STEPHEN RAE CORE

Over the last few years composer Stephen Rae has created a whole world of music for me. We met on Beaconsfield and hit it off immediately and since then we have worked on both series of Puberty Blues and most recently Gallipoli. That's around 19 tv hours of drama! Along the way we have become good friends and it's a collaboration I value dearly. Stephen has just put up the soundtrack work for Puberty Blues and Gallipoli on Spotify. It's beautifully evocative work and it forms a huge part of the tone and the drama of those shows. To me the track Streams is the heart and soul of Gallipoli. Similar to the track Sea Hassle in Puberty Blues, once we found that track it seeped into every frame of the show. Even when it's not playing, I can still hear it. I need to do another entry of the process of working with Stephen because I love it so much. Essentially our approach is to write a large portion of the music first (as opposed to after the shoot during the edit). For both Gallipoli and Puberty Blues I had selections of music to work with during pre-production even before we had shot a single frame. I usually send Stephen photos I have taken of cast, locations and other details I find along the way. These help form a discussion about tone and from that Stephen creates long improvised pieces of music which I listen to throughout production, while in the office in pre and then constantly on set while shooting. For me, it's alot easier to see the images, if I know what they sound like first.

There is a great sequence of Stephen working on the Gallipoli 'collectors editions' behind the scenes and there is a great clip of Stephen working on the music for series 2 of Pubes HERE.

And I just found this sneaky iPhone clip I took of Stephen working on the first episode of Puberty Blues... such a great time.

DOOMED YOUTH

Select pages from a visual and tonal document I put together to hand out to cast and crew in the lead up to shooting Gallipoli. Made up from a selection of archival material, paragraphs from Les Carlyon's wonderful book, poems from some of the great war poets and my own photographs.

Jo Ford our production designer has said (half jokingly) that she wished the project wasn't called 'Gallipoli' as it brings with it such an immense amount of scale and preconception that it overwhlems with expectations. So I found an alternative title which helps establish an idea and an over arching theme that is constant throughout the project.

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MORE HERE AND MORE NOW

I was recently interviewed for the upcoming release of Gallipoli and the journalist was interested to know aboutt my End Of Days photographs he found here and here on Hoaxville. Afterwards I thought more about what my photos have been in the past and what I'd like them to be alot more of in the future. The End of Days series was about finding some space at the end of each shooting day. A moment of stillness after the intensity of shooting. A visual excuse to take a deep breath in and out. To reflect on the days events, what worked, what didn't and what needed to be done for the next day.

I think this is what I want more of in the way I approach photography. Not so much trying to 'capture a moment', more the photograph is the moment. A practice of trying to take time to ground myself and be present in that time and place.

Below: The beginning and end of Day 56 of filming Gallipoli (Mt Eliza beach).

GALLIPOLI DONE...

I finished Gallipoli last week... Kind of unbelievable. For over two years it's been this monolith project that ended up consuming every single part of my life. This time last year I was wondering "...how on earth are we going to make this?" and now it's done and I'm wondering "...how on earth did we make that!".

Normally I'm quite sad when a production is over. But I'm happy to say I was quite relieved to walk out of the post house for the last time. Not because I hated it, far from it, but I was just super tired. I've put everything I could into making this series as good as it can be. I'm exhausted now in a way I have never felt before (one of the reasons why this blog has been a little neglected). I'm spent.

Luckily, I'm really happy with what we have made. It's epic when it needs to be (the script always had a scale that scared us all) but ultimatley it's emotionally driven and intimate in it's tone and nature. Hundreds of people across all departments put a huge amount of energy into the series, above and beyond what I could have expected. As a director to be supported by so many truly talented people is humbling.

Eight hours, on air sometime (early-ish) next year.

IF NOT HERE, THEN WHERE?

Turkey

IF NOT HERE, THEN WHERE?

Random Turkey...

DUBAI > ISTANBUL

I always haggle for the window seat… Below, alien cities, roads to nowhere and crowded skies.

END OF DAYS 2

END OF DAYS

Photos taken at the end of the shooting day, usually on wrap or very soon after...

GETTING THERE AND BACK AGAIN

Shooting Gallipoli is well and truly under way. Just finished week four (of sixteen-ish). I love the rhythm and the routine of long shoots. Early morning pickups and late nights drop-offs. Long drives to set, listening to music and wondering how all the bits and pieces are going to fit together. Discussing a plan of attack on the way to set and debriefing the days wins and losses on the way home. Collapsing into bed physically and mentally exhausted. Dreaming of the shape it's all taking.

LAST DAY

Ten weeks of Gallipoli pre-production came to an end yesterday. A huge challenge in many ways. I haven't taken anywhere near the amount of 'pre' photos that I would have normally and this alone is an indication of how intense the process has been. Gallipoli is a beast of a project and I think I would be a nervous wreck right now if I wasn't surrounded by the best best people. I've really have the dream cast and crew and I feel totally supported going into this shoot that we all know is going to be very tough at best. I feel very privileged to be where I am right now (although I do feel like throwing up).

This snap of the writer Christopher Lee deep in thought, reminds me of the Ernest Hemingway quote "Writing at it's best is a lonely life…". Christof spent most of last year holed up alone writing the eight hours of television we are about to make. But for the past two months, he has sat in this room and for many of those days I sat across from him and we worked on the scripts together. Christof is one of the most generous and wise people I've had the pleasure to work with. It's been a wonderfully collaborative and learning experience.

#CAMERAJESUS

Germain McMicking, Cinematographer.

THE WAY OUT IS THROUGH

ANGEL SMOKE

Have never felt time move so quickly in pre-production. The Gallipoli pre-weeks are going by like days… Coming to terms with the fact that there will never be enough time to prepare for everything by the time we begin shooting in 3 weeks… Regardless, I'm feeling very supported by the team I have around me.

RECCES

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