Tropfest: The Planning

I briefly mentioned in a previous post that I was looking at taking on a short film project, in conjunction with my mate Wendy or perhaps I should say that Wendy is looking at doing the film and I am just helping out. I have lumped all the creative hard work onto her and so far she has come up trumps with the idea and has turned that into a script. My ideas were all pretty lame.

But I have to pull my weight now which luckily does not involve a lot. There are some purchases of garments and props I have to do and I am reading all technical fine print on what the Tropfest mob require. I am also trying to teach myself Final Cut Pro as I have a copy but have no idea how to use it. FCP will kick all over the top of using the basic iMovie on my iBook, which can become a bit flaky after previous experiences with it. The only problem is that when they mean Pro they mean your a pro with film editing, so it will take a bit to come to grips with it.

In the script - which I won't divulge too many details about at this point in time - there is only one character and it follows him through a journey. To fill this part we have recruited our neighbourly extra extraordinaire of Roger. Roger has featured in plenty of films as an extra, and has met such luminaries as Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and David Duchovny, the later while doing an x-files episode. So now it is time for him to prove that he can become more than just a guy walking around in the background of a shot.

Between us we seem to have most of the equipment that we will require. Wendy has the DV camera, I have a tripod and the computer to do all the editing on. A friend in town has the VCR to create the two VHS tapes that we will need to submit. One of Wendy's friends in the UK is going to be recruited to do a backing score. The only thing I need to think about is how to record Rogers narration. Hopefully we might be able to use the Audio Visual departments equipment for doing this. Although from previous inspection what they have got seems more inclined to the visual side of things.

We plan to shoot the footage on the weekend of the 20th and 21st of November over at Salamaua. We only need to make a seven minute film including titles and credits, so it should not be to hard to get the whole things shot in one or two days. We might shoot a couple of the opening scenes in Lae but that can be done at any time.

As to what the final product will look like, here is a subtle clue. If you have seen the Terrence Malick film "The Thin Red Line" - which is a movie I still think should have won Best Picture at the Oscars over "Saving Private Ryan" - and the opening scenes of a solider gone AWOL from US army during WWII, this is sort of what I have in mind mainly in regard to the voice-over narration.

I shall keep you posted.