Oddly, a few months after posting an interview with Ted Hope where he talked about low budget filmmaking, Ted returned the favour by doing a nice post on The Cat Piano. Turns out he’s a big Nick Cave fan. An SAFC staffer heard him talk about The Cat Piano at a presentation he did at a New York conference. Here’s what he had to say on his blog:
Film noir, Nick Cave, absurd inventions, tales of others’ heartbreak, animation, clever company names, these are some of my favorite things. Okay I am not crazy about cats and smoky bars, or really happy endings when you get right down to it, but for this I am quite happy to make an exception.
With THE CAT PIANO, I just added “watching a lot more from The People’s Republic of Animation” to my ever expanding “To Do List”.
Kudos to Screen Australia for engaging with all its publics by making a series of friendly videos that explain what they do and why.
This one I’ve picked features Mike Cowap talking about animated short film funding. We have known Mike for years since he worked at the SA Film Corporations and has made many of our early work possible. Screen Australia (as the former AFC) funded Fritz gets Rich and Sweet & Sour. They also funded Harvie Krumpet & The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello, so they’re certainly a friend to Australian animation.
We finished the Lab on Wednesday and now it’s back to the ho hum of everyday life. On Tuesday we presented our projects to a panel that included a producer, a festival director, 2 distributors and a sales agent.
The response was mixed. Looking back, I think we could have presented a bit differently.
On Wednesday morning we had one last singing session, but this time at St Paul’s Cathedral. The acoustics weren’t as good as I thought they would be. Or maybe we were just off our game. It was impossible to keep a straight face singing next to Matt Bate. Usually Matt C sits between us and I never realised how off-key he is! [he does make up for it with his enthusiasm. maybe I'm just as bad].
We spent the rest of the day going through our presentations from the previous day. We got bit of a grilling in ours. Partly I think there was some skepticism as to why we were pitching an idea that had a substantial amount of live action. Ironic, since we’ve humoured a lot of “live action” people over the years whenever they’ve pitched us animation ideas (some even in the room). It’s interesting when the shoe gets put on the other foot.
The other projects have all had interesting journeys. The characters and their relationships in Ashlees and Sonya’s film keep changing. Bryan, Sophie and Matt C’s film has now got 2 layers of “Schtick”. It’s gotta be one of the boldest ideas I’ve seen someone come up with and if they pull it off, the film will definitely have an impact. Matt B and Julie’s film has probably changed the least if at all. It was a strong concept from the start and I can’t see it not succeeding.
We’re not to think about our projects for the next 10 days. Good thing too because I know the whole thing has left us pretty exhausted. In late August, Stephen comes back for the next stage and I’m looking forward to seeing this project get closer to fruition.
In the meantime Eddie and I are back at PRA. I have a mountaiload of development related stuff to catch up on and an Information Memorandum to write. Eddie has a pitch to get together and his other scripts. We have a TV commercial and Video Game job going on in the background. Life goes on.
After a day off recovering from the flu that I strategically managed to awaken with on the first of my two days off, I was back in action today at the Filmlab. I arrived feeling like death warmed up and probably looked like the ‘re-animated grandmother’ that Matt Vesley referred to in our ‘Make-your-own-Slasher film’ exercise. After sitting in the singing but not actually singing, the headache slowly cleared (thanks to Panadol) and I found myself back in the welcoming arms of the labsters and the lab tutors which was comforting.
Stephen posed us some tasks revolving around the storyline and characters that will make our story turn around. It was good to really talk the film through and clarify areas that I had been a bit unsure of. Then off to our office for writing, writing and more writing… with an occasional game of table tennis thrown in Stanley Kubrick style. It feels like we made some progress today with our story and that the whole thing is becoming more vivid by the day. It is really a rare opportunity that you have such experts mining your head for what is making you tell this story and what are the vital elements to it. If you overlook this part of the process you could easily make a film that fades into obscurity because it is dull, forgettable and unclear.
I’m getting a really good feeling about the film lab projects and what they could add to the film landscape in Australia and abroad.
The second week of FilmLab ended with every project in an interesting place. Ashlee showed us some conceptual art pieces representing the characters in her film. There’s now a dog in it that aroused a lot of interest. Matt C, Bryan and Sophie showed us their 40 min film, which helped them address a lot of the potential problems they would have. Matt B and Julie showed us their recordings of people in public places. I was less than impressed when Matt put false subtitles over ethnic conversations. I had to participate more in our own presentation this time. Eddie’s insistence on making everything Lo-Fi meant I had to provide music by playing violin while wearing a bear costume. Bizarre, yes.
We’re now on the last stretch of FilmLab and it’s going to be a tough one. We’ll be “pitching” late in the week to two distributors, a sales agent, a producer and the director of the Adelaide Film Festival. Eddie’s at home sick today so I’m staying in touch with him via Skype. I got locked out of our office. I never lock it and never bring a key. i don’t keep anything valuable in there, but the cleaners still lock it. I had to break in by removing the grate at the bottom of the door. i can’t quite get it to go on again. Not off to a good start.
This week we’ll be moving past the conceptual and working on the story. “Planning” a story without writing it doesn’t quite go with the grain of how Eddie does things. We often write synopses and treatments, but they rarely ever serve much purpose in helping develop the story, but moreso to communicate the general idea to others. I’m curious how the tutors will help Eddie to work on this.
Well after working 13 days straight at filmlab and the pra studio I have finally managed to get a weekend in. I am strangely happy about now being able to wash my clothes, do my dishes, go grocery shopping and tidy up my life for the week ahead. I’m going to enjoy not thinking about my project at all for two days after I post this!
Yesterday was our presentation day and was very intriguing to see. I think everyone made a step forward in some way answering the tasks that were set for them. I’m really interested to see where we all go from here. I’m pretty happy as to where our project is heading. Defining one of the characters had given it the rudder that it so badly needed for me to progress with it. There’s still lots of questions I need to answer including Stephen’s ‘What is the film really about?’ question that we have to answer next week. Next week we will also be presenting our projects to a panel of professionals (distributors, festival directors, producers etc) which is very exciting indeed.
We’re more than halfway through now. Presentation preparations are still going well. Eddie’s getting over some of his blocks. The solution might lie in a furry hat. Reminds me of the “animation hat” Brodie used to wear at our Stepney Studio whenever he was working on a scene.
I’m more involved in the presentation this time. There may be “technical difficulties” with my props. Our presentation is probably a little more planned that our last one, but will still be largely improvised.
The SAFC’s SIP (Screen Industry Programmes), Marketing, Legal and IT departments joined us in our singing today. There were staff there I had never met. Was good to have them join us. I’m getting better at singing and I’m getting my ear for music back. I used to hate singing, but getting the bass parts in a range that’s comfortable is a lot of fun. I used to play the violin and haven’t touched it for about 10 yrs, so it’s nice to exercise that part of the mind again.
Stephen’s lecture was on protagonists and antagonists. It’s a different way of looking at these characters than Michael Hauge’s (Writing Screenplays that Sell). Hauge’s way of looking at it is quite straighforward, whereas Stephen’s was confusing at times. But then again, Hauge doesn’t analyse the variety of films that Stephen does and his analyses come from a very narrow set of formulaic movies. Stephen’s point was that it can be easier to work out your protagonist once you have identified the antagonist (or more importantly the antagonistic forces) that will bring out the change in the potagonist. I think we’re not quite at the point of defining that antagonism quite yet. Eddie usually works out protagonists on his own and everything gets painted around them in due course.
The SAFC ticks on. Block mounted posters of films I have never heard of or forgotten are getting switched around while anxious actors sit in the lobby waiting for their auditions. The children sit with their parents who range from passivity to the ones who rehearse lines with them. On the other side of our office wall there is a two way door that swings both ways like the ones in a hospital. When people walk through them you can hear a thud followed by a creaking sound that sounds like bedsprings, like a massive weight dropping onto a mattress.
Eddie observed this morning that the SAFC isn’t as big as he used to think it was. I think he might be right.
Finally! Some creativity is flowing back through my veins. It feels good to feel like me again. I’m really looking forward to our presentations tomorrow. I think my days at Drama school come flashing back to me whenever any sort of performance or presentation occurs. I love the uncertainty, the excitement and the blissful ignorance.
Our office is overflowing even more with gear that we are playing around with. There is a real sense of ‘play’ that is not always there when undertaking the mammoth task of developing a feature. By the day I know more and more about my film, the story, the characters and I am enjoying discussing it with Hugh.
Had some heated debates with Matt Vesely and Hugh about Terrorism and then another about bikies. Oh and then another about the reaction to the great MJ’s untimely death. Matt assures me that this is our way of showing our love. We always end up bonding again, singing Green Day out loud in his car on the way home.
Learnt about Antagonists and Protagonists which was good too. Stephen’s tutorials always come just before lunch which means I alternate between waves of utter interest to sheer hunger. But I’m sure everyone does.
Started the day with a degree of uncerainty. Enjoyed singing, get my soul in gear for the day. Continued with my art piece (to show the journey of the film we are working ) which looks like a Dadaist piece at the moment. I like Dada… and surrealism, so I’m fine with that. Matt Bate’s is intriguing me. Looks like some sort of abstract board game. Very rad.
I’ve realised that some windows in our office may help creativity. I dryly asked Andrada if we could smash a hole in the wall and she very earnestly quipped ‘you’d smash straight into someone elses office, it’s not an exterior wall’. There goes that idea. I’m usually quite tidy but our office is quickly growing cluttered with dead media, snacks, papers and other bits and pieces. For some reason I don’t want to tidy it up.
Felt a little clearer about my direction after a nice chat with Mr Speyer. Had a good walk in the fresh air with Paddy too the other day. Kind of felt very father/son like… but without the need for fatherly approval.
I now realise that most of my sparks of inspiration and ideas happen when I am at home. Maybe in the shower, in bed or slothing around in my uggboots and tracksuit pants watching football shows. It’s good to get that time alone to switch off and in a weird way that switches me on.
Creating my alter-ego for the presentation. Looking forward to him meeting everyone.
The first week was fantastic. It was new and exciting and finished up on a great note. Now the second week picks up a notch. Each team has now been given separate assignments to do and present on Wednesday. Ours is to present something about one of our characters.
Sounds fairly straightforward but Eddie has hit a block or two and the ideas aren’t flowing as easily. Partly to do with navigating through unfamiliar territory in how he is going about this. Partly to do with not getting the two days off and working 11 straight days. I think Eddie has been quite courageously going out of his “creative comfort zone”. He’s like a bunjee jumper who has made the leap but occasionally realises how terrifying the idea of it is. The tutors are on it, I watch them do their thing and see what I can learn from them.
While Eddie goes about tackling the existentialist problems I’m being given some other assignments. One involves analyzing films, which I enjoy. Another involves making a 90 second promo. And anther involves a violin. Much strangeness but i can’t complain. Bryan, Matt C and Sophie have to make a 40 minute “proof of concept”. Matt Bate has to wear a wire and hit the streets. I only have a vague idea of what we are presenting on Wednesday. I don’t think I’ll know that much more this time tomorrow either. But for some reason, I’m sure it’ll all be ok.
Hugh Nguyen
Sam White
James Calvert
Eddie White
