Category — The Room at the Top of the Stairs

We had the cast and crew screening of “The Room at the Top of the Stairs” at the Peacock Theatre in Salamanca on Friday night.

Highlights from the night include:

• The Red wine mysteriously “hiding” under the bar (no points for guessing who eventually sniffed it out - yeah it was me!),
• Briony thanking everyone in the universe (and Adam forgetting to thank anyone),
• My unintentional stand-up comedy debut (…but hey, remember if you need a crowd pleaser - I now have a booking agent),
• Our leading lady (Fiannah) looking like the glamourous star that she is destined to be,
• Kate (who of course was glamourous too!) coming in costume - well at least the dreaded shoes…
• “LIVE” film trailer narration and music demonstration by Aldrich and TheMaster (me),
• Very little memory of the proceedings from about 2am onwards…

To all those involved in the film that weren’t able to make it on the night - thanks for your awesome help making this great film happen, and we are all looking forward to working with you again.

Sorry no pics from the night, but for nostalgia sake here is a shot from the shoot of James trying (and failing) to play “The Producer” to Briony.

Well, they’re not exactly twins but there’s a sort of suggestion in the story that they could be.  Today was the day Fiannah and Kate shot all their scenes together, and it was intense — with blood, swearing, laundry and designer labels - and that was just in make-up.  We won’t give too much away, you’ll have to see the film.  Here’s Fiannah and Kate not in character.

Keeping warm between scenes.

Relaxing after a hard day.

And, yes, that was a wrap.  Somehow, miraculously, everything got done — I even managed to grab a few cutaways that I was sure would be scrapped, thanks to the enthusiasm of Matthew, the 1st AD, and the hardworking and self-sacrificing nature of the crew in general.  Okay, so I didn’t get everything I wanted, but it was all covered and it was all good stuff.

Setting up for the last shot.

Thanks everyone, it was truly above and beyond.  Let’s go get a drink….

This was the day that the supporting characters in the film (the three housemates) shot most of their scenes.  Having had a fair bit of rehearsal, Lucy, Bryony and Ben were prepared. Still, it probably came as a shock to churn through their dialogue scenes so quickly.  Speaking of churning - it didn’t help that I, like many others on this production, was suffering the effects of a nasty strain of some kind of stomach flu. Clutching my trusty orange sports drink, I watched as the characters came to life — with all their eccentric studentish ways –drinking beer outside on a windy day, never washing up, playing the guitar rather badly and so forth.

The crew meanwhile, were suffering and even a curry for lunch didn’t seem to cheer them up (!)  But a lot got done today, that’s for sure.  The pace seems to be picking up.

A scene about someone drawing, how hard could it be?  Ha. No, I can’t just have one shot of someone sketching - they have to draw it several times, over several days, and in different moods and with different emotions.  They have to draw sometimes in books, sometimes on walls; with crayons, pencils and make-up.  They have to sketch, and paint and smudge things with their fingers.  Why?  Because it’s art, and you’ve got to suffer for it.  Apparently. But it all turned out pretty well in the end and we got through the day with plenty of art for everyone.  Plus the art department got to dress up like they were in a Fellini film as extras for the party scene, so it was win-win.  Hard work and torment and funny plastic masks.  What could be more cinematic?

Ready to draw.

The art department acts!

Madeline and Sean take a break to have some beers....No, they're actually working. This is the kitchen set.

Day 1 of the shoot kicked off this morning, with everyone finding themselves a little bewildered (a 6.30 am call will do that) and a little cold, thanks to August weather in Hobart.  The mountain was covered in snow and so were we…(not really but it felt like it).

Hmm, what to say about day 1?  A lot got done - and a lot really didn’t get done.  A few technical hitches.  But we also got some great footage for the opening scenes when the main character arrives at the house.  So, what else?… Well, there were gale force winds, there were designer outfits & glamorous make-up thanks to Liz… There was some concern that the catering tent might actually fly away, but that was just a momentary thrill.

Shooting the first scene of the film.

And, yes, there were pigeons.  A local pigeon keeper (I’m not sure what the correct term would be?) came and brought along 11 of his finest birds.  Racing pigeons they were, sleek in red and grey.  We had to keep them waiting a while — but then they were free and off like a shot…to make quite a good shot, actually. Thanks pigeons and I hope you got home safely.

Preparing to release the birds...

Waiting for their close-up

Well, our short film The Room at the Top of the Stairs is finally approaching production, after months of planning, speculation, stress and procrastination. As I write this the art department is busily dressing the set - a spooky old house in West Hobart, currently uninhabited. This is a big task, as it’s a huge house and has to be filled up with all sorts of weird stuff that art students might have made or collected. On the upside, these characters are not very domestic (or wealthy) and so don’t need to have much furniture.

This will be our "art school sharehouse"

We’re also having wardrobe, make-up and camera tests today. Sean (costume designer) is busily putting together outfits for the key cast. I’m excited to see how it all comes together… It’s realistic art student fashion, but a little heightened. Not boho, more a bit folk, apparently. And layering. The make-up, courtesy of Liz, is going to be pretty natural but with an occasional touch of glamour (because they are artists after all).

Rehearsals for The Room at the Top of the Stairs are picking up momentum. The cast have been doing improvisations to get to know their characters more and we had our first rehearsal at the location tonight, which really helped. There was some intense action with some of the scenes - shouting and pushing each other around (well, mainly pushing Kate around!). It was all very Jerry Springer, which is good because that’s what I wanted.  Hmm, how often do you hear a director say that?. I hope the neighbours weren’t too freaked out.

As the title of this post implies, today was the first cast readthrough of our short film The Room at the Top of the Stairs.  I wanted to have a proper readthrough so that everyone could get an idea of the flow of the piece and how their character fits into the scheme of the story. It was good to finally see the actors together in one room, helps to get a sense of whether they will be convincing as a group of peers.  I think they will - which is lucky because I don’t fancy having to find more actors, it was hard enough to get this lot!

After auditioning many young actors over the past few weeks, we’ve finally cast the lead in our short film The Room at the Top of the Stairs.  Fiannah de Rue, a Year 12 student at Hobart College with considerable theatre experience, will take on the role.  I hope she’s ready for some hard work becuase she’s in almost every scene!