9 July 09

TE WHAKAPOURI...THE DARKENING

Two more days to go until the first shoot. It is hard to believe that exactly 409 days ago on May 26 2008 (as recorded in my 2008 Daily Planner) I began writing the first script of Te Whakapouri...The Darkening.

WRITER

In nine days I wrote a 94 pg feature film script. It was, in my opinion, a powerful script, filled with all the elements of war, love, jealousy, revenge, redemption. However. it lacked the 'uniqueness' that I was trying to say. So I rewrote and rewrote it, yet it still lacked that 'uniqueness'. Then I had a korero (talk) with someone who said to me, 'Explain to me in one sentence, what the essence of the movie is about'. I thought about that and realized it was meant to be in essence what I feel Jehovah would be like if he came to earth as a man, and how he would interact with his creation (Tana Tu a prophet in this case). So I rewrote the script from that perspective and ended up with a 8min short film (9min when translated into te reo Maori).

PRODUCER

Now that I had a definite script I set out to raise the finances to make the movie. My original target was $38,000, this was so that I could make a professional short movie where everyone was paid and I had all the resources I required at my disposal.

1. So I went cold calling,
2. Phoned people.
3. Emailed people.
4. Arranged Hui (meetings) with people.

In all I applied to about 300 different businesses, organizations, sponsors and grants. Then, just as I was on the verge of giving up Sarah Dugsdale from the North Shore Council threw me a lifeline and said that if I applied to the Council under the Creative Communities Grant, she personally would push hard for me to get the money, although I would have to apply for a lot less than the original $38,000. So I thought to myself what if I can get the cast and crew for free? How much would it cost then at the bare minimum? I figured I could make it for $3,000. So put in the application and I received the great news that I had been successful and was getting $2,500! I was wrapped! So I set a definite date for the 11 July 09. I had waited long enough and sure as hell wasn't waiting one second longer! So this gave me a definite time frame to work toward, in which i had to acquire the cast and crew.

TALENT SCOUT

So I listed on Star Now for the cast and The Big Idea for the crew. I had a number of time wasters reply, who offered the moon, but in reality, gave a piece of dirt. But, I managed to pull together a great team of cast and crew. Straight up people who said, Yeh this is a great project and we want to be involved'. So to each and everyone of you...Awesome! Thanks heaps a!

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Once I had the money, I then had to organise the props, production equipment etc, plus organise numerous other details. Even now, at this late stage I still have some last minute equipment to purchase! And because the budget is blown, I will be the one forking out! Ha ha ha. Still, this is my dream so it is worth the cost.

LOCATION SCOUT

I then had to go and find all my locations. I went all the way up the Waitakeres, to the inner city. I had some choice locations sussed out, but because of legal technicalities, were unable to obtain them. But, I managed in the end to find some awesome locations.

PRODUCTION

Now, everything is in place and we are ready to shoot on Saturday the 11 July 09. If the weather holds we will be able to wrap this up in two weekends. We will follow my exact shot list and if I feel there is enough time, throw in some extra shots too.

DIRECTOR

My style of directing is to interact with the cast in order to draw out their best performances. Plus I want to capture as best I can the 'imagery' and 'symbolism' of the scenes I have in mind. There are some extremely powerful visual scenes and if we can capture them how I visualize them, we are going to have one bloody awesome movie!