Behind the Scenes

This is the behind-the-scenes blog where we put all the documentation (and other similar content) of all the stuff that we did behind the scenes, like the different photos, locations, etc... done by Jaden.

PRE-FILMING

Before shooting, Giorgio and Carrick discussed the different mise-en-scene and clothing to wear for each shoot. They both agreed it'd be a good idea to keep it formal by having the main actor (Carrick) wear a suit and tie as they were trying to create a scene with politicians.

 

My role was to get permission from my dad to use the church building for different shooting. He said we could only meet there for a total of three days, so we made the most out of what we did.

DAY 1 - 17th AUGUST 2024

On this day, we arrived at Hillsong church at about 9:00 where we planned to just practice different camera angles and film some rough drafts as practice.  We also discussed different ways the assassin could enter the stage and attack Carrick. As Carrick had to go to another meeting elsewhere, he left at 11:00, just 20 minutes after Giorgio arrived (Giorgio was very late).

Carrick brought his suit and tie as part of the practice shooting, just to see what it would be like on camera. I used my iPhone to shoot the practice shots. 

When Giorgio showed up, we started to discuss more in detail about how we could utilise different equipment that we already had at the church. My dad said we couldn't use any of it which was a bit disappoint, but we were able to get stuff done either way.

DAY 2 - 25th August 2024

Carrick went alone to film one of three interviews with his friend from Australia who was visiting as part of an impact team to help his church. His friend was to act as a member of the radical conservative wing of the National Party. One thing he said with regard to carrying out this task is that he wasn't able to get better insight and feedback from any of us which made it a bit difficult for him. This was also the only opportunity he had to interview this guy before he went back to Australia.

Carrick had also forgotten to bring his tripod which really made things a whole lot harder for him, but luckily there was a desk tall enough. This meant he couldn't get any other angle other than a static eye level angle which was really annoying.

Carrick setting up his camera on the table while Jerry puts the microphone on his tie.

Carrick was able to complete this interview in just 20 minutes as Jerry is used to these type of interviews. Since I couldn't come, another one of Carrick's friends from Australia took the behind the scenes shots.

DAY 3 - 29th August 2024

Carrick and I went to Pastor Brian's house to film the second interview. Pastor Brian was to act as a moderate member of the National Party, giving an opinion and recollection of events in a way that does not sound like a conspiracy theory. 

My role was to help with the behind the scenes shots and give feedback to Carrick. This time we actually brought a tripod with us and that allowed us to capture different angles. Pastor Brian was also happy for us to take as long as we needed to ensure that we can maximise our use of him and his house. His house made for a great place to film as his house was absolutely stunning. However, due to the issue of lighting, we weren't able to take advantage of the outdoor areas so we were isolated to having to use one corner of the house in his lounge room.

Carrick and Pastor Brian discussing the sequence of events and the plan for the script and what he needs to wear.

Carrick enlarging the font to make it easy for Pastor Brian to read.

Carrick setting up his camera to shoot from a medium shot of Pastor Brian with the door behind him, taking advantage of the natural lighting.

Carrick filming Pastor Brian as he reads off the script during the interview part of the film.

I gave feedback to Carrick, suggesting that he should try to use lower angles when delivering lines that sound a bit sinister or are hitting back at their opposition in the plot of the story.

Brian being a pastor helped us a lot as he's very good at reading a script and being on point with the acting and voice articulation. He didn't have to be camera trained at all, which meant we only needed about 40 minutes of his time and it would've been over. 

DAY 4 - 31st AUGUST 2024

Carrick again went and filmed the last of the three interviews at his house. He was to be filming Ed, who would act as one of the security team leaders at the convention and talk about the security aspects of the situation as well as how the assassin entered the building without being detected. Ed was also able to give some feedback on the script as well which was very constructive and helped us a lot to make it sound and flow a lot better.

Carrick's pastor said he couldn't borrow the lapel microphones for this scene as it involved taking them up to Gianyar and he was afraid they'd get lost or stolen so Carrick had to use a microphone he had at home which didn't affect the sound quality that much. Since I was not able to be there, Carrick's mum helped take a few pictures behind the scenes.

Carrick setting up the camera while Ed learns to memorise his lines.

All in all, this only took Carrick about 20 minutes as well. Ed was a former cop and senior prison officer in Queensland, so he's done quite a bit of on film script reading as well as interviews for the media. This helped us greatly in our project as we didn't need to camera train him. The uniform Ed is wearing is actually his old police uniform without the police patches.

DAY 5 - 2nd September 2024

This day was our final shooting day at my church (Hillsong). This is where we planned to film the incident as it takes place and another interview with Carrick. All of us needed to be there for the shoot as we all had a very important role to play. I was assisting Giorgio with the camera operation as well as acting as a security guard who jumps to assassin, Carrick was the assistant director and main actor who would be the assassin's target, Giorgio would be directing and operating the camera, and Kaka would be acting as the assassin.

This was the most stressful and daunting task to film as we were all pretty exhausted from other school work and having to come all the way to my church from home as well as having to go all the way home from my church (which is in Kuta. We all live miles north from there). We brought everything we needed, cameras, microphones, tripods, costumes, and scripts. However, the one thing we did forget were security uniforms which Carrick was in charge of. Thankfully, Giorgio and I were still wearing our school uniform which almost perfect as we were wearing basically the same thing. This allowed us to still be security team members, just not the way we originally planned.

Giorgio setting up the camera with the correct settings as well as ensuring there is an SD card in there to capture the shots.

Giorgio using another camera to take multiple angles of Carrick speaking while the main camera is trained on him and filming the whole time.

Kaka getting ready for his turn on screen with the fake gun in hand, waiting for the signal from Carrick to come up on stage and attempt to assassinate him.

Giorgio took this photo, I was helping set Carrick's microphone up as well as move furniture around to give us as much space as possible for the shooting. Kaka was setting up the camera to get the right light settings for the room.

Self-Reflection: Making the critical self-reflection was very tedious work, but I'm glad to have finally get it done. I think this serves as a lesson for me though, next time. For the next project, I'm just gonna have to record every piece of behind the scenes as I take them and immidiately put them in my blog, rather than put them last minute, because that requires so much late night working that I would rather not do.