The Black Balloon’s finale “Afloat!”

Autistic children, lots of colours and a Home & Away star in a monkey costume – just another day on set! Well not just any other day, it was the filming of “The Black Balloon’s” finale “Afloat!”, which the musical performance within the film.

In the film, Charlie (Luke Ford), is performing in a musical at his school called “Afloat”. (a musical of Noah’s Ark). Charlie and his friend Russell (Firass Dirani) are playing broadway wannabe monkeys. Many of the other animal characters in the musical are played by real children and teenagers with autism. This on one hand, was a big challenge for everybody, but on the other hand was such an amazing experience. It was just fantastic to watch!

With Luke was also Rhys Wakefield, running around in a monkey suit all day. Both Luke and Rhys are pretty cute guys but to see them dressed as monkeys really looked funny! By the end of the day everybody was singing the song they had to dance to (affectionately called ‘the monkey song’). Not only did the song stick in everybody’s head for the day, we were still singing it for rest of the week!

My job on the day was helping to coordinate the extras and I can tell you one thing - there were extras everywhere – 200 to be precise. All dressed in early nineties fashion, so there was a lot of fashion flashbacks.

Elissa’s (the director/co-writer) parents came down from Queensland to see how things were going. And there were a lot of other guests on set, like the investors and distributors. And everybody seemed to enjoy it. Especially the performance of the autistic children in their colourful costumes. Claire, the Costume designer and her team did a great job.

Because there is always some confusion around the Crew Roles, I thought I use the Tech-Fact to explain some of the ‘hard to guess’ ones.

DOP – Director of Photography or Cinematographer. He/she is working closely with the Director on the look & feel of the film. They colloborate on what lenses to use, how to frame a shot and what would be the best lighting. The DOP doesn’t always operate the camera, but most of them in Australia still do.

Best Boy - there are two kinds of best boys, either for lighting or grip. They are the assistants of the team head.

Gaffer – he is the head of the electrician department. Gaffers basically make sure that whatever vision of lighting the DOP has gets actually done with the equipment that is on set.

Ok, I think that’s enough information for today. Maybe I do another crew explanation next time.

Cheers,
BeeBee

It's all about the food!

As most of you know we have finished shooting a while ago, but I didn’t have a chance to update this Blog. I still have some entries that I have already written, but never published here. So I thought I put those once up over the next days and then tell you what’s going on in the post production. Sorry about that...hope you still enjoy reading this. So here today’s entry.


Something I really have to talk about is the Catering on set. It’s just fantastic! And why does this rate a mention? It’s because a crew is like an army and it marches on its stomach. A well fed crew is a happy crew so we arrive in the morning (very early, too early) and get this great breakfast. There’s all this healthy stuff like cereals, yoghurt and fruit salad, which I try to go for. But then we also get the whole range of warm breakfast dishes: Eggs (scrambled, fried, boiled), bacon, sausages…mmmm…

Everyday there is something new for lunch. Usually 3 different kinds of meat or fish, lots of different vegies and salads of course. Last but not least there is dessert. We get this great vanilla ice cream and some sort of cake everyday. As you see, the difficult part is to leave enough space for the dessert. This is all a big challenge, well, the bigger one will come after we wrap when I have to lose all the pounds that I gained during the shoot! Well, there are some people who don’t have that problem – Gemma Ward.

It’s a bit tricky to find a Tech-Fact today, as I have talked about food, which is not technical at all. Ok, what about the Call Sheet?!? This is basically the schedule for the next day. It’s usually printed on yellow paper so it’s not to be confused with the rainforest of paper that is used during production! Everybody on set gets one at the end of the day and it covers things like when to be on set, what scenes will be shot, important telephone numbers, what additional crew and equipment will be on set and breakfast & lunch times. I basically carry it with me all day, so I know what scene is next and when we will be finish.

Cheers

BeeBee

Shooting in the suburbs of Sydney

Next up, I want to tell you about shooting in the suburbs of Sydney. The main house, which is the Mollison’s house (Thomas’s family), is located in Holsworthy. The big advantage of this place is, that the house will be demolished after the shoot, so the crew can whatever the want to make the place more shooting friendly. Eg. putting holes (camera ports) in walls for better camera movements. So in a way it’s like a studio set but without the sound proofing!

The other big plus is, that we also have the houses neighbouring the main house. One is used for the actors to chill in between takes and the other one is for the crew to store some of the equipment and for the split screen (see Tech-Fact).

An interesting little fact is Elissa (the director/co-writer) lived on the very street of the house when she was a little girl!

Because the Mollison house is so small (and therefore hot!) most of the time I can’t be in there. Therefore I spend a lot of my time in front of the split screen where I can follow the action in the main house. In between takes I then go over, check if Elissa needs anything or help out wherever I’m needed. But sometimes it’s the best to get out of the way of the crew carrying the heavy gear and have a chat with somebody who is not carrying equipment. Good chatting partners during bigger breaks are the actors. Luke Ford (who plays Charlie) is such a funny guy. He is always cracking me up. Because his character doesn’t talk, but just says ‘da’, it’s become a running joke on set that he answers questions with ‘da’. This behaviour has already spread across the crew who answer each other’s questions with ‘da’. Rhys Wakefield is such sweetheart, he is so nice to chat with even though he is nearly every scene and doesn’t get that much time off. I tease him about the 90’s parrot fringe he has to wear in some scenes but he takes it all in good humour!

As already mentioned above, the Tech-Fact today is the Split Screen. Something I spend lots of time in front of. It’s a box with a monitor and dvd-writer that is connected to the camera so you can see on a monitor what is actually been filmed. It is mainly used for the director to check the scene during it’s been shoot and afterwards. But also during rehearsals, so everybody can check back and see who was standing where in the scene. One other crew member who is relying on the split screen is Continuity, which is a big issue on set. This Wikipedia Article tells you a lot about it.

Cheers

BeeBee

The first week of shooting The Black Balloon

The first week is over and I have to say I learnt more in that one week, than I’ve learnt during the last 1½ years at film school. Everybody is just so onto it. There is such a difference between student filmmaking and real filmmaking.
Sometimes it’s a bit scary, I’m quite insecure about a lot of things, well I still am, but it’s getting better. There’s a lot of pressure because we’ve just 6 weeks to shoot - there’s so much to accompolish means there isn’t enough time for stuff ups. This keeps me on my toes.

There are so many highlights in this first week. A great scene was when Gemma and Rhys were in track suits and had to perform a rescue drill in the pool. Rhys is actually a good swimmer but in the film his character can’t swim. It has been hilarious watching him perform what has been called the ‘spastic dive’. Gemma was telling us she tried to teach someone to swim but gave up in frustration! The pool scenes were eye-candy for us girls - the boys had get around in their Speedo’s…do I have to say more?!? The photo below shows some of the guys: Nathin Butler (Chris), Aaron Glenane (Bucko) and Ryan Clark (Dean).

Enough of that, back to the serious stuff. There was one very important scene shot on the pool – Thomas (Rhys) and Jackie (Gemma) almost kiss for the first time. It’s really beautiful shot with the sun shining behind Jackie, through her hair and a mixture of innocence and cheekiness. Well Elissa, the director, would call it hotness.

Today’s Tech-Fact is about ‘rushes’ - the footage shot but not yet assembled to a complete scene. (in Europe the call them Dailies). Everyday after the shoot Elissa, Denson (the DOP) and the producer meet with the editor Veronika Jenet (she was nominated for an oscar for the awesome film “The Piano”) to watch the material shot the day before. The pictures and the sound are recorded separately so the editing department need to sync them together.
That’s it for today. Next time more about shooting in the suburbs of Sydney.

Cheers
BeeBee

First day and Gemma Ward on set

Finally the day has come – the first day of the shoot on The Black Balloon. I obviously couldn’t sleep the night before and having breakfast wasn’t even an option for me, my tummy couldn’t cope with anything but water.
When I arrived on set most of the crew was already there and everybody was really busy with setting up. Surprisingly Elissa and Denson (the DOP) were pretty relaxed, they were chatting to the cast, everything was kinda different to what I expected…hard to describe. Anyway, it was so hot that day, unbelievably hot. The one good thing about the weather though was, that we shot pool scenes. So the actors were in the pool a lot and enjoyed it.
The one thing I was really looking forward was meeting the actors, or at least watching them perform, especially because the first day was with Gemma Ward , for everybody who doesn’t read fashion magazines – she’s a Supermodel. So I was very curious to meet her. To make a long story short: she is beautiful on the inside and outside, and she is talented – I think that’s reason enough to officially hate her.

Besides Gemma, the other highlight of the day were a bunch of half naked actors running around in budgie smugglers, including Rhys Wakefield from “Home & Away”. Very entertaining! And there are 2 more days on the pool to come...

OK as promised here again the Tech-Fact.
One of the most important items on set the first day was the Splash Box, that is used for shoots in the water. It’s basically a box you put the Camera inside so it doesn’t get wet. It is waterproof all around, but open on top so it can be operated from there. Because it floats, most of the time the camera guys had to push it a bit under water so you get a half-under-water shots. It doesn’t look fancy at all, but it’s really useful.

Cheers
BeeBee

My First Blog Entry

Hi there,

This is now my first Blog entry. Because it's the first I’ll talk a bit about the film and the cast. At the end of each entry I will put a "Tech-Fact", something interesting I came across during the film shoot.
Here the Synopsis of the film. I took the synopsis from Icon, the production company (don’t want to get in trouble for making up my own):

When Thomas and his family move to a new home and he has to start at a new school, all he wants is to fit in.
When his pregnant Mother has to take it easy, he is put in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie. Thomas with the help of his new girlfriend Jackie faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that cause his pent-up frustrations about his brother to pour out, in a story that’s funny, shocking, and ultimately heart-warming.
The Black Balloon is a coming of age story about fitting in, discovering teenage love and accepting your family.
http://www.iconmovies.net/blackballoon/

And this is the main cast (I haven’t met any of them yet, so it’s more what they’ve done so far, just have a read):
Rhys Wakefield plays Thomas Mollison. Most people know Rhys from "Home & Away" where he pays Lucas Holden. It’s his first feature film. It will be interesting to see him perform next to Toni Collette!!!
Luke Ford play Charlie Mollison, Thomas's autistic brother. He played in "Kokoda" and some TV shows. I can’t wait to see him play an autistic person. Elissa has two autistic brothers herself and the script has some really tough scenes.
Gemma Ward plays Jackie Masters (girlfriend of Thomas). Gemma is one of Australia's biggest Supermodels and is usually living in New York. Elissa knows her from years ago, when she wasn’t famous and played in one of her shorts ‘Pink Pyjamas’. Mhh, I wonder how her New York style will fit into Holsworthy (the location) hahaha!
Toni Collette plays Thomas’s mother Maggie Mollison. One word to say about her – awesome! I loved her in "Little Miss Sunshine" (see it if you haven’t). I can tell you one thing already…I’ll be so nervous if I get to talk to her.
Erik Thomson plays Thomas father Simon Mollison. Erik did a lot of TV here in Australia, but was also in "Somersault". Elissa told me he has to grow a moustache, a really old fashioned 80s one – mmmm that’s going to be hot!

Ok, that's the main cast. Hope I get some more gossip as the film progresses. But here my last words for today - the Tech-Fact: "The Black Balloon" is shot on Kodak Super 35mm. Elissa (the director) and Denson (the DOP) want to take advantage of shooting an extra wide frame – so I look forward to seeing the footage in rushes.

Next time I will tell about how I’m coping on the shoot…you can’t image how excited I am that the filming starts now!

Cheers,
BeeBee