filmmaking production support
Raw Nerve 2008
Open Channel is proud to present the 2008 RAW NERVE short films.
Raw Nerve is an initiative funded by Screen Australia aimed at emerging filmmakers, enabling them to make a short film on digital video. Every year, Raw Nerve gives four new filmmakers, who have never previously produced or directed a film with full or part financing from a government film financing agency, the chance to move from no-budget filmmaking to a more professional approach with the help of a small budget, and equipment, technical support, advice and guidance from Screen Australia and Open Channel.
The 2008 RAW NERVE short films are STEAK (dir. Kathryn Goldie), LIFEBOAT (dir. Mikael Brain), LESSONS FROM THE NIGHT (dir. Adrian Francis) and IN PASSING (dir. Holly Alexander).
Very special thanks to our Script Assessors Annie O'Hanlon and Claire Jager (Screen Australia), and to our Raw Nerve Series Producer Stuart Parkyn.
- The Films
- Raw Nerve Cast & Crew Screening - Intro by Mike Cowap, Screen Australia
- Review of Raw Nerve 2008 by Marcella Bidinost
The Films
 |
STEAK |
|
 |
LIFEBOAT |
|
 |
LESSONS FROM THE NIGHT |
|
 |
IN PASSING |
|
Raw Nerve Cast & Crew Screening - Intro by Mike Cowap, Screen Australia
The cast & crew screening of Raw Nerve 2008 took place at Cinema Nova on 21 August. The screening was introduced by by Mike Cowap, Screen Australia, and Stuart Parkyn, RAW NERVE Series Producer.
Below is an extract from Mike Cowap's intro, which has some valuable tips for emerging filmmakers:
"...you must remember that THIS [screening] is what it’s all about: films should always be made to be seen by an audience. A film is only as good as the emotional reaction you get from the people who watch it. When you’re making your films, it’s these moments that you should be thinking of. So make use of it tonight. Notice how the audience reacts. Did you get the reaction you wanted, and if not, why not? Invite genuine feedback. You’ll always be learning throughout your entire career, and if all you want to hear is how fabulous you are then you’ll never learn anything.
"Another bit of related advice is a reminder that short films are a great calling card for you to demonstrate your talents to the world – but they’re no good if the only people who get to see them are friends and relatives. You HAVE to take the time to send them out to festivals. Opinions will always vary about whether you’ve made a great short or not – you can’t please everyone - but no one can argue with the validation that comes from playing in a festival or winning an award. Get it out there.
"Something I’m sure you’ve all done with these films is deliver a great deal for very little, and this is really something to be proud of, and something to carry with you as you move forward in your careers. It’s a useful start to be forced in to a position where you’re having to find creative solutions to budget constraints. Time and again in these Raw Nerve shorts we see great examples of emerging filmmakers turning shoestring budgets to their creative advantage. As and when our filmmakers tonight go on to make films on higher budgets, I’d encourage them to keep the spirit of this approach to problems, because the truth is that – much like life in general - you never have enough money to do everything you wanted. Get used to it, and use it to your advantage."
REVIEW: RAW NERVE 08 Cast & Crew Screening, 21 August 08
by Marcella Bidinost
Victoria’s four Raw Nerve 2008 filmmakers can be forgiven for thinking they were in heaven. With little or no previous directing, writing or producing experience to roll credits to, in December they were sent manna from film industry heaven in the form of financing from Screen Australia to create a circa 10-minute film, with equipment, technical support and mentoring from Melbourne’s Open Channel thrown in.
With a film completion deadline of April, the experience doesn’t come without a few hard yards. To be in the running, Victoria’s selected filmmakers – Kathryn Goldie, Mikael Brain, Adrian Francis and Holly Alexander – had to submit projects with a strong enough story, characters and authorial vision to compel the funding bodies to give them the nod. Next came the task of transferring those on-paper ideas to the big screen, where the true raw nerves kick in.
The August cast & crew screening of the four films at Melbourne’s Nova Cinemas was a delight. In Kathryn Goldie’s Steak intrigue is strong as we watch a young woman go to painstaking efforts to prepare the perfect steak for her ex then carry her foil-wrapped gift to her ex’s apartment where she finds all traces of their life together have been removed. Tautly told and shot, the film could have done with stronger narration, but it’s a minor downfall in a film which perfectly fits the classic ‘shorts with a punchline’ approach.
Another of these is Lifeboat, where a rugged man played by Neil Melville (from TV’s The Hollowmen) works tirelessly to shift a derelict boat in a forest clearing. Why and to where, for most of the film, we’re unsure. With a great selection of angles highlighting the man’s labours, filmmaker Mikael Brain assures us all this is going somewhere. Filmed in black and white with outstanding sound design by Roberto Salvatore and a beautiful acoustic track by local act The Papernecks, Brain’s handle on the film’s journey and outcome is deft.
In her own words, Lessons from the Night tells the story of a Bulgarian cleaner working the nightshift in a desolate Melbourne office, mopping up everyone else’s daytime detritus, from the pong of the toilets to the overflowing bins filled with contents she describes as biological bombs. Half the storytelling belongs to the eastern European narrator whose real-life description of her journey from resident to immigrant, of dropping her job as a translator in Eastern Europe for a pay cut and dodgy hours in Australia, forms the basis of Adrian Francis’ film. Leading us to just some of her life’s nooks and crannies, Francis marries images of the intricacies of the cleaner’s work with her narrated overview of life in a beautiful showing of light and cinematography. Lessons from the Night guides us through a side of life we only assume is happening, but rarely get to see.
Holly Alexander’s In Passing takes us to the foyer of a church funeral, where a woman is peacefully nursing her baby until another mourner arrives sobbing. The feeding mother is suspicious of the other woman’s blubbering. They talk, tensions heighten and we’re all drawn to what the women will do as the coffin is carried from church to hearse. With strong up-close performances by Kylie Trounson and Alexis Porter In Passing drops in on the stories that merge and unravel when tragedy strikes.
This is Raw Nerve’s eighth year helping emerging filmmakers across Australia showcase their storytelling. For the underfunded and hopeful with cracking ideas to boot it’s the perfect route to realisation. Long may it live.
Raw Nerve is an initiative of Screen Australia
Raw Nerve is proudly supported by Cinema Nova
Archive
