Randy Freaked-Out Psychedelic Homosexy Koalas

There’s been an explosion of queer film in recent years, with festivals and web shows popping up all over the place. Gaymazing!
But as queer films have expanded the niche, have they lost their radical edge? I don’t think so, help me prove it.

I’m currently putting together another program of Australian queer short film, documentary and video art for the Bangalore Queer Film Festival 2012, like this one from 2009. Like last time, I’m open to anything about any aspect of queer life, sex or gender, that exists beyond the edges of mainstream gay culture – funny, wacky, serious, challenging, thought-provoking, moving or just plain weird.

I’ll be including some amazing films from a program I put together a few months ago entitled “Randy Freaked Out Psychedelic Homosexy Koalas” – from slutty musicals, to arty fantasies about hot babes in the lockup referencing the 90s explosion in gay indy filmmaking, to a gentle comedy about cute girls having an awkward per-zine style literary romance, to digital stories by sex workers.

Get in contact asap and let me know if you’ll be submitting your film, submissions close 20th January 2012.

Contact me here.

Please send a link to a digital version if possible, or you can post a DVD to:

Anna Helme, 191a Smith St, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065

Most of the film is shot on Super 16mm film, however the protagonist, Adele, shoots video on her DV handycam throughout the film – a comment on how she as somebody with intimacy issues mediates her experiences through the camera, and the voyeuristic nature of being a tourist, as well as a way of getting inside her head as a character. Most of the time the footage is diagetic, inherent to the film, as video she or others is clearly shooting as part of the action. At some other particular times we are using DV footage as emotional atmospheres.

Michael Williams, our wonderful DOP, and myself went down to the bay in Melbourne last weekend to capture some sunset over the water and later the moon, both important textures in the film. Speaking of textures, some of the way the DV camera handles the light on water and other parts of the landscape is just beautiful! Who really needs all that resolution, all the time? This is ungraded, raw DV handycam footage.

Some pictures of our expedition…

Michael Williams, DOP, Fine Art Photographer, Beach Lover

Michael Williams, DOP, Fine Art Photographer, Handycam Appreciator

Coastline Settings in Continental Drift

Synopsis

Adele is a young Australian woman struggling to find herself after a break-up. She travels in Croatia in 2001, not long after Yugoslavia was torn apart by war. Staying in an empty hostel by the sea, she meets Antonija and Aleks, whose stories of love and loss reveal some of the painful fractures these conflicts created within families and communities. Contrasts between cultures and experiences mean that Adele becomes a catalysing force, creating change in the lives of people she has these intense, yet brief, encounters with. This moody, romantic drama, set amongst beautiful landscapes, and the rich culture and passionate people of the region, explores the uncanny intimacy that can develop between strangers, and the poignancy of ephemeral romance.

Coastline References for Continental Drift

Production Details

Director: Anna Helme
Producer: Ruth Morris
Shoot Dates: September 2011
Duration: 15mins (approx)
Shooting Format: Super 16mm Film
Location/Studio: Melbourne Metro & Bays

Red One Camera

I’m collecting a summary of tips for shooting on the Red One camera (with original Red One chip, as per the model we have available at the VCA). Culled from other useful references are the Red manuals and various forums and interviews.

TIPS FOR SHOOTING RED ONE

• COLOUR TEMPERATURE
  • Shoot daylight colour temp where possible as sensor operates better when blue channel activated – LEDs, Kinos, blue gels -  add some blue into mix with tungsten if necessary (e.g. a quarter blue on a backlight/fill with key tungsten)
  • The color temperature look you give in the Red menu is not “baked in” – this is stored as metadata and can be altered later
• EXPOSURE
  • Approx 10 stops of latitude, but linear instead of logarithmic curve (see below)
  • Under-expose footage a little in general (opposite to film) – rate the camera at 320, 400, 500 or 640 ASA (it is rated at 200)
  • Linear exposure curve (as opposed to film’s logarithmic curve) means highlights (particularly) and shadows (not as much) not as detailed as film so
    • If you want detail in highlights, expose them in the 70-80% range
    • Flesh-tones recommended to expose at 40-50% range
    • Or in particular situations if worried about noisy blacks – rate at 100 ASA
  • Options for using meters to expose conservatively
    • Traffic lights only just activating on each RGB channel (just clipping)
    • Wide exposure curve on histogram, not cut off too much at either end
    • False colours – minimum exposure is purple, max is red – keep highlights pink
    • Zebras – dual zebras set to Zebra 1 (NW/SE) highlights (90% – 109%) and Zebra 2 (NE/SW) skin tones (44% – 47%) – these are defaults, you can change them in menus (e.g. highlights to 70% – 80 %
• ROLLING SHUTTER AND OTHER DIGITAL EFFECTS
  • Flash bulbs can appear in half the frame only if flash is shorter duration than e.g. 1/10^th second – test flash effects first and/or use adjustable strobes
  • Panning can cause “leaning” vertical lines – be conscious and test first
  • Fast handheld can look wobblier than it would otherwise (jellyvision) – test first if extreme movement is used
  • Moire and other aliasing effects – fine detail on things like striped business shirts or grates can cause “moire effects” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moiré_pattern
    • be conscious of this with wardrobe / production design and location scouting
    • can hide by putting area out of focus
    • some filters are available to counter this
• RESOLUTION
  • Plan for any unusual frame-rates. Camera can’t shoot faster than 25fps at 4K resolution. Shoot any scenes requiring faster frame-rates at appropriate lower-resolution so all shots will match within the scene .e.g.
    • Up to 50fps at 3K
    • Up to 100fps at 2K
  • NOTE THIS CROPPING OF SENSOR CHANGES LENS CALCULATIONS e.g. you will need a a 25mm lens on 2K to match the frame-size of a 50mm lens on 4K, so the widest lens in your kit will not be nearly as wide anymore.
  • Any re-framing can’t be done at VCA in the online – must be done in After Effects and re-imported prior to online. Note: resolution will be lost when cropping frames.
• LENSES
  • ALWAYS check back-focus when checking gear – refer to manual for how-to http://www.red.com/support
  • PL mount lenses
  • Lenses will respond as close equivalent to 35mm film cameras (at 4K res)
• RECORDING MEDIA
  • Unmount media before ejecting (hold down UNDO + EXIT)
  • Compact Flash cards hold 50% of minutes vs. gigs e.g. 16GB card will hold 8 minutes of footage at 4K
  • Use Shotput Pro to transfer files to PC/Mac (purchase license)
  • Backup to two external hard drive
    • Preferably LaCie Rugged – keep in two separate locations after shoot
  • • Preferably using RAID data redundancy
  • FORMAT media when inserted ready for shooting each time
  • Set up data wrangling station and tape off on location – no entry, secure power
• AUDIO
  • Camera has 4 x mini-XLR audio inputs (need mini-XLR – XLR adapters) and phantom power option
  • Set input levels with tone from external mixer/recorder (e.g. PD204)
• HANDHELD
  • Weight
    • Weight of individual Red camera parts as many configurations possible (PLUS matte box, filters, follow-focus, etc.) http://visualnary.com/2010/01/15/weigth-of-red-one-camera-and-accessoires.html
    • How to assemble as ultra light-weight http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-assemble-red-one-camera-into-light-weight-mode-244725/
    • Expect 15kg – 25 kg depending on configuration (before shoulder mount or easy-rig)
  • Viewfinder is mounted badly by default – look for EVF adapter mount to enable this to be mounted level with eye, rather than poking down
  • Handheld mount options
    • CHECK any options below will work for the Red configuration you have – some other accessories may be necessary to fit these mounts properly
    • Mantis, a swivelling adjustable shoulder mount with much better EVF mount (if included) – http://www.elementtechnica.com/hand-held-kit/background.php
      • When using special EVF mount, flip base-plate on viewfinder (so RED label is facing out, but upside down) or it will hit matte box
    • Easy-Rig, a backpack / overhead cable design which distributes weight to hips and back rather than shoulder – can shoot at shoulder, hip and knee level http://www.lemac.com.au/sales/EASYRIG/Easyrig.htm
    • Steadicam Flyer LE / Archer (need more info on other options for this) http://www.tiffen.com/video_flyerle.htm
  • It’s a computer – doesn’t like extreme movement esp. when using hard drives
• SETUP
  • Set programmable buttons on side to desired functions e.g. zebras/false-colour & digital zoom (to crash in and focus)
  • Set project resolution e.g. 4K
  • Set timecode e.g. input from sound recorder
  • Set audio recording format, channel mix & levels
• IT’S A COMPUTER
  • Takes 90 seconds to boot – SO PLAN TO CHANGE BATTERIES EARLY
  • Each camera has its own quirks (odd software anomalies)
  • CHECK FOR DROPPED FRAMES – on LCD or EVF after each take
  • CHECK PLAYBACK OF PRINT TAKES – to ensure file is recorded properly
  • Doesn’t like
    • Extreme movement (will drop frames when using hard drive)
    • Extreme temperature esp. heat (may shut down – can use ice packs to help cool)
• OTHER TIPS
  • Default gain (NO GAIN) is “1” not “0”. Must be set to 1 for image to appear.
  • Option to create QT proxies after each clip is recorded – set this in the PROJECT menu (but camera can’t roll again until these files are created)
  • Ensure a lens is ALWAYS mounted or back plate mounted on camera (especially in dusty conditions) as cleaning of camera difficult and easily damaged

• RED CAMERA ASSISTANT CHECK-LIST – AC KIT
  • RED Manuals and RED menus maps
  • Set of Allen keys – CHECK they are complete sets of imperial and metric
  • Ice packs for over-heating (find freezer for these if hot day)
  • Checklist of Red Camera parts and accessories in kit (from hire company)
  • Standard film AC kit
    • Tool belt / fanny-pack / pouch / waistcoat to hold following gear
      • Rosco Lens tissue & Lens fluid
      • Camera tape x2 colours & Gaffer tape & Safety stripe tape
      • Blunt-nose scissors, knife & mini screwdriver set – or leatherman
      • Cable ties
      • Chinagraph pencil, pencil, pen, permanent marker, dry eraser, chalk
      • Notepad
      • Small LED Flashlight
      • Soft measuring tape, hard measuring tape & digital tape measure
      • Water bottle attached to belt with carabineer, panadol
    • Bag with spare phone charger, muesli bars, water, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, insect repellent, bandaids, tissues, eye-drops, rain jacket, jumper, spare jeans & t-shirt, underwear, socks, toothbrush & paste
  • Store these accessories in AC kit
    • Whip (follow focus extension)
    • Focus mark rings

This lolcat tolcat lovecat is about to tuck in to a delicious slice of Levinhurst

Dammit. Missed out on tickets to The Cure’s “Reflections” show at the Sydney Opera House at the end of the month. They are playing their first three albums – Three Imaginary Boys, Faith and Seventeen Seconds. Would have loved to witness the minimal synth grandeur of those albums in all their truly depressing glory… perfect at the Opera House!

“MAXINE MCQUEEN. WRITER. LIBRARIAN. DILETTANTE. TROUBLE-MAKER.”  That’s how Max likes to think of herself. But in reality, she saves her insouciance for the pages of her zine, and is a total geek when it comes to girls. Shyness is Nice is a short film about a quiet type who gently ponders the philosophy of love, while living in a fantasy world where romance and chaos swirl around her, sweeping her into the arms of cute girls wherever she goes. In reality, she is a shy librarian who thinks she is too awkward to ever find love, but maybe there’s a dork like her out there somewhere..

Max (Emily Goddard) & Frances (Annie Last)

Max (Emily Goddard) & Frances (Annie Last)

Ingrid (Kelli Jean Drinkwater) & Calvin (Zero)

Gerry (Paul Bourke)

Some of the hard-working crew... 1st AC (Rudolf Fitzgerald Leonard) & D.O.P. (Joshua Aylett)

Ghoulbert Taking His Lessons - photo by Mariana Jocic

I finished writing and directing my first film of the year last week. Just got the rushes back, they look great! After working for 15 years with (mostly SD) video, shooting on film (16mm) is a revelation. The Kodak 500T we used looks grainy but gorgeous. I took the opportunity to be a bit more creative directing the camera than I have previously, using more moving shots, creating a very constructed, yet hopefully dynamic, comic feel.

Big thanks to all the cast and crew, who were a joy. A special shout-out goes to Kathy and Matt, who were involved for many weeks prior to the shoot, and had so much great input on so many levels. Big thanks to Paul, for his character whom the film was based upon (which morphed somewhat through the screenwriting process) and to Marian for her original inspiration and ongoing support.

But I’ll save the full credits for the end of the film, when I’ve finished editing it For now, here’s some production stills from the shoot, taken by the lovely and talented photographer and filmmaker Mariana Jocic.

Stephen (Zac Gower) and Elliott (Kevin Newman)

Stephen (Zac Gower) & Goat - Photo by Mariana Jocic

Slasher Kitty - Photo by Mariana Jocic

Director Checks Frame on Bag Cam - Photo by Mariana Jocic

Ghoulbert's Goat - photo by Mariana Jocic

Shadows of Menace - Photo by Mariana Jocic

Harold and Maude directed by Hal Ashby

Catharsis is a point in the narrative of a film when an emotional realisation or internal transformation occurs, experienced by the audience, and often felt via identification with the simultaneous cathartic renewal of the protagonist. Not to be confused with the crisis, when the forces of antagonism reach their dramatic pinnacle, it is rather the release of these traumatic tensions within a film, as evidenced below in the examples of Hal Hartley’s Trust (1990), Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude (1971) and Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990).

Catharsis has its origins in Greek Tragedy, and is defined by Aristotle in his seminal work of dramatic and literary theory, Poetics or The Art of Poetry (c. 335 BCE). The term is derived from the Ancient Greek καθαίρειν – to purge, cleanse or purify (which Aristotle used as a metaphor, as it was prior to this a medical term for menstruation). Aristotle believed that tragedy could have a corrective effect on the audience – who may bring sadness or ill-feeling towards others from their own lives to the theatre, but through the exercising of these emotions, re-experiencing fear and pity via the story, may also find that dramatic catharsis purges them of negative feelings. This theory, and the Poetics in general, was counter to Plato’s assertion that poetry encouraged men towards hysterics and uncontrolled emotion.

Sophocles’ defining work of tragedy, Antigone (c. 442 BCE), is concerned with a main character (Kreon) who is neither purely good nor evil, who through his well-intentioned but short-sighted actions brings tragedy upon himself and his family. By executing Antigone, his niece, he inspires in the audience both fear and pity for the characters who suffer as a result – his wife and son who commit suicide and Antigone herself, whose only crime has been to give her brother a decent burial (which Kreon has denied him as an enemy of the state). These tragic events bring about a restoration of the social balance, creating a feeling of relief and transformational resolution to mitigate the sadness experienced by the audience. Another example of catharsis is to be found in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where the drama created by Hamlet’s inability to enact revenge for his father’s murder, and the ensuing tragic deaths of himself and many others, is released by his eventual killing of Claudius, his usurping uncle, once again re-establishing the social order.

In American director Hal Hartley’s second, and arguably his best, feature film Trust (1990), the plot concerns Maria Coughlin, an intelligent yet ignorant, materialistic and naïve (to the point where she pronounces this word “naive”) high-school drop-out and Matthew Slaughter, a misanthropic, idealistic and highly intellectual electronics repairman. These two misfits are united by fate, just as Maria tells her father of her pregnancy (to an uncaring and narcissistic football-playing boyfriend), upon which news Maria’s father dies of a heart-attack. Both desperately lonely, they face dealing with both Maria’s pregnancy and feelings of guilt at her father’s death, and Matthew’s disaffection, linked to intense bullying by his father. Amidst the chaos of their conniving and unloving families, together Matthew and Maria define the love that neither of them have ever really found (as the comically simple formula “trust, admiration and respect equal love”. The tragedy of their cerebral love-affair is that Matthew, in his attempt to do the right thing (get his job back at the factory, a job that drives him to depression and extreme acts of aggression, in order to support Maria, himself and her baby), becomes insensitive to Maria and her real feelings, and to his own true self, losing them both on a blind path towards social conformity (Maria – “Your job is making you boring and mean”, Matthew – “My job is making me a respectable member of society”).

The crisis of the film occurs as Matthew attempts to blow himself up with a grenade, taking the computer factory with him, and Maria (thinking Matthew has not only lost his way, but cheated on her with her treacherous sister) has an abortion – scratching all plans for a happy future together. Matthew is arrested, and catharsis occurs as Maria locks eyes with him as he is driven away in the police car, exchanging knowledge of their transformation in one long look. They have lost the only love they have ever had, but at least they have learned what it means, and how essential being true to oneself is to keeping it.

In Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude (1971), Harold, another love-starved misanthrope, barely out of his teens and spoiled rotten by his mother with everything but real affection, stages theatrical suicide attempts to try to get some kind of reaction. Harold’s idea of fun is to go to funerals (his everyday habit of dress allows him to blend in easily), which is where he meets Maude, his antithesis. Maude is 79 years old, and embraces life so heartily she bruises its ribs. They are opposites of their stereotypes – Harold is cynical, tired and despondent whereas Maude is vivacious, cheeky and unconcerned with consequences. Their love affair, bridging such an age gap, challenges societal convention and horrifies Harold’s family, yet is deeply transformational and educational for both Harold and Maude. Harold learns to love life, and Maude learns to love death – a necessity, she has decided, given the inevitability of her fading physical self. Maude knows that death is a natural part of life, unless it is the terrifying mechanistic death of war and genocide, which she knows well as a Holocaust survivor (this is a satirically anti-war film, released during the Vietnam war).

Harold and Maude’s intensely moving catharsis occurs when Harold, proposing marriage on Maude’s 80^th birthday, realises she has taken a fatal overdose of pills, and that this is really her goodbye party. Harold rails against this terrifying prospect, taking her to hospital in an ambulance, refusing to let her go the way she wishes to be. Finally he has no choice, she dies. Harold drives his car off a cliff, as Ashby cleverly fools the audience into believing Harold has really committed suicide this time. The film ends as we see Harold has jumped out of the car at the last moment. He plays the banjo, finally able to celebrate that both life and death are part of nature, and are to be embraced. Both fear and pity (for Harold and Maude) are evoked to great dramatic effect in this conclusion of the film, yet the natural order of life is restored and we let these feelings go again with a great sense of release and edification, as we too feel ready to wholly celebrate life and death, essential to a full experience of our own humanity.

Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990) is a clear favourite of mine amongst his films, which has much to do with its intelligent and deeply emotional exploration of the extremes of man’s (or monster’s) vulnerability and kindness on the one hand, and selfishness, small-mindedness and fear of the “other” on the other hand. Its quite devastating catharsis plays a large part in it being the kind of tragic film that you want to see again and again, rather than feel too depressed about to revisit. It is also yet another film about an outsider (which says something more about my taste in narratives). Edward is an artificial boy, created by an inventor who died before he could replace the scissors he made for hands with real ones. He lives lonely in an empty mansion on the hill until an Avon lady, Peg, from the suburb below takes him under her wing, inviting him to live with her family. He gains grudging acceptance by the community for his talents at hedge and hair trimming, falling in love with Peg’s daughter Kim in the process, until two scheming members of the community implicate the innocent Edward in a theft and falsely accuse him of rape. The suburb turns against him and Peg’s family. When Edward accidentally cuts Kim and her brother Kevin with his hands, he flees to the mansion on the hill, pursued by an angry mob. Edward saves Kim from her attacking boyfriend Jim, killing him in the process. Kim tells the mob both Jim and Edward are dead, protecting Edward from their wrath. Catharsis occurs with the image of “snow” created by Edward’s annual carving of ice sculptures for his beloved Kim, falling down on the suburb every winter (despite the fact that it is Southern California, and never snows). It falls on Edward’s memory of Kim as the young woman he fell in love with. Society is once again in balance, as the boy who is too gentle and innocent for human company (despite his paradoxical built-in brutality, thanks to his scissor-hands) is exiled forever.

Featured Clips on Critical Commons

I recently finished another iteration of development on the Critical Commons website, with Andy Nicholson of Infinite Recursion. Critical Commons is an online resource for film educators that pushes the boundaries of fair use (copyright) legislation by making clips from films available with academic commentaries, in both text and audio format. The site, devised by the USC School of Cinematic Arts Institute for Multimedia Literacy, enables lecturers to organise collections of clips and commentaries as lectures for classroom delivery (such as this one on Deleuze and cinema). The website is built on the Plumi software, originally created by EngageMedia, a free open source software project to create a video sharing web application based on the Plone content management system.

We may potentially be involved in developing a mobile site for Critical Commons in the future, and/or moving Critical Commons to the new Plumi release (in beta right now). I’m hoping so, as this project has been really fun to date, and ties in very well with my film school studies here in Melbourne.

Poster for Lizzie Borden's "Born in Flames"

We are off to a friend’s house tonight for a screening of Lizzie Borden‘s “Born in Flames”, a 1983 film, about feminist activists 10 years after the United States has undergone a socialist revolution. We watched this the other day, but are up for another viewing already.

M forwarded me an article in The Independent film magazine, featuring an interview with the director which is definitely worth a read (linked to this article). It was particularly interesting to me in light of my recent thoughts about filmmaking. One of the reasons I started this blog was to help myself formulate my thoughts about my own film/video/art/activist practice, asking myself some fairly fundamental questions like “why make films?”. This question is particularly pertinent, given my ruminations in the last couple of months on the implausibility of a viable career in film/TV. As my friend Jean Poole asserted at Plug n Play the other night, independent filmmaking is “broken”. This came from an interview he was reading with one of the directors of Sundance, who mentioned that out of 2000 film submissions, the festival could screen 200, and out of these perhaps 20 would be picked up for a cinema release. Apologies if I am misquoting the math, and forgive me for the next batch of inaccurate arithmetic. Let’s say your chance of actually getting funding or finance to make your independent film is something like 1 in 100. Then if we calculate the chance, based on Sundance’s figures, of getting your film distributed is also 1 in 100. Let’s say then, for argument’s sake, your chances of making a film and getting it seen in the cinema are 1 in 10,000. These are really not great odds.

So if its so damn hard, why make films? The interview with Lizzie Borden highlights one of the really good reasons to do it anyway. Because film is transformative, not just for the audience, but for the filmmaker themselves. Lizzie Borden talks about finding her subject matter through reading the work of socialist and anarchist women writers, discussing how despite the fact that feminist ideas are often present in the intellectual vanguards of these movements, they are rarely incorporated into any actual revolution. She looked around her and saw how fractured the feminist scene was in New York City “Class and race really did divide people, and just a slightly different political stance divided middle-class women”. She looked at herself and asked “And how many black women did I know? None. And how many Latin women did I know?”.

She decided to begin the process of making a film, to bring different women together, into the film and into her life, making the film in a slow continuous process over five years, including substantial re-shooting and re-editing. The film wasn’t written as a finished script, and then produced over a year once some money had been found, it was made piece by piece, which allowed for a real evolution of the content over time. Various cast members lived in her house at different times, allowing for spontaneous shooting when the time and the ideas were right. Asked if she would do it again, she says “”if I had only made four films in my life and they were films that really changed me, I would”. Regarding the women who became part of her life, “The people I see every day at this point are different from the people I saw every day then… The most important things in life are the smallest: who you speak with every day.” Beyond this, the community around the film is transformed also, “It’s important to me when I see some of the relatives of the black women who were in the film liking the film because they wouldn’t normally  go to films like this”.

This is a fascinating departure from the ordinary process of filmmaking, which does open up the possibility for a filmmaker’s subject to feed into her life, and feedback into the film again, transforming the self and the film at the same time. The creative process, as much as the result, is a major motivating factor for most artists, which the unusual process for “Born in Flames” highlights (somewhat akin to community cultural development processes). This film is an antidote to the inevitable sense of futility that I, and many filmmakers, feel in response to such a hostile environment for our work to be supported, and seen.