Each of these MeOhMy shorts are 1/6 of a set of experimental pieces testing a different component of film making.

This film is No. 4 of 6.

The goal of this piece was to experiment with cinematography, choreography + score.


While the world was moving through various stages of lockdown and isolation, my friends and I wanted to create something that would lift people’s spirits. This piece, set in an abstract 'bedroom' like space, explores the Sisyphus-like cycle of life; we fuck up, fall down, feel better, begin again. At the start of lockdown, I was really fighting to keep my business afloat. I thought I'd explore that 'feeling' through music + movement. The space is supposed to be a metaphor for home, during lockdown, and the girl is a creative, going through the motions of having her dream crushed, rallying, and ultimately deciding to try again.

This film was a totally bonkers, wildly ambitious experience from start to finish. Most of my ideas start with a piece of music (I have something called 'Synthanesia' - which means I see colours when I hear music). This one began with a Florence + The Machine track, too many coffees + a Spike Jonze video clip marathon.

I'd always been very fond of Spike Jonz's ad for Kenzo - a deliriously whacky 'I AM WOMAN- don't fuck with me' piece. The feeling it gives off is deeply primal.

I wondered if I could produce something like that; a kind of 'open to interpretation' piece that stripped all my opulent visuals back + put the focus on storytelling through movement and music. Could I speak a universal truth, like Spike had?

I decided to really go hard on the minimalist approach. I wanted one woman, one room, one take (or at least, something that looked like it had all been shot in one take). I wanted to rest the entire story on the performance itself.

I wanted the movement in the piece to feel like a back and forth fight with self to push past failure and keep going.

Kirsty and I workshopped movements for each section of the track over two weeks. I had ideas in mind for certain parts of the song, but getting from A to B fluidly required some experimenting. Kirsty is not only a wonderful performer, she’s also a terrific dancer. So we had plenty of deep conversations about our own experiences with failure, while we were trying to find the right 'beats' for the actual movements. We talked of overcoming life's hardships, the ups and downs of creative industry life and how challenging it is to chase after something that often feels like an impossible dream. The only part we didn't choreograph was the ending, which worried Kirsty a little bit (she much prefers rehearsals to improv) but I'm a big fan of reacting to a feeling in a moment on set. I really wanted her to respond to the music on the day of the shoot for her final 'leaps of faith' around the performance space.

I approached the wonderful Rhonda of Viva La Musica, to compose a new take on an old fav track. She, a harpist, pianist, cellist, and a violinist re-worked a Florence + The Machine tune for us to use.

We choreographed everything while I worked in tandem with the musicians on the cover- this way, the music and the movements influenced each other. There was no other way to work on this piece except almost simultaneously between departments. I wanted it to feel how Synthanesia feels; like colour moving to music.

I would be in a session with the classical musicians explaining how the music would need to rise for 'Kirsty's leap of faith' and then head back to rehearsals with Kirsty to workshop the leap to suit the bones of the beat and then head back to sound tech Marcus’s studio to better build out certain sounds. We dropped vocals, added drums, kicked up the reverb and mixed in chandelier smashes. The overall effect is a haunting, classical cover created entirely for this project.

Cinematography-wise, I had a very distinct vision for the opening. I wanted to start flat, from above (literally rising up with Kirsty) and end the piece in the same position. We couldn't afford the necessary rigging to do this properly, but Jake Koning had some brilliant solutions for supplementing the gear we couldn't afford, to make it happen. He also suggested a steadicam operator to get the 'seamless' scene to scene feeling I was chasing. Jake really did a beautiful job on this one, so much so that he won a bronze ACS award for the piece.

Lighting wise, I really wanted it to feel like a 'show’ in this abstract bedroom-like space. So we pumped spotlights in, to give a theatre-y feel.

The end result is (hopefully) a moving short about overcoming failure. I like to think of it like starting at the bottom of a really steep hill, hating how heavy a lift the climb up it is going to be, fighting it, then, ultimately, figuring out how to overcome it. At the end of every project (or the top of every hill), there's always this tiny beautiful moment when everything falls into place + all the suffering seems worth it.

Kirsty's dance at the end of the film is a joyous spinning free-fall, that symbolises that sweet spot when you do succeed. It feels (to me) how I feel when we manage to pull something off at MeOhMy; like everything is suddenly singing, and you're so in touch with what the world wants from you, that you're operating on a higher frequency.

I think that feeling is so fleeting, so special, and so very, very worth what it takes to get there.

I hope it speaks to you.


xX

DIRECTOR: Charli Burrowes
STARRING: Kirsty Sturgess
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jake Koning
PRODUCER: Madie Sturgess
ASSIST: Carissa Niciauskas
HMUA: Penny Antuar
FLORAL DESIGN: Bart Hassam
FLORAL ASSIST: Maddie Walsh
STEADICAM OP: David Aponas
1ST AC: Brandon Harrison
2ND AC: Emma Jordin
GAFFER: Teretiano Reti
KEY GRIP: Logan Collier
COLOUR: Caleb De Leon
LIGHTING SUPPLIED BY: Shed Lighting
LENSES SUPPLIED BY: Lemac Australia
MUSIC COMPOSED BY: Rhonda Irwin [flute]
VOCALS: Paris Irwin
HARP: Grace Kikuchi
CELLO: Evalyn Legried
VIOLIN: Eugenie Costello
SOUND PRODUCTION, MIXING, SOUND DESIGN: Marcus Warren & Ben Fry
STILLS [1]: Millie Tang
STILLS [2]: Carla Grant