browns filling the backdrop.

About Me

I'm a film student and it wasn't until about a year ago that I really discovered a passion for production design in film.

I began to study film just because I love the art of it so much, I still remember the first film I saw at the cinema The Lion King back in 1994. My childhood consisted of weekly trips with my father to our local cinema. He too loved film.

It wasn't until year 10 when we had to do an assignment about a job we would like to pursue after school. I found a book called 101 Jobs in Film and Television. I never realised till then how many people with different skills it took to create a film and I wanted to be part of that.

I started a bachelor course at Holmesglen Tafe in Screen and media specialising in live production. I wasn't sure what area of film making I wanted to follow and tested out all areas. I often got praise about my script writing and had spent a lot of time prior to film school simply writing short stories for the fun of it. It was something I enjoyed but required a lot of discipline. 

I eventually tried production design in a short film called Game On. It was great, I was able to express myself creatively work with all different areas of the crew be apart of the on set action, something that being a script writer doesn't require.

I went of to work on a few VCA films in the art department as well as taking a production design role for a Swinburne film gaining as much experience as I could.
In the future I would love to work as an attachment to a production designer in the industry or even continue to study in production design.

This year I undertook the role of production designer for a short sci fi film called The Liberator.
This blog will follow my process, what I learn along the way and what I feel I could do better.