[JRNL] Day 1: Indigo Beginnings
My mother accompanied me as well, wanting to see who Tanner and Lily were, given she was entrusting her daughter to them. She was astonished by how tall they were, haha! Even though they're both 21, just a single year older than me, somehow the height difference adds a lot of fuel to me "looking up to them as adults" rather than as equals. I suppose the fact that I was going to be in their care made me feel that way too.
Tanner's Mum arrived and we got in the car to drive to Emily's place to retrieve the Bunnings marquee tent for our film set. I was thankful to learn she had also completed the government's COVID Infection Control training module and familiarised herself with Swinburne's COVID Safety Guidelines. I messaged her to ask if we needed to be following the rules now, even though we technically weren't travelling back and forth from the set to home base yet. We were supposed to be, so everyone's masks came on and the windows rolled down.
On Wednesday, the day before we left, my sister told me I'd do well in my role as a CSO. "You like telling other people what to do," she said.
"No I don't! When have I ever?"
"When we met with my boyfriend at the train station and he wasn't wearing a mask, and you said, 'Why aren't you wearing a mask? Where's your mask!?'"
I had no come back. But I felt it was ironic, for me to be a CSO, given I'd... broken the social distancing rule a few times with some friends. I did my absolute best to not be a hypocrite on set, though!
But as I sat in the car, noticing someone's mask slipping slowly under their nose, I recognised how much of a softie I was regarding anything confrontational like that. It took several minutes just to work up the courage to ask them to fix it. The people in the car thanked me, and encouraged me to keep reminding others to be safe – that's what I was on the trip to do, after all. I nervously began to write my first COVID Safety briefing I'd need to say before the first film shooting that evening, on my phone. I hoped I wouldn't bore people with it, or become too naggy when I reminded people to maintain a safe distance. The worst thing to occur on the trip would be for me to become an outcast because of my role as the "party pooper Dad".
We reached Emily's place, and the equipment in the car left no room for Tanner, Lily and me. Emily wasn't scheduled to leave until later, so the three of us walked to the train station to ride to Swinburne in Hawthorn. We were on the Lilydale line – I was amazed by how much trees framed the railway line, in comparison to my more "walled-off" one. It was a pleasant change of pace. The train was also different, sporting some seats facing the middle, rather than all facing the front or back (minus the Accessibility areas at the start and end of some carriages). It made me eager to ride the newer, techier Melbourne trains in the future.
Tanner and I got off at Swinburne, but Lily stayed on to do some shopping at another station. We headed to Swinburne, though I was apprehensive of the path we were taking. We walked onto campus via what seemed to be a back alleyway... Tanner said it was quieter and free of all the regular (foot?) traffic but its... deserted nature made me wary for a short while. A brick wall on the left and a fence with a forest on the right. Nobody around... wasthebadthinggoingtohappennow?
We safely emerged to the front of some buildings, with cars and several cast and crew members waiting outside. After a brief introduction, Tanner ushered me inside so I could check out the equipment before we took it to Phillip Island.
As we entered the building, a giddy feeling arose within me. I, an RMIT student, was infiltrating a Swinburne building... I remembered the restrictions for RMIT campuses, how only students currently approved to visit could go. I wondered if Swinburne had the same. Was I going to get stopped?
We quickly arrived at a film studio, with different groups' equipment laying about, waiting to be checked and taken out. I examined my Health and PPE bag. Disposable masks. Disposable gloves. A First-Aid kit. A big bottle of hand sanitiser. Isopryl wipes for the equipment. Two high-vis vests, for the COVID Safety Officer(s). Sheets detailing how equipment should be cleaned. Some COVID Safety signage.
I checked over the sheets, and outwardly wondered where the lens cleaner was. The grumpy old teacher, hearing this, motioned to a box for camera equipment. "The lens cleaner is with the lenses, you should know this by now," he scolded me.
I tensed. "He must think I'm a Swinburne student, but I'm not," I thought. "I'm not even a film student. I need to stay quiet, so I don't get kicked out. Just nod. Don't say anything. Don't suspect anything. ...Where's Tanner? Where did he go--?"
I needed a break. And–well, a bathroom break, before we were locked in for a two hour drive to Phillip Island. I encountered Tanner in the corridor, and he told me the bathroom was either on the first or second floor. I rode the elevator up a floor, found no bathroom there, and then walked up the stairs to find it at last.
It might seem strange, but... I like to check out the bathrooms in any establishment I go to. I think it denotes the quality of a place, how much budget is put towards making the facilities clean and presentable. And perhaps even, how much the higher ups care about the students. It seems weird to type this out here, but in primary school, we got what I called "squares of baking paper" for toilet paper... so you imagine, at least a little bit, why I'd be investigative in this way.
And hey, the corridor leading to Melbourne Central's ground floor bathrooms has a cool ring light on the wall with which to take an OFF/Batter photo at (or just, a generic Instagram photo either way––), and the Oxford Scholar Hotel has that homey rustic look fitting their wooden theme and cool X lights on the ceiling! See, look, I can prove it below!
...pleasedon'tthinki'mweirdoKAY---
The Swinburne facilities were nice. I tended up taking a bathroom selfie for the occasion. Probably just to show my Mom where I was at the time, heh. Overall rating: 7/10. Nice facilities, very clean, but could be better with one of those awesome air-blade type hand dryers. The toilet paper was the same as everywhere of decent quality – just very long strips with no indents to pull apart.
When I returned, I spoke to one of the men examining the equipment. His name was Ash, and I quietly confided in him my apprehension of the film teacher back there. I was surprised to learn he was an ex-Swinburne student. Still attached to Swinburne in a sense, but not currently. So I wasn't going to be the only outcast... in a sense?
After the group loaded the equipment in a big trailer cage behind Tanner's Dad's car, we hopped into our respective cars to begin 'The Narrow Road to the Deep South'. I think most of the journey was me using my black hat and hoodie coat to cover up the sun trying to roast my skin through my clothes...
We stopped by in Koo Wee Rup for some fish and chips and a bathroom break! Except, the few of us who did buy food, didn't get any fish with our order, hehe.
...irealisenowihavetodoabathroomreviewoftheoneatthegasstation---
This was my first time since my early childhood that I'd been in a regional country town. My parents told me I went to Sovereign Hill once when I was really young... I wish I could remember it. One of my classmates brought back a small vial of gold floating in water... was it Pyrite/Fool's Gold, I wonder? It was strange – after my study of Shaun Prescott's The Town (2017), here I was, finally getting the chance to step into one myself. I guess perhaps this place was close enough to Greater Melbourne to not be sucked into a sink hole and disappear.
Fun fact. If you buy a "small" food item in the city, it will be exceedingly expensive and exceedingly small and not worth your money at all (not a local Melbourne business, but I'm looking at you Starbucks, with your $3 for a single macaron). If you go into the suburbs, to the more local shops, you're bound to get better bang for your buck. Cheaper, bigger, and probably made with more love. Now imagine my astoundment when I ordered a Small Chips for $3.50, expecting a tiny cup, but instead received what I'd deem a Medium-sized package.
Regional country towns be flippin' generous. Not the best picture of my meal because I was in the car whilst eating it, but here:
We hopped back in the car, and eventually made it over the bridge to Phillip Island. Pretty exciting stuff for me, as someone who has never been there before! Mainly because our family couldn't afford a vacation like that, haha. Neither have we really been interested in it either. And as we drove by the luxurious beach houses... I grew a little speechless.
Most of us got off to unload our suitcases and settle in for an hour, while Tanner went to ask the farm land owner to dig a small grave for our film shoot later on. I was thankful I got a single bed to myself, and after laying down my bed sheet, blanket and pillow, I got acquainted with the rest of the house. It was a 4-bedroom place, with the living room and kitchen upstairs. In our room, the bunk bed had Hot Wheels and 'Tanner' label stickers plastered along its side. No guesses as to who the room used to belong to! The bedside table had a finished Where's Wally? jigsaw puzzle on display, a balancing bird on the corner I accidentally knocked off and got startled by, a remote-controlled (presumably) dancing dog, and other little toys and goodies. I shared my room with Emily, Fatima and Claudine.
I didn't get a chance to enter the room next door until the 4th day, when I was vacuuming. Its occupants were Holly, Aaron, Tom and Ash. Inside, I saw a basketball, some spiky rubber balls, a Thomas the Tank Engine courtyard train set, a special bottle with a ton of empty water balloons inside, one of those needle-impression making toys (stick your hand into the needles and an outline of your hand comes out), and a small air pressure toy gun. The foam bullet fitted onto the barrel like a lid on a lipstick container, and then when the handle was squeezed, the air pressure propelled the bullet forward. Apparently Holly and Aaron used it to annoy to Tom to no end, though I heard he got back at them with splashing a cup of water on them one morning. I wish I could've seen that happen, hah!
Tanner's father occupied the final bedroom on the ground floor, which was converted into a general/game room (judging by the fooseball table leaned up against the wall). The other downstairs rooms were a a toilet, a bathroom, a laundry and the garage. Upstairs was the master bedroom, which Tanner and Lily took. There was another toilet and bathroom set up there. And of course, the living room area, dining room area, and kitchen area. All in one big L.
I guess in this "lull" hour I have here, I can down I run down of who everyone is! Here they are:
(To Indigo cast and crew if you're reading this: I asked on Discord if I could use a BTS picture of you for the blog post here! I didn't include yours if you didn't say yes to my message. Feel free to PM me on Discord if you're cool with having a photo here!)
Tanner Stevenson – The Producer. When his hair is down, he becomes a purple-haired Jesus dispensing the chill wisdom. I appreciated how often he and Lily checked in on me and everyone else to ensure they were comfortable and happy. He mains Shy Guy in Super Mario Party, but not for the 0-4-4-4-4-4 dice, just for the character itself. He rocks Fox in Smash Ultimate, and is quite good at it (at least, from my view as a noob!). He likes to use the Gamecube controller when playing Smash on his Switch. And finally, if you'd like to follow him on Instagram, you can at @midbeyond (or click on these hyperlinks at the end of everyone's bios)!
Lily Cowan Benz – The Director. The second time we met, she had pink hair, much to my surprise! I loved seeing her and Tanner coordinate pink outfits and their little hip-chains. I learnt a lot about what a Director does from watching her work, giving inspiration to the actors on how they should be portraying particular emotions and such. Her bubbly personality kept everyone in the house in high spirits! You can follow her hilarious, insightful and uplifting Instagram @prawnhub____ here!
Emily Reeve – 1st Assistant Director/Co-Producer. As we spoke more, she reminded me strongly of someone I knew, but I couldn't figure out who until I went home. She speaks just like Alice King, one of my Creative Writing colleagues – they speak at a low-ish volume, which adds a lot to their chill vibe, but they're both quite witty and up for a laugh. Within both of them there is a strong, quiet confidence that I admire. I appreciated her proactive nature and helpfulness around the house, organising and cooking dinner, and staying back to clean up without anybody telling her to. Emily also does everything I thought a Director would do – organise Call Sheets for each filming day, send off my COVID Safety Reports, keep everyone on schedule, etc etc... I feel foolish for assuming that an Assistant Director was just someone who hung around the Director and watched, like a student teacher in their first few weeks. Of course they'd have a role, Katie!
Fatima El-Hassan – Production Designer. I'm so thankful to her. Whenever I felt overwhelmed on the trip and a little teary, she was the one who comforted me and encouraged me to speak up if I had any concerns. She was also the one who prompted me to buy things that made me happy on the shopping trip on the 2nd day... but that's a story for later! I admired her willingness to try new things, from playing Smash Ultimate with the others, to Among Us on the 4th day. Her relatable and reassuring nature helped keep me calm and confident in my own abilities. Fatima is also a fantastic filmmaker, and if you'd like to follow her on Instagram @filmsbyfatima, you can do so here!
Thomas Molan – Cinematographer. I was surprised to see him operating the camera to film. I guess I thought the Cinematographer was like a Director, with his main work occurring during the storyboarding phase, not like an actual "Cameraman". His most defining trait from the trip was how monstrous he was when playing the black Mewtwo variant. He got my inner bet to win whenever he played. I hope to beat him one day fair and square! I'm embarrassed I was unable to put my best foot forward in any of the communal games we played together... maybe in Just Dance we would be more equal. He runs Icarus Projects, so if you want a talented photographer/cinematographer/film director to help promote your businesses or work on a project, check out his Facebook here and Instagram here!
Ash Mulama – Gaffer. I wasn't aware Gaffers were responsible for checking the lighting in shots, let alone what gaffer tape was! But I now know much better, on this end of the trip. At home base, there was an incomplete jigsaw puzzle, and I admired his efforts to finish it from afar. I kept forgetting to help out! I guess I was pre-occupied with other stuff. Ash is a pretty cool dude overall, and I wish him all the best in his future film endeavours as well. I appreciated his caring and calm nature, and how he took time to speak with me on the 3rd night's adventure... spoilers! Haha. You can see his excellent work like the upcoming Cold Feet documentary on his Instagram @ash_mulama here.
Holly Victor – Main Actor/Artist (Hon3y). I loved watching her act from afar, I was especially in awe of the way she struggles to escape from the grave, and the graceful dancing she does in the music video you'll all get to see later! Her movements were so elegant and powerful, emanating female empowerment and solidarity with survivors in the audience. I was surprised to learn she was the same age as me, we were the youngest of the cast and crew during the first two days in the house. I was stunned by her accomplishments in music thus far. She inspires me to make more creative works in the future. This is her LinkTree with links to her Spotify, Youtube, Soundcloud and more!
Aaron Kale – Runner. Where Tom was a monster with the Dark Mewtwo, Aaron's signature fighter was a green (radioactive) Donkey Kong named "jef". I wonder how he might react to Donkey Kong's presence in Punchout!! Wii? In any case, I learnt that a Runner does general help/ad hoc tasks on set – cleaning and setting up equipment, doing the driving, etc. I was also astounded by how musically talented he was! On the 2nd day, Holly played music they had made on the radio on our way back from the shopping trip. While he did come as first and foremost, emotional support for his girlfriend, Holly, as she performed in this music video that was downright depressing at times... Aaron's laid back and relaxing presence made him a solid part of the household and team. Aaron doesn't have a dedicated page to himself I could link to, but he's part of New Wave Infinity with Holly (Hon3y) and Tom (Icarus Projects), and you can check out their website here!
These were all the people present on the first two days of filming! I'll get into the Witches, who arrived on the 3rd day, later!
The first instance where I became overwhelmed was when I was deciding what to eat/bring to the set for snacks. I stood in front of the pantry and... realised I didn't like anything in there. I was hungry, so I wanted to eat, but began to panic when I couldn't pick out anything that I was interested in. Normally when I get into these types of situations, I find it easier to simply say no and be adamant about it, but I knew that on this trip I'd be challenged as a fussy eater. I couldn't just eat nothing, or I'd worry my new friends. "I should take the opportunity to try out new things," I told myself, but the fear of wasting food because I didn't like it... kept me unmoving and reluctant. Eventually, I plucked out some corn chips, but I didn't end up being hungry on set.
The film site was not at all what I was expecting. It was just an open paddock, with a grave in the middle, and a red excavator off to the side. I thought we'd have a shed we could report back to, and I'd printed out signs for eating and having breaks outdoors and more, but I realised I'd have nowhere to put them. Although we set up the Bunnings marquee tent on the first day, it ended up being blown away on the morning of the 2nd day, so it needed to be dismantled later on.
Speaking of the tent, I offered to help sort out the numbered poles. But when I told Tanner this fact, he instructed me not to help with anything beyond my COVID-related duties. I was just supposed to be an observer.
Ah, my COVID-related duties... they were to do the following:
- Record the names, phone numbers, and reasons for peoples' attendance on the film site.
- Conduct a COVID Safety briefing before work for the day, which involved reminding everyone of the general COVID Safety Guidelines for Student Productions (I didn't go into their specific departments unless I was asked personally).
- Remind people to maintain a safe distance where possible.
- Remind people to wash/sanitise their hands and clean equipment often. For people whose hands became covered in dirt, I was able to hold up our water jug to help them wash their hands, and then sanitise afterwards (since we lacked soap). I also held up my torch to help people who were cleaning see what they were doing when it was dark after filming. While technically these two things weren't my actual duties, since I was ensuring people were keeping their hands and the equipment clean, I believe it's understandable.
- Ensure the insides of vehicles were wiped down at the end of the day.
It took a bit of courage-mustering and observing to work out the context between people's closeness (eg. checking a document on someone's phone vs idle chatter) before I could call for people to separate and stand at a safe distance. I got better and quicker at it as the days went by, naturally.
I wasn't expecting to be thanked for my efforts at all, given 80% of my role was to call out "Hey! ___ and ___! Stand apart please!" but it definitely kept any insecurities about my job at bay when people thanked me and told me I did well at the end of the day. The cast and crew cultivated such a positive atmosphere and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it and contribute to it.
The first two days of filming were quite depressing – I watched Holly in the grave, struggling against Tanner and Aaron's hands pushing her down, representing the patriarchal forces oppressing and repressing women in society. The three of them did exceptionally well, given the palpable discomfort I felt whilst watching. My instincts were telling me to look away! Filming was quite limited, due to the small time frame with which we had to film – at dusk. I'm thankful my first experience on a film set wasn't a full day, from 8am to 5pm, even 7pm. Definitely sitting or standing around in the field for that long would have been extremely boring.
Oh yeah, we also saw a wallaby at the film location. I'm glad I don't have to record the names, telephones and reasons for animals' attendance on set.
We had a bit of an incident on the first day, our portable electric generator wasn't working, no matter how hard people tried to rev it up (pull the cord like a lawnmower) to get it working. Fortunately, we didn't need it for the first day, and people had torches to light up the clean up efforts after dark, but it definitely caused some unease on set.
Ah, a final note from me, I didn't... expect to be photographed while on set. I mean--I figured I would show up in the background, but, not specifically captured! I did feel a little awkward about pictures of me just lingering in the background, but Emily snagged some shots I really liked, hehe! This was me on the first day.
The actors left first to go home and shower early, while others stayed back to clean up. I was among the last, having to stay to supervise until all of us had left the film location.
When we all arrived home, I fixed up my belongings, showered, and then headed upstairs for dinner. We had break rolls, mine with vegetables and sriracha sauce inside, courtesy of Tanner (thank you very much, my good man), before the gang came together to introduce ourselves with a fun fact. My fun fact about myself was that I've been able to recite Pi up to 100 digits. I recited to 46 digits for that moment: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993. I said I'd send a link of the video of me doing it for my high school later, since several were interested.
After the introductions, we settled down to play Smash. I'd only ever played Smash Ultimate once, and it was briefly at university on an acquaintance's console before I lost miserably fast. But I was familar with Brawl on the Wii! However, I was unable to beat the final boss and unlock Sonic for casual battles... To my amazement, I was doing well as Lucario, the 2nd fighter I picked (after Sonic, of course)! Most of my deaths were due to falling and not knowing how to recover, but I was getting the hang of annoying the others and navigating around the field. I always enjoyed platformers, so I could definitely do this well.
Fight me in Ultimate Chicken Horse, gang. I'll show you all the power of observation and careful planning!
The second match (Lucario) came down to me and Aaron (Radioactive Donkey Kong). Fatima (King K Rool) and Holly (Ridley) had been eliminated. I became tense once Tanner started saying that the Lucario had it in the bag. Me? Win against Aaron, probably the 2nd best fighter here? And when I had more percent/chode? It seemed impossible, like he was jinxing it! I was going to lose for sure!
But suddenly, the screen zoomed in on the final strike... as I sent the Konkey Dong flying (sic).
I... had won.
Fun fact I noticed just now, 3 of Aaron's kills were against Holly as Ridley. Damn. Clearly he doesn't play favourites with his own partner, hehe! No Mercy! I like it.
At last, that was enough excitement for the day, and all of us began to prepare for bed. I brushed my teeth, went to the bathroom, and then to bed. It took me a while to fall asleep, as it usually does for people in unfamiliar beds for the first night. But after about 40 minutes, I managed it.
And that... was the end of the very first day! Thank you so much for tuning in, I know that was a lot. I tend to go ham on the detail when I'm able to write freely, haha! I've... written 3000 word drafts for 1500 word assignments before... but I don't have to cut this one down so I won't! Hehehe. Come back again on Sunday 12:00AM AEDT for the next update! Catch you later! Take care and stay safe~
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