Four Short Films
Moider @ Seething Beach
Key: CQ/SF/004
Length: 20:15 min
Date: July 2003
Actors: Melissa Lowndes & Chris Quinlan
Synopsis: Comedy
Musical Private Dick, Karl Karma, looks for clues in a case where he is the main suspect.
Return to the Scene
Key: CQ/SF/003
Length: 10:34 min
Date: June 2003
Actors: Melissa Lowndes & Chris Quinlan
Synopsis: Thriller
A beautiful girl .... too many drinks .... a hazy recollection of the night before starts a frantic chase for answers ..... what happened?
When Words Fail
Key: CQ/SF/002
Length: 25:10 min
Date: March 2003
Actors: Chris Quinlan
Synopsis: Drama
This short film was made in the first week of the Iraqi war; a multi-layered film which sees a musician playing on the thoughts of what if his own hometown was invaded.
Tree Girl
Key: CQ/SF/001
Let me tell you a tale ....
In 2003, of the four short films I had made, Tree Girl was nominated for Best Short Film in the "Urban and Outback" Category of the Melbourne Fringe Short Film Festival, it was the first short film I had made with my new equipment I had purchased for the creation of my "Melbourne Musos" TV show.
Anyway ....
Tree Girl is a "mermaid" story which poses questions ... heavily influenced by David Lynch who is one of my favorite film makers.
It starts with jagged fast cutting footage of a busy city at peak hour, seen from the first person, by somebody who is at the end of his tether, this scene also includes fast frenetic drumset music in 5/4 time, which is essentially the glue that keeps this jagged scene in place.
To escape the rat race, this person takes a walk in a city park, where he stumbles upon Tree Girl, (at this point the viewer must decide on the intent is she leading him or is he following/stalking her) ... the drumset music now takes on an atmospheric quality which is derived from an 11th century Hebrew Rhythm. Once again, it is the drumset music that is central to this scene. ... there is also a scene on a rock one could interpret as a sex scene ... but is it? you do not see anything and there are no clothes shedding .. it is all in the interpretation of the viewer.
Slowly there is realisation that what he was considering most important in the eyes of "the rat race" he was running around in, is really not important at all. He finds peace and some truth.
Ok, that's the synopsis ... somebody at the 2003 Melbourne Fringe Festival thought it good enough and thought-provoking enough to put it up for nomination ...
So, this is what happened to my first short film ...
As it was nominated for an award, I sent a copy to Channel 31 at their request as they wanted to screen it ... later rejecting it due to the aforementioned "scene on the rock", maybe the tape hit the "too hard basket".
One friend said it was the best of the four films he watched .. another friend was "appalled" ... another friend who helped with the dvd mastering , said not much. At least I knew the word "controversial" was looming.
Come the night of the big screening at the Fringe Festival, the actress who played Tree Girl did not turn up, The copy I provided to the Fringe Festival had the best definition and clarity of all the films screened but the sound guy completely screwed up the sound which was intrinsic to the film, thereby losing any kind of dramatic impact ... (imagine listening to the Led Zeppelin DVD through a transistor radio with cotton wool in your bloody ears!)
The audience on the night was made up mostly of the nominated film-makers and their friends, a well stocked bar in the belly of the North Melbourne Town Hall and lots of beer, polite applause at the end of each film ... when my film finished
... silence ...
... not even the friends I brought along applauded (one friend later apologising) .. I said above the deafening silence ... "Well, someone must have liked it?" ... it was one the most humiliating moments I've had to endure ... at least Stravinsky had a near riot when his masterpiece "The Rite of Spring" was premiered!
The final straw came out of the blue two years later in 2005, when I went to a farewell party for somebody leaving Channel 31 .... it didn't matter that I had made over 300 shows for the station, this one person brought up the 2003 "Tree Girl" story with another friend in front of me, calling it "soft porn" ... I was shocked ... hurt and angry ... I had thought this person a friend and colleague ...
I now consider some of these "abuses" towards Tree Girl similar to seeing a child being attacked for no reason ... I have received a lot of praise for projects and some justified criticisms for others, what Tree Girl has endured is unfair and hurtful. So I'm taking my bat and ball and going home .... yep, I've spat the dummy, you can't see it, until I get Broadband and then I'm going to bloody well stick the whole film on my website so you can make your own bloody mind up, the thing is, the more I go back and look at it, the more I like it .....
that's the end of my defence/rant about my first short film, Tree Girl
.... if you've made it this far .... thank you for your patience ...