Australian film - Federation of Australian Movie Makers

BACK FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
A Film made by the Video Club of Tauranga, New Zealand
When a story broke in our local newspaper last November, that a local car enthusiast had faithfully restored
a 1907 Ford “S” motor car, I thought it worth a second look. Not only was this “horseless carriage” found
as a small heap of rusting “bits” on a Cambridge farm, - it turned out to be only one of three vehicles of its
type known to exist in the world today - (The other two are owned by the Ford motor Corporation in the
USA). I immediately saw the prospect of a film project here.
I was President of our club at the time and had been over a period of two years, providing means for any
club member who wanted to improve camera or editing technique, to take advantage of programs held at
our club rooms throughout the year. We had done topics on storyboarding - studio lighting - camera technique
- sound and editing … and so on, so I immediately considered that we could wrap this up and show
all our newly found skills by making a film.
I made immediate contact with the car’s restorer, Seaton Dredge who turned out to be a retired design engineer
who had worked at General Motors in Australia designing the early Holden. With an agreeable nod
from him, I went about getting our local club members informed and began plans to muster equipment and
start storyboarding sequences I thought I wanted for the film.
My first thought was to film in high definition and my Canon HV20 and HV30 - a matched pair-would be
suitable, but soon realised that I wanted 4 cameras at some point, so I used 3 CCD mini DV cameras. I
thought that my previous experience of directing a film, and being number 4 cameraman in another, would
come to the fore and keep me in good stead. I could easily pull this one off with few problems until the
main actor, Seaton Dredge, the restorer of the car, told me just as a matter of fact one day, that he was
heading back to Australia in about 2 weeks for an extended 2 year stay. Sheer panic broke followed by a
severe sweat disorder and it was time for a radical rethink.
Then came further problems. We had days of rain and our filming location was a farm implement shed
made from corrugated iron, that did nothing for our sound department. The farm was near the local airport
and we had aeroplanes landing on the hour, and, when filming. we just happened to have a trainee pilot doing
take off and landings nearby which lost me some more hair and I was wondering what I had done so
wrong in my life to deserve this, and wondered what more could go so wrong, when Seaton announced that
he was going to be out of town for 3 days.
With only days to go, we abandoned any thought of storyboarding procedures and filmed “old turkey” as
they say and we were “nearly down to the wire” with only 3 days left when Seaton announced that the car
would not start and he was sourcing another carburettor so that we could film the car driving along the
road.
Now down to only two days before Seaton left for Australia and we had to film the next day, wet or fine or
have no film at all, and the car just would not start with the recently acquired carburettor.
So …… We filmed “as if” the car was driving under its own power and made sure we did not film the
“pushers” at the rear. We then towed the model “S” to get more footage “on the road” and then filmed
again from the sunshine roof of another car driving alongside, taking care not to show the tow rope attached
to the towing vehicle. Sound was added later from a 1928 Ford with a similar sounding motor, and
the film was “in the can”.
Yes, 4 cameras were utilised, and yes it did take me 3 months to edit but I can tell you this, with full authority,
that all concerned had a fast learning curve and with what turned out to be an excellent choice of
our “front person/interviewer”. Also by chance the very professional way in which our host, Seaton
Dredge, presented both himself and the stories of the car’s construction, and we have finished up with a
quality DVD that any Video Camera Club would be proud of.
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Australian film & video