SA eNews October 2016 - WA SA Awards bookings open - Girl Asleep Screening & Q&A - Profile Chris Moon ACS

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Awards Bookings Open!

Bookings for the 36th SA & WA Annual awards for Cinematography are now open.

As SA hosted the National awards back in May, our friends in the WA branch decided to give us a rest, so they will hold the formal Awards in Perth at the stunning Fraser’s Restaurant in Kings Park on October 29 at 5:30pm. Dress code is Black Tie / Formal.

The awards will be hosted by iconic WA indigenous Yamatji Actor/ Writer, Ernie Dingo. This awards ceremony will be a celebration of excellence and achievements in Australian cinematography with 21 categories, including Feature films, Documentaries, Television, Advertising, Student Categories and more.

SA Sponsors attending the awards in Perth need to book their complimentary tickets via the link below. Enter ACS2016WASA in the gift/promotional code and press ‘apply’. The total $ will be zero. You will still have to enter name, address and contact details on the booking details page.

WA Venue: Fraser’s Restaurant
60 Fraser Avenue,
Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia 6000
Time: 5:30pm
Dress Code: Black Tie / Formal
Tickets only $110 inc GST (plus booking fee)

For all those who cannot get to Perth the ceremony will also be steamed live to the South Australian branch at an awards dinner in Adelaide so we can rightly acknowledge our wonderful SA winners and sponsors. SA Sponsors and members are still required to book for this event via the Adelaide link below.

SA Venue: Hackney Hotel, The Torrens Room
95 Hackney Road, Hackney 5069
Time: 7:30pm
Dress code: Smart
Tickets only $55 inc GST. Collect your ticket/s at the venue.

Click to book WA SA Awards in Perth »
Click to book for Awards dinner in Adelaide »

Girl Asleep screening and Q&A 20 October

Your local ACS branch in combination with our friends at the ASE and AWG are holding a Girl Asleep screening followed by a Q&A, the special guests include:

Rosemary Myers (Writer/Director)
Andrew Commis ACS (Cinematographer)
Jonathon Oxlade (Production Designer)
Karryn de Cinque (Editor)

Date / Times

Thursday 20th October
Adelaide Studios Screening Room
226 Fullarton Road
Glenside, SA 5065

*Please come to the back of the studios and enter via the glass doors. Booked names will be on the door list.

6pm - Welcome Drink
6:30pm - Screening
8pm - Q&A
9pm - Depart venue

Free for ACS / AWG / ADG members.
$10 for students / other guilds.
$15 for others.
Please note we can only accommodate 90 in the theatre so get in quick.

Even if you are eligible for a free ticket bookings are essential via the link below.

Click to book Girl Asleep Screening & Q&A »

Profile Chris Moon ACS

Chris framing a shot at Uluru. Note the essential tools of cinematography - phone and Leatherman.

When did you decide you wanted to be a cinematographer?
In primary school, at the age of eleven. I discovered the school had a Super 8 camera, so a friend and I borrowed it and made a short documentary about the school library.

When the film came back from the lab our teacher took us to Underdale College of Advanced Education, where we screened it to two lecturers from the film department. They were so positive and encouraging that I decided then and there that it would be my career.

Did you continue with cinematography in high school?
Absolutely. I went to Underdale High, which was next door to the college. Ian Dinning, a lecturer in film and video, (and an all-round nice guy), let me use his camera, studio and edit suite after school.

I made a sci-fi called “The Survivors”, which was shot on U-Matic tape. I entered it in the 1985 Young Filmmakers Festival and won an award of merit, but the judges noted a “lack of close ups in some parts and continuity problems”.

Shooting Aerials from a Cessna 206 for Australian Story

When did you begin your professional career?
At the ABC in 1986, as a Television Production Operations Trainee.

I learnt a huge amount in the ABC cinecamera department, which, at the time, included Mal Ludgate ACS and Clive Taylor ACS. The trainees ahead of me included Tony Clark ACS and John Biggins. Greg Ashman and Andrew Burch were camera assistants, so there was plenty of friendly competition!

Three years later I was appointed to a full-time camera position, after Mal Ludgate left the ABC to go freelance. Thanks Mal!

What was your first major project?
Soon after completing my traineeship I was DoP on the children’s sci-fi drama series “Finders Keepers”, directed by Scott Hicks. I was only twenty-one, probably the youngest member of the crew!

What was one of your more memorable assignments?
I was interviewed by Radio National last year for the 50th anniversary of ABC Science about a job I filmed at Naracoorte Caves in 1993.

Chris Lockyer, Scott Piper, presenter Karina Kelly and I crawled a kilometre down a fossil cave for “Quantum”. Legend had it that Attenborough’s “Life on Earth” crew had given up just short of the most spectacular fossil deposit, so we were determined to film it for the first time.

In some places it was so tight we had to take the viewfinder off the camera to get it through. We had to crawl flat on our stomachs - it was incredibly claustrophobic. Chris Lockyer made a special sled for the Betacam so we could drag it through the mud without damage. In some places you couldn’t even turn your head, but the pics were great!

Chris with trainees from ZNBC Zambia

You wrote, directed and photographed the low budget feature film “The Marriage of Figaro”. What was it like filling all three roles?
Hard work! I was also the Steadicam operator - basically, if I couldn’t find anyone else to do it, I had to do it myself! Luckily I had plenty of help, (almost 100 people), including producer Peta Astbury, camera operator Rags Phillpot and assistant Kirsty Stark (who in now a Producer in her own right), sound recordist Dean Heneker and composer extraordinaire Timothy Sexton, (now head of State Opera SA). The film starred another sound recordist, Tony Hill.

I think the thing I’m most proud of is that I finished a low budget feature film with more friends than I started with!

Chris with trainees with Steadicam in Fiji

Are you positive about the future of cinematography?
Absolutely. The range of equipment available to cinematographers today is just amazing. From 4K cameras you can hold in the palm of your hand, to drones, to stabilised cameras like the Osmo - there’s never been a better time to translate a great idea into a brilliant shot.

I spend most of my time behind a desk at the moment, but I’ll always be a cinematographer at heart!

Chris is currently the News Operations Manager for the ABC in SA. He is a former state ACS president and, in 2009, his feature film “The Marriage of Figaro” was released nationally in cinemas and screened in London, Los Angeles, Cannes and the Dungog Film Festival. Thanks Chris.

Upcoming dates

October 1 SA WA Awards bookings open

October 10 Committee Meeting

October 20 Girl Asleep screening & Q&A

October 29 36th Annual SA/WA ACS Awards for Cinematography to be held in Perth for only the 2nd time, simultaneous SA Awards dinner & live streaming in The Torrens Room @ Hackney Hotel Adelaide

November 7 Committee Meeting

December 5 Committee Meeting

December 12 Christmas Drinks

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