Maxfactormama’s Weblog

Pick up shoot day today at Macclesfield started at 7am – a bit of a struggle after having a break from filming for a couple of weeks! After doing the basic makeup at Luke’s we headed off in convoy to the location for the morning’s filming. It was a very chilly spot (but nothing compared with the Grampians!) Special effects “continuity” makeup was applied onsite after several rehearsals, then it was down to the ‘business’ end of the shoot. We had a few more rehearsals of the car chase scene, with many interruptions from passing cars. Who would have thought there’d be so much traffic on the back roads of Macclesfield! The boys enjoyed “bagging up” the cars on the dirt road and there were a few new expressions added to the list of “hoodisms” – street hoods, nasty hoods, freaky hoods, safety hoods (the ones wearing seat belts), prickly hoods (Cassie got up close and personal with one of these!) and of course, the neighbour hoods!! Sophie was our stand-in Wardrobe girl and she also did a great job as the new clapper (adding another name to the already lengthy list of clappers on the film.) Wrapped up at lunch time and home to watch the grand final which ended up as a bit of a fizzer – at least we got to see a victorian team win!

Recently returned from a relaxing beach holiday at Port Macquarie – I can thoroughly recommend it! Due to limited time available we flew up to Sydney then drove to P.M. After negotiating the confusing road system in Sydney we headed up the Pacific Hwy to our destination. The hire car we used had a state of the art GPS system but the instructions didn’t match the model we had, so I had to resort to good old fashioned UBD street map! Cat and Sez (a close family friend) have developed a road trip tradition of photographing all the “big” tourist attractions along the way. This is one of the ugliest – a very crass version of Ayers Rock – with the most imaginative name of “Big Rock cafe”. The resort we stayed in was very well appointed and the girls certainly made good use of the pool area and games room. We spent some very relaxing hours by the pool as well as our favourite beachside bar & cafe – “The Beach House”.

Today we have lost a very dear member of our family – Andy’s Mum passed away after a lengthy period of declining health. She will be sorely missed and our family gatherings will not be the same without her inimitable sense of humour and we will particularly miss her special dance! “The Mary” was a dance move created by Mary in her hey-day. It was a very singular dance move, which the grandchildren have come to love performing in her honour. She was beloved by all her family and a devoted mother to Andy, Chris, Cath and Jon, and a most adored ‘Nanny’ to 11 grandchildren. She was the best mother-in-law to Julie, Shelley and myself, welcoming us into the family with open arms. She was particularly careful not to overstep the boundaries with her married children - never interfering in our lives but was always there to lend an ear or give advice (but only if it was asked for!) A gracious hostess with a gift of making people feel welcome, Mary was always polite and put great importance on good manners. Even in her declining health, she was unfailingly polite to the nursing staff in the nursing home and they remarked on what a lovely lady she was to care for. We shall miss her deeply. Rest in Peace Mary.

There have been many memorable moments created so far on our Elindil’s Secret Film Project. In many ways it has been a steep learning curve for most of us, but the experience has been greatly enhanced by some of the special comraderie shared on location, especially in some of the more challenging situations! A good sense of humour is essential in these circumstances and the ability to laugh at one’s self is paramount!

“Three wise monkeys”    It’s a hard life Grant!”         “Awesome Crew”

One of our many “clappers”

My all time “favourite” memory is the most challenging outdoor makeup studio – on the side of a slippery hill with rolling mist, leeches, frozen fingers and making do with what I had in my kit (cos I left my brush roll at home that day!) I will NEVER forget my brushes again!!! 

As I have discovered on the set of Elindil’s Secret, there is a lot of “down time” for makeup and wardrobe. So this week I remembered to bring something to do, when not directly involved in doing makeup. We have planned to take some supplies to aids orphans in Kenya when we travel later this year. One of the things I have been doing is knitting teddies to take to the orphanages we will be visiting. Sue, our Props Supervisor has “caught the knitting bug” and joined me in knitting teddies yesterday, in between doing a bit of body double work to cover for Cassie. Lots of muti-tasking going on - well done Sue!

 Our little “family” of teddies is growing steadily!

Shoot day 11 at Rodney’s cabin in Healesville was a long day but some great work by all! It was the first time I had done the facial scar makeup on Grant’s character but a “trial run” on Andy the day before had helped me to get the technique right - he’s been a great makeup model!

We had a few interesting technical aids for the lighting effects – in keeping with the rustic theme of the cabin, we had a gum tree branch to help create the flickering light from the fire - very inventive guys!

      It was another long day for crew. Bending over camera can give you quite a back ache, so Luke took time out for a bit of yoga!

     We also had quite a few stand-in “Rays” while the lighting crew got the levels right. Dave took his turn to wear the shades and relax next to the fire.     

We also added another name to our list of “clappers” – Jacinta did a great job all day but by the end of it she said  the novelty had definitely worn off!    

Geoff continued his job - filming the making of ES, capturing all the highs & lows. There were some great moments captured on film today and Cassie’s performance at the end was  outstanding – especially considering she got accidentally squirted in the eye when we were trying to create “tears”! Great job by all guys!                                                                                   

Today we had our favourite production assistant back on deck – Andy was able to join us again on shoot location after suffering a back injury which kept him sidelined for two weeks. It was great to have him there to help in numerous ways – not only with makeup, but also the most important thing for a hungry cast & crew – lunch! Here’s a picture of him in his element as master chef (complete with lovely aprons!!)

          Makeup Assistant to the “stars”

We also had a visit from a friendly Kookaburra who was there to check out the BBQ before we even put it on to cook the meat! He was very bold and sat there for ages while we all took photos of him.   We all thought he was so cute, til we discovered him diving for goldfish in Denise’s pond! He had the last laugh on us!

I have had some funny experiences when trying to aquire some makeup supplies – especially when they’re not your usual requests – like today for instance. I had been trying to track down a large plastic syringe for the film blood applications and no-one had any. I must say I don’t think I look like a shifty character but I got lots of “funny” looks when I asked for it! Finally managed to get one in a chemist in Ringwood but the salesgirl clearly thought I was weird, even after explaining what it was for. Some people just don’t have a sense of humor!!

Weekend shoot at Bega commenced early Saturday am with a convoy of Silver cars (how come we all drive silver cars?…..) heading up the Princes Hwy. Jen W & Jen S were sharing a car with all the costume and makeup gear and quickly became known as “Thelma & Louise”. The long drive was punctuated with radio communications between the cars – some edifying, some not so!! The “Thelma & Louise Party Car” was rockin by the time we got to Merimbula but we were disappointed we didn’t run into Brad Pitt!! 

Unloaded the cars and time for a stroll on the Merimbula beach before we hit the local RSL for dinner. Food was great although there was some concern at how quickly the meals arrived on the table after ordering….. prompting the suspicion that they had a few microwaves back in the kitchen!

Early morning start on sunday with 1st makeup call at 6:30am. No-one really got a good night’s sleep so Dave S’s offer to cook bacon and eggs went down well! All the dads were wished a Happy Father’s Day and we set off to the secret location for the day’s shooting. Fortunately the weather was mild but even so, those who were destined to do the long drop into the icy rock pool were not looking forward to that experience! Least of all Cassie…….

“Do I have to do this?!” “Don’t I have a stunt double?” “Sh*#t!!!!!!

She bravely faced the challenge - great stuff Cass! Despite the potential risks, the shoot went very well – the only injuries were to Thelma & Louise who both ended up on their tushes!

“Does my bum look wet in this???”

 Finished filming at lunchtime and enjoyed a BBQ lunch before the long trek home. It was a huge weekend of driving and it might be a while before I listen to some of my cd’s again as they got a bit of a bashing!

Thelma and Louise had a great time but we’re still looking for Brad!