Marker

By Peter Sinclair

Marker.mp4

Mark is a mid-20s award winning writer about to hand in the manuscript of his latest work to his publisher, only to find out that it has gone missing after a night of intoxication on permanent marker fumes. With the due date the next morning and his career on the line, Mark traces his steps back to friends and family, facing the results of his latest bender and the results they have on those around him and on his own health.

Process

Development:

The basis of the project was the idea of getting high off of marker fumes. From there it was making a story with that idea as the main theme. I wanted to make a comedy that also had a bit of drama to it so that it would help touch on real life situations. The films humour was inspired from several sources, such as 'The Hangover', 'Max and Mary' and 'Filth'.

When planning out my crew, I wanted to use people currently in my course at the time of preparation (In module CIU212) and also an old friend who has experience in film, James Beaven. While the people in my class were called away to other matters, I was fortunate that James was able to stay on board.

Pre-Production:

Due to lockdown restrictions at the time, I was limited in both location and actors. After talking to staff and classmates about potential actors I was able to recruit Dean for the role of Mark and Charlene for the role of Sandra. Dean has had previous experience in both acting and working on film sets and he was a terrific person to be working with. Charlene starred in a previous project of a classmate and her performance convinced me that without a doubt she was the right choice for Sandra.

When searching for the role of Kirsty I turned to Morgan who I had previously worked with on previous projects in my time at TAFE, she was very eager to accept the role and was amazing to work with. Charlene introduced me to Brendan for the role of Henry, I don't think I could have found anyone who fit role better than he did.

I needed a locations between Byron and Tweed or at the very least close to them. Jon offered his residence to film the scenes at Marks place in Wollongbar and also offered to help out on the project, which I was eager to accept after having worked alongside him on previous projects. Many other locations where scouted out on campus as they were what I needed for the film. Other establishing shots were filmed in my local area of Tweed.

Several of the cast members had specific dietary requirements which they said they were able to cover for themselves, but as a backup I made sure to bring along some extra fruit and water for both the cast and crew.

Production: The project was completed over three days. The first location was Jon's house where we filmed the scenes of Marks living room and Marks office. The day went as schedule and we finished up only a little past what we expected to.

We originally intended to use a dolly with the tripod for the opening scene but we scrapped it due to the limited size of the room.

Filming the night scene in Marks office was interesting as we had to create an artificial night by blocking out the windows outside with curtains.

There was a potential problem on the 2nd day when one of the crew was unable to attend, leaving only James and myself. At first I thought I would need to reschedule for another day, but my actors Dean and Morgan would only be available for this day. Thankfully I was able to meet Jake that morning and he offered to help fill the role of boom pole operator for as long as he could, the rest of the day the pole would be set to a c-stand. With that we were back on schedule.

The 2nd day we filmed with Jake operating the boom mic.

The 3rd day we did the scenes with Sandra, Henry and Steve. With rain that day continuity had to be taken into account with editing. Thanks to the production schedule we were able to finish up on time.

Post-Production:

The rough was in a good state, standard feedback included that dialogue needed less breathing room between characters, so that was the first thing that I focused on for the fine cut. There was also rearranging some segments and applying the use of L and J cuts as well.

A bit of editing was also required on the clock in the night scene, an error of the scene was that the clock said 'AM' when it was night time, luckily this mistake was easily fixed with photoshop.

The fine edit was very good for pacing and sound was beginning to be balanced out. All that was left was applying music, sound effects and colour grading.

Before Grade

After Grade

Collaborative Work:

Cinematographer: James Beaven

Audio: Jon Paul Bruce & Jake Moser

Cast:

Dean Perring

Morgan Wayne

Charlene Russom

Brendan Collins

Previous Work

Harry And Greg

Harry and Greg (vimeo).mp4

Talking With Myself

Talking With Myself (Final Cut).mp4

Life After Lockdown

Life After Lockdown.mp4

Record Revamp

(Cinematographer and Editor)

Record Revamp V2.mp4

Vimeo Page: https://vimeo.com/user74289317

Reflection

I am proud of what I have created this trimester, beginning from a concept, developing that in a script and then turning that script into a short film.

What started off as joke, I decided to expand into a character and from that basis I developed a script that would keep the audience interested as well as entertained. Some jokes didn't work out, but with feedback I completed a script that people found entertaining as well as interesting.

Despite the conditions set by the lockdown in the middle of the year, I was able to properly plan out my locations and actors. Working together with new actors as well as old ones, we all had a great time together on our shoot.

Though there were sudden changes to the planned out crew schedule, I was successful in last minute improvising and still managed to complete the shoot for all 3 days. Each of my actors offered a different experience in working with them, but all over it was a great experience.

Editing also provided it's own challenges, such as organizing the largest collection of footage I've had to work with, sound leveling and colour grading. Each of these were faced head on with constructive feedback and alternate suggestions from my crew.

It was a big project, one that continued to provide a wide variety of challenges to overcome until the end. I feel a sense of real accomplishment from having completed this project.