Brains?

The sun is up as The Zombie collects these for you!—————>

The second WASA promo is live.

Here is Pogo’s latest. Everybody together in your best Austrian bodybuilder accent, “Get Down!”.

The NB Piazza guys put together this nice little clip to promote the place.

The commentary on this proof of UFO’s is DNSFW.

Perth FreeRunners are out there promoting fitness and spinal injury awareness.

WaTelevision updates with a new ident

Organized by “kinetic motivators” Ivan Borgnino and Amy Broadfoot, Kintetic Carnival looks like it will be a right laff. Opening night is a free event down at the Northbridge Piazza, so you’ll need a pretty good excuse to click not attending on the facebook invite. The group is here. From the press release….

A fresh and energetic film event exploding onto Perth’s screen culture calendar with
innovative works and new screening concepts utilising unique spaces in the city.
Kinetic Carnival highlights local, interstate and international filmmakers, aficionados,
archivists and practitioners, most of whom are premiering their unique works.

WA game studio Interzone seems to be in the process of crashing and burning. Brains? sends best wishes to those affected by the change, or, to those about to be given the arse, Brains? salutes you.

Check Kotaku for developments as they happen.

From the PIGMI list, “You may all be interested to know that Mike Turner was at the Interzone offices last night, up until midnight. He went in under cover of darkness and changed the locks on the server room and offices. Staff are now unable to get into their own workplace. Police were called. Footage was taken. It’s all very dramatic.”

Anyone down at the WASA people choice screenings got a little taste of Johnny Ma with his latest number ‘Bootleg’ screening down there, the animation from said work is posted below. Brains? was very impressed, but then was sad, because the man may be leaving us for Honkers soon. Check the bottom of this post for his reel and big shouts to Mr. Ma for taking the time to be with us today.

Who are you?

Johnny Ma

What do you do?

1st AD, Director, Producer…

What have you done?

I have directed 3 short films including “Bootleg”,
shot on 16mm film. I have also directed half a dozen music videos which
have been created with low budgets and love.

What are you going to do?

I am currently pursuing a career as a 1st AD.
Planning on exploring the film market in Hong Kong this year. I will
continue direct my own written content- short film and music videos. I
would really like to direct more music videos as it is a visual medium I
love the most.

Where can we find you (online or off)?

Online- Facebook, www.myspace.com/goodkidvideo.
Offline- Norfolk, sunday flea markets, random outings and stuck in front of this damm computer.

Finish this sentence, Perth has…. a lot of potential and a lot of
talent. Needs to finds it’s own niche and needs a lot more support from
governing bodies and film industry.

Any last words?

always show random acts of kindness.

Yay! Burleigh Smith said yes to an interview. And Perth has an indy rom com feature in the works. And PAC will be reading Mr. Smith’s script in March. And the neighbors have stopped their eight hour hammering of the drill with a compactor marathon. It’s all going to be alright.

If you are yet to see any of Burleigh’s stuff, be sure to watch the YouTube embed below, then read the interview, then join in the enthusiasm.

“What do you do?

Write, direct and act!

Screenwriting is my favourite part of the process and is where I am most creative.

To me, directing and acting is routine. I have a very simplistic visual style. I’m happy just to set the camera up on a tripod and cover the scene in one or two shots.

I really don’t like fancy camerawork and fast-paced editing. It doesn’t really serve my stories and it draws out the post production process. I edit my own work too. I don’t enjoy it but I’m too precious to let anyone else cut my work.

I rarely seek input from others in terms of screenplay. I know the stories I wish to tell and the most effective ways in which to do so. I ought to – I’ve spent my life watching thousands of films from all over the world.

I’ve worked with some of Perth’s top directors of photography and am always willing to receive input from them in terms of shots.

To me, acting’s really about delivering lines in the most naturalistic, understated manner possible. I work with actors who don’t really need directing. Sarah Louella and Ben Young are both excellent.

What are you doing next?

I’m writing and shooting my first feature later this year. It’s titled “Gemini” and it’s a romantic comedy where I play a man with bipolar disorder.

Can you describe your writing/pre-prod process?

I think about my various screenplays constantly and I am forever writing down ideas on scraps of paper and putting them into folders. When the ideas are developed, I sit down and write.

The folder for “Gemini”, my feature, is packed with hundreds of notes that I’ve amassed in the past eighteen months. I never suffer writer’s block because I only write when I’m ready. It usually only takes a couple of weeks for me to write a short and three or four months to write a feature. And I usually only write the one draft.

Preproduction is just organising. Not much fun. Organising a cast and crew, locations, costumes and props. Getting permission, hiring equipment, dealing with last-minute dramas. Fun and games.

I often work with the same group of people. Mat de Koning is a close collaborator, Greg Higgs, Brendan Dee and Laetitia Belen are often involved too because they’re good. So many others have let me down in the past and so I can never entrust them again!

I’ve shot on a variety of formats, including 8mm, 16mm, SD and HD. Will probably be shooting my feature on RED. But to me, the camera is just a tool. It’s the story that matters most.

I’m hoping to screen my feature at the Perth International Arts Festival in 2011.

Perth….are we all doomed to boil to death here?

I love Perth and don’t have many complaints. If I did, I’d move elsewhere. I’d love to see sensible allocation of government film funds but that’s too much to hope for.

There are some interesting young filmmakers in this state. I’m expecting big things in the future from de Koning, Templeman, Hilditch, Webb, Jack, Young, Inglis and McCann, to name a few.

The Perth Game Jam was held this weekend and looks to have been a mighty success. Five teams completed games, click the pic below to visit the site where you can download them.

From the site; “Gamejam is a randomly occurring event, designed to encourage game developers to collaborate and produce computer games. It provides an outlet for experimental gameplay and artistic creativity.

Liam Underwood shoots some hot monkey action. Who else out there is getting pictures of this guys caliber?

Mister Trivia says, ‘Dunno if this is your kind of thing but ABC 3 is rerunning the 1996 series SWEAT.’

From the FB group, “It features 17 year-old Heath Ledger in his first leading role as the cyclist Snowy Bowles”. You can’t make this stuff up, is that the right phrase here?

Darn tootin’.

Here’s the FB group. Go there for times, dates and fellowship.

Bring on the series!