It’s been an amazing couple weeks with lots of new toys for the Kind Sirs! A fancy lens, brand new camera, a bunch of test shoots and more and more projects piling up in our back catalogue.

All in all, it still feels like early days – we feel like we’re just getting started!

Taking a step aside for a moment – something more exciting for my personal life – my gorgeous girlfriend Jordan has recently shown an interest in Photography and has asked me to slowly teach her a few things. Above, the gorgeous girl herself along with two of her first shots which I particularly love! She’s got a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing her artistic side find herself.

The same day Jordan’s shots were taken was a day, Jacob and myself, hired out a few new toys from my work and went for a day trip into the countryside to have a play. Mikael & I have been experimenting with the idea of tilt-shift for a longterm project we’re working on and up till this point, we had been faking this popular effect in post – so I hired my dream lens, the 17mm Tilt-shift, and took it out purely to learn how it works. All I’ll say is – it’s not easy, you have to make a lot more decisions in camera, when it works well – it’s amazing and when it doesn’t – it’s really bad!

The following night, I went into the city with Jacob and Nathan for more experimentation. They were both distracted testing out the new Canon 5D Mk III, while I just kept hanging back playing with the tilt-shift. The city lights, water reflections and the night atmosphere made a great combination.

The following day, our church had a full day of Baptisms. This is a Christian ritual where people dedicate themselves to living for Christ and uses the symbolism of being dunked in water to represent dying to their old selves and raising into their new life with Jesus. Our church has a pool at the back of the stage and has a live camera stream onto the main church screens. I thought this would be a fun opportunity to utilise the tilt-shift effect, so just from my seat I snapped away and found some interesting results!

Time continues to fly past and it’s already been two weeks since we hired out the tilt-shift and experimented. One last tilt-shift test we ended up doing over this Easter weekend, was a test shoot for the Narrative Mikael & I are busy working on. Let’s just say stop motion meets real life. See what you think!

The Kind Sirs together have also recently bought a new camera. The new Canon 5DmkIII. I’ve already been busy shooting a couple corporate gigs since we got this and between work, haven’t had much of a chance to play – until the past weekend. While Jordan had a meeting for a camp she helps run in a few months, I went for a little peaceful wander and had a play with some of the deeper functions of the camera and shot some random shots.

With the few mentions I’ve left in the past couple blogs about ‘Kind Sir Productions’ – the new creative production company myself, Mikael & Evan are hard at work getting started – I thought I would take a moment of reflection on the first project we ever created together as the three of us and how’s it’s eventually led us in becoming, Kind Sirs.

Going back to the Summer of 2010, Mikael and I had only known each other for close to a year as classmates at uni. We were unsure of working together and we both seemed to tread carefully around the other. Mikael’s script, ‘Red Riding Hood’ based believe it or not on ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ was written as part of our Adaptations class at uni where we had to Adapt one of the classic fairytales into a film.

Without wanting to put too many words in front of the film, Mikael’s interpretation of the fairytale is a little dark and moody but I feel it touches upon such a powerful topic, in such a beautiful way. Mikael’s synopsis, Ruth gradually comes to grips with the state of her life and her relationship after realising she was manipulated into having an abortion.

Pre-production begun, and Evan joined the picture coming in to audition. More focused on writing and directing himself, but always keeping his eye out for other directors work which stood out to him, Mikael managed to catch his eye. Evan made the cut, and so our first film as a collective had begun. Kind Sir’s, we were destined to become.

So I had the job of Cinematographer and to a lot of degrees I feel that during this piece, I was still very unsure of myself. I felt I was still learning the craft and felt that I would often second guess myself, particularly with lighting decisions. Either way, it was such a big step in my journey, mistakes I needed to make on set that never need to be made again, shots I am proud of to this day and shots that still today make me cringe.

I’m also very conscience of what others around me think and having Evan, an actor on set who knew his way around set as a director, left me, a tad on edge. I really like to look back on this moment and remember what it’s like, but the past few months the three of us have been getting together, slowly making plans for our collective and it has been great getting to know Evan. Soon enough, he’ll be directing a piece I’m shooting and I might just get taken back to those moments, when I completely fear his internal thoughts on set.

As you can see, we’re surrounded by images from behind the scenes of ‘Red Riding Hood’. This was a four day shoot, back to back in multiple locations, mainly in the Box Hill area of Melbourne – indoors, outdoors; we had attacks from bee hives near by and random great dane dogs bolting for an escape from the RSPCA next door to one location. An action packed week!

This was a magical few weeks for Mikael and I. We quite literally were living and breathing the film set which, considering how much hard work was involved, how little sleep we were getting, how hot it was cramped in little sets pumped full of thousands of watts of burning lights and not to mention how little money was in the bank – these were some of the best days we’ve lived!

For some extra reading and to hear more about our latest shoot, check out Mikael’s latest blog entry. http://somefellongoodsoil.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/thrillhouse.html

Keep your eye peeled, our Kind Sir Productions website / blog is in development. In the meantime, I leave you with the trailer from ‘Red Riding Hood’.

Until next time,
James Brereton

“Red Riding Hood” – A Kind Sir Production
Written Directed : Mikael Hattingh
DOP : James Brereton
Starring : Evan J Martin

P.S. Just for fun, Mikael & I found this sequence of images a real kick. Here we are discussing some technical film jargon and our hand movements are identical…kinda freaky.

Can’t believe it is mid February already but the year’s creativity has begun!

Mikael and I entered ‘Love Is a Many Childish Thing’ into another 7 festivals over December/January and already have heard back from 2, both with great results! The first was the ‘Angry Film Festival’, held on 1st March in Kensington where we found out we’re up against one of our lectures from the uni Mikael and I studied at.

The other festival is ‘Warrambeen Film Festival’, a festival particularly pushing Australian shorts from country based film makers. I’ve only been a city boy for a few years now, but the most exciting thing about this festival is it’s all based in farm paddocks somewhere in between Geelong and Ballarat. In the middle of nowhere, right? But apparently Hugh Jackman is endorsing the festival and we’re up against a film with Jack Thompson in. Kind of scared.

The most exciting thing that this year is bringing is the development of a new production company Mikael and I have started up with our mate Evan, who met us through auditioning and then acting in one of our earlier film projects, ‘Red Riding Hood’. After many brainstorming sessions and beers, we came up with ‘Kind Sir Productions’.

Love to hear your thoughts on the name, under that umbrella, we have already started compiling a backlog of scripts which mainly Mikael and Evan write (occasionally and rarely my scripts will pop up) and we’ll be catching up and pushing each other along to start creating films!

One of the most fun things that has helped keep our momentum strong over the past few weeks is the idea of creating a bunch of ‘Short Shorts’. By this, we mean a short-short film. Something where we don’t take things quite so seriously and where production time is to be kept to a minimum. We’re saving our energy for the big projects while at the same time making sure we’re always creating things.

If you’re not quite getting the idea through my ramblings, we created our first one Sunday just gone. Script was written in 15min, shot over an hour and a half and was edited that night. Love to hear your thoughts…

“Who The Hell Knows”

A once in a lifetime experience, that’s what we’re all looking for!

So I don’t know how many others have had the thought, but back in the day – when films had no sound, and cinema was such a new and exciting thing – a musician sits in the corner creating the mood for the film. I’ve always been so curious to be there and to feel the atmosphere created by a live musician.

So, a few weeks ago I had this experience! Although, instead of being infatuated like people of the time to the flicker of an image in front of me and been blown away by a horse and cart passing on a singular tripod shot for 6 minutes at a time, I was naturally infatuated by the music being created in the room before me!

The majestic Astor Theater in St. Kilda as glorious as it is on its own, housed us for the afternoon as we watched the 1920′s film, Last of the Mohicans. Local Melbourne Indie Duo ‘Invention In Time’, made up of Kate on Marimba and Ariel on Vibraphone along with a number of other instruments; composed and added dramatic sound effects to every moment of this masterpiece.

It was simply a magical experience! As Jacob who was with me said, he got so attached to what was happening, he forgot the music was live. From the sweet melodies from the wooden & steel instruments to the sudden banging and rhythm of drums in the battle scenes matching the cannon fire. Every moment thought out so well, it added understanding to an ancient story – like adding colour to the grainy black and white image, yet so much more.

If I haven’t painted a clear enough picture, I really enjoyed the experience! I also found I learnt a lot – things I consider and want to add in elements into my future film work.

It’s amazing to see how the convention of film has not really progressed all that far. Sure technology has improved and we can do so much more now, but for what these early filmmakers had to play with and the efforts they had to go to, they are absolute geniuses!

Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown, the two directors of the the film created an adaptation of the 1826 novel by the same title. Set in 1757, amidst the turmoil of a war-torn nation struggling for its identity, the British fight French forces which have rallied together with native Indian tribes. Basing his novel on real people who played a significant part in the French and Indian War, history is realistically re-enacted while also telling a deeply moving personal story of individuals.

One thing in particular I took away from this film, and found amazing, was the fact that even though this film was in black and white, these film makers had each scene carefully filtered in a monotone colour. This not only helped break up the scenes but the colours were particularly chosen to set the mood and atmosphere. Maurice and Clarence were filmmakers ahead of their time. Even without the ability to film in colour, they forced colour into a black and white world!

Now to learn the secrets – to unlock the power of colour, and of sound!

Invention in Time will use marimba, vibraphone, piano, flutes, drums and percussion to create A brand new sore for an old film – Invention in Time.
Check out their website: www.inventionintime.com

Hey, it’s Mikael here.

Guess what?

Last night was the Screening and Awards Night for the Poetry in Film Festival. It was a great event and it was absolutely exhilarating to see our film up there on the big screen. To have shared the night with our crew and our actors and their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, even grandparents made the whole experience feel wonderfully complete and special. This was a team effort through and through and we all deserved to be there.

As we rocked up to the cinema and took our seats – I wouldn’t admit it to anybody but my heart was racing. I was incredibly nervous. As I was watching those first few films, which were relatively dark and melancholy, or at the very least aimed at an older demographic, I thought “Oh no… how is my little primary school love story going to fit in with these films? I’m crazy, I’m an idiot!” Ohhhh, that was fun. The nerves only increased when the words “Love Is A Many Childish Thing” appeared on the screen. But everything changed as soon as I heard that first sound of laughter break out across the room. The audience’s reactions throughout the film made it very obvious that people were connecting, and I think that’s a credit to the entire cast – particularly of course, the ever-adorable Isabella and the note-swallowing hero, Per.

George Iskander, the splendid man who played the part of the teacher told us that as he mingled with everybody in the foyer, he chatted with an actor from one of the other films. The actor told George: “I actually voted for yours.” For me, that story just made the night that little bit more touching, and in the end we took out the major award for “Audience Choice.”

My mind went totally blank as I went up to accept the award and make a speech. I wish I could have said a thousand things; above all that I honestly feel very honoured and blessed to have met and worked with all of you.

Thank you for making this happen.

After the crazy 6 weeks Mikael & I spent making the short film ‘Love Is a Many Childish Thing’ happen, it’s been nice to have a quite week where we didn’t have much to do.

 The final audio mix including ADR and Foley was completed late last week, the film was colour graded and was submitted to the ‘Poetry in Film Festival’ last friday. – But enough rest, we’re not going to just sit back and wait for results, it’s not time to move onto more productions.

I have a bunch of projects in conception with a number of collaborators now, including at least another 3 with Mikael, as well as talk of a documentary project with writer Adelle – a narrative piece on chess with VFX artist Jacob – and an artistic music video with Band ‘No Love For Lexi’ – just to name a few.

‘Love Is a Many Childish Thing’ doesn’t end here, we hope to have a number of screenings and events to celebrate the production. Dates TBA.

Many exciting times ahead. Still with many photos from the production to sort through, but here’s a quick selection from the behind the scenes photographers we had on board; Justin & Jacob.

Until next time,
James Brereton.

Hello, Mikael here.

James has been incredibly busy lately, both working on the film and catching up on everything he’s had to put to the side in order to make this film happen, so he’s asked me to come by and update everybody.

I’ve just completed the final edit and we really couldn’t be happier with it. Hands down, it’s the best thing James and I have created together, and it’s thanks to the remarkable people we had working with us. We feel particularly blessed to have had such a perfect cast. Both Bella and Per (the two main actors) did an absolutely wonderful job, and I reckon audiences are just going to fall in love with them, which is what you want in a love story like this one.

A nice comparrison – conception to image…

Directing it was a pretty cool process. I’ve never really worked with so many people before, let alone so many children, but all the actors were really great and they took direction well. It was a lot of fun and I was amazed that they remained so patient with us. One of my personal favourite moments was taking our cast and crew photo together and getting everybody to pose like little hip-hop “gangstas”.

The next step is to work on the sound, which will involve some ADR and foley, and latest news with our soundtrack composer ‘Noff’ is that the score is half written, and sounding amazing! We’ll be recording this Monday which will bring the piece if not already – to life.

So there’s a fair bit to do before we submit it to the festival on September 9, but we’re on schedule.

We’ll leave you with some of our favourite images from the auditions we held. Keep checking back for more information!

Mikael