Thursday 18th August, 2011

Today was our first day at the Bayside Film Festival.

The program didn't start till about 10 o'clock, but I got dropped off at around 9, so I decided to get a coffee. Not long after I got there, I found Cameron, so we stayed together till the rest of the class and Rob came.

From 10 till about 11 we watched Youth Documentaries and Digital Stories. They were okay, but all of us got very bored, very quickly.
Next from 11-12 were Youth Documentaries. These ones were slightly more interesting, and you could tell they were done by a more advanced youth than the first clips.

After lunch there was a guest speaker, who I found very interesting and inspirational.
These are the notes I took on the day:

Jonathan Auf Der Heide

• Originally wanted to be an actor but wasn't feeling fulfilled.
• Went to VCA film school in 2004 and liked everything they did.
• He didn't have the confidence to become a film maker originally.
• 1st year he made three of his own films at VCA.
• Researched Alexander Pierce because he became interested by the story when travelling around his home town in Tasmania. He couldn't believe no one had made a film for his story yet, so he decided to go further into it and tried to develop deeper into Australian criminals in history and the concept that to be a man you must be 'strong'.
• He sent around his movie and beforehand he had to try and raise money for it. His dad won the lottery and he won a few awards (at VCA, etc.) 
• In the story, 8 escaped and one survived due to them killing and eating themselves.
• He tried to relate the audience with Alexander and go into what it is to be human, and what it is to survive.

These are the notes I took after the short clip that we watched during Jonathan's talk:

• He set up showing that the convicts had "a fate worse than death".
• "These are the men that the land has forgotten. Time has forgotten them."
  - Even the dog was eating and they were not.
• All of the actors grew their own beards and lost weight for the film (also learnt other languages and accents, etc.)
• A lot was shot in Victoria (80% probably), and Jonathan location scouted himself.
  - But had to shoot in Tasmania to get the wide landscape shots.
• They paid everyone $200 a week because they didn't want anyone other than themselves in dept.

Overall, I had an enjoyable day, and I personally found Jonathan very inspiring for such a young director.