THE UNDERGROUND

The characters in Absentia showcases six different corners of Melbourne that attempt to highlight six various cultures, lifestyles and ultimately, personas that make up the bulk of the series.

From the bright lights of the city, to the quite serenity of the suburbs, Absentia showcases a versatile backdrop that deploys Melbourne as a unique foreground character in itself that depicts the lives of Jack, Brittany (Jess), Ingrid, Jenny, Max, Thannassis – and Hitch (the linking protagonist).

In effect, the various surroundings that out characters find themselves placed in conjures up common themes such as friendship, love, adversity, loss of identity and finally, the struggle of fitting in – something that most Melbournians and non-Melbournians can relate too.

When discussing of an idea when we first met a s group, Paul came up with a  concept  similar to the UK tv series “Skins” of an Anthology Series that could be watched in any order with the viewer still able to understand the concept or the story line no matter what. We eventually drew inspiration from shows such “Orange is the New Black” that utilised the anthology structure.

Moreover, one thing that Melbourne seems to be lacking is having a show that highlights the uniqueness and cultural characteristics of our city –  a market that had not been tapped into yet.

In effect, we all decided that to create a TV series of this particular genre, we would have six or seven different characters from all across Melbourne that would details the various surroundings and environments, with the city being its own persona or if not character in the series.

I than came up with the idea of created a melodrama type series that portrayed 6 different characters from Melbourne who are unexpectedly connected by one mutual friend – a protagonist who is the link in the chain.

Therefore, we have six characters from different walks of life that embody a different part of Melbourne in their own unique way that all connected by a common theme – death.

Last week in the consult Stacy had the idea of doing the presentation (which is 15 minutes) as almost a kind of production pitch -selling our package, complete with casting details, location information, details of script development, table read-throughs etc

* We need to sell the uniqueness of our project – highlighting the particular design of our storytelling structure – how our characters relate – (which means concentrating and refining the hitch connection) – how each character has their own unique identity and location – how the show will be watched and experienced. 

Learning keyboard shortcuts on Adobe Premiere is an essential part to making post-production process easier. The following short cuts have helped me during the editing process that have ultimately become essential for me understanding and developing my editing skills wight the use of Premiere Pro.

~ key toggles the full screen of the window that is selected.

Ctrl + ~ keys toggle the full screen of the video playback

HOME key brings progress line to start, END key to last clip (never came across these as I don’t have these keys on my personal computer)

I haven’t had to deal with large amounts of footage before that is consistent with documentary filmmaking;

the M key marks key points of an imported clip, making it easier for the editor to sort through the footage. These marked areas can then be labelled separately to the actual clip title.

Recently, I had stumbled across one of sports documentaries finest films entitled “Thrilla in Manila” that details the iconic bout between world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and challenger Joe Frazier – a fight that took both men to brink of death that ultimately led to the demise of their careers. 32 years after the fight, HBO takes a look back at two men who changed the world and the sport of boxing with recounts from members of both camps including Joe Frazier himself. The opening shots provide viewers of the Philippine Coliseum that once held the bout where today it showcases Cockfights. With the jungle music heard in the background, this acts as an analogy for viewers as the Ali and Frazier are compared to two animals fighting to the death with one interviewee saying, “its an animalistic quality where we want to see two people fight it out, wars are fought that way”. Dubbed “the greatest fight of the 20^th century”, this war between two gladiators had spawned on bad blood, racial politics of the 1970s and shear hatred towards each other that left Frazier seeking to destroy Ali at any cost – even death. Moreover, as the intro concludes, we are taken to the world of Frazier today, to the ghettos of Philadelphia where he owns he’s own gym and resides only next door. With the country guitar playing in the foreground, viewers witness a weary yet cheerful Joe who’s just about to start work for the day. What the documentary brings up is the distant fortunes that the duo have today. Ali, who has earned roughly $50 million post his career his substantially higher than Frazier “who is living in a room above a gym” (Hauser). This is almost a cruel blow for Frazier who undoubtedly was in Ali’s category as one of the greatest yet his life after boxing tells a different tale. “It just shows how America treats its former sporting icons, some are recorded a special status and others a largely forgotten”.

The film begins to dissect the pair who were once very close and how this fearsome rivalry had come about. Ali, who was stripped of the title after refusing to head to Vietnam in a time of war, was exiled for three years that allowed Frazier to take the mantle of champion of the world. In effect, to ensure that their were no doubters of Frazier’s reign as champion, he was more than happy to set the fight up for the foreseeable future and even went as far as helping Ali get his boxing license back.

However, Ali did not return the favor in kind and began a tirade of abuse on Frazier that lasted until the conclusion of Manila. What the film does well is showcasing the ferocity of both men and how Manila staged a spectacle of blood and guts, the will and win, and whatever it takes to ensure not only victory, but also respect – something Frazier finally received after years of animosity.

In the end, the brutality that both men endured still haunts the pair today but their comrades as well. The moment where they both deserved to “to go forth into the sunset” had passed where Joe still resented Ali more than thirty years after the bout – a sad end to two of sports most courageous warriors.