It's been a while...

I've been somewhere between too busy and not busy enough for a while now. Whenever I have a point of low activity, part of me is grateful for having time to breathe and the other part is shouting "YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING".

I've had a lot of fun on set in recent weeks. I recently helped a friend Sarah with her short film for university, named Tomato Soup . First of all, I was blown away by the script and then when I saw her block out the scenes and shoot - I knew this was a film that should get all the backing it can, because it will go very far.

You can sponsor Tomato Soup at this link or just simply follow the Instagram for it.

Reviewing my continuity/script supervisor notes on set for Tomato Soup . Photo by Sarah Jo Fraser

I also got to help out my friend Nick on his short film, Before Our Time, which will also be entered into the UnScene Film Competition.  That involved a very early morning of wrangling extras, assisting with costumes and making coffees. It was a fun and short shoot and interesting to see what would happen on set as it is a very VFX heavy film.

Since then I've been an extra in a music video for the awesome music duo, Peachnoise. The style of the music video was super 1950s, though the music is fairly modern and mint. The costume and set design were awesome. I got to play a little diner gal handing out milkshakes.

You can check out Peachnoise on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify - just search their name! 

Also the gals who ran the costume department work from this page, tell them I sent you! 

On set for the Peachnoise  music video. Photo by Chloe Towan 

Last week, I had a launch for my fourth book, Postcard Poetry at the Melbourne Young Writers' Studio. It was a great night and a little nerve wrecking standing on a ladder whilst I read some of my poems. Hopefully I'll be able to go to more nights and events like that in the future.

Reading one of my poems at my book launch. Photo by Gabrielle Kelly 

Meanwhile my little project No Matter What is in postproduction, getting its sound mixed and teeny VFX added. Then BOOM. I'll be able to show you all some movie magic. To show behind the scenes snaps of my film, I created an Instagram page for film projects that I make and produce - Cut To Black Productions.

You can check out the Instagram for Cut To Black here.

Catch you when I have more stories to tell  xxmk 

When it rains, it pours

It is a bit of an old saying, but it's the most accurate description of my life at the moment. For a long time, I had too much free time on my hands, I was desperate to get my hands dirty but could only find short term projects. 

I've taken up work at Channel 31 interviewing some great musicians for their new show SHUFFLE; Melbourne. This included sitting down and having a chat with the chill king, Pete Murray. I'm too excited about this new venture, it's something I've always wanted to do, just sit down and chat with creatives, and maybe pick their brains a bit.

You can watch my interview with Pete here. 

So that was one huge venture. The what also came to pass was that my new book, Postcard Poetry,  has arrived in all its glory. Stay tuned, because there will be a launch and a poetry reading for it coming soon.

Then bam, alam, slam, ding dong - I've fallen heart first into Melbourne's slam poetry community and I am in love. I took part in the Australian Poetry Slam Victorian heat in Frankston on Tuesday. It was a great night of sharing and was followed by bonding over some cheeky Nandos later on. I headed over to the Melba Spiegletent for Slamalamadingdong's opening round for the National Poetry Slam. This was a very emotional night of sharing, especially as Gabriella Georges  was the featured artist for the night and her poignantly beautiful performance was centred on grief and loss.

Just when I needed a moment to lie down and breathe, I was sacrificing my Saturday morning sleep in. I made my directorial debut for a short film I've written, No Matter What. This film is going to be entered in the Village Cinemas  and Open Channel  UnScene Competition.  I'm so excited, it's a highly stylised film and set in the future, in keeping with the competitions theme of "the future of film". We have one more day of production and then we're gonna have a long stint in post-production with some cheeky visual effects.

I'm so glad that I've got all these creatives that surround me in my life. It's encouraging and inspiring me to keep creating, keep dreaming and the points don't matter. 

xxmk 

The weeks ahead...

At the moment I'm in preproduction for a short film, called No Matter What, which will be entered into Open Channel and Village Cinemas' UnScene Short Film Competition. 

It's film I've written myself, and it will be my directorial debut. While talking to other members of the crew I've come to realise that I've also subconsciously taken on art department, costume and producer - mainly because the film is so heavily stylised. Phew.

It's been a hell of a lot of activities and planning and spending to get this film ready - and we're almost there. This past weekend we had a crew meeting to make sure we were all on the same page with what needs to be done on day one of our shoot as we have minimal time at our location. Planning and planning and planning and communication has been integral to this project, and I'm so thankful for my incredible crew who've been nothing but supportive.

I'm so excited for the two shoot days ahead and the early mornings. Stay tuned for behind the scenes photographs and where to vote for the film when the competition is underway. 

xxmk