Sony Tropfest 2008 Short Film Festival

Howdy. Went to the Sony Tropfest 2008 short film festival at the Sidney Meyer Music Bowl yesterday. Basically Tropfest is a global short film competition sponsored by Sony, amongst others. 16 short films were shortlisted from around 600+ entries and were put on view and judged last night – the lovely Naomi Watts and Geoffrey Rush on the judge’s panel. The event was hosted from Sydney with satellite links to major Australian cities such as Melbourne and Perth.

Most of the finalists were Australian, with a couple from Scotland and Japan. I thought that these two entries – “Made in Australia” and “Scab” respectively, were the best. Unfortunately, the Scottish entry didn’t win anything but the guys from Japan (all decked in a luminous green track suit, reminded me of the Beastie Boys) won a couple of awards – one prize was a year’s supply of coffee. The producer – Akito Hirai rightly so said that they lived in Japan and wouldn’t be drinking the coffee – that got a few laughs. WHAT KIND OF PRIZE IS THAT ANYWAY?!

Here’s what “Scab” was all about. No hidden messages or themes here, if you are still unsure on what the film is all about. You seriously need help.

Most of the films were pretty good actually, although I thought a couple were shite – one was computer animated which was obviously trying to warning us about damaging the Earth (yawn) and it ended up winning “best animated short”. Erm, it was the only animated short in the final…

Anyways, you can view the shortlisted films here. The overall winner was “Marry Me”, by Michelle Lehman. Take a look at the Scottish entry “Made in Australia” by Monte Macpherson, clicking on the image below.

Oh yeah, one thing. When the compare introduced the finalists at the start, just before he announced Monte Macpherson’s name, he went “hoots man” or something just as annoying and patronising. You could tell Monte wasn’t pleased, neither was I. If he tried to make a joke at the other finalists’ expense as well, I would let it go, but he didn’t.

Knob.

Well done Monte for getting to the finals. Better luck next time.

Perhaps I’ll have a go myself next year…

It’s a great year for cinema and the nerd

The list for 2008 says it all:

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (do I need to explain?!)
• The Dark Knight (follow-up to”Batman Begins”)
• The Incredible Hulk
• Iron Man
• Semi-Pro (Will Ferrell)
• The Happening (M. Night Shyamalan – “The Sixth Sense”, “Unbreakable”)
• Wanted
• The X-Files 2
• Hellboy 2 – The Golden Army
• Valkyrie (Tom Cruise/Bryan Singer)
• Quantum of Solace (James Bond)

And just announced … “Star Wars – The Clone Wars” will be released in August. A fully CGI film set between Episodes 2 and 3. The previews look amazing and if they are anything like the Cartoon Network animated series a few years back, it will be so much better than the prequels. Plus I read somewhere that it might be in 3D. Hmm, possibly/maybe IMAX3D then, that’s going to be good.*

Looking forward to these flicks. Can I get a “whoop whoop” if you are excited?

*”I’m 35.” That’s the answer to the question you are probably asking your monitor just now. I know, but I still like “Star Wars”, show me someone that doesn’t.

Update from Oz, number … unknown

Howdy there.

Work has been a complete bitch. I’ve been working really crappy hours, with very little time to reply to emails, catch up with people or update this blog. I can only apologise, again.

A few weeks ago, we went to see Shakespeare in the Botanic Gardens for a production of “Romeo & Juliet” which was interesting. I’m not a fan of Shakespeare, but its nice to watch it outdoors, although it was freezing (the temperature dropped that weekend, typical) and uncomfortable. A bit of culture for a change. Planning to go Moonlight Cinema in the coming weeks – again in the Botanic Gardens, watching old/new films in the open.

Last week (w/b 11/02) I started a scriptwriting course at the CAE, I’ll be going every Wednesday for 5 weeks. Its something I’ve always wanted to do -write a screenplay, I mean. Strange being back in a college environment, something I haven’t really done since 1995. Its a full class, around 20+ people sharing the same interest as myself. The lecturer is an experienced TV writer, writing on shows such as “Neighbours” and appears to be a good laugh. The course should be interesting, and worthwhile I think, although I see a negative, analysing every film from now on and appearing terribly nerdish to others around me. Nerd-like? Me? Never. I do have homework – watch films which isn’t bad. I need to watch “Mean Girls” and “Atonement” for good story structure and character motivation.

I do have an idea for a screenplay, but I’ll keep that under wraps for a later date. Yeah right. Like I’m going to tell you.
The course will give me the skills to nurture and fine tune this idea into a highly sought after Hollywood script. Well that’s the plan anyway. I’ll keep you posted.

Not much else has been happening apart from the usual, work-eat-sleep-gototheshops-watchfilms … Got K T Tunstall concert coming up in March (or April), might go see monkey-boy himself Ian Brown, and there’s the Melbourne Comedy Festival 2008. Lots coming ahead.

Melbourne Street Art

Howdy. I’ve finally uploaded some photies to my Flickr account of Melbourne Street Art (READ: graffiti). Some of the artwork is quite stunning and the ‘artists’ are obviously talented, although I can’t tell what is commissioned – legal and what’s illegal. There’s definitely a Japanese/Anime/Manga influence of some of the art I’ve seen, which I really like.

See for yourself. I took most of these the first month I got here, way back in August.

Filming of “The Pacific” in Melbourne

Howdy.

Whilst travelling into the city centre of Melbourne yesterday the missus and I came across Flinders Street shut off to all traffic. I noticed there was a massive lighting rig and a number of vintage cars and trucks. “A film set” I thought, but for what? I immediately guessed “The Pacific” recalling that I read last year they were planning to film in the Melbourne area, plus it was the only thing that justify the closing off one of Melbourne’s busiest streets.

I found a sign at a closed off tram stop which backed up this guess:

“The Pacific” is the follow-up to the fantastic “Band of Brothers” mini-series, again produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg in the style of “Saving Private Ryan”. This is the synopsis from imdb.com:

“A 10-part mini-series from the creators of “Band of Brothers” telling the intertwined stories of three Marines during America’s battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.”

The view I had was limited but what I could see there was more vintage vehicles and there were technicians covering tram lines. The side that I took some of the photos from – opposite Flinders Street Station, was covered tall black sheeting with the occasional opening, for production access I assume and to give the passer-by a chance to take in the action. This included a mocked-up air raid shelter, built into the side of the train station, as seen below:

We left the area and ventured back a few hours later where it looked as if they were actually doing some filming with a large number of actors/extras in WW2 garb. At this point, I also noticed that there were a few vintage trams. So as per the original series, the production values to recreate war time Melbourne (I’m assuming that Melbourne is part of the story, or perhaps not since Oz cities are used for many US cities) is amazing and definitely worth a look when the new series arrives in 2009.

I’ve uploaded the photos I took to my Flickr account, take a look if you fancy it.