Damo - Director's Journal

Directing "Damo" - Reflections on the Process
Suzi Taylor

Since the beginning of the year I had been nurturing an idea in my head to make a film, or a set of films which would be portraits of homeless people in Melbourne. I'd had coffees with a couple of the Big Issue vendors in the city, and realised pretty soon that there were some amazing, touching, poignant, funny and sad stories out there, with few channels for them to be voiced. It wasn't until my July Big Issue invited entries for films featuring a homeless or unemployed person for its first ever Film Festival, that I finally had the impetus to put my ideas on paper and get to work.

The first step involved finding my subject, finding the right story to tell. I tossed up several ways to find my person. I thought about approaching one of the vendors on the street and asking them if they would be interested in helping me out, but in the absence of knowing anything about them beforehand, I thought this could be problematic.

On the other hand, I didn't want to put up a generic sign in the Big Issue office asking people to call me if they were interested in being in my doco, because that would then put me in a position of casting officer.

The idea that I would be judging the merit or value of one person's story over another's was not a position I was prepared to take, and would not have been fair on my prospective subjects.

So I decided to call the Big Issue office, and ask the vendor coordinator for suggestions on somebody she thought would make a great film. My only criteria were that they would be honest and open in whatever they chose to disclose to me, and would be prepared to tell their story to a video camera over a three to four day shoot. Just as Kirsty was describing a vendor who sprang to mind by the name of 'Damo', the man himself walks through the door to her office to collect his daily supplies. He's just walked in! She exclaims, I'll just put him on! And so, with both of us put on the spot, I tell Damo about the project I'm interested in embarking upon, and he agrees to meet for coffee in North Fitzroy to discuss it further.

Three days later I've found my story.

The second step involved tackling my head, which relentlessly rattled off reasons why the film couldn't work. Largely, these reasons revolved around money, and my expectations of how the project would look. I knew that if I was going to throw myself into this project, I wanted it to be polished and professional if, for no other reason, than to do justice to Damo's story itself. So I started brainstorming and contacting anyone and everyone I could think of to ask for money, or leads on getting money for my film.

Since I only had a fortnight to find money, and didn't even have a script, I didn't bother approaching the larger film funding bodies as they can take months to process applications, and scripts are prerequisites! I had a few rough quotes from my friend/editor/cameraman Ben, of how much I might need for the project, and together with a letter explaining my vision for the film, I peddled them around from one company to another via telephone calls and e-mails. Two weeks and a billion phone calls later, I had been pledged around $1700 from one of Melbourne's top law firms, and had my own producer and affiliated production company, Erwin Films, who generously covered my post production costs. I think what struck me more than anything about
getting past these obstacles was the extent to which these people were prepared to go out on a limb and take a risk on me, and my project. At that stage, I had only a skeleton of a script, so they were putting their resources into this film on little more than my vision alone. That, to me was just awesome, and in turn gave me a jet of momentum and confidence which had taken a little knocking with the many refusals and rejections I had encountered before these two firms came to my rescue! The other thing that struck me was the importance of not giving up on the film and losing belief in what it would be. I had to keep telling myself that every rejection was one step closer to finding the person to say yes, and that it was surely just a matter of statistics - eventually, if I just approached enough people, perhaps one or two would give me a positive. At the end of the day when all there is is a vision and no money (with application for personal loan pending), having a touch of feisty tenacity, and an underlying belief in the project, was the only thing to cling to.

The third step, which actually closely paralleled the last, involved contacting Melbourne-based band The Cat Empire, and requesting permission to use their music for the film. I first met this band about a year and a half ago when they were performing gigs at the Saint bar in St Kilda and was blown away by the power and passion of their music, all original. I had often thought, whilst attending subsequent performances, that I would love to be able to use their music for the next film I make. I had a strong feeling that whatever the tone of the film, there would be appropriate music in their wide repertoire to enhance and add depth to the images and words
already out there. Contacting the band was easier said than done because they were overseas right up until the film was finished, performing at the Edinburgh Festival. Via e-mail and a few long distance phone calls, I got in touch with Correne, the beautiful band manager, who was enthusiastic from the word go. Once we had established legalities and copyright issues, we had the tentative go-ahead to advance and final documents were signed just a day or two before the film was sent to Sydney. Having Cat Empire on board was, to me, as important as having a good story, funds and good post production and I was thrilled that they were, just like the investors, prepared to take a risk on little more than an enthusiastic idea. They are already high profile internationally as well as locally, and it was an honour to have them involved. The end product wouldn't have been the same without them!

Once the money and music was found, the production of the film had to happen very quickly. Our first day of shooting was September 5, and the film had to be in Sydney in a little over a month to meet the deadline of the Big Issue film festival. Before I started the first shoot, I had met with Damo on several occasions and recorded a two hour voice over only interview with him in the soundproof room of 3RRR. This meant that I had gathered enough information to compose a script of the film and I had a fairly clear sense of how the film would be structured and how it would appear aesthetically.

The three days we spent shooting, over the two weeks which followed, were intensive but fun. The 'we' included Damo, Ben, my saviour friend and professional cameraman and editor, and me: the three musketeers. Ben, I should add here, is not just any old cameraman - he was this year awarded the country's highest award for video for weddings, and runs a highly successful business. To have him offer to personally film and edit 'Damo' with me was an unexpected, but wonderful surprise.

The three of us often found ourselves in some bizarre situations and working under funny conditions throughout the shoots. The train interview, for example, took us in and out of the city about four times on the train. On one particular trip where the sound was at its best, we had to contend with all sorts of odours being emitted from a nearby passenger who had almost passed out from alcohol consumption! On another occasion we were in a boarding house in the city, trying to diplomatically ask reception to let us film in the shabbiest, grubbiest room they had on offer, without sounding downright suspicious! The shoot took us everywhere from North Fitzroy cafes to a conference at the Melbourne Town Hall, to laneways in the city and Moorabbin football ground and Brighton beach. We got footage of Damo riding his bike in the rain
around Clifton Hill, North Fitzroy, Richmond and Carlton, of him collecting his supplies at the Big Issue office in Melbourne, and of him preparing for a speech he was giving, at home in Mount Evelyn. I guess what I learned most about the shoots was the importance of being impeccably well organised, not just in terms of general logistics and time management, but also in terms of organising permission prior to filming at particular places and anticipating back-up plans should light or weather not be in our favour. At the same time, given that we had so little time to shoot, it was also important to be adaptable and spontaneous - grasping shots where we could, and judging when to lose a plan if time or some other factor became a higher priority. My
trusty parents traipsed around after us with baskets of food and hot chocolate and coffee, which boosted spirits and energy levels like nothing else. So the days of the shoot were hectic but with plenty of laughs. Working alongside Ben and Damo was fantastic because both were flexible and energetic and prepared to run with pretty much any idea I had, even if they were both somewhat dubious about exactly what I was aiming for in a particular shot. The biggest bonus of all was when both of them, of their own accord, would suggest shots which I hadn't perceived but which the end cut would have sorely missed had it not have been for their own innovation.

The editing process was a long one which was made dramatically easier given that I had organised the shoot with a fairly definite idea of the script and of the overall structure of the film before we started shooting. I did a rough edit using Ben's equipment, on Final Cut Pro, and he then spent three days with me, refining it. The most difficult and time-consuming part of the edit was the sound, particularly for the middle part of the film where Damo is talking on the train. For this section, we actually borrowed snippets of interviews from non-train settings and cut them in alongside the train interview footage. This meant that for consistency, we had to record train
atmos continually in the background, and constantly adjust levels so that the voice was clearly audible and not overshadowed by the background. Ben patiently adjusted and re-adjusted so that the sound was as good as possible. I will probably think more about the processes of editing themselves, next time I script a film, because the ideal is to keep things as simple as possible so that the precious post production time is used effectively.

The 10 minute final cut of Damo is incredibly similar to exactly how I envisaged the film to look from the moment I considered the project, and later met Damo. It is even better than I imagined, thanks to the impromptu images and scenes we shot which Damo or Ben perceived. In the final cut, image and sound merge and correspond beautifully, again better than I ever could have expected, thanks to Ben's proficiency in editing. I learned an abundance throughout the making of this film and had a wonderful time in the process. I guess it consolidated for me what I knew all along - that the key is about finding what you're passionate about and having the tenacity and self-belief to be prepared to act on it and follow it through, regardless of how many knock backs there may be. Plenty of times throughout the initial period of rejection after rejection, I was tempted to stop trying to find funds for the project, which would have meant it not happening, or at least happening on so small a budget that it would have severely compromised my initial vision for it. 'Damo' didn't just meet my expectations and vision
and dream, it exceeded it, and that's what I will take with me to the next project. It seems that so often we limit ourselves without even realising we are doing it - we choose second best rather than aspiring and achieving the first best, because for whatever reason - lack of confidence or belief or whatever, we think aiming for the moon is hopeless and it's ultimately unattainable. I'm looking forward to throwing myself into the next project and hope that I will approach it as a fearless warrior starlet who will not allow failure or rejections along the way to detract from the vision itself and the momentum required to attain it!

Credits and Stills.