THE REEF BLOG

Shot list after 1st days shooting...

Nature so hammered us roughly!  i'd say wind and tide 108, Film Crew 15.

We start shooting tomorrow - gulp! Due to stinger season we have to shoot up North in Bowen then have several more weeks of pre-production in Hervey Bay before the main shoot starts.

The stuff in Bowen is really important as it is the end of the film. We have an amazing location up here but everything is conspiring against us! We need calm weather - the wind is blowing a gale. We need clear water - there's coral spawn (don't ask!)...the water looks like milky muck. We need a smooth rock island for the end scene so our actors aren't smashed to pieces - all our rocks have oysters all over them. See the pix below for our rock island location.

Then there are tide issues, lost wetsuits, cut feet and oh yeah - the cast & crew were all badly delayed by the dust storms in Sydney...

I am going off to light some incense, and pray to the god of film-making!

SWIMMING TO SALVATION

Some of my thinking behind the movie.

The production of this film is guided by three principles:

Suspense and Psychological Horror
The main principal of good horror and suspense is that the audience’s imagination is a much more potent tool than special effects and “monster” shots. In other words the best way to build fear and dread is by focussing on small events and leaving “space” for the audience’s imagination to run wild. Like Jaws, Alien and all good horror-thrillers, The Reef will generate suspense and tension by holding back the presence of the “monster” and focussing on the fears of the main characters.

Realism

Rather than being heavily theatrical, The Reef will be written as realistic as possible, sticking to its simple and raw premise without being burdened with artificial themes. I want the audience to feel this true event. I want them to think, imagine if this happened to me, what would I do?

Characters

We want to make sure that the four main characters in this tale are all real characters with natural vulnerabilities that the audience can and will empathise with them.

Stay tuned for more blog posts.