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Journal Entry

16th May: After several attempts to set up a meeting, I met with Zak Lauritzen at Melbourne Central to discuss her potential involvement with the film. I was impressed with her production know how and insight in achieving certain shots and looks on camera. She also informed me of some of the equipment she has access to, such as a canon lens kit with macro lens. A macro lens will be required for much of the shoot and this would mean a huge saving of time and money on our end.

Journal Entry

11th May: Had planned to meet with a potential art director in Stuart but he indicated he would be too busy to work on the film. Instead I began discussions with Crissy Clarke, a Swinburne film graduate, to fill the role. Crissy is close friends with both Holly and Simone and so she offered her help in tracking down whatever we might need in art department.

Journal Entry

8th May: Benny, Jared Rosemeier and I ran a few more camera and lighting tests with the Panasonic AF 102. The aim of this test was to achieve a low-lit look by candlelight. We set up at least forty candles and moved the camera on a jib. In hindsight a dolly would have been the better option or a combination of the two. Nonetheless we played around with a few different set-up, using the Chinese lantern, a dedo light and just the candles by themselves. Looking at the footage, the best result was achieved by the combo of candlelight and the dedo casting some backlight. This was the facial feature of the subject weren’t completely obscured.

Journal Entry

7th May: After class, Benny and I went to the Glen Waverley Op-shop to look for potential prop for the film. We were looking for objects that would match the aesthetic we were after, aged but might have once been grand. We went away from there with a number of silver cups, candleholders, and dishes. Over the past few weeks, Benny and I have been individually going to our local op-shops to find similarly items with moderate success. The goal from this is to find things that will look good in our world whilst keeping our costs down.

Journal Entry

5th May: Met up with Simone Currie and Holly Rees to discuss their involvement in the film as costume designer and make up artist respectively. I worked with Holly on 30 kgs last year and thought she did a fantastic job, however this film will require a much higher level of detail. The meeting was excellent, with both girls seeming genuinely enthusiastic about the film and, as we talked they began to brainstorm and riff with me about creating elements that would be poignant to the character. Simone in particular showed that she was thinking laterally when pitching ideas for Frederick’s royal attire and what it would say about him and his surroundings. They both said they would now go away and conducts some test, Simone with ageing fabrics and Holly with ageing a man’s face (a test she would conduct on her dad).

Journal Entry

2nd May: Sent emails to Montsalvat and Wyndham City council with concerns to the respective locations. There is an arid landscape, advertised as a film location, in Little River, near Werribee that would be perfect for our exterior scenes. I also got into contact with a potential sound technician through Starnow. His name is Krisztian Pilisko and his initial response was very positive and just needs a confirmation of dates before being locked-in.

Journal Entry (April)

16th April: Forgot to add that in April I bought two mice that I will hand-rear to appear in the film. The two female mice are named Roz and Maisy. The cost of their upkeep and the mice themselves will be factored into our budget for the film.

Camera Tests 1st of May.

Journal Entry

1st May: Again in Anders production class, Benny and I ran some more camera tests. There’s a scene in the script where a vast, barren wasteland is revealed to Frederick when he’s holding up an apple. The shot is meant to be from his point of view so we spent some time getting the composition right. We also tested how handheld camera would look when tracking a moving subject. This was done in the hallway as I walked along in bare feet and Benny followed with the AF-102. The end product was not something that I was too happy with, most notably because of the violent shaking. It was a good test to conduct however, because at least now we know that we will most likely have to use a dolly for this sequence.

Journal Entry

30th April: I finished my 2nd draft of the script in time for our workshop class with Australian actor Terry Camilleri. He read through the script and was incredibly positive about it, which gave me added confidence that what I was trying to achieve with the script was coming to fruition. He also gave some insight as to how I might improve the script; most notably by removing the ambiguous ending by grounding it in more of a reality.

Journal Entry

29th April: I had some previous business with Glen Cook to resolve when I met with him at Chadstone. However, we eventually wound up talking about my film and all its requirements. He generously offered his services in whatever on-set role was needed and also mentioned a fellow filmmaker who might be interested in being involved with the projects. She had worked with Glen on a 48 hours film festival project and received high plaudits from him. He informed me that she was a film school graduate from New Zealand and that her specialty was in cinematography.

Journal Entry

20th April: The second draft of Frederick the Last is coming along reasonably well. I was starting to feel that I had become unwarrantedly complacent with my first draft, thinking it was better than it was. So I resolved to really work the script and trim any fat, making it concise and straight to the point, rather than wasting time with scene that failed to progress the story. Benny also came over to give me the scene breakdowns he had completed. We discussed a number of things, but I mentioned that we should think about putting together a rough budget for the film so we could get an idea of the amount we should be asking for on Pozible. Benny gladly took up this challenge, effectively making him the Producer of the film.

Journal Entry

17th April: Benny and I utilised our time in Ander’s production class to run a few camera tests with the Steadicam. I thought we might practice a potential shot I had in mind for the penultimate scene where Frederick is going insane. The shot comprised of the subject breaking down and falling to his knees with the camera circling him to create a feeling of instability.

Journal Entry

10th April: Further discussion took place at another production meeting between Nico, Benny and I. We ironed out our Pozible pitch a little more; while we also discussed possible other locations and the logistics in bringing this project together.

An example of the influence on our Pozible campaign.

Journal Entry

5th April (Cont’d): After the recce, we convened at my house for a production meeting. Benny, Nico and I went over what we wanted to achieve by certain deadlines and assigned tasks to each of us. We also reviewed my now finished first draft and discussed our world bible, which I wanted to be shared around by the group members, with each of us contributing something to it. Our Pozible campaign, we decided would include an animation to explain the world in which Frederick the Last is set. This animation would derive from the animations found in the History and Lore videos from the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Recce photos from Montsalvat.

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