photographic art

kim miles

FILM CASTING FOR 'CHRISTOPHER WALKEN WAR DOG-(AN ACTOR PREPARES).

Casting one male to play Christopher Walken .
Casting one female to play production assistant.

This film is a fictionalized account of Christopher Walken in an apartment in Africa preparing for his lead role in the film Dogs Of War, he has a black African female production assistant on hand to take care of his needs.
a physical, black comedy, slightly experimental.........filmed in Melbourne!

Christopher Walken

we don't need the actor to be a Christopher Walken double but physical similarities would be preferable. TALLISH.......LEAN.........ANGULAR FACE...........at a younger age his vocal mannerisms are not as pronounced as his older self...........would be looking at a simpler American accent.............it would be an impersonation via looking at his earlier work

female, black, African production assistant....Lulu

this character is assigned to assist the famous American actor with whatever he needs as he prepares on location in a foreign country. Bit of a cultural clash..........she may be shy but strong..........as they develop an unusual friendship


with my return to filmmaking and impatient to start I am producing NO BUDGET work, ORIGINAL/CREATIVE/STANDOUT WORK .
Simple, easy shoots that do not involve a conventional narrative/filming/editing style or conventional dialogue based acting..........freedom for performers to breath/relax/play.

I saw Chris Walken in Dogs of War years ago on a big screen and was struck by his physical presence.........he has a dancing background.
I had idea of him preparing in his African apartment with a black female production assistant to assist him..........I wanted to have them interact in the space.........

It is a black comedy , but not silly............lots of ideas for this.
There is more than one way to make films........... any interested applicants must want to stand out from all the average stuff being made...........and can contact me at kimmilesfilms@hotmail.com with photo/biog/comment!

thankyou...................

The Raveonettes - I Wanna Be Adored

FILM EXPLOSION MELBOURNE

FILM EXPLOSION MELBOURNE is an idea about making films that are big in ideas/risk/passion/art/poetry/excitement/unpredictability/danger.........a thrill about the amazing possibiities of what can be achieved with a camera...........an attitude of just doing it with whatever is at hand.
It is a reaction against formulaic/conventional/low risk/boring filmmaking that continues to be made and does nothing/says nothing/ and is meaningless /pointless and does nothing to further the art of filmmaking in this country.
It goes against directors with no vision/style.............writers who just write shallow blah............producers who don't look for the bizarre(and support it) and actors who's commitment to the art/craft of performance is small and shallow and who have no inclination to take a risk and put their guts on the line.

https://youtu.be/HF91QxJVDU8

Its about frustration with a BORING film culture. (maybe its a boring time/society!)

Doyle: I liked the disparity. For example, when you are with the grader — or what they call the colorist now, I hate that term — the person is there looking at the footage and says, “Well what you see now, once it goes through the printing process it will be a little more green.” I love that, the random factors. This sense of anticipation, what you put in, has a certain authenticity, but what is going to come out has a look of its own. I think this is the big challenge now. I work so often with younger people, and they treat the film likes it’s a commercial. I don’t want to see a Big Mac in the middle of my screen. It’s weird. They are so obsessed with perfection. One: perfection doesn’t exist. Two: the imperfections of an image are what give it energy. Like, look at your beard — you should have shaved a little bit over here. It’s the same thing. You’re working with your beard everyday, and occasionally you say, “Oh shit I have to trim it.” Life has to be like that, and a film has to be like that, and the real danger at the moment is that we can do anything, but when there is nothing to say, there is still nothing. If it doesn’t add anything, why would you do it? This is an interesting space that we are in. People say, “Oh, there is a cable in the edge of the frame,” and I respond, “Well, aren’t you watching the actors?” There is no need to stamp out imperfection.

FEMALE ACTOR FOR FILM WORK

4 WOMEN AT A BAR


Looking to cast last part in cast of 4 in new film by Kim Miles.

An older sister with Asian background has Australian boyfriend.....her younger sister arrives from overseas to study and is intoxicated by the free and easy Australian lifestyle and very quickly starts a relationship with a charismatic Australian woman.
Looking to cast this last part............female/lesbian or bi/strong/edgy/provocative.
This is a black comedy about sisters/culture/prejudice/freedom/conflict with experimental/abstract elements.
Strong costume/makeup design and visual imagery in white apartment. Minimal dialogue/minimal'acting'........looks/action/mood.
There will be NO nudity or Sex Scenes.
1 day shoot and 1 evening. Simple production/relaxed enjoyable acting experience.
No funds at the moment so this is a NO BUDGET film.
A return to filmmaking  for me after a 5 year break............the personal style and vision is strong.
Uncommonly different filmmaking
If interested PLEASE EMAIL ME AT kimmilesfilms@hotmail.com with comment/pic/biog.
thankyou

'I want WILD,I want INNOVATIVE,UNUSUAL and VISUALLY EXTRAORDINARY'

Jill Bilcock......leading Australian editor

"If you're not trying to be real,you don't have to get it right.
That's ART"

Andy Warhol

NOTES ON 'A HESITANT MOVE'

 



manipulated still from 'A Hesitant Move'


Idea came from empty white room (not uncommon!)and a book of Kate Moss photos.Then an idea about housemates and issues surrounding them. Wrote a script and I think I asked the actors to speak slowly but can't remember why?!Again sparse dialogue,sometimes without specific meaning,almost with a rhythm sometimes, and the black and white contrasty look.
I was,and am really happy with this film.....the actors Clare,Clare and Ziggy are particular favorites and Ziggy's idea of leather coat and Alana's (hair/makeup)bun hairstyle for her still amaze me.Makeup was standout......2 girls wore black , 1 white.....
I love the colour draining from colour to BW and back again and when the striking music arrives towards the end of the film.My favourite bit is when the coffee mug is placed on the glass top table and makes no sound(was removed)! and the movements the actor makes as she is on the phone in the backyard.
We also had the abstract drummer in the background!(before Alejandro González Iñárritu put it in his film Birdman....a great film).
I had a choice of which film to show at a screening and chose this one, the organizer said he "didn't get it" but went ahead.For a joke at the Q and A  I said "Hands up who didn't get it" and several young ladies put their hands up!   A guy came up afterwards and was completely absorbed by the whole thing.....he loved it.
Never been interested in spoon feeding an audience.I remember someone saying it was the artist's job to ask questions, not give answers.

 



THOUGHTS ON ACTING/PERFORMING

Melbourne Girls Web Series

I am casting some actors shortly and want to outline some thoughts on where I would like to go with performance.I am not comfortable with the term acting/actors.In our conventional system acting is learning lines/movements and pretending to be someone else/pretending to feel something/or manufacturing real feelings usually in the service of telling a story.The best actors can do this in an amazing way and there is nothing wrong with story telling.However if interested in cinematic art there must be other avenues to explore.I always remember the quote 'great art is about seeing the world in a different way's. Some filmmakers talk about dreaming/fantasy/magic.I also like the ideas of abstraction and surrealism and it did occur to me the other day perhaps in troubled times and the increased pace/stress of life why would I want to put that on the screen but the true artist can come at it from another angle.
I used to think that if film was pretending why not exaggerate that to such a degree that we achieved some sort of other truth.I had a certain look with costume and a pale makeup. We have performers in a room with a camera,what do they do ?How do they feel ,nervous/shy/uncomfortable......Don't worry about feeling,pretending,character.....just be in the space with whatever comes up.
As usual there will be a framework with an outline/script but more abstract,I don't want them to be remembering a lot of lines or showing how they are feeling.I always liked the writing and plays by Harold Pinter,the text was very sparse and could have various,or no meaning.Ambiguity.I would like them to be totally free and not have the expectation that they have to act in a conventional way.We will explore the scenario and there will be different angles/cutting in the editing.I never really want to record a 'performance' but to possibly discover something true/false/unexpected/accidental.
A filmmaker can find infinite possibilities in an interesting space with some bodies in it.
I fully subscribe to Robert Bresson's thought that 'when actors are asked to perform theatrically in front of a camera that is reduced to recording the actors performance,this miraculous,extraordinary instrument is demoted to a tool of reproduction.......I WANT THE CAMERA TO BE A TOOL OF CREATION.'
and I am always pleased a bit of humour seems to sneak into the work!

In the next post I will talk about 'A Hesitant Move' a film we made that suggested a few of the elements discussed in this post.

 

 

ACTORS/PERFORMERS NEEDED FOR FILM PROJECT

Still Frame from 'A Hesitant Move'


I am looking for  people for a project probably serialized on online platforms.Experimental(all art should be)....abstract/surreal/poetic/punk/dangerous.Filmed in white apartment and day/night around West Melbourne.No money/equipment/crew..........just a camera/wireless microphone/lamps if needed for lighting.I will develop the work from the people I cast(locations and actors give me the direction).Interested in any gender/sexuality/age/shape......helps if you are strange. The work is about humans with some sort of  narrative(abstract?)I don't like people learning lines and pretending to have feelings etc........I want performers to be free/relaxed to play without rules.(I never see crazy/free/unobligated performance in films made here).I have vision/impulses to do things with film that aren't being done.I would appreciate any contact/details /dialogue initiated via email .....kimmilesfilms@hotmail.com   I will arrange meetings to chat and go from there........thankyou  

 

  

 

REFLECTIONS ON 'SICK TO THE VITALS'

still frame from Sick


10 years since we created Sick To The Vitals and a few thoughts

on its creation.It was gratifying when Bill Mousoulis listed it at number 4 in his top 50 Australian Independent Films......

http://www.innersense.com.au/mif/50_films.html 

 

 

I had a thought about the winner of Australian Idol who was a young women who was overweight and how when they get into the fame 'system' they get advised/styled/surgeried into a conventionally acceptable size/shape/look.I thought about the winner doing this but ending up on alcohol and drugs to facilitate/cope and ends up being very lost,aggressive and angry.I was always interested in strong women possibly as a reaction to the male dominated landscape in film story telling or even my own gender possibilities ie male/female/androgynous/non binary.

 

So I wrote my longest script ever and for this type of length broke it up into many different shoots(never interested/capable of doing the whole thing at once).

As usual it was Patrick on the Sony PD 150 standard definition camera(incidentally David Lynch's favourite camera these days for his digital work)A few times we had someone on a boom microphone but I think most may have been recorded in camera plus my household lamps for a bit of light.And we used make-up artists(always important in my work!)

Always lucky with casting gathered some terrific performers.

We had a quiet pub in Brunswick to shoot most of the film, around the same time Nicholas Cage was filming Ghost Rider in the city and I remember saying that they had millions and we had nothing but we were both doing the same thing ......capturing images with a camera.........there was no difference.........and some of the stuff we created was just as, or more impressive than them.(this remains my filmmaking philosophy).

Each shoot was organized and filmed without too much trauma.I have always tried to keep things relaxed/playful.Its never about getting performers to do what I want but discovering within the framework.....the accidents/the surprises etc.

We had a good editor who smoothed the rough edges(lots!) and created some wonderful special effects including a bit of green screen.

I had all the Sonic Youth CD's and knew their sounds would be perfect...(don't ask about the getting permission process.......).

 

I didn't (and never do) know what the film will reveal.I think it ended up being about the yin and the yang.........the dark,dirty woman and the white,clean woman.It alluded to how many women can be anxious/uncomfortable with their genitals and the surreal conversation about bodily functions/menstruation the men and the woman disguised as a man have around the eight-ball table.

 

Watching the film for the first time in years reinforced the idea about cinema being about a mood/a sensation/a dream and how there are no limits to what you can do.

White skin in the blackness/skin turning red/removing the vocal track/the white room/faces misted over/superimposing images/freeze frames/home made special effects/bright lights in faces.......

There is always so much to explore/uncover if we have the instinct/courage to look inside and express in our art.

 

 



WORKING WITH ACTORS 1

I met Charlotte,offered her the role,and she said,fine,no problem.As soon as we started working together there was a chemistry.We understood each other almost without speaking.It was a pleasure,and during the shooting I realized that she became the subject of the film,and to observe her was sufficient to tell a story.

francois ozon......swimming pool.......charlotte rampling

                                         
                                                                 tiger and dog web series outtake

BIG ART-ARTISTS

 https://youtu.be/7YeAU1GwBzk

Philippe Garrel
Marina Abrovonic
Barry Kosky
Graham Murphy
David Glass
Placebo
Rowland S Howard
Antonioni
Fellini
Jane Campion
David Lynch
Francis Bacon
Paul Cox
Derek Jarman
Ken Russell
Nicolas Roeg
Nina Simone
Luis Bunuel
Tarkovsky
Satie
Savages

WHO I WOULD LIKE TO CREATE WITH

I am a generous/friendly collaborator who meets with people,talks with them and if there is a connection off we go.
I am interested in meeting performers/actors of any age/size/gender/sexuality/ethnicity.
People from other artistic disciplines including singers/dancers.
Also cinematographers/sound artists/composers/make up artists/art designers/editors.
(I don't need any of these to make films but welcome them if they come along).

who think outside the square
who want to examine themselves/life
who have something restless/uncomfortable inside them
who think
who stare out of windows
art puts meaning in their lives
who feel there is more to be discovered in filmmaking.
who have edge

tv is the new film with work like Jane Campion's Top Of The Lake and David Lynch's Twin Peaks showing what can be produced by artists with vision and a personal style.

and they capture images with a camera/sounds with a microphone......and so can we...........

A FILM IN DEVELOPMENT

I now live in West Melbourne and have been inspired by several locations in the area.
The apartment I live in is white/wooden floorboards/green plants/sparse......very filmic.
I want to work with 2 or 3 performers.
some sort of narrative but quite abstract........after a 5 year break I feel like doing more refined/focused work..........honing in on the essence of a shot and the sound.
Strange? Poetic? Humour?(usually creeps in!)
Could be short.........could be extended feature length construction......could be serialized online.......
I have the smallest pro camera and am interested in operating it myself.
People have likened  my work to David Lynch along the journey and his Inland Empire film shot by him with an old Sony Digital camera is an interesting comparison to this work.
My work now develops over a period inspired by an idea/location and especially the actors etc who I work with.
A structure / blueprint is used but within that ,much creativity .........experiment.......play.
Instinct is very important.


Melbourne Girls Web Series

PUNK FILMMAKING

I have always identified with the punk music idea. Fuck what's being done or gone on before, start a band and do your own thing with passion and energy.
Filmmaking is a camera and a microphone, that's all you need.

I don't mind technical proficiency but often it is the main concern at the expense of the complete work of art.I am happy to be rough around the edges if the ideas/passion/energy/engagement is in the work

The image/the sound/the body /the face
Narrative/non narrative/short/long/words/no words/colour/black and white
Abstraction/surreal/poetic..........hopeful/hopeless
Clean/filthy/funny/weird
Controversial/dangerous/disgusting
Beautiful/joyful/...........loud/quiet

no equipment/no money/no fundraising/no career/no competitions/no prizes

raw energy..........freedom/experiment/play/risk.........no ties to formulae/structure   

freedom/experiment/play/risk

vision/crazy brave/dreams/greatness

                                         Melbourne Girls Web Series

FILMS WITH NO IMPACT?

Films are made and have no impact.Mediocrity is all around.Films that have writers/development/money/crew/commitment but on the screen there is nothing.Why do we aim so low?A film could blow peoples minds.....it could surprise and traumatize them.....it could change them
A great film can last forever.
If I can't be a great filmmaker I'm not going to bother.

tiger and dog webseries

ABOUT FILM EJACULATE MELBOURNE



tiger and dog web series

 

After a 5 year break from filmmaking(health and issues with conservative nature of filmmaking)the obsession has resurfaced and I have decided to communicate my thoughts/energies to interested others.

http://www.innersense.com.au/mif/miles.html