Dress rehearsal

Nghi had insisted that we needed a dress rehearsal. He wanted Joy to rent the actual camera so she could play with it, and wanted us to run through the whole film in the studio. I wasn’t convinced, but let him have his way – he’s funding the film after all.

He was right. It was immensely useful. The main thing I learnt was how long everything takes. I had imagined, naively, that lifting and putting down a tripod was somehow instantaneous. It’s not. Even if it was always clear, when I say up, that I mean tripod up, not angle up, it would still be a slow process. Joy will have a camera assistant, but still, I know that now, we need to plan ahead, for every shot, take a few minutes only to set up camera.

The other good thing we learnt is how good the actors are. Everything went smooth, dance, urinal scene, final scene, and even the first scene. Nghi put together a rough edit of the rehearsal, I’ve shown it around a bit. I think it looks good, and it’s a real encouragement for the last stretch.

Dance Rehearsals II

We have completed another dance rehearsal. It was exciting watching how much the actors had retained. They are doing so well and have clearly been practicing which is great and means that each rehearsal is very productive. The most recent rehearsal was both productive and challenging.

We are close to completing the choreography and will have done so by the end of the next rehearsal for sure. However there was a lot for the actors to learn. The foot work and timing in the last section is fairly complex and I needed to work with them on where to place body weight and styling. This is not just so that it looks good, but so that everything they do is safe and manageable. I certainly tested them this time around but I think they handled the pressure well. They have a lot of practice to do so that we can move forward but I am determined to get the final snippet done next time around- and I am positive the guys can pull it off.

It has been good working with a crew that is so supportive and adaptable. Everyone is very encouraging and creative so there are always good ideas flowing. Soon there will be footage posted from some of the rehearsals too so that will be good. We are very close to filming now so I am really excited about that - it will be good to see it all come together.

Warming up

I’m always on time at the studio, but everyone else is early. So when I get into the room, I see Nick and Matthew stretching, bending, lifting an arm up or twisting a wrist. I feel like I’m in Fame or Flashdance, or one of these hundred American movies about performing arts school – and sure dance looks good on the screen. Here’s two pictures of the guys warming-up. Enjoy the vibe!

After the warm-up, Matthew goes into break-dancing mode, he jumps on the side and lands on his right arm, or does a kind of head-flip. I’m thinking, I don’t want a cast on the screen, OK; but, hey, what can you do? So, well, I clap. In another studio downstairs, a line of guys is doing kicks and spins on a Lady Gaga soundtrack. I have to say, sometimes I get distracted.

The playlist

I always write to a playlist. All of my novels had a musical colour, an album, or a couple of albums I would set on repeat as I drafted. Same with Honey Pot, I set up a 'gay film' playlist on my windows media player. I thought at first it was music I wanted as soundtrack, but it’s more an atmosphere, a mood – a combination of moods.

I experimented with it today. After their work with Flic, I asked Nick and Matthew to run through the urinal sequence a few times over, adapting to different soundtracks – and I took them through my gay film playlist: Zarah Leander singing “Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen”, German grand-kitsch; Ala dos Namorados singing, Os Velhos, Portuguese melancholu; The Shanghai Restoration Project playing its 1936 introduction, nostalgic Chinese Swing; Astor Piazzolla playing Milonga, Buenos Aires passion; and in the end, Teresa Teng singing San Nia, Taiwanese emotionalism.

I was impressed, at how Nick and Matthew created a different atmosphere each time. But the main thing I achieved, I think, was having them relax. After the five experimental takes, I turned off the music, and asked ‘I want a combination of all that’. It worked: Nick came up with a wonderful up and down movement of his shoulders, and Matthew camply moved his right hands onto the back of his hips, inviting him in. I laughed, I actually laughed, and also Flic had a light laughter.

I was proud, I was happy, I had made comedy happen!

Fancy Footwork

Here is a quick video of Nick Teoh and Matthew Keating practicing new footwork. Choreography by Flic Manning. Keep up the good work!

Dance Rehearsals

I have spent quite a bit of time working on the choreography for film. This has involved story-boarding movements, looking into music and tempos and taking traditional Tango movements and working out how to adapt them for people that have not performed Tango before. Involved in this is creating movement that does not look specifically like dancing the whole time- rather stylised movement and fighting that just draws on the Tango and other passion based dances.

It is always interesting choreographing as it is visualised in the mind and then applying it means being able to adjust it in the moment and upon request.

Working with Nick and Matthew has been a lot of fun. The first rehearsal was a fairly short and so we only covered a small amount of movement, but I was extremely impressed by the enthusiasm shown by them. A good attitude always makes it easier to teach. The second rehearsal was a full length rehearsal held in a dance studio in Prahran. Both of the actors were very switched on and involved and we managed to move quite far ahead in the choreography. Julien, the Director had a few ideas for movements and intentions and I worked with the actors to include these on the spot and it worked very well.

In this rehearsal we covered some much more complicated movement and I made sure to pull the actors aside and teach them how to safely move so that the next section of choreography would not be too dangerous to them. They have adapted to it so well and I think we are all having a lot of fun as it comes together. The feedback so far has been great too which is always a good sign.

The next rehearsal is going to cover some very intricate foot work and so I expect that it may be a bigger challenge than anything else the actors have faced in movement so far. I am looking forward to it as this next section is leading to the "crescendo" of the dance too. We are well on our way to completion.