Flunky: The Trailer

Post-production: final push

I just got off the phone with Bernardo. Now that Charles is on board, and we're working towards finishing this film off. Like any good editor Charles brings both creativity and technical skills to the project. I'm not there in the editing suite, but by all accounts, it's getting done!

Which means we should have a completed film by the start of February, and we can move this project into the 'shoving it into letterboxes, mailslots and faces' phase.

One I am looking forward to immensely.

Trailer full of films

There's an editor on board. This was a long overdue development. Also, he seems awesome, bringing the awesome quotient on Flunky up to 'unanimous'.

We're all very excited as this is the kick we need to bring the post-production of this project to completion so we can get this little beauty out there.

I'm hoping he is able to edit us a sweet trailer for our short film. (See above) Via The High Definite

Flunky Avant-Premiere!

Check out this awesome poster Andy made for the avant-premiere of Flunky tonight! I know, sweet.

If you're wondering where this event is at: it's at L'Ane Fou in Scharbeek. Well, the French would call it l'Ane Fou. I'd call it the Crazy Donkey.

There will be more news on the event once it occurs, but for now, this is a Great Leap Forward: our first public-ish screening. By public-ish I mean we will be screening it for most of the cast and crew, but it is a public venue, so some Monday night local tipplers might also watch history unfold.

Things are coming together.

The Wizards of Oz

As this blogpost goes to press, Flunky continues to be edited. Significantly, we are now more or less in possession of a final mock-up of the image, which we're pleased with. Bernardo has adorned this with some musical stylings which give this powerful film a suitable level of absurdity and gravitas. He is now engaged in the process of taking this model and creating the final mastercopy.
But that's not all...

In Amsterdam, a logo is being created.
In London, the sound of the film is being designed. And...
In Toronto, the website is being touched up and finalized.

What do these three things have in common? They are all activities being undertaken by a creative powerteam of Australian expats who have spread themselves across the globe to bring awesomeness to their new respective world capitals, and channel some of their goodness into the project we call 'Flunky'.

There will be more new as we gear up for the next phase. Seriously: we're getting close.<

Getting ready for the film fests

Truly Free Film has a great To Do list for filmmakers getting ready to enter into film fests. Note that Number 3 is to have a blog.

Yeah, we're pretty ahead of the curve.

Generally though, Bernardo and I have done some of these things others are in some stage of development, and some we need to get on quick. It's a good list.

Most importantly: the film itself; yes, ladies and gentlemen, Flunky is even closer now to being ready to be shown publicly. That's because Bernardo has been locked into an editing suiteshaping the final product.

He has been doing a killer job editing everything together. His creative touch has added layers, depth, and overall sexiness to a short film that was already stacked with sexiness and pitchblack humour.

Is it ready yet? No, it is not.

But we are starting to be able to make out that light at the end of the tunnel. That light is of course, coming from a projector booth, and when we get to that light Flunky will be projected onto screens, walls, hearts, minds and ..uh, whatever else is around.

Value of a Producer

Photolink

When I read the following blogpost, it helped me understand what I was supposed to be doing when I was co-producing Flunky. Read it to gain some new appreciation for the importance of producers.

The Producer Credit: What It Means To Me

Producing is all I do and the only credit I get. The meaning and value of that credit erodes all the time as financiers and packagers and directors seek to share it. I do something very specific though that none of those other collaborators do. I am there from the very beginning until the very end doing my best to make sure that the best team assembled, best environment created, best film made, full potential realized, best release and marketing strategy conceived, and maximum revenue (within those other considerations) achieved. It is my role to make sure that all options are considered and the ramification of each choice considered in advance. Read the original post here.

Also read this: What is the Actual Job of a Movie Producer?

Alot of this doesn't apply to Flunky - the contracts and finances stuff particularly - but still...

Job Interview - Pepsi Max vs Flunky

Flunky the film is in no way associated with Pepsi Max... except of course we both made wildly hilarious short films about a job interview.

That's where the similarities end. Right. There.

• They had a huge budget. We had no budget.
  
• Theirs is marketing. Ours is art.
  
• Theirs is less than a minute. Ours is approximately a TV half hour.
  
• They had massive resources behind their global megabrand. We are independent geniuses. Geniuses, yes. But also independent. Fiercely so.
  
  
  
  Oh and one more difference:
  
  
• Theirs is finished. Ours is almost finished.
  
  

Bernardo and Ryan

Do we look brilliant? Maybe not. But we do look good.

Speaking of looking good and being brilliant: Flunky should be both of those things. And soon.

Bernardo and I had a meeting last night, and hung out. And it was good. And fun. And productive. We're right on schedule for a late-June avant-premiere. Anyone who knows an excellent place for this event should contact me by leaving a comment.

Also more exciting news: our website (a real website!! For the film!!) is in production and should be coming up soon.

It'll be awesome!!

Onward and upward...

Photo by France Dubois

Flunky is really happening!!!

This week Bernardo is going to show me a rough cut of the film. I know - soooooooooo exciting!! I cannot wait. It's been a long time coming, but the suspense is fuelling the fire and desire.

Also we'll discuss music and mood and other creative choices for getting the right tone for this brilliant cultural juggernaut of creative synergistic brilliance.

In other news, Bernardo got a grant!!

Congratulations from all of us at Solutions Labour Solutions, as one of our brightest lights gets the recognition he deserves!!

Antwerp Diamond Heist: the movie

Flunky is still in editing phase, who knows when that will draw to a close, but we can all hope that it will be soon.

In the meantime, if you're wondering what is not the next project, but is an incredible story nonetheless, may I drect you to this post on the brilliant idea to write a film based on the Antwerp Diamond Heist perpetraed by Leonardo Notarbartolo and his gang.

Typecast

Recently, I've had two acting gigs.

One was playing job applicant Marco Duran, in the jawdroppingly compelling short 'Flunky', directed by Bernardo Camisao.

The second was playing job applicant John Driver, for an industrial role-play, as part of a training course.

The most striking coincidence, other than their striking good looks, is that these men are both job applicants.

Typecasting? Or perhaps I've found my niche...

I need an acting job, and if you need an under-employed actor to play someone who needs a job, well then you've come to the right place.

What did that last sentence mean?

It doesn't matter. Like a mobius strip chasing its own tale, the journey is the end in and of itself.

Editing ongoing

Editing seems to be going slowly. Post-production, huh?

The edits

Link

Right now, as I type this, Bernardo is in an editing suite, somewhere in Brussels. What's he doing there, you ask?

Editing.

He's currently cutting, chopping, stirring, mixing and basically sexing up Flunky, for your enjoyment and edification.

The picture above was pulled more or less at random from the internet, and may or may not accurately represent the environs in which our fair director is working. If I had to hazard a guess though, I would guess that it is slightly less well-appointed, more utilitarian, with less ergonomic seating.

The point is: we be moving forward.

Two thousand and Flunky

It's 2009. We're almost one-twelfth of the way in. which might have you panicking, thinking 'OMG, I had such big dreams for this year, and it's already slipping away'.

Fear not, I encourage you to think of this year as a glass, not 1/12 empty, but rather 11/12 full.

I hope that relaxes you. I know it fills me with serenity, calmness and relaxation. All at once.

OK, enough with the pep talk. I know why you're here, you're clamoring for news of Flunky.

Here it is: so far it has not been edited. But between the holidays, the bout of wintry weather, and a post-production plan still in development, that is hardly surprising. And like I said, time is (still) on our side.

I'm meeting up with Bernardo on Thursday, for our first meeting of this fresh new year. After that meeting expect a flurry of activity followed immediately by a finished product, wrapped in a bow and delivered to your house in the middle of the night.

Is it just me, or does the air in 2009 smell of promise, honeysuckle, and smiles?
It isn't just me is it? I thought not.

Office worker D speaks

This email, penned by one of our extras, really sums up the excitement around this project. I therefore commit it to record in it's entirety. This, he will learn, is one of the perks of being famous.

"Here is another picture of me on the set of "Flunky" - in this still, I am being directed by the, uh, director on which, um, directions, i should take...

You cant see it too well in this shot but I had been given a stack of papers with graphs and charts on them but my PC was opened initially to Word. Well, I closed that, opened up Excel and proceeded to recreate my hard copies onto an Excel spreadsheet. And so when it was time for my close-up, Mr. Deville, I was so locked into the mindset of Office Worker Number D, with his back-story as an Ivy League educated closet homosexual with dyslexia who also has a martyr complex and hates Jewish Mexican midgets, that more than one of the crew noted how good i was - the word "natural" was used too i believe.

But that's just how i do my acting. Some call it method acting. Others call it new school. Some call it De Niro-esque. I refuse to put a label on this awesome power that I have harnessed - The Power of Acting.

But if you feel it necessary to give it or me a name, how about you just use: "Hollywood". So, for example, "Shane Hollywood" works. Or even, Shane "A-List Red-Carpet Tinsel-Towne Bright-Lights" Dempsey if you are not into the whole brevity thing.

Flunky is scheduled to be released to a limited number of theatres at the end of January 2009. I'll keep you posted as my big screen debut approaches.

And before you ask - yes. Yes, we can still be friends even though I am going to mega-popular in just over 6 weeks."

This film is going straight to the big time, and you're all coming with us. Thank you for your hard work - even if it came 'naturally' to you.

UPDATE: As has been brought to my attention, the likely directions being given by the director are: "Be more like Office Worker E." (Seen here, as in the film, in the background.

The other Flunky

This short film Flunky (the one we just filmed, which is the subject of this blog) is not the only film with that name. I learned this because I googled "Flunky film."
Right, like you never google yourself.

I discovered that in addition to this blog dedicated to the short film 'Flunky', by Bernardo Camisao and written by Ryan Millar, there's another, similarily titled, short film.

A Japanese film from 1931, called 'Flunky, Work Hard!' According to the review on Slant Magazine It is "the first surviving work of director Mikio Naruse, his eighth film chronologically and available only as a 38-minute digest version created for the Japanese home market." It is also described as a "near masterpiece."

Even though that 75-year old Japanese Flunky sounds extremely rare, the comparisons will be ineveitable. I'm sure years froms now ceneastes will be asking each other 'which is your favorite Flunky?'

As an artist, that's something I'm comfortable with. As an insecure, inexperienced writer and film actor... well, I'm not so sure...

A man and his mittens - photo

Photo by France Dubois

Lean in, to seem keen - photo

(Photo by France Dubois)

Perfectly coiffed - photo

Phot by France Dubois