April 9th, 2012 by Glendyn

And good enough for the media as well,  and I say with a sign of relief. As seen here on Hoaxville, Beaconsfield was a really tough film to make creatively, financially, logistically and physically, so it’s nice to feel some love after all the blood, sweat and tears. There was a great feature review in The Australian (above) this weekend and some other nice words have popped up here and there.

Beaconsfield airs on Channel 9, Sunday, April 22nd.

UPDATE : Just saw this A Current Affair story chatting to Todd and Brant after they saw the film…

December 15th, 2011 by Glendyn

Finished Beaconsfield today…!

Although that old saying does spring to mind… “You don’t ever finish a film, you abandon it…”

Don’t have an on air date as yet… but I suspect it will be early-ish next year maybe.

Some snaps taken during production that haven’t made it here after the break…

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November 24th, 2011 by Glendyn

Been spending the week sitting in the dark, colour grading guys sitting in the dark.

Most our conversation about the grade has been about how ‘dark’ we can make ‘the darkness’. I wrote  a few months ago about how black a mine really is and I know if we were grading for ‘cinema’ we could perhaps go a sniff  darker than we have. But as Beaconsfield is for broadcast we have to take into consideration that people may watch the film, heaven forbid, with a light on or even wierder, they may not be watching the film on a ‘broadcast calibrated monitor’.

Regardless, I’m really happy with the direction the grade is heading and it feels great to be on this side of a long production schedule and to be almost ‘finished’.

November 15th, 2011 by Glendyn

Spent some time in Sydney over the last week with Stephen Rae who is composing the soundtrack for Beaconsfield. Being a story that takes place predominatley underground, early conversations were about ‘elemental’ and ‘organic’ sounds. The sound of rocks, air and water and music that forms in and out of the environment. For the past few weeks (amongst our discussions about cameras, watches and motorbikes) we have been working through demos and musical sketches and these ideas are now becoming more defined.

Through Stephens sonic explorations we have settled on the clarinet as one of the key instruments. I must admit I’ve never been drawn to the clarinet, I tend to steer clear of  ‘reed instruments’ in general, (except I’m quite fond of the oboe), but  the way Stephen is using it is really different. Then I realised there is a whole album I love that uses the clarinet in a beautifully textured and ambient way. So I’m really looking forward to see how it all keeps progressing.

Below: Sydney mid afternoon storm, recording studio flowers and Peter Jenkin (lead Clarinet of the Sydney Opera) recording clarinet sounds for Stephen to compose and edit with. 

September 27th, 2011 by Glendyn

Who ever said “… you never finish a film edit you just abandon it…” knew the feeling of locking off the Beaconsfield cut over the weekend. But I think the feeling is always there whether you have 10 weeks or 10 months or  just 4 weeks as we did on this project. There is always something to tweak and explore and I don’t think you could ever feel 100% ‘finished’.

This is what the film looks like… all 125 minutes of it.

Huge thanks to editor Andy Canny who was a pleasure to work along side. Andy put in so many extra hours to try and make the film as good as it could be in the time allocated. Over the many late nights, early mornings and a few of all nighters, I appreciated his objective eye and attention to detail.

September 20th, 2011 by Glendyn

Spent the weekend back down in Beaconsfield shooting pick-ups for the film. Locking off the cut this week…

August 16th, 2011 by Glendyn

Wrapped the shoot last Friday!

Our final week took me back again to Beaconsfield, Tasmania. This was my 4th trip, but this time I had some cast and (a reduced) crew in tow. As well as shooting some key sequences in the streets of Beaconsfield, we were most importantly able to shoot 400 meters below ground in the real Beaconsfield mine as well as some other scenes on the ‘brace’, the area underneath the now iconic triangular poppet head of the mine, including a recreation of the famous footage of the boys coming out after fourteen days trapped below ground.

I think overall we have done very well. From the start we approached the script like a feature film, even though we only had a ‘TV’ budget and schedule. In most parts I think we have succeeded and if we haven’t it wasn’t from not trying as hard as we could.

I’m so impressed with the crew that I have had around me. I’m looking forward to the time I can work with each and everyone of them again. On all levels they have delivered above and beyond what was expected. It’s been a gruelling schedule to say the least and I know I could not have  made it through the shoot without a bunch of guys and gals around me who worked as hard and as fast as they did while still maintain a high level of creativity and craft. Thanks to everyone on the crew, from the production office, to the unit boys, right through and up to the heads of department!

Now into the edit… more fun and games…

August 10th, 2011 by Glendyn

We have spent the last week shooting on sets built in a huge warehouse in Yarraville. The main set is ‘the 925′, which is the name of the drive (925 meters underground) that collapsed on Todd and Brant in the Beaconsfield mine in 2006. Even though we shot in a real mine, we could never create a ‘collapsed mine’ in a mine, so we had to build it.

I’ve never really shot on sets, in fact I’ve made a point of not shooting on them, but I’ve learnt so much watching The 925 develop from inital recces and research, to rough sketches, to drafted plans and ultimately construction.

Production designer Jon Rhode has done an incredible job not only designing but also stretching our very small budget a very long way (over 50 meters end to end!) on this set and all the other smaller ones. Standing on the set of the 925 when it was lit and dripping with water felt alot like being in a real mine, I kept feeling like I needed to put my hard hat on.

A few more snaps after the break…

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August 4th, 2011 by Glendyn

Took some dirty portraits of some of the dirty actors one lunch break while shooting at the A1 mine.

August 1st, 2011 by Glendyn

Returned on Saturday from a week shooting deep down underground. Filmmaking takes you to some pretty cool places, but I’m still trying to comprehend not only where we have been, but how on earth we got there. To even step foot in an underground mine is difficult enough, but to gain access and take fifty cast and crew for a week of filming under ground is a thought almost to crazy to consider, particularly on a schedule and budget as tight as ours.

Mines are dark, wet, small and full of safety, technical, geological and physical considerations. A crew member with over 25 years in the industry said to me during the week that what we were doing was the most logistically and physically tough shoot he had ever been on. Which on one hand excited me, and on the other made me realise just how hard everyone was working to make this happen as smoothly and efficiently as it could.

The underground environment goes against everything a film crew needs to work; flexibility, accessibility and time. But what the mine took away from us in logistics, it gave back ten fold in providing a location that visually and structurally we could never have recreated in a studio. Speaking of which this week sees us back in Melbourne filming in the relative comfort and convenience of a set built in a huge warehouse in Footscray.

A huge thanks to A1 Consolidated gold mine, tucked high up in the hills about 4 hours drive from Melbourne (just near Woods Point, which is dying for a Deliveranceremake to be filmed there!). A1 essentially shut down for the week to facilitate the shoot and give us mostly free reign on their very cool place. And also a huge thanks to location manager Chris Stanton and the rest of the production team who help seal the deal!

And a massive thanks to the cast and crew who endured the cold, the mud, the dark and the insanity of it all.

More snaps after the break…

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July 24th, 2011 by Glendyn

We are half way through the shoot. This week we shot all the scenes of the boys in ‘the cage’, all 62 of them! We built a set that was the exact dimensions to what the real cage was, it’s such a small space that Todd and Brant had to endured for over two weeks. All the news reports at the time, depicted the cage more like a prison cell size, or a least a space they could sit up and casually sit back in. But it was more like a coffin sized space that two big guys could just fit in, when lying down. They could not straighten out, nor sit up, and had the constant threat of thousands of tons of rocks hanging just centimetres above. I think it was Brant who described the situation as similar to having someone point a loaded gun at you for two weeks. Never knowing when or if they might pull the trigger.

I had my mind set to build our cage exactly how the real one was, or as close to as possible. And even though we could remove walls and the roof etc to assist us with shooting it was still a really tight fit. It was built on quite a complex rig that could be shaken, jacked up and dropped. It was like this living thing, a bit like a theme park ride. The real Todd Russell dropped onto set and gave us the thumbs up, which is good enough for me. He joked earlier that we was going to get into the cage, but after he had a good look around it, I suspect that he didnt need to re-live the experience even if in the realms of make-believe.

Above: The Cage

We have been shooting between 10-13 scenes a day and I think we got up to up to 13 minutes of screen time on one day. I thought shooting in such a restricted space would reduce time, but because it was so small and there were so many special physical effects (rock falls, dust, water, ‘seismic’ activity, blasting etc) everything took much more time than I expected. But we got most of what we needed in the end. I hope we have captured some of the true horror of what it would be like to be trapped and buried alive a kilometre under ground.

Despite the long hours and the pressures of the schedule, I’m really enjoying myself. Fingers crossed the good experience continues for the next 2 weeks!

Lachy and Shane Jacobson (below, who plays Brant) are doing a great job as Todd and Brant. I’ve been so impressed with their approach to the characters and their performances. It was hard to shoot the scenes when they actually left ‘the cage’ I wish I could have spent another day or two with them on that set!

We are heading to shoot in a working gold mine this week for five days. A very cool but remote location about four hours drive from Melbourne.

July 11th, 2011 by Glendyn

Just finished day one out. Fast and furious shooting to say the least… A good day though and a good start to the next 23 days.

Below, Lachy Hulme (who I first met and had the pleasure of working with on Offspring last year) as Todd Russell. Lachy has packed nearly 20 kilos for the role. Impressive!

July 10th, 2011 by Glendyn

Last day of pre was on Friday. Shoot starts tomorrow. Weekend was spent soaking up some family time and last minute script tweaks with writer Judi McCrossin.

There was a good energy in the office on Friday. Everybody seemed reasonably calm and on track as much as could be expected. I’m usually pretty nervous the night before any shoot, but I’m actually pretty excited! I’m looking forward to getting on set and getting some of this story out of our heads and into a camera!

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June 12th, 2011 by Glendyn

300 meters or so below ground… which reminds me of a track from one of my favourite albums…

June 9th, 2011 by Glendyn

June 8th, 2011 by Glendyn

Spinal Tap fans may appreciate the title of this entry, but it’s a line that seems most appropriate when trying to describe how dark it is inside a mine. I’ve been down a few mines in the past week and it really surprised me just how ‘dark’ they are. It’s not a dark I’ve ever experienced. It’s a dark that is so thick and dense and seemingly never ending. None of the access roads or mine drives are lit, and where there is a light the fact that it is surrounded by so much darkness it seems to be sucked up by the shadows and surrounding black rock walls much quicker than it would above ground.

At one point while standing in a group we all momentarily turned our head lamps off at the same time. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that kind of blackness. You can’t get ‘none more black’. Your eyes will never adjust to the point where you can make out even the slightest variation in tone or definition. It’s like your sense of ‘sight’ no longer exists.

This disorientating quality of darkness has been a recurring theme in our conversations of how we ‘light’ the film and how we approach the film visually and thematically as well. How do we ‘show nothing’? It’s a problem thats always been there for filmmakers. And I’m forever distracted with ‘night scenes’ where everything is lit with blue ambience and ‘silver’ halo cutting everyone magically from the background. If this was a film to be released in cinemas I think we could get away with sections of just blackness on screen, no light, but as this is for commercial TV we will have to have ‘something’ on screen that the audience can see. I think there will be many ways we can use the darkness to our advantage in creating a really immersive experience for the viewer. And as we will be shooting much of the film in studio (read: a warehouse in Footscray), we can use the darkness to ‘extend’ the sets we are planning to build.

Images screen grabbed from test and recce footage shot by DOP Toby Oliver.

June 6th, 2011 by Glendyn

Moved into the ‘Beaconsfield’ production office in Footscray (Thanks Antje for setting up a great space!). We’ll be based out of here for the next three months or so.

May 29th, 2011 by Glendyn

So… I’m directing a film on the Beaconsfield mine rescue (if you are from Australia you should know the story). The film, to be screened on Channel 9, is being produced by John Edwards (Southern Star) and Jane Liscombe and is written by Judi McCrossin. While I’m still in the thick of developing Cherry Bomb and other things, the offer to direct a project like this was to good to refuse. I dipped my toe into the world of commercial TV with Offspring last year and really enjoyed the experience. So I’ve been keen to do more when the timing and the project was right.

I’ve been in ‘pre-pre-production for the last month or so (scripting, casting, crewing) and official pre-production starts next week. We start shooting in just under 7 weeks for a scheduled 23 days. The film will be around 2.5 hours in length. Fast and furious to say the least. But that’s how it rolls in TV land.

I’m heading back to Beaconsfield in the north of Tasmania today and will be going down the mine for the first time to have a look. The kid in me is quite excited about going a 1000m underground into the dark and the heat. The older, perhaps slightly wiser part of me feels a little uncomfortable about it. Much more to come…