News just in! Our short film Mad 2 the Max will be screening at MUFF 14 (Melbourne Underground Film Festival) MINI MUFF - Session 1 Monday 9th September 7pm
Well we've shot another music video here at Scheffilm, this time back in Adelaide with local hip-hop artist Big Sexy. Big Sexy's latest single PUSH is dropping by soon and we were enlisted to help realise the visual side of the track. It was great to work with Big Sexy once again getting back to where it all began with all of us in Adelaide. Thanks to Julie, Kim, Michael, Nicole, Jodie, Asta, Charlie Streetz, KB, Arts SA and Kurruru Youth Performing Arts Inc for your support on the project. This video will be dropping by very soon keep an eye out peeps!!
Today at Scheffilm myself and Julie had the pleasure of working on a music video for local Melbourne artist Scarlet. Together with her manager Alf we collaborated on creating a sensual yet stunning piece of imagery for Scarlet's debut single. The music video will be out very soon, so please keep you eyes peeled! We cannot wait to share this one with you all!!
A big thank you to Matt, Adam, Leanne, Ali, Masoud and Kevin for your hard work on the day! Please head over the Scarlet's Facebook fanpage and give her a like if you have got the time! CLICK HERE
Recently Officeworks rolled out a brand new set of TV Commercials rebranding their slogan to 'Big Ideas. Lowest Prices.' As you all know here at Scheffilm we have been shooting and editing some internal and in store videos for Officeworks namely the 'How To' video which our very own Julie Dickson presents. Since our move to Melbourne we have scripted, shot and edited another 'How To' video for in store screening. Hang tight for this new video coming to a Officeworks store near you.
Good news just in, 'Captured' has been nominated for Best Short Film and Best Producer for this years Australian Screen Industry Network Awards here in Queensland.
The Australian Screen Industry Network Awards will be held on Friday the 7th of December 2012 at the Icon Function Room on Raby Bay Harbour in Clevelend, Queensland. Everyone is welcome to attend.
The theme for the event this year is Bollywood.Join us for an unforgettable evening of fantastic entertainment, food and fun! Tickets will go on sale 1st August until 30th October - $30 per head or $50 for Two (unless number limit is reached)
Voting will commence 6th of July and close 30th of September 2012 Please click on the below link to VOTE for 'Captured'!!
About the Australian Screen Industry Network The Australian Screen Industry Network is dedicated to fostering the vast pool of new and exisiting talent in Australia and to actively promote Queensland as the centre of film making in Australia. Australia is full of creative people involved in all aspects of the film industry at all levels, and this portal has been developed to provide a neutral meeting place for our vibrant film community to share their ideas and experience. We regularly host networking nights with celebrity guest speakers and industry professionals to give members every opportunity to gain access and insight into the latest developments in the Australian Film Industry and to benefit from the experience of those who have found success in their chosen field.
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing songwriter, singer, producer and good friend Joshua Pitt.
Myself and Josh have been conspiring to do a shoot for some time now and finally the planets aligned and it happened. I shot the photos of Josh on my Canon 5D Mark II with a f4 24mm to 105mm L series lens. Images were edited in Photoshop.
Josh plans to use the photographs for promoting his upcoming album called 'Revamped' as well promoting himself on his new website:
Please check out his website at the link above, he's a talented bloke!! Very keen to collaborate on some future projects with Josh very soon, keep you all posted!!
A few weeks ago myself and Julie shot a video for Officeworks and Avery Labels. The video focussed on 'How To Use' Avery Labels in a creative manner. When we think of Avery labels most of us typically think of address labels and that's about it. Well of late Avery have come out with a great range of custom and creative labels to suit your business needs whether it be creating designs for wine bottles or lolly bags for your kids birthdays.
Details of the shoot can be found at this previous blog I posted:
In any line of work it is important to have a resume highlighting your work experience and skills. In film and photography you go that extra step and create yourself a show reel. Above is a show reel I edited recently to show to a prospective client. The show reel encompasses my work as a Director, DP, Editor working on various productions which include short films, music videos and a feature film. I'm aiming to edit a showreel of my corporate work very soon, so stay tuned.
If you would like to hire me for your next production please do not hesitate to contact me via the contact details on the website.
On Thursday and Saturday I was away on a shoot camera operating for a producer from Adelaide who is creating a documentary on an artist friend named Johnathon Westacott who is a master in the art form of glass blowing.
I was asked to light and shoot two thorough interviews as well as filler footage with two highly renowned artists involved in glass blowing. The team creating the documentary provided all the equipment needed for shooting which consisted of a Sony F3 Super 35mm Digital Camera with the Sony 35mm, 50mm and 85mm T2 kit lenses as well as a Sony 18mm - 252mm T3.8 high quality 14x zoom lens that utilises the F3 lens mount (FZ mount). This lens is totally compatible with the zoom rocker on the Sony F3 for electronic control.
Lighting consisted of three dedos and a reflector where we got some stunning results out of some basic three point lighting set ups. A good collaborative effort by all on this.
Sound saw the interviewees lapelled up with Sony mics.
I also had the opportunity to use a Cinedeck EX to record uncompressed footage directly out the Sony F3 HD-SDI output.
My first time with the Sony F3 was great, I noticed a lot of the controls the media it records onto are set up similar to the Sony EX1 and EX3 however this camera blows it's predecessors image quality out of the water. Simple functions such as a expanded focus button that can be used while recording impressed me greatly. Even the peaking function for focussing was stand out for me.
I highly recommend this camera for filmmakers that want to make the turnover from DSLR filmmaking as it is still a rather compact camera that offers the choice of detachable lenses, shallow depth of field and the set up of a professional unit.
I will be shooting more with the Sony F3 in the next coming months, I will report more on my use with the camera soon.
Great news just in! 'Captured' has just been selected to screen at the Corto Helvetico al Femminile Women's International Short Film Festival in Ascona - Losone, Switzerland from the 8th to 12th March 2012.
The International 'Corto Helvetico al Femminile' Short Film Festival offers an invitation for female directors around the world. The male attendance is not excluded if the Short Film shows the female world and a woman as a main character. The short films participating in this contest must only be related to women as main characters, performing either as director, leading actress or scriptwriter.
'Captured' ticks all the above boxes!
Please visit the film festival website to see out film on the list:
Over the last year now I have been involved in a short film project entitled 'Drop Bear'. My friend and fellow filmmaker Lennard Smith from Cracked Lens Films is directing, producing and acting in this epic adventure film.
My role in the production has been that of Director of Photography, so far it has been rather enjoyable to just focus my energy on a soul role and devote my experience and responsibility to creating the images and vision Lenny wants to help tell his story.
I recently recorded an interview about my experiences on 'Drop Bear' so far that is featuring in a behind the scenes video soon to be released online. I will keep you all posted on the video when it is available for viewing.
In the mean time please watch the below trailer for the 'Drop Bear' film and become a fan of the films facebook page Facebook Drop Bear Fan Page for updates on the films release.
In December of 2011 I was asked to camera operate and light a TVC for the Sharp Motor Group in Tweed Heads NSW. The TVC was directed by John Francis of John Francis Productions from Adelaide, South Australia.
SHARP MOTORS TVC
Agency: Intuito Director: John Francis (John Francis Productions) Editor: Tim Camera Operator/Lighting: Lucas Scheffel (Scheffilm Productions)
Camera and lighting equipment supplied by Matched Image.
Just before Christmas last year I decided a spontaneous spurt of in house creativity was needed. Over 2011 I worked on numerous client based projects ranging from weddings, commercials, a music video and stacks and stacks of corporate work as well as freelance camera operator gigs. One would think my need for creativity would have been fuelled enough by overseeing, shooting and editing the numerous client based projects. The answer is obviously yes however my end goal, the goal to make films and express my creativity and vision with my own projects wasn't getting enough attention. After much looking back and talking to fellow filmmakers my last in house Scheffilm project was in 2009 with our short film 'The Summit'.
Since 'The Summit' the only project that was feeding my creative spark was a short film called 'Drop Bear' that I have been director of photography on. Kudos to Lennard Smith for allowing me to shoot his project - more on this project to follow in future blogs.
Don't get me wrong I love the client projects that we work on and love bringing people's vision to life and I will continue to do so as every project I work on I grow and learn so much as an individual and a filmmaker. However some creative spontaneity was in order!!
Across 2011 I had written down a swag of short film ideas and I was briefly on and off writing my next feature film project. Before 2012 ended I wanted to shoot a short film to fill my urge and get my focus back.
Enter the short film 'Captured'. Shot over one day one week before Christmas 2011 'Captured' follows a young war photographer who finds herself separated from her platoon in the jungle during the Vietnam War. With only her camera in tow and instincts to survive she must make her way to safety with whatever means possible.
'Captured' was born pretty much from discovering a photograph through Google Images of renowned photo journalist Catherine Leroy, who at the age of 21 was the youngest female war photographer to cover the Vietnam War. Leroy pretty much booked a one way ticket to Laos in the late 1960s from France on an adventure to cover Vietnam with no experience at all. She went on to cover numerous wars from Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't really recall what prompted me to search for Catherine Leroy. I really wanted to create a project which put my partner Julie Dickson in the lead role and that was based around true events. I knew I wanted to create a project that really interested me as well, I think with any project you have to want to do it and enjoy it and not try to force yourself to do it because it would be a great idea, attract attention and everyone else likes it. I think there is a fine line when it comes to choosing projects you want to do.
Looking back to my early years as a filmmaker around the age of 16 I've always been interested in war films watching films such as Platoon, Apocalypse Now and World War II epics such as The Longest Day. I remember now making two short war films for high school projects and my own use which saw me creating prop weapons out of wood and metal and digging up my parents backyard into a battlefield (just as long as I filled the holes up when I was finished - which my Dad ended up doing for me lol - cheers old man!). The only actors I had then were myself and my younger sister - Dad had a few Army uniforms stored away from his time as a Army Reserve during Vietnam which we used.
If anything my passion for photography and war films most likely drove me towards creating 'Captured'. I think deep down I want to be photo journalist in war, I probably don't have the guts to carry it out though, 'Captured' is my way of fulfilling this void.
I think another thing that lead me to the Catherine Leroy photograph was the need to take a different look on war in film. Popular war films especially set during the Vietnam War deal with US infantry men dealing with their own inner battles of being drafted into a somewhat pointless war and their disillusionment with the situation and the steps they take to change the system and survive. Platoon, Casualties of War and Apocalypse Now look at this perfectly. All of these films deals with men at war.
Collaborating with my partner Julie Dickson on the project gave me a great opportunity to look at women in war, something that hasn't really been touched on a great deal. What a perfect set of ingredients for a short film, photo journalist, based on a true person, set during the Vietnam War. All things that interest me! Where could I go with this!
Over one night in September 2011 I wrote the first draft of 'Captured'. I took Catherine Leroy's story of how she was captured by the North Vietnamese Army while taking photos in battle basing this event very loosely and indirectly for 'Captured's structure. Somehow Leroy managed to persuade her way out of being captured by the NV Army promising a magazine spread for the world to see how the enemy lived and breathed. It worked and gained her international acclaim.
In a nut shell Julie plays a war photo journalist like Leroy who has a chance encounter with the Vietcong, it's a matter of life and death situation that takes an interesting turn. We cast another up and coming actor Christine Milo in the role of a Vietnamese woman as well as a couple of other minor actors to feature as US soldiers in the film. A big shout out must go to Julie and Christine for taking on this story and braving the testing conditions and terrain of where we shot 'Captured. Julie and Christine excelled in their roles ten fold!
I'll leave the story of 'Captured' for you to view when I release the film for all to see. At the moment the filming is awaiting a film festival run, which we are very positive about.
Through September right up until the near end of December I revised the 'Captured' script through four drafts. To give an authentic feel to the film I collated numerous pictures from the internet for references on costumes, props, colour and mood. I re-watched some classic Vietnam War films and found some I had never seen before just to get in the right frame of mind before shooting. I find compiling reference boards and films a great way to capture the feel and mood of your project, seeing as this was historical it worked perfectly. The reference boards not only offer myself a great way of envisaging the film it also helps the actors involved understand their characters, the history and situation we are portraying and what they will potentially look like.
I sourced all the costumes through Sparke Films, a internationally recognised military film specialist company. Run by Ian Sparke and son Luke they supplied me with authentic uniforms and webbing from the Vietnam War era. A big thank you to Ian and Luke for helping me out where they were able to!
With the costumes in place I sourced a SLR film camera from the era off eBay. This was the last remaining piece of the puzzle at the time as the camera only arrived the day before the shoot! Talk about close! It was so hard to find something from the era that was authentic as most cameras used to capture the Vietnam War were either the Nikon F series or Lecia cameras which are worth a mint these days!
Prop weapons are always a hard item to find here in Australia unless you have a film armourer on board your production. No firing was needed of any weapons in the film however I was in need of something that looked like a M16 rifle, the weapon of choice by US soldiers in Vietnam, to appear throughout the film. Luckily in another spontaneous moment Julie had a connection who was able to source a toy M16 rifle which looked remarkably like the real deal! Problem was solved on that front!
Location for the shoot took place on the Sunshine Coast here in Queensland on private property, a friend of ours owns a large property adjacent to a large valley featuring a small creek which looks a lot like the Cambodian jungle.
Rehearsals were pretty much non existence for both Julie and Christine on the project. We met on a couple occasions to discuss the script, story and characters. The film has no dialogue in it relying on pure filmmaking from everyone involved. I offered both actors the material, information and motivation they needed for their characters and took a raw approach to the performances. They both did their homework before the shoot. I knew they both would be very capable of delivering the required performances as there were committed one hundred per cent for the roles and the vibe was right! I also knew once we got onto location, got them into their costumes and pushed them through their paces it would all fall into place. A lot of emotion was also needed in some of the pivotal scenes of the film so rehearsing these moments would have drained them.
I kept this project fresh and spontaneous. We shot over one day from 5:30am till 5:00pm keeping the action in one small area of the location using minimal crew. I like shooting with limited crew on projects too many hands on deck can sometimes lend to too much unneeded energy. I shot and directed the project, with one sound guy, a clapper/production assistant, a runner, the two main actors and one featured extra. If anything 6 to 7 people were on set at all times.
Another style I employed on this project was shooting what I knew I need to for the film. Many times previously I have shot projects shooting every angle I could think of then trying to create the film in the edit. This can lead to a lot of wasted time as most of the angle you never end up using. So I made a point of getting what I needed and trusting my vision. I complied a shot list but didn't do a storyboard for this film. I had the film well enough embedded in my head that I knew exactly what I needed. It's risky doing this but you will learn as a filmmaker, it's the only way! Can't wait to my next project to employ the same process!
The film was shot all hand held on my Canon 5D Mark II with one lens - I deliberately gave myself this limit to push myself to be creative with whatever I had at my disposal. A good learning experience. Sometimes too many bells and whistles can spoil a project.
Editing occurred over a intense three to four day period using Final Cut Pro 7. I graded them film myself, mixed the sound and even mixed the score for the film using loops and music beds from Apple's Soundtrack Pro. A teaser for the film was even pumped out during the editing stage, with the film being submitted to film festivals pretty quickly after!
A big thank you must go to Julie, Christine, Lenny, Ellie, Iain, Jay, Annie, Darryl, Dave, Ian and Luke.
If anything 'Captured' was a very spontaneous project which somehow fell into place rather quickly and rather effortlessly. It was great to get back into a filmmaking project of my own and offer fellow filmmakers and actors a chance to be apart of a fantastic production.
Here's the teaser trailer for the film for those who are interested. Also I'll be putting up a small behind the scenes video soon on Tha Apple Box to give you a visual insiders point of view to filming 'Captured'. Enjoy the teaser.
With the recent turn around into 2012 myself and partner Julie Dickson decided Scheffilm Productions was in need of a fresh new website and direction. 2011 saw us work on a number of corporate and commercial projects as well as weddings, music videos, short films and much more.
A lot of the projects that we worked on were scattered over numerous social networking sites and our own websites. One thing I've always wanted to do was create blog outlining my exploits and experiences as a filmmaker and stills photographer. But after looking at the two websites we ran showcasing all our film work and photography as well as all the social networking sites we feature on it became apparent a different direction was needed.
So after much thought and discussion we decided to create a one stop website for Scheffilm Productions under the Lucas Scheffel name which not only showcases my work as a filmmaker and photographer but also shares my knowledge and experiences through a blog.
The best of both worlds! Here's to a new direction for 2012 and more great projects to follow!
