A New Challenge: Stella 459

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A New Start

Well it's been a few weeks now since we returned from our seven week trip to Europe and Asia.

The day we arrived home was freezing cold and we all came down with slight colds, so coming down to earth after such an exciting adventure was not fun.

So many months and weeks go into planning a big overseas trip and crossing the days off until departure is indeed exciting. All good things have to come to an end so it's a good idea to look ahead and plan to do something new and exciting when it's over.

Stella 459

Now, I had previously told myself after three long hard years making a feature film I would take a back seat on any future films, in fact I actually promised my husband I would. But here I go again getting myself totally and utterly involved and I am now the Production Manager of 'Stella 459' a sci-fi Steampunk, Victorian-style film.

I really knew nothing about Steampunk so felt pretty green. My son-in-law has gradually enlightened me and it's been so exciting seeing everything take shape. The costuming is really fun and different, and the set design totally blows me away. Steampunk music is actually very nice, with lots of soft melodies and string instruments, though still quirky.

The Steampunk community in New Zealand is quite productive and I can now see why these folk love getting dressed up in weird and wonderful costumes. The ladies dresses certainly have some of the Victorian glamour.

Finding the costumes for 'Stella' is certainly going to be fun and I am really looking forward to the next few months of pre-production and planning.

Filmmaking is not an easy undertaking, especially in this country, and finding funding is hard. You really have to be dedicated to the craft before you decide to go ahead.

New Zealand's Got Talent

Auditions for our film have been held and after much 'to-ing and fro-ing' we have finally settled on our cast. It really is amazing how much talent we have in New Zealand. Making a living from acting or film making in general is pretty difficult. Generally with an 'indie' film it is all hands on deck and you might end up wearing lots of different hats – I know with our feature film we made I ended up taking over wardrobe and helped with set design, something I had no idea about.

Looking for costumes for a period film was really fun, as was sourcing locations. While making 'Journey of a Story' I was also looking after my daughter and son-in-laws little baby and often on my husband's days off, which were week days, we would head out to find locations. Little baby Hugo fortunately was so easy to look after, he just fitted into the scheme of things. Sometimes his parents would arrive home from work and wonder where their little baby was. My husband and I would often get home late from our location hunts and Hugo would not complain as long as he had his food. We felt a bit like gypsies, but it was a lot of fun.

I think as we approach our mature years we often find we are busier. I admit I complain a bit about being too busy but on the other hand I would be bored and probably drive my family nuts of I wasn't busy.

For me its boots in and all with no half way measures. Isn't that what life's all about?

By Kay Rayner