Seeking an existing production in australia at DVinfo.net
DV Info Net

Go Back   DV Info Net > The Tools of DV and HD Production > Open DV Discussion

Open DV Discussion
For topics which don't fit into any of the other categories.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old November 23rd, 2021, 09:01 AM   #1
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA.
Posts: 4,476
Seeking an existing production in australia

There are apparently two projects in pre-production relating to the action by Australian special forces during the Second World War in former Portuguese East Timor n the nation of Timor L'este. These are in addition to a project I am involved with.

I am presently co-writing a feature/eight part series screenplay of the WW2 campaign by the Australian 2/2nd Commando unit in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor during the Second World War.

If anyone in the Australian motion picture industry has any knowledge of the production entities involved your advice would be appreciated. My enquiries thus far have yielded nothing.

Along with all other members of Australian forces deployed to the South West Pacific, they were thought to have been defeated and captured by Japanese forces.

After several months of fighting for their very survival with the help of the East Timorese traditional folk and sympathetic Portuguese administrators, they built a radio transmitter out of scrounged parts and items stolen from the Japanese and re-established contact with Australia.

The effect upon the national morale was signficant after the rout of allied forces in Singapore, the rapid Japanese advance through the Dutch East Indies, the bombing of Darwin and other coastal towns in the northwest, the loss of the HMAS Sydney with all hands in a battle within a short distance of the Western Australian coast.

Their endeavours became the very template for assymmetric warfare that is referenced in Australian special forces training to this day,

The human cost to the occupying Japanese was horrendous for them and caused much of their effort to be diverted to quelling the Australians in East Timor. Those forces would otherwise have been deployed in New Guinea and nearby islands.

The outcomes may have been much heavier losses suffered by allied forces. Here are a couple of clips from a recent annual commemorative ceremony in Kings Park, Western Australia. that I was permitted to film
.
To avoid adverse effects upon the amenity and disruption to the ceremony I had to sith well off with a zoom lens set on about 300mm and could not run a line to the lecturn without introducing a trip hazard.

Therefore the sound through a directional mike and muff is very poor.

There is a glitch in my computer which is adding urandom nauaanted letters to text so please forgive the typos.

1





Cheers.
Bob Hart is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 24th, 2021, 09:03 PM   #2
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Sydney.
Posts: 2,887
Re: Seeking an existing production in australia

Very moving address by Sherie Hart Bob, and an interesting project you have there. I asked around our group but no one knows anything about the ‘other’ productions, but they did have some suggestions here …

The ‘others’ might already be working with the networks re funding etc, so calling the ABC, Netflix, Foxtel Docos etc. might bring some details to light.

Having 3 separate programs with the same theme in production at the same time is unusual. There’s a chance one of the ‘others’ knows details about the other one, and they might be co-operating to keep out of each other’s way. So if you find one, the other might surface.

The ‘others’ might have also contacted the reference section of the Australian War Memorial. They might let you know who.

If you haven’t already read the story and the reference section might be of help … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Timor

Amazon Kindle is very worthwhile, do a search for, The-Men-Who-Came-Out-Of-The-Ground.

Good luck.
Cheers.
__________________
Drink more tap water. On admission at Sydney hospitals more than 5% of day patients are de-hydrated.
Allan Black is offline   Reply With Quote
Old November 24th, 2021, 11:14 PM   #3
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA.
Posts: 4,476
Re: Seeking an existing production in australia

Allan.


Thank you for your response. The other writer who has the passion for the screen project has done most of the heavy lifting since 2003 when he recorded oral histories from some of the veterans and in a spur of the moment decision, followed one of his interviewees to Timor L'este.

I think Steven Rice, the other writer, has a copy of The-Men-Who-Came-Out-Of-The-Ground. Since the first post, I have discovered that there is a documentary in pre-production which critically examines the totality of Australia's involvement with Timor L'este from 1942 to the present day.

Some years ago, Steve Rice had a young editor compile his oral histories footage into a long teaser in the hope of gaining some funding for the feature but he did not strike gold at the time.


Basically, what we are doing is combing through as many of the published accounts we can find and building the screen story. It is a bit of a moving feast because each person's recollection varies. The chronology of events is a challenge as so many incidents too took place almost simultaneously.

Pinning exact times, dates and places can be difficult. The Timor veterans have all passed on so cannot be re-interviewed. The 2/2nd Commando Association was heartened to learn that there remains one last veteran who join the unit after it was evacuated from Timor and served in later campaigns.

He is aged 99 years.

Another project I was talked into was a screenplay regarding the loss of the HMAS Sydney II. That ended up being of two feature film lengths so will have to be re-written as an 8 part Netflix - style presentation. As a cut down to 120 minutes, it did not work.

I had an interest in that as an 11 year old, I met the late Jack Robotham at Cape Cuvier when he was trying to find the Leica camera and possibly a recanned roll of motion picture film which was shot of the battle between the Sydney and German merchant raider HSK Kormoran.

He showed me the cryptograms drawn by the Kormoran survivors when the made landfall. Those have since disappeared lke other evidential material related to the Sydney sinking. Despite the Cole enquiry which was supposed to remove all doubt and clear the air for good, conspiracy theories remain.

Last edited by Bob Hart; November 24th, 2021 at 11:18 PM. Reason: error
Bob Hart is offline   Reply
Reply

DV Info Net refers all where-to-buy and where-to-rent questions exclusively to these trusted full line dealers and rental houses...

B&H Photo Video
(866) 521-7381
New York, NY USA

Scan Computers Int. Ltd.
+44 0871-472-4747
Bolton, Lancashire UK


DV Info Net also encourages you to support local businesses and buy from an authorized dealer in your neighborhood.
  You are here: DV Info Net > The Tools of DV and HD Production > Open DV Discussion

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:35 PM.


DV Info Net -- Real Names, Real People, Real Info!
1998-2024 The Digital Video Information Network