OK… I’ll be honest. I haven’t absolutely no idea how anyone can maintain a daily blog – especially film makers. I just don’t understand how they can possibly find the time! We’ve been absolutely positively flat out since my last post – it’s really been a bit silly! Chris Jones I salute you! I have no idea how you not only find the time, but also write stuff that actually makes sense, and has good spelling and grammar! OK, so now I have to find back to what has actually happened over the last week…

Well, as I said previously, Saturday was camera test day. We piled up James and Doris (the names of my 4WD and Isaac’s van), and headed to a football grandstand in Melbourne to test some Super 16 stock. We shot several different things (colour charts, grey scale charts, city skyline, people running, etc.) using the different stocks (specifically Kodak 50D VISION2, 200T VISION2 and 500T VISION3) at different exposures, and using different filters. We also shot the exact same material using a Panasonic HVX202 and Sony Z1P (using the fixed lenses) to use as a comparison. Originally we intended to use a P+S adapter on both the digital cameras, however we couldn’t get one that weekend. The day went pretty much as planned – although the weather was horrible and freezing! Here are some photos of the day for your viewing pleasure:

As you can see, we had a lot of fun! Especially when Anli and myself had to run around pretending to be Sakooz creatures! After many hours of freezing and burning film, we wrapped for the day. On Sunday, with a substantially smaller crew, as a lot of people got sick on the Saturday, we headed off to Lara (near Geelong) to find a location for our big “crash landing” sequence. After much searching, we eventually came across a road that, although not perfect, seemed to look pretty good. We shot some camera tests at the location, and then when it got dark, we did some night fire camera tests. We especially wanted to test out how the new Kodak 500T VISION3 stock compares to the VISION2. And all of a sudden, the weekend was gone! Dear, oh dear!

Monday through to Friday was pretty much, what is becoming a stock standard week. Meeting after meeting, discussion after discussion, no food, no sleep, millions of e-mails! Who would want to live this life? Really! It’s all so crazy! Thursday was probably one of the bigger days, with meetings non-stop all day at various places around Melbourne for all different things. It was great though – we got to meet up with so many interesting and diverse people, all interested in what we are trying to achieve.

This weekend, it was all about location scouting. Anli, Isaac and I jumped in Doris (the 4WD) and zoomed around Victoria looking for suitable spots to film. Yesterday (Saturday), we mainly looked around the Geelong side of the world looking for “places in the middle of no-where” for the dramatic opening of the film. Then today, we headed down Mornington way, and around Portsea and Phillip Island, looking for the epic ending location. All things considered, we did quite well – we’ve found two locations that are almost exactly what we’re after, which is fantastic! They’re still not locked in 100% as of yet, but they certainly look the part. So we’re getting closer – which is great, as we haven’t got that long to go till we need to start shooting!

But there’s also been some huge announcements recently! Singer-songwriter Katie Weston is now opening our fund-raising night with an acoustic set, which is fantastic! But also, we’ve made the Nigel blog live! There currently only one episode online (plus a bunch of random blogs) – but another is coming online very soon (maybe even tonight). The production values aren’t great – but it’s quite funny, and well worth a look and listen! As the weeks go on, there will be more and more stuff appearing on Nigel’s site, so stay tuned!

So what’s in store for this coming week? A lot! A hell of a lot! On Friday we will be pitching our concept to our university, so that we can get “green lit” and given official permission to hire the gear required for the teaser/trailer. We have a lot of work to do up until then! Storyboards, shot lists, budgets, bla, bla, bla! The list goes on and on! We also need to lock in the final Sakooz costume designs, continue work on the animatronics, start building sets, etc. So more work to do, and so little time! What’s even more annoying is that now I’m starting to get sick! How annoying! It’s only a cold – but it’s not something you want when you need to get so much done. But I’ll survive! Unfortunately however, Anli and Isaac are also both still slowly recovering from their various bugs.

Anyway, I must be off! As always, if you have any questions or queries, feel free to either post a comment on this blog, or send us an e-mail! We’re ALWAYS more than happy to answer any questions you have about us, our work or about movie making in general. Until next time…

Chris!