Racheal - Release Date: 2004
- Production Company: Griffith Film School, Brisbane
- Director: Julia Preeo
- My Role: Penny
This fun short film is a B-Grade style spoof of Dr Who, produced by Griffith Film Students. As a fan of the Dr, I was so excited to be part of this production. I remember auditioning for the role, and the sides they had sent through had so many big science words! It was fun learning them! I always like to be off book for an audition (it was often expected back then, but not so much now) and when they offered me the role, they told me I was the only one that was actually able to pronounce all the words correctly! (Probably helped having a better half with a Science degree too, lol).
Filming took place in at the Griffith Uni film studio in South Brisbane (previously known as Southbank Tafe I think), as well as on location at Southbank Parklands. As Dr Watt’s assistant, Penny, the story revolved around a giant gastropod (snail) that was looming over planet Earth and my character ended up being captured by the creature, so Dr Watt (Brenton Ashe) had to rescue me. This meant I got to be slimed and also meant I had a body double – a Barbie Doll. (Not sure what happened to the doll, but wish I had kept it). As it happens, quite often in short / student / unpaid films, you often find yourself providing or sourcing your own costume. I was therefore wearing my own green spotted jacked as a dress (with a short white skirt underneath), with my white knee-high boots (the same one’s I wore in The Heidi Chronicles). When it came to being slimed, the crew decided to wrap me completely in glad wrap (plastic wrap) and put the slime on top, so it wouldn’t ruin my jacket.
Our ‘TARDIS’ was a cardboard box in the shape of a red mailbox called the ‘RETARDIS’, and the trample scene took place in the main street of the parklands. Thankfully, it wasn’t a busy day filming, but I’m sure we still made a bit of a scene!
CAST: Brenton Ashe, Lisa Foster, Dyllan Hey, Vivien Whittle, Raex Murilllo, Verity Fiction, Maren Pederson, Raphael Sammut, Matthew Ninnes, Dimitri Basil, Priscilla Tang, Kjetil Andreas Knutsen.
CREW: Dalia Rivadeneira (Writer), Linda Loevoll (Production Manager), Daniel Rodgers (Director of Photography), Jane Franken (1st Asst. Director), Paul Broadhurst (Technical Director), Silje Nordien (Art Director), Maren Pederson (Set Designer), Verity Fiction (MUA), Raphael Sammut, Dimitri Basil, Matthew Ninnes, Dorian Ribeiro, Pricilla Tang, Sophie Carroll, Kjetil Andreas Knutsen, Hassan Sonboli, Daley Pearson, Quinn Pfitzner, Josh Walker, Renata Buziak
Check out the stills and the video below (also available on my YouTube channel):
