THE AUDition bus
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
The Audition Bus was a proof of concept comedy short film about the mishaps and struggles of several characters pushing to making into the film industry. After completely dismantling a working film set, the characters flee in a stolen bus, where things go from bad to worse for the crew.
This project was incredibly memorable to me as it was my first comedic project. The entire shoot had a much lighter tone and allowed me to explore colour and light a lot more in a sense of whimsy and playfulness that I hadn’t had the chance to do in the past.
DESIGNING WITH NO BUDGET
The Audition Bus had no budget, everyone working on the production was working without pay, trying to push their work and network with other creatives. The budget that was available was delegated to locations and the main feature prop, the bus itself.
Every piece of set dressing seen on screen was sourced for free. Whether it was scrounging for whatever we had on location such as the Screen Queensland Studios, the Beenleigh Village, or the Air BnB we were staying at.
In addition to using items from location. I also managed to have items donated out of the goodwill of fellow creatives to help us with our project. The bus itself was dressed by donations from a goodwill store, where we were willing to purchase the items, but through conversation, were allowed to borrow as much as we needed and return once we were finished.
This project really challenged me to think of design in a completely different avenue, reminding me of some Architectural principles I had pushed to the side. In Architecture, one of the key processes of designing a new building is to assess the site, the location and understand the history of the location and what is currently there that can be used to the designers advantage. This process was revitalised in my design process for this project.
