Behind the Scenes with Mantra

Check out our latest behind the scenes video with the super talented hip-hop artist and all around good guy Mantra. This is our most extensive video update yet, and Mantra takes us through the process of creating some of Play It Safe's original music, the relationship between improvised music and acting, as well as the music video for his track "The Fear" which was created by the core creative team behind Play It Safe.

Behind the Scenes with Christine Lui

Today, we are very excited to release our fourth behind the scenes video, this time with the super talented Christine Lui.

Behind the Scenes with Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall

We're excited to release our third behind the scenes interview, this time with the one and only Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall! Alasdair is a rising star in the Melbourne comedy scene and he's worked on a ton of great projects so far, including Shaun Micallef's MAD AS HELL, ABC iview's Australia Think Tank, and the great podcast Two In The Think Tank.

Behind the Scenes with Maya Aleksandra

Our second behind the scenes interview has just been released, with the super talented Maya Aleksandra. If you've watched Australian TV in the last couple of years then you'll probably recognise Maya from shows like Neighbours, Winners & Losers, and Wilfred. Check her out here talking about what it was like working on PLAY IT SAFE.

Behind the Scenes with Nicholas Kato

We've just released a brand new behind the scenes video with our wonderful lead actor Nicholas Kato! Nick has been a part of this project since the very beginning and he gives a great overview of how we've been bringing Play It Safe to life.

What To Do When You Can't Get A Good Take

This is a director’s nightmare: Everyone’s in position, the cameras are rolling, but something’s not quite right. You’ve been shooting the same scene for what feels like an eternity and no matter what you do, the actors’ performances are just not getting any better.

Recording MC Jibber Jabber

A couple of weeks ago we recorded the final version of a song Jamie (Nicholas Kato) and his housemate Jefferson (Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall) make up while drunk one night. The recording session was tons of fun and half the time Nathan, Al, and I were just laughing at how stupid the whole thing is. (Don't worry, it's actually supposed to be stupid.)

MC Jibber Jabber

A while back I cast Melbourne comedian Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall in the role of Jefferson, who is the best friend and housemate of the protagonist Jamie. Al is a very funny guy and working with him has been absolutely hilarious. For the last few weeks I've been working with him on a song that Jeff and Jamie will perform (when drunk one night in their living room) late in the film. I'm totally stoked with how the track is turning out and I can't way to record the final version. I don't want to give away too much info about the song just yet, but for now here are a few photos of Al in action:

Workshopping With Actors & Reworking The Script

Over the past month or so I've spent a lot of time workshopping scenes with the actors and then rewriting them with Jack. I first started thinking about using a process like this back in 2007, so it feels really great to be finally giving it a go. The good news is that it works fantastically well!

Workshops

As we get closer to shooting, I have been spending more time with the actors workshopping and rehearsing scenes. This process has been incredibly productive and it's also a whole lot of fun. After working on the script for more than a year now, it's quite an amazing experience seeing it come to life in the actors' performances.



I plan to write much more extensively on my process working with actors (whenever I get a free moment). For now here are some photos from workshops with Nick Kato (who plays the protagonist Jamie), Christine Lui (who plays Chloe), and Kane Felsinger (who plays Craig):