DIRECTOR/ WRITER
PRODUCERS
EXEC PRODUCER
CINEMATOGRAPHER
EDITOR
COMPOSERS
TITLE LITTLE SPARROWS
GENRE Drama
FORMAT HD (RED ONE)
ASPECT RATIO 2:35 : 1
LENGTH 88 Min
LANGUAGE English
COMPANY Bolderpictures
COUNTRY Australia
Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen
Eva Di Blasio
Peter Thomas
Jason Thomas
FiL Baker
Keith van Geyzel
Tim Count
CAST
Nicola Bartlett
James Hagan
Nina Deasley
Melanie Munt
Arielle Gray
Scott Jackson
Simon Lockwood
Whitney Riochards
and Christie Sistrunk
Simple and sincere,
Little Sparrows tells the story that celebrates love and richness of life!
In the midst of an Australian summer, we meet three sisters. Nina is widowed with two young children. Anna is an aspiring actress unhappily married to a filmmaker. Christine is a med student who is yet to fully come to terms with her sexuality.
When their mother Susans breast cancer returns, the family is faced with choices and the reality of their last Christmas together.
Our lives are the sum of our decisions and there is always a determining event along the journey.
Filmmaking is my way of asking questions. This is my passion.
My intense curiosity about people and the essence deep inside everyone of us.
I want to ask simple questions, meaningful ones. Who do we love? And how do we love?
Little Sparrows is a story of a journey - about women defining themselves and the flight for individual freedom and independence.
A journey culminated by choices, with all the faults, responsibility, passion, and love....
Somehow, behind all the confusion, pain and unfinished business, there is hope and a spark of optimism.
Little Sparrows is my voice as a filmmaker, a woman and a mother, and I am speaking it with urgency and sincerity.
The rehearsal process was divided into three phases. First part is about defining the characters. Despite having written the characters, I wanted to start working with actors with complete freedom and start from scratch by asking actors to explore angles for the characters that they were going to play. What quality would be different from their persona? What would be challenging? What would be risky?
Patience and trust are the two key ingredients in approaching a project like this.
As we became familiar with the characters, actors were then paired up or grouped to rehearse scenes with specific objectives. These rehearsals became integral to the script and materials that we will later film.
Not everything rehearsed was suitable for screen. At times, scenes would run for as long as half an hour. Some simply messy. Through trials and errors, actors became more and more in tune with the inner core of the characters that they were shaping. It wasn't long when we all felt some kind of miracle was happening and this was going to be something special.
The last phase was the hardest. It was about truthfulness and openness to the process and the work. It was about understanding what's integral and truthful in all of us, by sharing emotional experiences and scars. Suffice to say, it was to explore what we could give to the audience, something wonderful and genuine on screen, without acting. To do so, there were a lot of coffee, dinners, accompanied by long chats.
As we commenced shooting, it was clear that we could and we were going to work very fast. As the director, I had to make very fast decisions about the camera and movements on set. It was organic and it was definitely about collaboration.
Some of the scenes the actors had done it many times during rehearsals, it wasn't hard to replicate the scenes on location. But because of the presence of the camera, there was a completely new element to do it for the camera. It could be exciting or at the same time tedious.
Some of the most powerful and memorable performances were captured in one take. And that's all we needed to tell the story.
The performance was about the culmination of a process and about the rare moment of truth that everyone was aware of it.
It was immediately electrifying, scary and at times almost dangerous.
Shot on RED ONE camera with prime lenses, the visual quality of the footage is absolutely superb and comparable to 35mm film stock.
The HD digital format is ideal for a small crew and the low budget condition of the project, to move quickly from one location to next and shoot under low light situation, which all contributes to the naturalistic look of the film.
99 percent of Little Sparrows were shot on hand-held camera. There is only one shot that isn't.
The choice was made during early conversation between Jason (DOP) and myself.
However, the hand-held camera movement is far from the sort of dry-run-pseudo-Dogme movie. The visual style here is designed to be more in tune with the dynamics of the drama, to allow actors to move freely and comfortably and find the rhythm and energy of the scene without restricting themselves to the camera set-up.
Most of the film was shot on minimum crew and lighting set-up.
Some of the most important scenes of the film were shot with three crew members, including the director, DOP, and sound recordist. Some, even less.
The sense of intimacy and openness comes through powerfully.
The camera ceases to be a passive observer but becomes part of the emotional landscape of the story.
When asked how his film "Vanya on 42nd Street" was mostly made in the editing room, Louis Malle responded, "When I first started editing Vanya with Nancy Baker, I said the same thing I said to Suzanne Baron, the editor I worked for twenty years and who did My Dinner with Andre, 'We're going to choose everyone's best moments and we're going to patch them together, and I don't give a shit if it doesn't match or if it doesn't cut. We'll make it work!"
At the early stage of the editing process, I shared this note with Fil (editor) and we followed a similar path.
The editing is ultimately for improving the performance of the actors.
Fil's excellent storytelling sensitivity and editing style give the on-screen performance much needed coherence and focus.
Other than shaping the performance, the other important aspect of the editing is to structure the story and modify the rhythm of the piece.
The end result is a extremely taut and intense movie experience punctuated by strong screen performance and intimate portrait of the characters.
Keith Van Geyzel and Tim Count are the two brilliant composers behind the lyrical and affecting music in Little Sparrows.
Keith and Tim have previously worked with me on CONSCIENCE (short film). Our trusty relationship started then.
During the editing process, FiL (editor) and I have spotted the placements of the music and used some reference music to give a sense of coherence to the narrative.
When communicating with Keith and Tim, it was more about discussing and understanding the characters and stories, rather than music. I liked to keep it open for composers to explore. I am very aversive to sentimentality and mawkishness, and they know that well.
For me, music in film is all about appropriateness.
In fact, it became a very intuitive process for all of us. Keith wouldn't play his piano until he "felt" ready. Paul Milard's woodwinds is sensual and captivating. Ray Walker plays his nylon string guitar with passion and thoughtfulness.
Just beautiful. Undeniably.
Click on play to hear
Little Sparrows theme music
One of the best advice in independent film producing comes from Ted Hope and James Schamus who started the Good Machine.
The advice is simple. "Set the date!" they said.
So when people ask you what you are working on. You say, "Oh, MY MOVIE will start on Dec 1, the day we will roll the camera." You say so to anyone and everyone, despite the lack of funding, and all the million possibilities of inadequacy, excuses and fears. So when the day comes, you shoot with whatever you have. Not enough money for 35mm film, go with 16mm. If not, go digital. Go video. Just shoot it.
It is about commitment and about momentum. Ultimately in the film industry, it is also about delivery and products.
I took this advice to heart. This is how CONSCIENCE (short film) was made. This is also how Little Sparrows came into being.
The date we set for Little Sparrows was December 1 2009. And that was indeed the first day of shoot.
It was frightening at times, because we did go into production with ridiculously small amount of private fund. The locations were sourced as we were shooting. Shooting schedule was all over the place. Script and scene scenarios were changed so dramatically to fit the budget and actual production condition all the time that it was simply an insane situation to be involved in.
But it was fun. It was exciting. It was challenging. It was a tremendously bonding experience for the cast and crew.
The most important aspect of such deeply felt commitment to the project is that, truthfully, as a filmmaker, I didn't feel we were making any compromises when it comes to the quality and integrity of the film. Now, that's important, and this is also what the audience will ultimately appreciate.
Whitney Richards
Nick Candy
Christie Sistrunk
Annabelle Tan
Introducing
Tomasz Kwiecien-Fisher
Amy Thomas
CREW
Writer/ Director
Executive Producer
Producers
Director of Photography
Editor
Composers
Sound Editing
Sound Mix
Colourist
Costume/ Make up
Unit Manager
Production Coordinator
Production Assistant
First Camera Assistant
Sound Recordist
2nd Camera Assistant
Grip/ Gaffer
Still Photographer
Publicist
Mark Donohoe
James Hewgill
Steve Vojkovic
Michelle Ridley
Daniel Henderson
Tania Worthington
Peter McConkey
Daniel Butler
Owen Hughes
Dion Borrett
Gus Dias
Mathieu Hubert
Estelle Buzzard
Susan
Nina
Anna
Christine
James
Mark
Simon
Rosie
Rick
Sophie
Lily
ABOUT THE FILM
