Reflections of Myself

Bronte Dunning, Hayley Johnson, Sophia Mitchell, Jarrah Hatchett, Thomas Nicholls, Hope Linfoot, Orlando Hudson, Lachlan Hall & Shaun Porter

Eliana, a 20 year old woman returns to her family home to reconcile with her past, it's been four years since she's been back with her Mother. While back at home Eliana visits her safe place, the willow tree in the back paddock in an attempt to leave behind the trauma she has experienced. While at the tree she converses with a young seven year old girl who depicts the pain that she is going through due to her mother's abuse. The young girl is Eliana’s younger self. Eliana comforts the small girl, reassuring her that she will come out of this okay and stronger than before. After finding peace in the conversation, Eliana heads back to the house, leaving behind her troubled past and the trauma that she was holding onto.

Reflections of Myself

ReflectionsOfMyself_FinalCut_V1.mp4

Project Poster

FINAL_'Reflections of myself' Poster.pdf

'Reflections of Myself' is a heartwarming short film that explores the intricacies of childhood trauma and the journey of healing. The film is inspired by inner healing work and the directors personal journey of self healing and acceptance. Although the film is not based on Bronte's exact personal experience, she feels passionate about raising awareness for stories like this that she has experienced through friends and acquaintances.

Our goal is to open up a conversation and create a safe space for audiences to begin healing, working towards a society where trauma healing and vulnerable conversations are far from taboo. We hope that this film brings you joy and acts as a starting point for a better future.

BTS

Electronic Press Kit

'Reflections of Myself' EPK_Final.pdf

Process

Pre Vis 1

WillowPreVis1_FineCut_Notes+Storyboard.mp4

Pre Vis 2

Copy of Willow_PreVis2_FineCut.mp4

Pre Vis 3

WillowPreVis3_FineCut.mp4

Collaborative Work

Sound Recordist

Shaun Porter

Graphic Designer

Liam Jennings

Music Producer

Ed Bambach

Cast

Eliana

Holly Matheson

Young Girl

Cora Gaffney

Sherrie

Joanna Stephens

Reflection

Director Reflection

“Directing my first film has been an extremely rewarding and fun experience for me. Having the opportunity to bring my script to life with such an amazing crew has been such a blessing. The concept of inner child work and connecting with your childhood self is something that is really important to me. From my personal experience and from those around me I have been able to learn about the importance of healing your past and the trauma you have been through. With this in mind, creating this film has allowed us to make a really beautiful and heartwarming short film that I hope will spark a cathartic experience in the audience.”

Producer Reflection

“This film has been a very exciting opportunity for our whole class together to work as a crew, it was also for me my first time as a producer working with an actual designated budget provided by SAE. We were able to bring together a film that was written by Bronte over a year ago and transform it into a visual cinematic journey. Every production stage of this short film was exciting and a great learning experience for us all. The whole crew has left this film as much better filmmakers with a clearer vision of where we all want to go in the future”

Assistant Camera Reflection

"I have really enjoyed working on the Reflections Of Myself production and mainly for the team that we had to put it all together. We had a lot of fun on set and I think that once we got into the flow of actually getting stuff done on the shooting days that was a really good thing. I'm also not very good at stepping back from having the creative control so this was a learning curve for me. Admittedly it took me a while to do so but once I did step back into the role of just AC-ing it was super relaxing in the way that I only had a very small amount of responsibilities which meant I knew exactly what I needed to do and could just show up on the day and leave the logistics up to the writer/director. Although this still isn't my preferred style I think that it's great practice for the industry where, talking from experience, the director wouldn't care whatsoever about the assistant cameras opinion and the entire point in their role is that their responsibilities are completed without the director even knowing of their existence."

Cinematographer Reflection

"The only other short film I have shot was way before my time at SAE and it’s incredible to see how much I have learnt and changed. It has been an honour to work with these amazing people and I am proud of what we have come up with in the time we had. Some challenges were lighting the shots consistently and battling the early morning light in a paddock. With the ins and outs of the roots we worked around nature using wood and branches to prop up the camera and stabalise the dolly tracks with the earth around us. Shooting this beautiful film with the motif of nature's safety while working with the environment around you was refreshing rather than being in a studio. Working with post production in colour grading to achieve this 70s feel with soft shadows and warm tones along with experimental post processing pro mist filter was also a learning experience working in davinci to achieve what I imagined and prepared for while shooting. Lachlan has done an incredible job of bringing my vision to life, many thanks to him"