Classes return from Tuesday 12 July and I’m looking forward to meeting the new students and to working with our ongoing students for another ten week term of on-camera classes.
To kick off the current newsletter, some words of wisdom from Debra Mailman, one of our great multi-award winning indigenous actors…
Multi-award winning Aussie actor Deb Mailman
And also, an “Ain’t that the Truth!” statement from American actor Barbara Hershey – who has performed in numerous Australian films, including the classic Lantana…
Student News
After starring as the antagonist Alpha in Tom Danger’s first feature film, Lead Me Astray, graduate Logan Webster has now completed his own first feature, the comedy-horror film, Remember Redfield.
Logan and Tom’s film production company Bendy Spoon Productions received a good write up the June 14, 2016 edition of Film Ink magazine. Film Ink called the lads “successful indie film makers” and praised their creativity and marketing skills. While Remember Redfield is in the final stages of post-production, Logan has already commenced the casting for his second – as yet untitled – film.
Bendy Spoon Productions hired the studio again a few weeks ago for a round of casting sessions and it was interesting to occasionally poke my head out of the edit suite to observe their process and their progress with the casting session.
Remember Redfield trailer
Former student Bobby Babin is popping up all over the place these days – in TV drama, films, TVCs and theatre productions. Congrats Bobby you’re building an impressive body of work mate!
Everyone wants to go to LA and Hollywood to source work, whereas Bobby moved here from the US and he’s cleaning up. Work that one out.
Alumni Jemma Eggins (stage name: Jemma Jane) along with the rest of the cast of Woody Allen’s smash hit musical Bullets Over Broadway, has completed a six month national tour across the USA and the show now returns to New York for another sold-out season. Jemma plays the lead role of Olive Neal and the production has given her acting, singing and dancing skills an incredible amount of exposure, not to mention the experience of regular performance over the past eighteen months. Well done Jemma – and it’s back to conquer New York city once again!
SF3
Entries for the Smart Phone Film Fest close on August 1. So get moving if you plan on entering a film in this year’s festival. Entry details below on the SF3 flyer…
Last year’s inaugural SF3 festival was a huge success and the school is once again proud to be a sponsor for the 2016 event.
Films on DVD
The Revenant (USA: 2015) Starring Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Hardy. Director Alejandro G. Inarritu.
The Revenant is inspired by the experiences of frontiersman Hugh Glass in 1823, in what is now Montana and South Dakota, USA. This multi-award winning film is brutal and unforgiving – much like the terrain Glass is forced to survive in, as he struggles to make his way back to civilization after being abandoned for dead by the rest of his fur trapping party when he is badly mauled by a bear. Highly recommended – but not for the faint-hearted!
Vinyl on DVD
(Sorry, but I couldn’t resist the wordplay)
Vinyl (USA: 2016) Starring Bobby Cannavale. Creators Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger.
Bobby Cannavale plays Richie Finestra, a record executive trying to rescue his label American Century as it struggles to remain relevant during the emerging new disco scene. When even the Rolling Stones turned their hand to disco with the release of their disco-flavoured single “Miss You” – an ultimate club hit – from their 1978 album “Some Girls,” then you realize how difficult it was for the rock ‘n roll and alternative music labels in the age of the Bee Gees “Staying Alive.” But stay alive the alternative music scene did, with post-punk bands Blondie, Talking Heads and Television, to name but a few, flying the flag for progressive music in the USA; while Down Under, the thriving pub rock scene nurtured bands like The Angels, Rose Tattoo, AC/DC, Midnight Oil and many others. Luckily for passionate music fans the intervening years have demonstrated that rock and alternative music has not only survived, but thrived.
Vinyl is everything you would expect from a series set in the late 1970s and is well worth a look if that period’s music is to your taste.
Class Scene DVDs
Behind the scenes Term 1, 2016 was dedicated to setting up the school’s new Premiere Pro CC edit suite; while Term 2 was dedicated to catching up with the huge backlog of editing – which, after a lot of hard work, was completed on schedule at the end of Term 2.
The school’s new Premiere Pro CC edit suite. A very comfortable and productive work space.
Now that I have learned the new system and caught up with the backlog, the turn around time for class scene DVD orders is back to our standard two weeks from time of order to delivery.
So now that we are finally up to speed again, if you would like a copy of your on-camera scenes from last term then see me in class or email me and I will organize it for you. Class scene DVDs are a highly beneficial means of dramatically improving your performance and technical skills via further home study.
Class scene DVDs are $50-00 per term’s 5 edited scenes, or the same price for a compilation of your favourite 5 scenes from current and/or previous term’s work.
To wrap up the July-August newsletter, I’d like to welcome back our ongoing students for another fun and dynamic ten weeks of screen acting classes, and to extend a warm welcome to the new students commencing classes with us this term.
Alan Nurthen
Director