Firstly, join local ACS members Mike Gissing and Fraser Johnston as they screen and discuss the making of 'The Sartorial Naturalist'. 

This is a 12-minute short film funded by two grants - Screen Tasmania / Arts Tasmania and The Australia Council. The film is an 'autobiographical fantasy' depicting the life and work of Tasmanian botanical artist Deborah Wace. It captures her practise of collecting and printing botanical specimens and using them to design art works on fabric and wallpapers.

The fantasy element is her journey, depicted as a 17th Century botanist in a slightly steam punk outfit.  She encounters plants and dancers in the landscape, including palawa dancer Sinsa Mansell and contemporary dancer Felicity Bott.



 

The film progresses into a fantasy underwater world where Deb's designs are a ‘fabric forest’ for the dancers to move amongst and interact with. The film was made over a three-month period from mid April to June 20^th, where it premiered at the Sartorial Naturalist exhibition in Hobart.

Mike Mike Gissing at work

Above water cinematography was Michael Gissing shooting with Blackmagic cameras (4k BRAW).  Underwater cinematography was Fraser Johnston with a Sony A7 S3 in a housing.

Fraser Johnston
 

Michael edited, graded, recorded and mixed the soundtrack using Resolve. Some interesting tech was used in post, including up-rezing the underwater footage, which had to be shot at 1080 due to the requirement of shooting 60fps for 24 slow mo. Topaz AI software was used and was remarkable in matching to the resolution of the 4k above water footage, shot with a BM Pocket4k on a Zhiyun Lab3 gimbal and the Ursa Mini 12k. It was also a fine use of the Laowa 15mm macro lens (demonstrated by Tom Waugh and Gerrard Woods at a recent ACS Tas event) for some special plant shots.