On the eve of its debut at the Asia Film Festival in Auckland, South Seas Film School graduates Amit Tripuraneni and Lance Wordsworth talk about making digital feature thriller Memories of Tomorrow.
What came first, the desire to make a feature-length film or the story idea?
Amit Tripuraneni, dir/wr/co-prod:
I have to admit the desire to make a feature-length film came first. At the beginning of 2004 I was worrying about whether my work permit would come through and shook myself out of it by making a New Year resolution to write and make a feature within the year - no matter where I ended up. I partly failed to meet the resolution as it took us 14 months to make the movie from start to finish...
Given the plot involves an amnesic assassin, kinky bondage sex with strangers and a fair few fatal gunshot wounds to the head, I'm assuming the story isn't particularly autobiographical...?
AT: You're definitely right in assuming that... The most important thing was to write a script we'd be able to make, even without a budget. Because of this constraint it became a relationship-based thriller.
To begin with all I had was three characters, so I started placing them in different situations to see how they behaved and ended up with some visual sequences I wanted to see on-screen. The story formed itself from there.
I started writing the script on 1 January 2004 and I had the first draft done 12 days later. As you can imagine it was really rough and had heaps of flaws but that was all I needed to start putting a team together.
The script went through another three drafts with constant feedback from cast, crew and close friends - the shooting script was the fourth draft of the story.
How did you cast the film?
AT: I talked to Maggie Tarver, who teaches acting at South Seas Film School, and she came on-board as casting director and pushed me and the script to some actors agencies - I sent the script along with the short films I'd made with Lance. Kathryn Rawlings liked what we were trying to do and gave the script to actors in her books.
I'd already cast Rachel Gilchrist in one of the three lead roles, having worked with her on an earlier short film and music video. Next on board was Ray Trickitt - I knew he was right for the part the first time I saw his profile, and finalised the role over a long coffee discussion with him. It was the same with the lead role of John - the first time Richard Thompson came to see me I knew he was the one.
The other parts were easy to cast as Maggie pulled in ex-South Seas acting graduates to fill in the smaller parts.
How did you go about crewing it?
AT: The idea was to put together a small group who would enjoy working with each other, so I formed the core team with people who studied at South Seas in 2003 and I really liked working with - there was Benji Dalton (editing), Kasia Marcisz (lighting), and Dan West (audio), while Luke Sharpe joined during the latter part of the shoot as 1st AD. More key roles were filled by students who were doing the course in 2004 - Jonathon Drew (lighting), Grace Tye Wood (art director) and Michelle Leaity (production manager). Graduates from previous years joined in as well, including Sandra Fleming (1st AD), Jamie Gardner (SFX) and Matt Dwen (colour grading).
The only people who were not from South Seas were the music composers - all of whom I met over the 'net.
Why did you choose to shoot digitally rather than on film?
AT: It was purely because it's so affordable - in what other medium can you shoot 60 minutes for less than $15? This gave us the freedom to shoot more footage, keeping in mind the improvisation that the actors did all the time. If we had done the same on film, we would be bleeding our way to bankruptcy.
How did you finance the film?
AT: I had won a bet with one of my uncle's back in India, so I called him up and said I'd forget the bet if he gave me double the amount in return for 25% share of any profits. Despite it being a weird proposition he said yes, which gave us about $8000 that went into the movie's production as well as getting a lap top for editing the movie. Lance and I put in a further $7000 for completing post-production and covering other project-related costs.
Should Memories make any money, do you intend to share the profits with your cast and crew, given they all worked for free?
AT: We put together a point system and all the cast and crew joined in on an equity basis, although at this stage I’ve only signed formal contracts with the leads. I’ll be formalising the agreement with everyone else as soon as I finish my initial round of publicising the movie.
How long did it take to shoot?
AT: We shot for 20 days, which were spread over five months because we had to work around people’s paid commitments and shoot only during weekends.
The only time we worked longer than eight hours was one 12-hour day, which was because of the time it took to dress the gunshot wounds. So I guess we cruised through most of the shoot (I can’t say enough about how important pre-production is for getting those cruisy days).
Why did you choose to use a Panasonic DVX100a?
Lance Wordsworth, DOP, co-prod:
Because of its 25p progressive mode. I had used this mode on a short film and thought it looked really good. The images had a softer look instead of the usual harsh sharpness of video and it also enhanced the colours.
I also needed a camera to make it easier to get a paid job and buying the DVX made it easier to get my current gig as a field cameraman job at Studio 2.
The camera’s only major limitation was we could only use the lens on the camera. The advantages were that the camera wasn’t too expensive, and it was small and light, so it was quite good to use on the glide cam, which we borrowed from cameraman Bevan Crothers for the entire shoot.
The glide cam helped a little bit but, because we were shooting on digital, I wanted to shoot as much as I could on a long lens. For the next film I will try and get a steadicam.
What was your general approach to lighting the film?
LW: We mostly used natural lighting to reduce the set-up times – when we needed to we used fill lighting or lit the background to create depth and separation. Before we started filming Amit and I decided we wanted to make every frame look like a painting, although I have to admit it was sometimes hard to keep that in mind as we were shooting some scenes at such a fast pace.
How long did the post period take?
AT: Post-production took three months. We didn’t start editing until we had all the footage. We had the first fine cut within a month and after that it was a process of refinement, doing the audio post and getting the movie scored.
We cut the movie on a Dell Precision M60 – a workstation class notebook that gave us the flexibility to move around – and on a borrowed copy of a popular piece of NLE software.
What did you most enjoy about making the movie as a whole, and what did you find most challenging?
LW: The most enjoyable thing was working with friends who are all passionate about filmmaking – they were all amazing. Also, just making a movie without a budget was such a great feeling.
The most challenging thing about the process was working around the availability of the cast and crew during the weekends.
AT: It was such a pleasure working with people who brought into the vision and poured their time and energies into making this movie happen.
The most challenging thing was definitely finding the money – if my uncle hadn’t bought into my scheme, this movie wouldn’t have happened or would have taken at least two years to complete.
Anything else you’d like to add?
AT: I would like to thank everyone involved directly or indirectly with Memories – the movie would not have been possible without your help and support.
And for those wanting to make their first feature, I would suggest that instead of waiting around for funding – which might or might not come – go ahead, pull together people who are passionate about filmmaking and try new things to make the movie happen. After all, dreams are what we live for.
• Memories of Tomorrow screens as part of Auckland’s Asia Film Festival at the Academy Cinema on 20 May (5.30pm) and 29 May (12.00pm).
This interview was published in Onfilm magazine in May 2005. For more info on the publications, see www.onfilm.co.nz
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