The Art Neuro Weblog

Hi, I'm back
I've been away from writing this blog for about a week with a couple of interludes inbetween. Thanks for your patience in keeping on coming back. Also, thanks to James for putting up an argument-club-worthy post while I was away. The knee still hurts when I try to straighten it out, but I'm able to put more and more weight on it with each passing day, so I'm headed back to normal health there.

Some stuff about the 'Key Psycho' Shoot
We spent 5 days holed up in the Windsor Motel, shooting 50pages of drama in the 5 scheduled days. This is gruelling by most counts. Hollywood features shoot 2.5-3.5 pages a day. TV dramas like the ones from the US aim for 5 pages a day. Sit coms, with multicamera shoots can go to 7-10pages a day, but they are restricted by having very few established sets. Doing 10 minutes a day of single camera shooting, day-after-day is the domain of 'Home and Away' or 'Neighbours', and we all know what those look like. So I have to say I'm really proud of the crew, which consisted mostly of cinematographer and uber-camera-dude Peter Beeh; Producers Brenden Dannaher and April Born; Sam, Terry sand Sandy, the soundies sent from Konrad Skirlis. Thanks to the efforts of the crew, and the amazing location, it's certainly going to have the look of 'Key Largo' meets 'Psycho'.

Having said that, there's still about 5 pages to be shot, so we're not totally out of the woods yet, but that will take place in about a month when some of the actors become available again.

About the Cast
Darren Schnase, who played Othello in my little production of scenes from the play in 2002 played escaped gangster boss JOHNNY ROCCO.
Warwick Poulsen played Johnny's sidekick, CURTLY PRIMROSE.
Bernadette Marr played LAYLA CRANE, who goes in search of the missing MARION CRANE, who was played by Kendal Jones.
Jai Koutrae played SAM LOOMIS, Jim McCrudden who played Iago in the 'Othello' played the Norman-Bates-parody, MAXWELL.
Mark Jensen played DETECTIVE HITCHCOCK.
I think it's the strongest cast I've ever worked with for anything. It was certainly the most focused, centered group of actors on a shoot, and the energy was simply astounding.

A thought about Directing
There are plenty of misconceptions about what directors do. I think it comes from years of mythologising the director as some sort of god-like authority on how the picture should get made. It's also a funny business because everybody can do it on an every day level, and they are doing it without noticing it. Even the Iraqi guys who behead people and video it are directing. They are terrible directors, but perhaps this is because they have other talents with which they are more preoccupied. But when they say to the Japanese hostages, "Could you look REALLY afraid when I brandish my knife? I mean REALLY, REALLY Wet-your-pants AFRAID?", that's directing.
[Of course, it has to be said, a bad actor then asks, "Why? What's my motivation?"]

One thing I have discovered is that the difference between an Amateur and a Professional is as follows:

An Amateur is always happy to tell you how you should be doing your job.
A Professional has the kind courtesy of not doing what an Amateur does, but instead bitches about you behind your back.

Everybody is a critic. There's always a different way to skin a cat; place a camera; follow an action; direct the line; inform the motivation on an actor; set up the scene; do the pacing; set the intensity; get the feel; deal with the vibe; but the final arbiter of these decisions lies with the director for the reason that somebody has to keep the vision intact, and it's best if it was one person who keeps in mind how the whole damn thing has to come together. And really, if people don't like it, they should try writing their own damn script, assemble their own cast & crew and try doing this stuff. It's a free-market world.

Unfortunately for me, directing is some of the best stuff I do, and there seems to be an oversupply of directors in the market.

A round of Thanks
Cast and Crew get my comprehensive and profound gratitude for their effort. As they say, it wouldn't have been what it was without them. Also, thanks to Quentin Bell and Dave Brew who supplied some props, without which it couldn't have been made to look the way it did at all. The other thing I have to say is that I'd like to thank all my good friends who through the years didn't bat an eye-lid when I said I was going to direct this chimera of a script. Most of you were very enthusiastic in your support, and mostly open to the idea of the script. Also, I don't think I could have dispensed with late night conversations with Chris McMahon and David Musgrave about the nature of insanity or the on-going dialogue I have with everybody about just about everything 'crazy'/'insane'/'weird'/Freudian slips'.

- Art Neuro