Film Crew Draws Out Local Talents

Local movie enthusiasts have created and produced a ten-minute short film right from the beginning using local actors, locations and crew.

This has been the collaboration of the 'Brisbane Movie Makers Inc' Club. The group dates back to 1937 and is an amalgamation of two Clubs namely Queensland Movie Makers and Brisbane Video Makers Association. Brisbane Movie Makers has members who have film and TV experience as well as enthusiastic 'beginners'. The aim of the group is to share ideas and pass on knowledge of movie production.

For Colin Tretheway who directed the short film, Movies should have a beginning, a middle and an end, they should tell a story.� This is the message the group aims to impart while also sharing and learning skills in all areas of film production.

The short film produced by the group is called 'Edith's Choice' and is the brainchild of Joy Tretheway. Joy's script was chosen for its emotive qualities bringing to life an ordinary, everyday life situation with a tide of emotional responses. Joy had actually witnessed the scenario that occurs in the film and drew on this personal experience to write the script.

The film was shot over four weekends and with specific storyboarding and comprehensive shot lists, the shoot days achieved the outcomes the crew had planned.

Catherine Cox filmed the various scenes and her biggest challenge was capturing a busy scene at Mon Komo Hotel. It was a big room with about twenty extras and I had to maintain all the camera functions including manual focus as well as learning to move the camera on tracks,� says Catherine. A demanding scene to film, but Catherine was pleased with the results in post-production.

Local actors were cast in the film and they brought to life the characters in the play with authenticity. The protagonist 'Edith' in the story was performed by Angela Witcher. Angela comes from a theatrical background with over thirty years experience in the performing arts. This was her first venture into the art of filmmaking.

It was a great experience, good fun and the crew were helpful and made me feel comfortable,� says Angela. The biggest challenge was adapting to the requirement of film as opposed to stage. Stage performance requires a much larger and bigger performance than film,� she says.

Thrilled with their movie production the group now plans to enter the film into the 'Heart of Gold' Gympie Film Festival, which showcases well-crafted and uplifting short films from around the world.

n For more information check out Brisbane Movie Makers Inc www.bmm.org.au

The group meets the 1st and 3rd Thursday each month 18 Josling St, Toowong.

By Susie Laery