Robert Thirkell Workshop - Sydney

Last month we were fortunate enough to be involved in a masterclass with renowned factual Television producer Robert Thirkell. 

He has produced award winning television programs all around the world including Kitchen Nightmares, Wife Swap, The Apprentice, Undercover Boss and Jamie’s School Dinners.

Thirkell took us through his CONFLICT toolkit;
C, find the Characters
O, think Out of the box to write the script
N, find a Narrative drive, the big question of the film leading to a big answer, and small questions and small answers that contribute to this
F, make a Front of your film that highlights are characters, why they are setting off, what they are up against, and the reason
L, Love your characters and turn them into people
I, Interview for feeling, write short terse commentary for fact
C, Make your audience Care, at every moment, and promote your film so people watch
T, get a Timeline going from the start, find a good Title, and how the Truth is best

He is all about compelling storytelling and casting your story with unforgettable characters. What
makes a character interesting? What makes people interested in the story? What makes audiences
keep watching? All these things are so important when putting together an idea for a film project.
Whether it’s factual or fiction, ultimately the fundamentals of storytelling are the same. It’s all about
moving the story forward by putting your characters under pressure.
Thirkell also emphasised the importance of spending your time on budget and pre-production. By
making sure you get the right cast, crew and your preparation done then you will save in production
and post-production later on.

Lastly another little piece of advice he left us with – when it’s going wrong then it’s usually right,
when it comes to story. Always follow the story, regardless of where it takes you.
I think there’s a lot to be said with getting the fundamentals right. It’s all about story, story and story.

Documentary Shoot in Bangkok

Bangkok is a lot of things at once. Capital of Thailand, a sprawling metropolis home to 8 million people, a chaotic, vibrant and exciting city that houses the extremely wealthy and the extremely poor. The city is constantly loud and on the move. The streets are laid out like a rabbit warren with traffic filling the tangled roads. Every few yards, the aromas on the ground change with street vendors selling everything from fruit on the roadside to markets with copious amounts of raw fish and meat sitting in the stinging sunlight. A lot of the apartment buildings are old and rundown with dreary facades set behind electricity lines tied together in a mess. Of course, next door will be a 45 story luxury hotel tower full of some of the thousands of tourists who fill the city every day.

I was lucky enough to be able to travel to Bangkok for a week of filming for a documentary project. The film is centred on a man called James as he undergoes a massive shift in lifestyle to help cure his diabetes. The Bangkok phase focuses on experimental plasma and stem cell treatment he is undergoing at the Sukhamivt Hospital.

-Damian 

Please enjoy some pictures of vibrant Bangkok:

Andrew Whitehead – Artist profile gets a great audience

The Regional Artist Profiles is a project Next In Line Films is conducting where we make short films about regionally based artists. We share a bit about their story and their practice.

At the end of last year we were fortunate enough to spend time with artist and sculptor Andrew Whitehead. We spent the day with him in his workshop on his farm in the small town of Urana, NSW.

Andrew is a very talented metal sculptor who uses scrap metal to make amazing sculptures any figures. Andrew’s video is currently enjoying one of the largest audiences we have had, over 150,000 views and counting.

Most of the feedback we received from people who watched the video said what they really connected to was Andrew’s passion for what he loved to do. Viewers may not necessarily connect with his art practice but what hooked them was that Andrew found something in his life that he loves to do and that makes him insanely happy. A friend of Next In Line Films animator Phil Henderson said after watching the video “This guy calls a spade a shovel! Brilliant guy” One of the biggest things we learnt by making this video is the importance of story and context and how audiences find connection to a subject. A lot of people watching the video may not have a particular connection to sculpting and this form of artistic practice but as humans we all want to feel happy, useful and have something we do that makes feel fulfilled.

That’s the magic we are all after in being able to find that ‘thing’ in a story that we can all connect with. The magic that takes video from good to brilliant.

Check it out here:

Fleurieu Film Festival

Our short film Dirt, directed by Damian Jenkins and written by Ainsley Jenkins was recently accepted into the Fleurieu Film festival. So last weekend we decided to make the trek over to South Australia.

After a very long 10 hour drive we arrived in Adelaide.

Endless driving.

The festival was held in McLaren Vale just a short drive south of Adelaide.

The theme for the festival was ‘landscapes’ and Dirt fit with the theme quite well.

Dirt was lucky enough to make the finalist list. The other short films that made the list was You and Me, Super Sounds and Daudalogn. 

So the long drive was worth it – Dirt took home 3 awards; Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Actor!

Best Editor – Olivia Jean

Best Sound – David Freeman

Best Actor – Craig Alexander

We had a really fantastic cast and crew on this film who all contributed to make this film.

A big congrats again to Olivia, David and Craig on their awards!

Festival De Cannes

I had the chance this year to attend the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France. It was a quite a whirlwind experience but I learned a lot of useful stuff about filmmaking, business and networking. I also devoured a lot of bread and cheese and alcoholic beverages in the Riviera sun. I spent a day of two in Paris solo before I took the train down to Cannes. I just hung out in my hotel and had a little walk around the area trying to get over my jetlag and find some good coffee. Once I stepped off the train in Cannes and found my apartment things became quite hectic in an amazing sort of way. I met some excellent people from all over the world. (I also met some pretentious bores, but you take the good with the bad). I saw some cool films. I had some great conversations with other young filmmakers and some older filmmakers, it was just one big learning experience. My short film 'Dirt' was received well and impressed some people. Hopefully it is the first notch in a great journey. 

- Damian 

Production wrapped on our short film ‘Dirt’ in late December 2013.

We have spent months on post production and are nearing the end of the process. A lot of talented young people between Wagga Wagga and Sydney have helped us out on the film. Once the final cut is locked off and sound and colour all tied up we will be submitting to Film Festivals. It has been quite a journey to get the film made. We had setbacks early on finding a suitable location and then we had to wait for the right time of year for the grass to dry out and the land to have the correct arid feel we needed. Overall all the elements came together like a dream. Once you get the ball rolling on these kinds of projects all the pieces gradually stitch together. I am really looking forward to getting the film in front of audiences. 

Dirt - Behind the scenes.