Diary of a frustrated filmmaker

We shot the trailer for Winter Masquerade.

Originally I was going to go all out. I wanted to collaborate with a band that would appear in the trailer, and include choreographed dancers in masks. I even had a location for the shoot. But as my year became more and more challenging, I couldn’t find time.

But what I did get is a testiment to ‘less is more’.

We shot the piece against green screen at a friend’s studio. We came together the first Sunday morning of 2020 and enjoyed a creative day. And I have two people to thank for the way things went.

First off, Adam McMeeking, the actor/model featured in the trailer. I first met him when he auditioned for the Social Media Central trailer, and although I didn’t use him I always knew I’d use him for something.

As I was writing this novella, I had him in mind.

Adam was great at emoting the lines, and when we hit a snag at getting the right feel, he worked hard at digging deep into his acting skills to work on it. Some lines he reworded for a better feel.

I like when things become collaborative. Having studied acting myself, I’ve had directors work with me to hit the mark. He felt free to offer suggestions and I’m so glad he did. Thank you, Adam.

Brett’s natural habitat, besides being in scuba gear.

The other person I have to thank for his professionalism is Brett.

I’ve known Brett for over ten years, but this was the first time I saw him in his natural habitat- a studio and an editing desk.

Although I’ve studied Film and Television, I’m useless at lighting. And although I’ve done one other green screen trailer in my lounge room, Brett’s expertise took it to the next level.

I also appreciated Brett’s directing skills.

This came to light when I edited the final cut. His suggestions to our actor shone through when I was choosing which bits to piece together.

My filmmaking career never took flight so it was comforting to see my friend, whose career has, advising me. He worked painstakingly on marrying the visual effects to the green screen shots, and found better animated backgrounds than I offered.

Thank you, Adam. Thank you, Brett.

All you did is greatly appreciated.