Congratulations to Year 11 student and aspiring filmmaker Damon Rudge, whose short film 'Afraid of everything. Did it anyway.' has been selected for the ReelOzInd Australia Indonesia Film Festival in the Youth Filmmaker category!
Damon's film was created for a Media assignment and will receive its world premiere on September 27 at ACMI in Melbourne and Yogyakarta in Indonesia. The film festival offers a platform for Australians and Indonesians to come together and share their stories through the compelling and creative medium of short film.
Marymede sat with Damon to learn a little more about his passion for filmmaking and the film's influences.
Damon, how long have you been interested in filmmaking?
I have been interested in filmmaking when I first used iMovie back in 2006. My Dad brought home the latest iMac and I have been hooked ever since. I remember making many videos on the program and presented them to my parents, grandparents almost weekly. Although they weren’t very complicated they contributed to my love and passion in making films. Due to me being bored a lot, I would also go through the menus on DVD’s and explore the behind the scenes on how the film was created, I believe that creativity behind making films is very unique and fun, and is one of the main reasons to why I still enjoy making films to this day.
What inspired you to make this film?
I was inspired by “Alice in Wonderland”, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” as well as “Arrival”. The quirky and mysterious world by Lewis Carroll was very influential, which I have been interested in for as long as I can remember, I was also influenced by the mystery of space and the unknown. I had slight inspiration by the film “Arrival” which influenced the subtle non-linear style that the film is in, although the film is highly subjective to the viewer.
In your opinion, which is the most difficult part of the filmmaking process?
The most difficult part of the filmmaking process, in my opinion, would be the production stage. I believe that writing script, drawing the storyboard and even editing all the footage requires a lot of effort. But if you don’t have the right footage to edit, or if your ideas from Pre-production haven’t been shown on your footage, the film will be a disaster. Most if not all stages of filming are quite flexible, which makes the filming process quite difficult, as it will literally influence how the film will look as a final product.
What are your three favourite films?
Can I say the Back to the future trilogy? They all just have such a wonderful character which differs to most films. I always find myself attached to the characters and the story is delivered in such a unique way, I don’t know why or how that is, but it’s beautiful.
What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?
My advice for aspiring filmmakers would be to just give it a go, nothing you create will be bad. It might not look professional to begin with, it just comes in practise. Experiment with different angles, lighting techniques and maybe something that is unconventional and different to anything anyone has seen. I also strongly believe that story will make everything, the good story is what sets a good film apart from a terrible one. But if there could only be one piece of advice to give anyone, just put your creations out there, you never know how far you could make it if you don’t give it a go.
You can watch Damon's complete film at ACMI's Australian Mediatheque, where it will be exhibited during the school holidays from September 28 until October 4.
