Me and My Friends - the epic documentary short film, now with hands!

2006-12-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

From humble beginnings as apprentice box carriers. . . Alan and Adam take the stage. . .

Like our heroes, Bill and Ted, we used time travel to our benefit and delivered a great presentation about our class mates and Joan of Arc (who is so totally hot). We got an A and I didn't have to go to military school in Alaska. Apparently people like our speach, which is a relief as I have no idea what we were saying. Be Excellent to Each Other.

Then came the screening. What an experience. It was a thrill to have so many people watch our works on the big screen. Like, shiver my timbers indeed! I believe our films went down really well, hitting their audience like the Bowler would take out many a pin. I was so pleased that Lizzie was able to come along to catch her debut screen appearance. Maxx, you've done so well on your film, it's beautiful. James, when can I subscribe to the video pod cast of Suit Up! I want 'em on my ipod! Stan, this 'minority' group of history buffs is actually a pretty major amount of people. You've made a very informative doco with style, maturity, and class. Get making more, tell those stories! Alan, you got some good laughs and some confused reactions! Mess with the masses, my friend, ruin everything. And you'll be appearing in the next issue of SA Life!
I'm so pleased that Me and My Friends got a good reaction, people responding in all the right places. I've shown only nuggets of these people, it'd be great to be able to go back and show some more. Rob and Bob would make a fascinating pair for their own film. Can you imagine where they'd live?! I'd have to assume they'd Bert and Ernie it, have a bar fridge in every room of the house, and country music memorabilia cluttering the walls. It would be amazing.
The screening finished, the lights went up. MAPS advanced 2006 is done with, no more shoots, no more classes, no more edits, no more making screening tapes, no more maps.
Now it's the end. It's all over.
But keep the faith. We're just on to the next bit. Next year's gonna be the big one. The ultimate test. BRING IT ON.

Hang about, there's still a few MAPS stories left.
The after parties to begin with.

But that'll be next time, in possibly the last or second to last entry on this trilogy.
The coming adventures are so great we're in talks of having our own comic book. Cover ideas are coming in, we're thinking of going with this one.

till next time - love, love.

2006-12-05T21:15:00.000-08:00

AHA!

The Beginning of the End of the Beginning. Part one of the three (or possibly four) part trilogy, which chronicles the last remaining days of MAPS Advanced. Wipe your tears, and please, hush, listen closely, these words will live forever.

A red theatre.
A sea of faces fall silent, as two men take centre stage. All wait in stillness as they prepare to speak, as the slightest of noise may obscure the wisdom of their words. They are known as The Artist and The Junkie, yet these are just labels and do not begin to comprehend who they are and the impact they have had on millions of lives. For they have shown us the way, inspired and guided. Without them our quest would be fruitless. With them our power is unlimited. They speak and we applaud, nothing more can be said. And they invite two of us, two mere peasants, two of their padawans, to share some words. . .
But I'm getting ahead of the story here. I have a lot to tell, and plenty of time to tell it in, so let's go back to when time began.
God created everything and said "streuth, I did alright with that, I'd better make a DVD of it so, you know, the next clown who wants a go at making universes will have some kind of guide." Unfortunately he couldn't get a good deal on DVD duplication and the idea kind of fell through.
Stan, however, got on to the good people of Gmedia, who dished us up a treat, and at a good price. Thanks again Stan for arranging the DVD duplication. It was a buzz of excitement when Stan, James, and I headed over to Norwood to collect our works, It was a good feeling.

I now have copies of all our works on my shelf (with the exception of Adelaide Punk, what's up with that?!), and I understand they are filling up shelves across the country.

With our DVDs in hand, we headed to our screening with great enthusiasm, things were going to be alright. What we didn't know however, was that Dragons of Fury are not good company.
Pray for us.

And come back in a few days to find out what happened next!
Spaceships land on space!
Screening tapes are made, and made again, and made again, and made again!
Goblins probably don't exist!
And Alan and Adam apologise for THAT speach!

2006-11-25T00:14:00.000-08:00

The event of the year is upon us, only one week to go until . . .

2006-11-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

Stoking the flames of love and pain. Ouch.

I've just been watching the pre-release edition dvd of Me and My Friends, and am well pleased with it. I'm actually quite relieved, because on friday afternoon I was all bummed out about the compression rate, thinking the dvd would look like pixellated crap, but it's come up just dandy on my good old fashioned tv screen. The DVD disc art and cover art are all complete, and I'm very happy with them. I struggled with the writing of a blurb, but got there in the end, with a little help from Tristram Shandy (god bless him). So, yes, good triumphs over evil once more. Watch out for it at EzyDVD and all good comic book stores. Release date is set at December 1st, just in time for christmas! And, yes, it would make for a great stocking filler.

Things to do this week.
Make the poster and invite graphic for the Advanced Screening "A Fistfull of MAPS", with help from graphic designer extraordinaire Alan McDougiehells and the caped crusader himself James Eastfeelwoodburtreisner.
Invite people to the screening! All of Adelaides A-listers are all in a tizz over this one. Only the As of the As will get a spot in this one.
Plan the screening night. Looking at catering, pre-show entertainment, cacti, a monkey (haven't you always wanted a monkey?) and after party mayhem.
Make the screening tapes. Most likely the most boring process of all time, but with a little help from Stan Seattle Southgate (known as "The Wizard" in the bizz) it should be like daisies in a meadow.
Begin work on the greatest cowboy outfit of all time. Like this guy.

2006-11-06T02:50:00.000-08:00

Allow me to introduce Derek, he is a good man and we are proud of him. Derek senses a storm approaching.

It's been a bloody long time since the last blog. Damn, lots to catch up on, old friend. But I'll skip most of it and give the short version of the rest.
The DVD. that's what's been going down. The menu screens are done, the buttons are done, the special features are done (unless I think of something else that would be special by the end of the week), I put it through the DVD studio pro simulator and it seems to work, I even put in these transitions between the menu screens that look cool. I hope that tomorow I can learn how to make a little animated 'hello' person pop up from the side of the screen if the menu is on too long. And I want to make a tiny little moment from the film (or something left off from the film) appear as soon as the DVD gets put into a DVD player. It'll freak people out, you know, they'll be expecting to see a nice little menu screen appear first (or a shity warning screen), but instead they'll see some other thing. Like me saying, "WARNING! Don't burn my DVD! It won't work ever again!" I'll be seen there with a flame thrower burning the DVD and trying to play it in a DVD machine again and it won't work. Haha.

So the DVD is coming along very well. By the way, that cup in that picture above is full of Pink Pump liquid, don't drink it, it's a cleaning product.

Congratulations to Maxx, for winning a Silver Award at the ACS doo on saturday night for his stunning cinematography in our film "The Little Girl and the Little Boy", which we made last year with MAPS.

I can't think of anything else to write about. The DVD is coming out soon. Stay tuned. There'll be a screening on December 1st with other MAPS Advanced films, it'll be a good night. Come along. I'm going to make a program for it. And I'm pleased with the prototype of the Fistfull of Maps poster that Alan made. I'm also pleased with the Buyers World Pink Pump segment that James edited. I'm pleased.

Out.

2006-10-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

GO DRINK SOME PURPLE SPARKLY SHAKES!

After a long time away, working on the action packed set of Love Story 2050, my MAPS life begins again tomorow morning. Many people were shocked and horrified by the news. Leigh just now called me up and said that we have a 9am meeting. I believe it's gonna be panic stations, maniacal laughter, alarming head wounds, and 31*C with a late change. Sounds like beach weather. What say we pass on this meeting and all go for a picnic at the beach?
My plan, to avoid ultimate disaster, is to get my own copy of DVD studio pro, that way I can work on the thing without being restricted to MAPS operating times. I can turn myself into a robot and just work 24/7. We only have a month and a half. Doomsday is approaching!

Here's me on the love story set with Upi and Ravi, lovely people they are. Apparently Ravi has been shot a couple of times.

2006-09-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

peace.

on friday I put our film down in the complete list. I am well pleased. The executives have not looked at it though, so it isn't officially complete, but I feel that this edit odessey has come to a close. Much appreciation to all who have helped, cried, laughed, eaten, cussed, lived, jogged, boggled, saved, kicked, farted, swam, expressed, nuded, grown, got born and loved during the making of this film. And to Maxx who fixed up those last little colour corections on friday.

I have completed two mini-films for the dvd, one called "Oneness Exchange Energy Healing Uncut" and one called "Hao versus Mal - BATTLE". They're both funny. For now, however, I will be working on a feature being made here in Adelaide called 'Love Story' this coming week, and possibly beyond. This means I may need to reduce what I wanted to include on the DVD and web site. I want to go with the DVD plan that I have, but my web site will be very basic.

The web site will include
A Trailer
Bio's on the filmmakers
Synopsis on the film - a bit about stuff
And a link to this here blog, or I may cut and paste all the blog entries onto the web site and call it a 'production diary'
that's it. and it'll be very low on graphics and fancy pants, I can't make those things anyway.

So you won't see me this week, I'll see you. Rest easy, have no fear.

2006-09-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

TIMES IS NOW!!!!!!!!!!

I made a picture called Times is Now, that I wanted to put up here with this post, but unfortunately Blogger couldn't handle it. Don't worry, the Blogger engineers have been notified and they'll be working to fix the problem.

Me and My Friends (the film TRiBE, has changed its name to Me and My Friends, but this blog will still be called TRiBE, just to mess with my readers) was shown in its ever-so-close-to-finished form to the Advanced MAPS team today. I'm pleased with the response it recieved, people were polite enough to laugh, smile, and say polite words about the flick. There are a couple of audio issues that I'll be fixing tomorow morning, nothing major to fix, as Stan has done a splendid job on the mix. And Peter recomended a change or two that I'll be addressing tomorow as well. Me and My Friends will be hitting the Complete column round lunch time, woot!
Huge thanks to the people who have taken this baby through the post production process, including Stan, Sarah, Des, James (I'm also bummed that some of your edit input was lost, I appreciate the help though man), Maxx, and Peter and Leigh. You're all great great people.

Looking forward now to the DVD, which I'll start putting together on thursday. These are my current.
Menu screens will have pictures of people from the film, which will say "hello".
Extras will include
A trailer
'Hanging Around' music video
Me and My Deleted Bits
The Oneness Energy Exchange Healing (uncut)
An Evening with Hao Christian
Info on the filmmakers
Trailers for other Advanced films (?)
A picture show
Commentary from the Director and special guests

But I'll put it out to you, my three readers, what do you guys want to see on the DVD? Tell me about it!

you're so fine you blow my mind

2006-08-29T03:42:00.000-07:00

One Second Away. . . Stories from the last few days on the road to infinite glory.

Ben and I spent some time in the MAPS nintendo studio and came with music for the film. After putting together a bunch of electronic music, I decided that the nudist club segment needed a laid back acoustic feel. So I put Ben to work and he came up with a fantastic ditty. I love the thing. Here 'tis.

"Just Hanging Around" written and performed by Ben, appearing on the upcoming film 'Me and My Friends' and the first single from the album 'Hortence Savoury's Adventures in Time and Space'.

Just Hanging Around
Just Hanging Around
My friends know what I'm about
Just hanging out
No pants allowed
When we're . . . just hanging around

Just Hanging Around
Just Hanging Around
Everytime I have a BBQ
Sausages are BYO
Get your meat out
So we can see what you're about . . . just hanging around

Just Hanging Around
Just Hanging Around
Wearing clothes makes me sick
So I just get out my . .
Pick a number
Pick a number
I'm in the butchers line no longer

Just Hanging Around
Just Hanging Around
Just Hanging Around
Just Hanging Around

2006-08-28T04:54:00.000-07:00

This is Sound Man Super Stan working on the audio for 'Me and My Friends' (I think that'll be the title, people. My heart just feels it.) He's been working non-stop round the clock on a dozen projects, burning the candle at both ends, but still putting in one hundred and ten percent. And that's a hell of a percentage. His audio mix is smooth as mustard and today we worked on synching it up with the pictures. We also put in music and narration. All I need to do now is synch the three audio's (Stans mix, the narration track, and the musical score) to a consistant volume level and the film is done!
Here's Sound Man Super Stan a but latter in the afternoon, stress is building and he's just damn tired. He could use a bit a sleepy, but as a dear friend once said, "You Shall Never Sleep".
Here's Sound Man Super Stan, when the sun has set and all good children have gone to bed. He's saying, "Stop taking your fecking photos and let me do this fecking work!" He's one fecking good guy.
And here's me contemplating how the conclusion narration should go. We didn't record anything for the conclusion in the end, I'm going to wait till friday when Des (and hopefully Leigh and Peter as well, and anyone who wants to put their two cents in) is going to look at it and bounce some ideas around with him.
If you have anything that you feel should be said in my closing narration, let me know! This is what I've got so far, "Toward the end of the Great War, Hortence Savoury fled from France and took refuge in a little known country called Phillip. Here, Hortence found a small period of peace, and used this time to write his memoirs. He sure did have a story to share, telling the tales of how he once defeated a giant who used an entire tree as a weapon, and a gnome who used an entire country and western band as a weapon - both were deadly foes, but both were defeated in exactly the same way. Hortence Savoury simply kicked them in the balls."

2006-08-24T03:54:00.000-07:00

Sound As Ever

It's all about the noise people. (TRiBE) has been put through the glorious sound machine that is Stan. The Klingons are well pleased as now there is no longer the Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom noise happening when they are speaking, they won't be invading us this time. And 'Simirar' is the best word ever. BEST EVER!
Hats off to our great Stan though, he's been working his ass off, and I'm pleased with the results thus far. He's finished with it, i just haven't heard the final final mix yet. I heard the half way final mix and it was sounding good. I'm feeling good.
I've contracted one Ben in to put some music together, which is coming along really nicely. We hope to have it completed tomorow. We just need to record the nudist theme tune, and record my narration. My narration! I've written a few different variation of what i want to say, so we'll record them and see what works best.
The film will be completed in about 10 days! And then it's onto compiling everything for the DVD, which I have loads of ideas for. I'm gonna make a fake trailer for "HAO - THE MOTION PICTURE". yeah, goodness.

sleep well and dream of niceties.

2006-08-10T06:32:00.000-07:00

As Fine as a Fine Edit. . .
Places I'd like to visit - Portland, Oregon. Atlantis. Space. Antarctica. That's in order, order of preference.
So the three days of the fine edit are complete. (TRiBE) is looking like a documentary film now, which is very exciting. It flows well and is interesting and funny and pretty.
The extra shots didn't happen, after discussing them further we decided that we didn't need them. I bought these Star Trek dolls (they're actually called action figures) especially for the shot. But atleast now I have Star Trek dolls, and they kept us amused during the edit time.
Sarah played with Motion and we now have captions come up when people appear that say their names and what they do in the club. It's exciting, having a professional look. We decided to do a different colour caption bar for each club, which works. I really want a shirt with an alien on it.
There's still a couple of little edit details that we need to do, so I'll be negotiating with people to get some time on the edit machine! We need to complete the opening and closing credits, as well as cutting the intro and conclusion and adding in some drive time instead of it. Although I haven't completely decided on that one. We're having a show and tell tomorow morning so I'm interested to hear what my fellow students have to say on it. It good? It bad? Who knows!
The film is still without a title! HELP! I'll be calling it (TRiBE) until I have one.
What about "So what did you do on the weekend?"?

Here's a picture from the fine edit. I want these toys in the movie, dammit!
We're focussing the film on the characters, the charm they all bring into it. The down to earth, ordinariness they have, despite the fact that they long to be Vader or Billy Ray Cyrus or whatever. If Darth Vader did go into country music, he'd have to call himself Billy Ray Vader. Imagine that. Genius.

2006-08-09T05:20:00.000-07:00

Budgets and Sleepy and TRANSFORMERS!
Last week we had a person called Sonya come in and talk about how to prepare budgets for films. So I've been preparing the budget for (TRiBE), as though we made to industry standards and costs. I wrote up the budget the other day but am going through it tonight to make sure it's all good. I don't really know what to put in the Above the Line category. I may leave it blank for now and figure it out tomorow when Sonya returns for a follow up bugetting session.
So, what of the progress on the fine edit? Well, that's a story for another time. I'm gonna get me a little bit of sleepy.
Peace, sleep well.

2006-07-31T03:42:00.000-07:00

Ghostbusters III?

I'm still kicking around title changes. But I do feel I should change it. How 'bout I change it to "Mateship - An Australian Dream"? God, no, that's shit.
I've been given the greenlight on two extra shots that I want, which is exciting. I think the film will benefit from them.
My fine edit times have been bumped up a bit, I now start this thursday, so I'm busy getting stuff together for it. I need to compile some old photos of me (for the opening montage), it'll be fun looking over some old memories. Like the time I was swinging on a rope and slipped and broke my arm. It was summer and a week or so later I was taken to a waterslide park and had to hang around with a plastic bag over my casted arm. Classic stuff! But this has nothing to do with the task at hand.
Here's a picture of my action figure collection. It may be similar to the one I film this week. We need a shot of a toy collection so that when the sci-fi club member talks about their collection, we'll have something to cut to.

give my best to the universe, and stuff

2006-07-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

With our three days of rough editing done, our heroes venture into music, effects, third-party footage, reshoots, narration, and new ideas.
Yes, the rough edit of the Film Formerly Known As Tribe is complete. It has a running time of about 19 minutes, so when the fine is done I imagine we'll have a 14 minute documentary. I've had some very helpful feedback on the film, especially from Leigh, which I really appreciated. There's lots of ideas to look into now before I go into the fine edit. How to restructure scenes, especially my opening rant, what music to play. A theme tune? (I can write the theme tune, sing the theme tune, I'm in a club with my friends doo be doo be doo). Leigh gave me an idea which is comic gold, to incorporate with the UFO club. I've been struggling to see how I can link up the ufo club footage with the rest of the thing, but now I can see the light.

Sarah locked her keys in her car, which added some comic relief to the editing days. A lovely man, who came to fix the heater, broke into her car for her, so all's well that ends well.
But back to the film. The title is changing. If you've got a suggestion, send it in. I may just love it.
Here's some ideas we're knocking about. Me and My Friends. These People Are So Thirsty. Divine Days. Ghostbusters 3. Me and Mine. Hao - Master of the Universe. or, Weekend at Hao's.
We love Hao. Best character ever.

2006-07-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Warm fuzzy memories. . .

Going through the TRiBE photos I found these two that I expecially like. The crew setting up before the shoot at the Body Mind Psychic Fair, and Maxx and relaxing after the shoot at the fair. Happy days.

2006-07-19T00:39:00.000-07:00

Parky Watson Band t-shirts now on sale! For your limited edition shirt, have $30 at the ready and post a comment saying 'yes please' to this post. We'll sort out the money/shirt transfer sometime, don't worry about.
These shirts are just in and won't be around for long! So stay hip, stay cool, stay totally outrageous with this must-have fashion shirt.

Who are the Parky Watson Band? Well, glad you asked, because right now they are at the cutting edge of christian counrty pop! With power house hooks, amazing melodies, and a love for the lord that goes deeper than the ocean, the Parky Watson Band are here to pray, and stay - on the charts! With songs such as "Unbreakable", "Who's Higher Than JC?", "What I Know", "Unshakable", and "God, You Rock!", this is a band looking toward the future. And yes, they're icecream bears.

2006-07-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here's me going mental. Actually, my little nephew took that photo. Great.

I'm not sure if I've announced this yet (on the blog anyway) but TRiBE has finished shooting. Now, Sarah the Editor, who was also kind enough to 'fix' my car radio (see picture) and I are sorting through the hundreds of hours of footage to be able to put together something that atleast vaguely represents a film. It's a big job and I'm so grateful that Sarah's on board for it. I tend to melt into a mess of fire and brimestone after 10 minutes in the edit room, and she'll be enduring days upon days of it (not to mention the days upon days of putting up with my pushy ass - I'm all like "cut this bit here, do this bit first, make this bit good, sing me a song I'm bored"). My hat goes off to her.
But we're all on semester break at the current time. But the film is still being picked at. Between my job (at the school - I get to take the children bowling on friday, woot!), having the obligatory dose of fun, looking into avenues for work experience, and writing up applications for next year (gasp!), I have been watching through the TRiBE rushes and putting together what the first rough cut should kind of look like. So I threw out the script, and started plotting a story. I might even change the TRiBE. I'll tell you why in the next paragraph.
You see, there's 4 clubs covered in the film. We can all agree on that. 3 of those fit into the TRiBE idea that I was going for - the science fiction fan club, the nudist club, and the country music club. So that's all cool. One does not fit in. That's bad. The UFO club. You see, as a group, the UFO club did not want to be filmed. So what I have is really good material from two subjects in the group, they talk about the group and all, but the sense of TRiBE is missing. I'm not exactly sure what to do. And the thing is that the footage from the UFOlogists is probably the most interesting (once cut) in a kind of kooky way.
Any suggestions?! Send 'em in.

i'm cooking satay styled vegies and tofu. Not right now, but in a minute.
thankyou thankyou thankyou

2006-07-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hello lovers,

you'll now see that I put photos on my blog! Spiffy.
I wasn't sure if the photo thing was going to work, so I didn't include any text with the pictures. So I'll tell you about them now.
You will then see Alan and I on the set of Suit Up. We were asked to do a small little part in the series as "Confused Employees". I saw it all cut together the day and it really is a 'blink and you'll miss' part but, hey, work's work.
And finally me, as Jez Tracey, the host of TRiBE. This is how you'll see me at the beginning and ending of the film, all spick and span in my bestest suit. Sarah and I cut the footage together the other day , TRiBE now has an intro and conclusion. It's pretty much finished (no no no). More about editing in my next blog.

But let's see, it's been along while since my last post, so let me bring you up to speed. Come on.
There's a lot to tell you, so let's take the scenic route. A year has passed. I'm a little older and a little wiser. I'm starting to get hair in really weird places. I feel like I'm turning into Sasquatch. I still go out with my girlfriend Cassandra. She's cutting a record demo right now. Her career's really taking off. You remember Cassandra, don't you? What a babe. She's give a dog a bone. But you know, even though I live on my own now, everybody's really hassling me to do something with my life. To become an adult. I feel like I'm in a John Hughes "rites de passage" movie. But what I'd really like to do is something extraordinary. Something big, something mega, capious, capacious, cajunga. But I'll probably end up working at Great America, mopping up hurl and lung butter. You remember my best friend Garth Algar, right? I almost forgot. This year, Garth finally got pubes. (You didn't tell them about my pubes, did you?) No. Of course not.

2006-07-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

LOOK! I put photos on my blog!

2006-06-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

Shiver my very own Timbers! Shooting for Tribe is almost complete. And it's all happened without a hitch, no monumental fuck ups to speak of. But we're not out of the woods yet . . .
The Country Music Fan Club is done.
The Nudist Club is done.

The UFO club is mostly done - I hoping to get an interview with the director of the club, Kevin, after the unfortunate circumstances during the shoot with them. Again, apologies to my crew for that one! I'm so embarrassed about it, I had no idea one man could talk so long!
The Science Fiction Fan Club is only half done - I got a lot of lovely footage from the convention, but now it's time to go to the regular monthly meetings, the core of their very existence. And interviews, i need the interviews with them.
And finally, my shots! My introductory and conclusion shots will be done this weekend. There's a field just near my house that I want to set up a chair, smaal table, and lamp post in. Or coat rack, I think that could look interesting. I'll sit in the chair and yabber on about myself and my film, soapbox style.

The film's all well and dandy. My huge thatnks to all my crew for their input so far, it's been amazing and hugely enjoyable.
But currently I feel unwell, not right in the head, I even had blood taken from me and I hated it! My arm's still hurty. So I'm gonna rest up, I want to be all better and fit as a fiddle for the Stan/Mick shoot tomorow. I'm looking forward to it.

check this, 2 + 2 = 4 and 3+ 1 also = 4. spooky.
so adios, nachos.

2006-06-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ready to Shoot?
Here's something I read in a local paper.

"TRiBE (the epic documentary short film) is going full in to production this weekend with the filming of two of its subject clubs.
Reports are that all relevant parties are very excited about the project and are looking forward to either being on crew or being shinning stars. One person went as far as to say, "Yeah, I'm excited. I even bought a new sweater to wear. It has a moose on it". Others said, "TRiBE? Don't f*ck up on that one".
Director and host of TRiBE, Jez Tracey, is also somewhat nervous. "I have butterflies in my stomach, and watermelons in my brains, and a grasshoper slipped down my pants, teehee", he said, from his secret tropical home.
Meanwhile, local man Stan has signed on for a weekend of sound recording. He is excited to be standing naked in a pool with his boom pole, but was dissapointed to hear that this weekends shoot had no pools or nudity scheduled. Sharyn, Sarah, and Maxx are looking forward to broadening their minds at the Body Mind and Psychic Expo, where the shoot will be focusing on our local UFO club. Jez Tracey is now busy practising his dance moves for sundays country music club dance shoot.
We wish them all the best!"

So, yes, exciting stuff. You read it, you can't un-read it.
And to remind you all that tomorows shoot, at Wayville, will begin at 10am and conclude at approximately 1pm. The aim of the shoot is to film the UFO club when they are promoting themselves to a wider audience. We also want to get plenty of cut aways to use with interviews and the club meeting that we'll be getting on sunday night.
More updates soon!
lovely lillies all round,

BYE.

2006-05-22T04:04:00.000-07:00

Spread Your Love Like A Fever . . .

hello all, and yeah, TRiBE got the green light from the executive last week (first on the board, ooooooh yeahr!)
I'm happy to hear that (nearly all) of my amigos have the green light also (come on James, Suit UP! - but, hey, I totally understand the issue at the moment. Peace be with you).
Speaking of peace, I was sad to hear 'bout the departure of our Benny (the dude helming Tidy Town). I was looking forward to getting our town tidy, but Benny's found a new path, and I wish him all the best.

Today we started the Maxx production of Blind Portrait. It was fantastic having a set and getting it all going on. Sure, we had issues with the final two locations, but nothing we can't make up for in the next two days (who can control the weather anyway?!) And what a fantastic leading lady we have in this film! Lizzies a character, I'll tell you what. And she stooged Maxx so bad, it was hilarious.
And Maxx, I got to say it man, the way that Elizabeths parents and the school has trusted you is total credit to your character and what you trying to achieve with this film. You're a good guy (who totally DOES care) and they can all see that. My blessings to ya!

Next week I'm filming Adelaide Pumpkinickle! Looking forward to that beast. Check out Alans blog, it has funny pictures and papadums and shit.
Any questions? I don't know what else to put down.

you know, love, hope, and chocalate cookie. now i'm hungee

2006-05-15T03:28:00.000-07:00

So, what's black, white, and red?
A penguin with a nose bleed.

Here's just a quick post for all those techies out in techsville.
Pre-production for this doco is quickly drawing towards a close. I tidied (like a tidy town) up my paper work today - put page numbers on things, did a cover page, wrote up a shot schedule, compiled the call sheets together. It all seems very tidy. I haven't printed out the new call sheets though, I'll ask some one to proof read them tomorow and then I'll print 'em and hand the suckers out to relevant parties. Speaking of parties, everyone's disco dancing! Bear's driving car, how can that be?

All I'm waiting on is a couple of release forms for locations, I figure I may as well just get in the car and drive over to these slackers who refuse to use a fax machine and say, 'hey, hand the form to me'. Then I'm (with any luck) green lighted.

Just to let my fellow class mates know, I'm doing before school care work this week (seeing as though I'm taking 5 weeks off paid work), it just means that although I'm ment to finish work at 8:30am, I am working with children and anything could happen. What I'm actually saying is that I may be about 5 to 10 minutes late to school this week. No biggie.

Good luck to everyone sorting out their films this week. If anyone needs me for anything, CALL ME! I'm always happy to help, give opinions, get in the way, fart, dance, give relief, whatever, whenever I'm able.

Feeling is good, make you better.

2006-05-07T05:09:00.000-07:00

Lights . . . Camera . . . Action!

Yes, filming has begun on the epic documentary short film! Yesterday we were able to film selected moments from the Science Fiction Fan Club Convention, and what a wonderful day it was! My favourite moment was the interview with the Klingons that then led straight into an interview with some blue faced silver hair antler woman. That was cool. And I liked getting the little cut away shot of the jedi and storm trooper at the drinks bar, despite having to do three takes! But it'll look cool.
Big thanks to all the crew who came out bright and early on a saturday. THANKS.
And just quietly, we beat the ABC! We were getting stuff on tape while they were still waiting out on the street.

The club presidents have signed my release forms, a few members too, which is all very cool. Everyone's keen to use my film to get out their own message, and I'm cool with that. I'll spread the word for 'em. This week I need to finish up my storyboard and shot schedules, and get a couple of location agreements done, and the film's all sorted. Yeah.

So you all know, here's what I'll be filming during the upcoming weeks and when. I've only got to secure the time for the one on one interview, but I think it will be alright to do them at the club meetings (for the most part).

TRiBE shooting days.

Science Fiction Fan Club
Saturday 6th May at the Terra Nova Convention.
Where the members of the club will be in their element – dressed up and especially excited. The entire weekend is devoted to sci-fi, with costume prizes, celebrity guests, a special effects seminar, sneak previews for upcoming science fiction and, ofcourse, the lively club members themselves.
The convention attracts 100+ people and is what the club members have all worked towards putting on. This is the day that they can go all out.

Sunday 28th May at the Club Meeting (SA Writer’s Centre)
To see the members in more normal, monthly meeting, which I believe at this occasion will include a trip to a planetarium.

Also to be filmed will be an interview with Louissa (club president) and one other member.

Country Music Fan Club
Sunday 4th June at the Country Club Hall (Slovenian Club)
Where the monthly hoot occurs. The band Bernie and the Bandits will be appearing.

Also to be filmed will be an interview with Lorraine and one other member.

The Naturists
Saturday 20th May at the Pilwarren wine and cheese day.
To get the club in the natural surroundings, to really get that wildlife documentary feel.

Saturday 17th June at the Thebarton Swimming Centre
The twice monthly swim session is really the club meetings.

Also will film a interview with Barry and his housemate. The Pilwarren day is not secured. After talking to the club members we feel that it would be better to stage an even at Barry's house (we could do a bbq), that way everyone who turns up for it knows that they'll be filmed and will be cool with it.

UFO club
Saturday 3rd June at the Body, Mind, and Psychic Fair (Wayville)
Where the club has a stall and will be promoting their club and what they do to a wider audience. I’d really like to see other people’s reaction to this group.
Sunday 4th June at club HQ
The regular monthly session, tonight’s topic is ‘the Creative Creation’. I’ll use this as my introduction to the group, as it’s their usual activity.

I’ll also film an interview with Kevin (group leader) and one other member, and there is also talk of the group doing a trip to a UFO hot spot down south (just past Aldinga) which I’d also really like to film.

So that's where I'm at the mo'. Wish you all the best in your own film making. I'll blog again soon.
peace and love to all the children - except the shit ones, and I know who they are.

2006-05-07T05:02:00.000-07:00

woot, a new post! during the break i sent out an email to all the advanced mapsies, and feel as though i should paste it in here, so here 'tis.

for the moment i have forgotten my blogger password (eep!), so I come
to you all via the age old method of email (yes, back to the caves and
changing my name to Thuk for me). But I wanted to give a little
update.

Hello!
I hope everyone is enjoying their break and the absence of my
presence. Zang. I went to Hahndorf today and indulged in some iced
cream. I also bought this little packet of lemon gum becuase the
picture on the packet looked like a lemon fucking a lime. Good stuff.
Anyways, films films films. (oh and by the way, I went and saw a
screening of the SA shorts and was amazed at the amount of shit. the
best one was this 3 minute student film about a man, a checkout chick,
and oranges. It was good. I laughed)
Anyways! OUR films. Where we at, people?
Tomorow night (being Wednesday 26), Maxx and I are meeting with the
Country Music lady to interview. Maxx will get it on camera. The point
of it will be to put my on-screen ability to the test, figure out
which of my questions are good, how the lady reacts to me and my
probing, etc etc. I've been watching lots of John Saffran (I have his
Music Jamboree and Vs God) so I hope I don't just rip him off.
Although, there's plenty worse to rip off. If I start doing a Rove,
kick me in the face.
If anybody wants to come along for the ride tomorow night, get in contact.
And this week I've got a couple of club meetings to attend, so come
with! I need you guys!
Saturday 29th - Nude Club swim at Thebarton 3:30 - 5:30
Sunday 30th - Special Country Music Club Show 1 - 5 (but we'll leave
it early for . . . )
Science Fiction Fan Club 4 - 8.
buzz me on (something something) or (something something) and come along. I'd appreciate it.
And there'll be more meetings the following weekend, but I'll catch
you all up on that when I see you all at school.
keep well my children,
Adam (The Grand Master of the Universe and Everything - Inculding Your Toast)

ps. if I swore in this email, then, Lisa, I'm sorry you won't recieve it.

that's the email. now i'll do a real new blog post. so keep posted.

2006-04-19T01:42:00.000-07:00

and so one thing remained - what exactly will this TRiBE film look like? what will happen in it?

Here's the answer. Are you ready?

TRiBE

TRiBE will be about myself, as a filmmaker, on a journey through Adelaide cults, looking for where I may belong.
I believe that all people either have a special place where they feel comfortable, accepted, even loved, or that they are trying to find their place. Some find it with family, friends, one other person or in a group. And so the film will follow myself, looking for my special place. I won’t find it.

• the film will open on me, contemplating what a Tribe is and why we need to belong, to find our ‘thing’. This will be shot in a very raw, ‘personal’ style. I’ll be holding the camera at arms length away and speaking directly into it.
• Then the journey will begin, as I look through the five cults of the film. Each cult will be shot in its own style, reflecting what the cult is. I will be shown ‘discovering’ the cults, approaching the buildings / meeting rooms. Once I am with the cults, the style will change. I will remain in camera with the cults, participating in what they do, talking with the members about what they do, and making ‘progress report’ comments to the camera. One camera will remain with me, the other will capture the cult event.
• The emo subculture will be styled like an emo MTV video, with quick cuts, hand camera, zooming in and out, effects to look like crappy film and black and white. Even some wide angle lense.
• The UFO club will be shot like a conspiracy theory television special, to look claustrophobic and paranoid. I’ll use close ups, especially quick cuts to shifty eyes, film in low light, and use night vision effects.
• The nudist club will be shot like a nature “World Around Us” documentary. Shooting wide from a distance away, as not to disturb the local wildlife, and only using natural light.
• The Science Fiction fan club will be shot to look like an episode of Star Trek or Dr Who, with standard camera set ups. The camera should have only minimal movement, and instead cut between wide shots and close shots of the people. Between scenes will be Star Wars type wipes.
• The Country Music club will be made to look like a Sergio Leone western film. With wide landscape shots, low angles to give the heroes god-like appearances, close ups on faces so we can smell the blood, sweat, and dirt of the people, and ridiculous sound effects on everything.

As well as having myself ‘trying out’ each cult group, the film will examine why the groups are important to their own members. I want to know if the members of the groups believe that they are there to fit in somewhere. Have these people searched for places to fit in? Do they feel like outsiders in ‘regular’ society?

I will conduct conversational interviews with a few members of each group, some questions I will ask will include –
• How long have you been involved with this group?
• What attracted you to this group?
• Have you been part of different groups in the past?
• What effect does your membership with this group have on your interaction with family, friends, general society?
• How do people react when they discover that you are involved with this group?
• Why is being in this group important to you?
• How do you feel if you ever miss a club event?
• Why have you chosen this group, and not other subculture groups?
• What do you enjoy doing outside of this group?
• What is your occupation?
• Do your work collegues know of your involvement with this group? Why / why not?
• Does your involvement with this group effect your day to day life? How?

And, yes, I have, for now, dumped the Margerat III historical chit chat society. It felt as though I would have to lie way too much to make them look interesting. So, instead, I have enlisted the help of a science fiction fan club. I've spoken with their leader, who is way keen, and will be attending their monthly meeting next week. To infinity and beyond.

2006-04-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

And another post, right now.

I will be interviewing people in my film.
For question time, my method is go in having the IDEA in my head, the topic, the point, the glue, the rock, you know, the shit i want to discuss and get out of the interview right there in my brain.
huh?

anyway, I've put together a little list of interview questions, to spark conversation.
Give me comments on the q's! Or recomend some questions that I should ask people?
What you ask a person who wears a saucepan on their head?

Here's what I've got so far -

Part One – the Group.

1. What is the name of this group?
2. What are its origins?
3. How many members does the group have?
4. Who are the members (average stats)?
5. How long has the group existed?
6. Who are the leaders of the group?
7. What does the group do?
8. What does the group hope to achieve?

Part Two – the Member

1. What attracted you to this group?
2. How long have you been involved with this group?
3. What effect does your membership to this group have on your family?
4. How do people react your belonging to this group?
5. Have you been part of different clubs in past?
6. Why is meeting with like-minded people important to you?
7. How do you feel if you ever miss a club event?
8. How does being involved with this group effect your everyday life?

that is all.

2006-04-10T04:49:00.000-07:00

So my last post was a lengthy piece all about TRiBE.
You all know I'm filming certain club / cults / subcultures / furry animals / TRiBEs. But which ones? Who, Adam, tell us who? And where? Tell us.

Here's a bit of info. Please note that I also have a Science Fiction (mainly Star Trek, I believe) club also on board. They have a meeting later in the month that I will attend, so more info is on its way. I am being taken to their leader soon.

Names have been, changed, witheld, or, you know, spat out, to protect innocent lives.

1. Margeret III Historical Re-enactment Society.
The group is losing members, as the people are only becoming older and either finding it too difficult to get along to the meetings or, well, dying. Upon arriving at the meeting I was informed that they had come from being at the founding member’s funeral. They do not bother with the historical re-enactment anymore, saying they’ve passed it. Instead it appears to be more of a monthly discussion.
The upside, however, is that this is a very lively (albeit small) bunch. They seem to pride themselves on their naughty sense of humour and for saying ‘rude things about the Tudors’.
I have a copy of their newsletter with a list of upcoming events.
A few members, upon arrival, carefully placed an object or two on the mantle in the meeting room. Each member, if adding to the collection of objects or not, would inspect what was there with great care and deliberation. I noted 2 drinking glasses, a 100 piece puzzle of a Victorian garden, a pamphlet on gardening, a book, and a bottle (unopened) of Carlton Cold. I wonder what the significance is.
A portrait of Richard III was hung with great care in the meeting room.
Point of interest – I have been told that due to the dwindling numbers of the group, that the club was in questionable territory, unsure whether it would even last the year. It could be interesting to see a club draw to its close, to see the impact that would have on its members.

2. I'm So Depressed And No One Understands Me club.
A young club, in the age of the members and the existence of ‘emo’ itself. While they are not a specific ‘club’, they hang around at the malls balls and, at least “Mickey Lee” and his mates are there each weekend. They see themselves as outsiders, however they have become a large and powerful force in popular culture. An interesting focal point is that many people ridicule the ‘emos’, or even the idea of emo. It’s become a dirty word. And these kids are sticking with it, or, you know, whatever.

3. Let's Get Our Bits Out club
Being welcomed by a porkly naked man is really the way to go when it comes to finding new clubs.
I get it, I just don’t really get it. It’s people just doing stuff, but naked.
The group has (I was told) around 150 people on it’s member list, and club gathering would get from 20 upwards. This particular session had 25 (20 men, 5 women).
Interesting characters, sure, even a new couple to the group. Mainly over 40. They are considering stratergies to attract younger people. That would be a point of interest – how would the club try to attract younger would-be-members?
They do a range of events, there’s no shortage of opportunities to film something interesting. Camp outs, swim sessions, bbq’s, national park visits, ten pin bowling.

4. Yee-Haw Darling club
A hoot! 200 oldies dancing their hearts out. Fuckin’ gold. And I was told that the numbers were short that day, they usually get 250. With a different band each month, some even coming from interstate, they’re big on keeping it fresh and fun. I want a shirt with tassles!
Many of the members ‘live’ the music, they’re not just in it for the weekend, it’s 24/7 for some. I was told that if I were to go surprise some of them at their homes, that they’d be fully decked out in their country gear, listening to country music, possibly even having a swagger (dance).
The lady I spoke with most (who is the last surviving founder member, as well as the events organiser) said that nobody would have a problem with being filmed or even interview, but that I wasn’t to interview ‘that woman in black over there’. Apparently this ‘woman in black’ has been causing some problems – trying to take over the place and even wanting to rebel and set up her own country music club. I think that’s hilarious. The drama, the tension, the breakaway, rebel cell. It’s all happening.

5. the SomeThing Probed My Arse club
The UFO club, the paranoid over everything club, the believe every crazy conspiracy theory club, the ‘there is only fear and love’ club, the cukoo cukoo club.
So the leader, Dwayne, was abducted by aliens and is now spreading the word of peace and love from our alien brothers. This club is totally off the wall.
There about 20 people, I guess the average age was 35.
Points of interests – the club is having a stall at an alternative ideas festival / fair in June. Seeing how they try to promote themselves could be interesting.
There’s an upcoming possibility of a camp out at UFO hot spot Warrapinga. Apparently UFO’s light up the skies there, zig zagging at mach ten speeds and what not.
We were shown a video, containing too many blurry, shoddy images of UFO’s and aliens. I just about fell asleep.

got it? you all clear? and, yeah, the sci-fi club is on its way.

I would like to point out, and now seems like a good time do it, that we are all crazy. I must remember that. You'd do well to remember that too.

Until next time, my sisters and brothers - love, hope, and have a splendidly good time.

adam.

2006-04-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

We can start this blog by putting up the Treatment for this documentary, as it is the first document that has been made by me and approved by the higher order in the process of putting this film together.
Here it is.

TRiBE
TRiBE is a documentary about the people who belong to cult groups across Adelaide.

The term Cult is described as a ‘system of religious worship; devotion, homage; fad’. I am defining ‘Cult’ as a group of people who share a specific interest that becomes such a part of life that it becomes religious – it’s more than a hobby or a passing fancy, it’s a way of life.

I wish to look at the cult behaviour of the members, not specifically what the cult does.
TRiBE will examine why people have the need to belong to specific cult groups or subcultures. Is this a quest for individualism (with support), or is it fulfilling a need to belong somewhere.

A friend once said to me (and this sums up what I want to explore) - “when people get obsessed with things, do they actually care or are they just filling the empty void of their existence and trying to fit in by associating themselves with and identifying themselves with something . . . ‘this is who I am, I like – insert useless obsession here –‘”

What’s it all about?
Why are people drawn to subculture groups / clubs?
And what of the really “out there” ones, the freaky, the geeky, the creepy, the just plain strange. Who would be attracted to these types of groups. The groups that, without even having a religious backing, have a religious type following.

Are people trying to be individual, to be on the edge, but needing support from like minded people?
Do we all just need to belong somewhere? And for some this need takes them to the fringe of society.
Is there excitement in being a special member of a special club? There’s nothing else like this around . . .
Why join a club, and become totally intoxicated by it when it has no specific goal, no philosophical meaning? It just exists for the love of it.

Key words.
Annominity.
Escape.
Release.
Individuality.
Belonging.

What are the effects on family and friends?

My mission is to find recent members of the clubs that I examine. To see their thoughts and feelings upon the joining to a specific interest group. Or to find an interesting focal point for each club – perhaps a leadership battle, a rally for new members, a club break up, whatever may be happening within the club. I need a ‘hook’, a reason to explore the cults, a point of interest for the viewer.

“The Look”
I wish to set up the doco as a pilot guides / lonely planet travel episode. I will be hosting the ‘guide’ through the various cults, however I want the cults to be able to speak for themselves. I will film an entire event of each cult (a meeting or special occasion) and show myself participating in what the cult does, to give the documentary a ‘being filmed from the inside’ feel instead of a voyeuristic one.
It’s important to me to have two camera people on the shoot. One to be in amongst the guts of the action, and the other to get a wider, entire group look. The end product will be able to cut between the two cameras, the wider shot even showing the closer camera crew. This will give the documentary a very real feel, to show that there is a ‘real’ camera crew in amongst the action, to even give the film an ongoing ‘character’ (the crew) throughout their look of all five cults.
I will film five different cults, in the hope of having three in the final product. My finished documentary will have a running time of approximately 12 minutes.
I envision a quick opening segment, with shots of the cults that I’ll be exploring as well as other ‘Tribe’s’ (quick shots of ‘uniformed’ clubs, sporting clubs, and even families), this will trigger the idea to people that everyone, infact, belongs to a TRiBE (not just the weird and wonderful).

So there's the idea for this documentary. Come back to this blog sometime to see the progress of the making of a film.