I guess when you start a project, whether it's making a cake or painting a house, you expect a certain result, and the real surprise is what you find along the way. The swatch may not match your final colour, the eggs are a little smaller and so final product becomes something slightly different, a surprise. Part of the wonder that is creativity is to trust the process. It is driven by the intention for the highest, ie. you have to put in the hard yards but there is a great amount of divine, universal influence over the adventure. There is no room for rigid outlook, creativity can't be moulded into a pre-conceived notions of what it 'should' be.
So, things at BELLADONNA central are really heating up... casting, location hunting negotiating, but more importantly we are setting up new structures for the way we would like to work at GLASS KINGDOM and BELLADONNA is our 'seed' project where we have the chance to use tools and philosophies that Marcus and I have collected along the way.
Making a film is a collaborative process, you need someone at the helm who will guide it but ultimately its about people working together, respecting each others energy and not using
'its not my department' as an excuse not to work together.We are collecting the most fabulous group of people both crew and actors whose intention and energy is just wonderful.
A couple of years ago Marcus and I happened to be in Copenhagen at (Lars Von Triers) company for a 9am production meeting which they have every week. Firstly we were warmly greeted by the companies director Peter Aalbaek... he then proceeded to join two other men sitting at the piano and the double bass in the middle of this warehouse space. Later we found out that it was the companies lawyer, on the piano and the director on the drums. Within half an hour the room was almost full and everyone opened their Danish hymn books and started singing together. Marcus and I sat and couldn't believe our eyes, there was a sense of community beyond separation and desperation for funds and fame. Then they proceeded to discuss all the things they have achieved that week,what they wanted to eat for Christmas dinner and where their common vision was heading. A couple of 17 year olds who were supported by Zentropa to make some films stood up to let everyone know about their premiere and after applauding Peter gave then a glass of champagne to celebrate.
Lars and Peter have created this most amazing company, which has made films like Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, Zentropa. They worked completely outside the system of funding bodies sourcing funds from around Europe to build a community where filmmakers, could have a voice. Now they have programs from internships where you get to work in all areas of production over 3 years, all the way to creating your own company at 'filmtown' and films. This is exactly where we are heading with Glass Kingdom. Building new structures, from financing all the to the way to the way we work on set, this is both exciting and challenging. We are meeting some opposition (more on that later) from pockets of the film world that may see a new way as the 'wrong' because the pathway has always been followed must always stay thesame. But in my opinion something is not working, Australia is producing film that the rest of the world doesn't want to see, and most of the seem to look and be practically about thesame topic.( more on that later )
W have started with a very strong foundation a great accountant, and lawyer some very high ideals and years of practical experience.
If the cells in the human body which are all so different can co-exist and work in harmony to provide life why can't we? So this adventure continues to unfold in amazing and surprising ways. I look forward to sharing more of the ins and outs when we are out of production.
For us onwards and upwards.!!!
Some of the places and times where Marcus and I have talked about our vision for creating Glass Kindgom and Belladonna.(Poland)
"One Must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star"
Frederich Nietzsche
So the Poland story continues!!
We had 5 days to shoot the whole 15th century and no contingency days. The budget didn't allow for more as all the crew, equipment trucks etc. had to travel to the very south of Poland and be accommodated for that period of time. We thought that 5 days would be OK until the realisation dawned on us that we had no contingency days. What would happen if it rained and the trucks were not able to travel up the muddy road to the location of the forest, what if in the "sad forest" it was sunny - what if we just didn't get the shots? A deep cold shiver ran up all our spines. As we were refining the schedule making sure that there was a 12 hour turn around, and heard all other limitation that came with that it all stated looking rather grim. We came to Poland to get the beautiful shots and now were in a situation where the machine of the production was OK ie everyone was going to be employed accommodated and fed but the shots and the actual film was going to be potentially compromised. When you have alot of people working on the film ie. 30 something, it takes much longer to feed them and to move all the trucks from one location to the other... if we were to shoot at the speed we needed to, in order to make a great film it had to be fast ... that was our main concern. The day before Daryl Marcus and I were leaving for the location (allowing us a day before everyone else arrived), we had a crisis meeting.
This is the sort of meeting that you have to have at least once...as far as the production was concerned they were happy because all the boxes were ticked but nobody at the end of the day remembers the problems, they just see the final product. Either it works or not... our shooting schedule was not going to work. This was mainly because we had a very tricky descending and ascending camera shot and also needed dawns and dusk's which meant not enough turn around hours. we all sat in silence look at the schedule and hoping something would just jump out as a solution. On a film shoot there are people for whom its just a job they get paid for and leave, for others they extend their concern for the process, vision and the whole, and this was the moment where the seas parted. Suddenly Marta (the production wiz 2nd assistant director) who was under a tremendous amount of pressure, came up with an alternative shooting schedule. She understood our point of view and the need to the creative process to be followed through and also making sure that the production machine was still working well. Hallelujah!!!
Next day, after not much sleep we left Warsaw and travelled to Krakow and then to Sanok, not knowing that this was going to be one of the most difficult days on the production.
The Dreaded Mud as some of the crew are using plastic bags on their feet before entering the car.
Looking for the magic schedule answer. Sometimes the answers are on the floor.
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