TropfestShooting for Success Part 3, Allan George

In this third and final article on Tropfest NZs 2013 winners, we look at Best Maori Director Allan
George and his last minnit production of Sounds Perfect.

By Tui Ruwhiu

When studio producer and field director Allan George was at film school, a class on foley for porn
films lodged in his mind and eventually became the inspiration for his Tropfest NZ 2013 comedy
entry Sounds Perfect. It went on to win Allan the Best Maori Director Award and his collaborator and
writer Greg Stubbings the Best Actor Award. While the film was perfect enough for Allan to make
the finals and garner further accolades, the way it came together wasntit was last minnit every
step of the way. Allan believes this helped to make Sounds Perfect the unique and personal film that
he had always wanted to do.
In earlier efforts, Allan had made a number of dark short films with an emphasis on the cinematic,
but with Sounds Perfect he was after something different. He challenged himself to make a comedy,
to shoot it handheld and without a focus on creating beautiful pictures manipulating depth of field.
With Sounds Perfect, Alan succeeded on all counts.

The Script
The porno foley class and its unforgettable imagery of a cucumber and a mayonnaise jar made a
great story for Allan to tell his mates. But some years later when he suggested it as a basis for a short
film, they panned the idea. Pitching it to work colleague Greg one day, the response was immediate
and positive. Greg was adamant that the film had to have heart though, and not be just a series of
gags strung together. They exchanged ideas over a number of months, eventually coming up with
seven pages of notes about someone who loved his work and gave it his all, but was surrounded by
others who just werent that interested in their jobs. Eventually, his over zealousness sees him
replaced by a useless sidekick. He takes the same work ethic to his next occupation where he finds
himself in a similar situation.
Allan hounded Greg to produce a script, but they shot with a fleshed out treatment. In hindsight,
Allan believes that this gave the actors more room to improvise; something he feels significantly
added to the strength of the film.

The Team
Allan and Greg committed to making Sounds Perfect just two weeks before the shoot. Greg joined
Allans production company partner Ben Fowler to produce. Allans other partner Isaiah Vainga was
designated gaffer. Allan would operate, direct and do sound. Another mate, Adam Peri, a sound
engineer at audio post house Native Audio, was drafted in as was Adams art director girlfriend
Maha Albadrawi. Alex Jones as makeup artist rounded out the team.

The Talent
A week out from the shoot and Allan turned his thoughts to cast. He had always envisaged Greg as
the lead. Actors that the team had worked with previously were called upon. A contribution from
Isaiah was a male stripper and actor he thought could fill the male porno star role. Pretty soon they
had their nine cast. Or so Allan thought. The actors were sent a short synopsis of the story, told the
character they would play and where and when to turn up. There was no time for rehearsals.

The Shoot
Alan did a last minnit on the location as well. He was lucky to secure Native Audio as the primary
location for most of the three day shoot. Gear was an old Canon EX1 with audio kit and a couple of
LED lighting panels.
On Day One Allan decided to do the fun stuff to generate a good vibe on set. Unfortunately for him
and everybody else, he chose the scene using a trevally to create a butt-slapping sound. With the
scene done the fish was set aside and forgotten, leading to the studio stinking of fish for the rest of
the day.
Greg was the main talent and his performance generated huge amounts of laughter, a lot of it
Allans. Many a great take was ruined because Allan burst out laughing, creating camera shakes and
spoiling the audio.
Greg was in his element and he more than any of the other actors improvised a lot of his
performance.
The loose approach to the shoot allowed Allan to adapt on the fly. He was always on the lookout to
visually enrich scenes, make changes and adjust to unexpected situationssomething he was faced
with on the last day.
Ready to roll on location the third morning, Allan realized hed forgotten to cast a bit speaking part
for the scene they were about to shoot. Isaiah saved the day by calling on a mate who lived nearby
and they had an actor on set in 10 minutes.
Being the sound recordist as well as directing and operating were for Allan highly stressful and not
something he wished to repeat.
A behind-the-scenes video of Sounds Perfect would likely have been as funny as the film, but Allan
believes that in the end their casual approach enhanced Sounds Perfect rather than took away from
it.

The Post
The edit for Sounds Perfect started straight away. Alan would do his shift at The Crowd Goes Wild,
and then go straight onto his film, working into the early hours of the morning. Alans experience on
a run and gun show like The Crowd Goes Wild was a benefit as he had learned to get enough
coverage to work with. Two days later Allan had a roughcut of the film to share with Greg, who had a
lot of enthusiasm and ideas to share. They laughed a lot and didnt have a single argument. In the
end though Allan felt it was hard work as cutting comedy to make it look and sound good was
difficult, particularly as they werent working to a script.
After a week of editing, the picture was locked off and it was time for a last minnit score. Alan got
on Facebook and messaged friend Ryan Youens, saying he had just finished a film and asking for an
immediate response as to whether or not Ryan would do the music. Once again luck was on his side.
While Ryan was composing the score, Allan graded the film and Adam cleaned up the audio and did
sound design.
The film was finished from go to whoa in 12 days and off to Tropfest in the post 3 days before the
deadline.

The Afterlife
Sounds Perfect played on the Rialto Channel with other finalist films and joined another Tropfest
finalist short at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival. At Wairoa, Allan met Filipino filmmaker Auraeus
Solito. Auraeus encouraged Allan to enter imagineNATIVE, the worlds largest indigenous film
festival. Allan promptly did and got in. Two days later, Allan was told his submission to the Austin
Film Festival was successful as well.
Going to imagineNATIVE and Austin opened up a whole new world of filmmaking for Allan. At
imagineNATIVE, he got to rub shoulders with the indigenous filmmaking best and more importantly,
attended a story lab where his film was broken down and examined by more experienced
filmmakers, providing valuable insight.
At Austin, Allan got his 15-seconds of fame when audience members from the packed out screening
of the comedy section cornered him to ask questions about his film. A great learning curve came
from attending panels to hear speakers the likes of Peter Mehlman, EP and writer of Seinfeld who
later gave him advice on writing for characters and actors, and director Robert Rodriquez of Sin City
and El Mariachi fame.
While Allan has submitted Sounds Perfect to other festivals, he feels its time to move on and focus
on his next project.

The Career
When Allan graduated from film school he always wanted to direct, but looking around he realized
so did everyone else. He thought pursuing directing was a fast track to the unemployment cue, so he
switched to camera operating, working on music videos and corporates. Landing a job with the
Crowd Goes Wild has added to his skill set.
With Sounds Perfect Allan stepped out to direct his first short. His success with the film encouraged
him to apply for New Zealand Film Commission Fresh Shorts funding and for Make My Horror Movie,
without success.
Allan would like to create and produce a comedy series to maintain a regular income while pursuing
his desire to direct features. He has already made his next short for Tropfest 2014, a significantly
bigger comedy, trying to avoid the last minnit approach.

Thoughts to Share
Allan believes that you have to make something that you want to see rather than setting out to win
a competition, otherwise you will likely censor your creativity and destroy your chances of winning.
He encourages everyone to make their films for themselves. Even if your film doesnt get accepted,
he thinks that youll still get an amazing film that you will enjoy.
With Sounds Perfect, Allan loved his idea, so he set out to make it and he did, having fun along the
way even with all the hardships. He feels his passion gave his project heart, which is where he
believes films need to come from.
Allan thought his film extremely funny and felt validated at Tropfest when the 8,000 strong audience
laughed at the comedic moments he and his team had createda unique experience he will always
remember.
For Allan, its important to surround yourself with like-minded creatives you enjoy being around
because you inspire each other. And not to forget them. He says you may end up being the face of
the film, but without the people behind you it would not have been possible.
Tropfest made Allans dream a reality. It put him on the map as a filmmaker. It allowed him to travel
the world with his film. And he learned a lot. He encourages everyone who wants to be a filmmaker
to give Tropfest a go.


Further information:
Tropfest NZ Short Film Festival screens in New Plymouths outdoor venue the TSB Bowl of
Brooklands on Sunday 16 February 2014
Deadline for films submissions is Monday 6 January 2014
The Tropfest Signature Item for 2014 is GLASSES, which is open to interpretation. Any glasses
accepted.
Details available on the Tropfest website at www.tropfest.co.nz
Follow Tropfest NZ on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Tropfestnz