Independent Documentary Film Making Means.....

Buying a HD camera and other equipment way out of your price range, on finance.

Having the person who agreed to operate the HD camera for the 2 and a half years it would take to film your documentary, pull out after the first weekend shoot. Coincidentally, this was also the person who convinced you to purchase the more expensive brand because they refused to use anything cheaper. After the purchase it was disclosed that this brand had extreme compatibility issues which halted post-production for a year.

Discovering that your crew would amount to 2 people in total and that 1 of you would need to learn how to use the expensive HD camera immediately, as of the following weekend. That person would also need to direct the film and ask the interviewees questions while operating the camera at all times.

Discovering that being the Producer means you wipe down bmx bikes, pull out stray weeds in a countryside shoot, take still shots, discuss framing and lighting issues, sit by the feet of an interviewee holding a microphone out of shot, use the 'B' camera, hold umbrellas over subjects on a hot track during interviews whilst standing in direct sun in a black T-shirt.

Being the first to an event and the very last leave. And not eating for the majority of that time.

Extending your credit cards to buy tickets to China, for a showcase event of the Olympic bmx track, only to discover the day before you fly out that to film in China, you have to be invited by a Chinese government agency. Making numerous phone calls to the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee to receive permission and an invitation only to hear that this will take days to organise and you're scheduled to leave the next morning. Being vouched for by the President of the Australian BMX association as well as the International Cycling Union, both of whom are in China at that very moment and have invited you to the event. Racing to the Chinese consulate the night before you're due to fly out, to receive a fax that invites you to China, which results in having your visas revoked because the permission you've received isn't high enough.

Realising that you won't be at the show case event which was so important for your film and scurrying around to convince the airline to refund your tickets. Receiving a 40% refund and thinking that you've just paid thousands of dollars to sit at home, depressed.

Getting a loan to travel to the U.S. to follow bmxers competing at the AST Dew Tour, followed up by a trip to China where you have been officially invited months after the above debacle, to film the empty Olympic BMX track. While in the U.S., a day before you're due to leave for China, receiving an email from the Olympic committee in China advising that China is in national holiday mode and all offices will be unattended for the duration that you'd planned to stay there and that it will be impossible for you to film the Olympic BMX track as scheduled. Then having to go to China anyway, because that's the only way to get home.

Having American Airlines lose your expensive HD camera on the flight from the U.S. to China and they can't tell you if it made it's way onto the connecting flight to Germany or not. Discovering that your camera will arrive in China a day and a half after you so even if you had been able to film the Olympic bmx track, you couldn't have because you didn't have a camera.

Finding your camera in 2 pieces after it's been through Chinese customs because it's a communist country and they don't really like people filming there anyway.

The Director's uncle loaning you $10 000 so half of the crew can get to Spain to film an event in Madrid. Which means 1 person is directing and producing the documentary by themselves in a foreign country while the other person is stuck in Australia.

Asking for permission from the International Olympic Committee to use the word "Olympic" in the title of your film, and being refused. No ifs, buts or maybes. The title you were going to use will never be.

Having all sponsorship proposals refused. Any attempt at raising funds for production being turned down with bmx companies really interested but having no money and mainstream companies just saying no.

Refusing to apply for funding from film funding agencies because it will mean that the funding body has to be paid back first and they own a slice of your film. The film you poured your blood, sweat and tears into. And the only other person who understands how much it means to you is the other half of your crew, the only other person who has put everything they have into it, the same as you. Even after everything, we love this film.

Being independent is worth it.

factory47 - A History

factory47. That's the name of the production company founded by Ian Maclachlan (Macca) and I. Macca has a long history in the sport of bmx racing and his race number was 47. And after he stopped competing, his long term goal was to open an action sports venue similar to the ones in America (Camp Woodward). He'd hoped to call it The Factory. Voila! The name factory47 was born for our company. The venue is a goal now for the both of us. But we can't call it The Factory anymore. If you put that into a google search you come up with a gay and lesbian nightclub in Beverley Hills, amongst other things. Which is fine, but we just can't compete with that. The venue will be called factory47 Base Camp.

In 2006 we were shooting a short film with some bmxers on the Gold Coast, which was our entry into a film festival at work when one of the guys, Glenn Codega commented that it would be good if a documentary was made on the debut of bmx racing at the Olympics. He wanted people to see the sport as a serious entry into the Olympic program because there are 2 general opinions on bmx racing:

Opinion 1 - It's a sport for little kids.

Opinion 2 - It's a sport where the guys do tricks (like backflips) on their bikes.

The fact that the sport is in the Olympics already proves Opinion 1 wrong and bmx freestyle is the sport in Opinion 2.

We jumped at the idea and chose 5 Australian bmxers to follow. They are Glenn Codega, Luke Madill, Jared Graves, Jamie Gray and Khalen Young. We also introduced Kamakazi later on in the year. Only 3 guys could be chosen to represent Australia so we followed each of the guys, filming their private lives and training as they competed for the three spots. We're very independent and haven't received any funding or sponsorship, so for us to follow these guys, capturing their interstate and international competitions has been expensive. Macca and I are putting everything on the line for this film.

We've finished filming and are now right into the editing process. It was so overwhelming to start with, we have over 70 hours of footage and we need to squeeze that down to 90 minutes. The whole time we've been filming and editing we've both been working over 40 hours a week. Gotta pay those bills ya know. We're experts at editing from 6pm - 2am, we're at our best with bleary eyes I reckon.

So the Olympics were in 2008 and we had major problems for most of 2009 with compatibility of our camera and our editing system. We couldn't feed our footage into our computer, but finally, finally things are going our way and we are full steam ahead. I've given us a six month deadline to have the majority of the doco edited, so we'll see.....we'd like the film to be ready for release before the next Olympics, so we can ride that Olympic hype to cinematic success!!!

Almost forgot! The film title is:

LIFE BEHIND BARS

PEDAL TO MEDAL

The Beginning

I've never had a blog.

I think I thought they were a bit self indulgent.

Right now I'm making a documentary and I like the idea of keeping a public record of the process. Kind of like a dvd commentary in journal form. Because I don't want to forget all the little stories that happen along the way. I'm pretty forgetful. When we were shooting the doco a million things happened and I feel sorry that I never wrote those things down because they've disappeared from my conscious. I only recollect them when my boyfriend Macca (who is also the Director) talks about them. I've kept journals in the past, and diaries, but I always ended up throwing them out. I regret that. I guess I'd read back on the entries and feel so self conscious of what I'd written that I'd get embarrassed by myself and chuck them out. I also had a facebook account and although I liked getting back in touch with people from school, after the initial "Hi, how are you, what have you been up to in the last 10 years?", the novelty sort of wore off. And I had lots of "friends" from work, but I wouldn't really want to contact most of them after spending 8 hours a day with them 5 days a week. And I supervise a lot of these people, most of them between 18 - 22 years old. I don't necessarily want to know what they get up to and with who when they aren't at work And really, aren't I just another person they can add so they can keep their friends list looking full and healthy? So in the end, the things I liked most about facebook was posting photos and writing about our documentary. Which I can do here and not worry about what I'm sharing about myself to work people.

I enjoy correct spelling and punctuation. I like to drink Vanilla Ice Up & Go. My favourite flowers are daisies and cherry blossoms. I find tattoos sexy and have one but would love more. I'm massively in love with Ian Maclachlan, who is a perfect match for me in every way. I have a pug named Sally who is sweet and lovely. I like ice cream cake and black forest cake. I love being a brunette. My brother is in the RAAF. I'm making a documentary on bmx racing and this project is the most important thing to me right now besides people and my pug. My best friend's name is Helling. I really think zombies are great and am confident that I could survive if they one day walk the earth. For fun I drink Margaritas. I like the way Ryder says my name and I'd prefer it if he never grew up. I drink chai latte to relax. I read Frankie magazine. I say I like gardening but I don't think I really do. I'm passionate about my job, mostly. I love eating grilled laver with grapeseed oil. My favourite artist is Monet. I wear spectacles and my favourite colours are yellow and pink. I like to drink port, especially on a cold day. I don't pirate movies or music but sometimes I indulge in them if they don't belong to me. I really like seafood. My favourite countries are Mexico and Japan, although I have visited neither. I think flamingos are wonderful. I have the same opinion of elephants. My favourite era is the 60s but I also find the 50s attractive. Halloween used to be the celebration I adored until my workplace wrecked it. I find fairy bread delicious. In my opinion, blue ray is revolutionary HD. I have been known to collect tea cups and I really like to crochet. Brown Brothers Cienna and Moscato are my top two wines. The creativity of others inspires me. I like the smell of incense and scented oil burners. I toy with the idea of escaping real life and starting afresh in a far off land full of rolling hills that meet the coastline, and a small town surrounded by three headlands. I will have a herb garden and perhaps a picket fence.

I think I am a bit self indulgent.