Now and again I find myself in a complete flurry where every passing second seems to add to a gradual build up of flustered madness. The 23rd December 2014 was one of those days. Frantically trying to organise what felt like several thousand things at once I came across a link a friend had send me calling  out for submissions for a local film festival. The deadline was hours away, the modest and undeniably fair entry fee was all I had in the bank, I have only ever made one very silly piece of film and the simple undemanding entry process seemed equivocal to asking a man with no hands to build a castle out of feathers in the midst of a typhoon.

However a sneaky little voice of determination kept finding its way to my ear through the clouds of chaos so, after spending whatever amount of time discovering the joys of reformatting, capturing stills, filling out forms and chatting to a lovely man called Shane with a beautiful sounding paddock following a series of bouncing emails - all was done and subsequently quite soon forgotten in the whirlwind of December festivities.

Fast forward to yesterday morning: while enjoying a cup of coffee in my favourite seat of my favourite cafe in Mullmumbimby my phone started shimmying across the table, buzzing merrily. It was the lovely and aforementioned Shane calling to tell me that animation had made it into the finalists for the film festival! What a joyous surprise!! It seems that on occasion, even when you have a 'To Do' list as long as your left leg (which I am am convinced is slightly longer than the right one) - adding one more item to the mix can turn out to be rather a jolly good idea :)

Flickerfest 2016 runs from 22nd - 24th this month and all screenings will be taking place at Mullumbimby's Civic hall with the All Shorts competition screening on the Saturday. Should you be in the area and like myself are rather partial to the magic of short films click here to buy tickets.

xxx

Last year I was lucky enough to be part of an amazing team on the production of 'Lay Down Your Guns' - a music video directed by Juliet Carrington for local artist Dan Hannaford. Despite managing to fall over quite spectacularly in the dark that morning trying to find the bathroom - which resulted in the most bizarrely awkward spasming my arm has ever been victim to - the day went quite beautifully :)

Shot in 12 hours over a plethora of locations in Byron Shire, NSW - this wonderfully produced music video echoes the feeling of old Spaghetti Westerns with a touch of Wes Anderson and follows an outlaw cowboy on the run from a Native American girl, with a charming twist at the video's conclusion. I loved the story concept as soon as Juliet told me and was further hooked when I heard Dan's song. was very grateful to be allowed creative input into the ideas and designs for the makeups - conceiving a very simple idea that tied the beginning to the end so to speak - trying not to give away any spoilers here ;) . The girls costume and makeup were checked rigorously with a great family friend of the Hannafords who himself is Native American, to ensure no inadvertent disrespect would be caused through their usage/application :) 

CAST
Cowboy: Dan Hannaford

Warrior Woman: Kiani Newman

Mother: Emma Cloherty

Cowboy Child: Sonny Cloherty
Warrior Child: Summer Renolds


 CREDITS
Director | Producer | Editor: Juliet Carrington (Set Apart Productions)

Cinematography: Jared Bazley

Camera Assistant: Kyrin Bazley

Make Up Artist: Elvis Schmoulianoff

Colourist: Jared Bazley
Casting: Nicole Hannaford and Juliet Carrington

Costumer: Nicole Hannaford and Juliet Carrington

Costume Design: Nicole Hannaford and Juliet Carrington

Office Production Assistant: Nicole Hannaford

Story written by: Juliet Carrington

Publicity / Management 
Dragging Canoe Records, Byron Bay

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​Thanks to you all for a beautiful day!
​Elvis xxx