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Heading Out Of Gisborne

It was my (Sammi’s birthday) and after a crew breakfast we all headed off out of Gisborne back to Auckland. So many memories … we will miss our new Gisborne home and our new whanau down there!

The Mad Bulls boys put on an awesome hangi for us to say goodbye. There was lots of fun, dancing and they shared with us a special song called “Making New” that they wrote about being part of the project. Such an awesome night.

Here the guys are singing me Happy Birthday at the hangi they held for us last night  …

Final Shoot Day

Today was our last day of filming, Michele brought celebration sausage rolls to set… things are starting to feel like they are wrapping up.

We finished off the chase scene and the scene where Stone stops Logan.

Had a bit of a misdemeanour as one of the local ladies thought that our car load of cast members was an actual car full of gang members scoping out the area. The police were called and luckily they knew we were going to be filming in the area. Phew! Was helpful having an undercover police car there with us too for the scene.

The good thing to come out of this is that we can take confidence in the fact that our cast members look the real deal.

It is amazing that throughout this whole shoot we really haven’t had anything major happen until the last day … a few things went wrong but all we could do is laugh … we are almost there! The funniest and most concerning was Stu’s car smoking on the side of the road. It waited until the last day.

We wrapped and all headed back to Mill House to hang out and reflect.

Surf Stunts

Today we filmed Tarry’s cameo and Logan’s water scenes.

We also managed to capture our two brave stunt doubles out in the stormy surf. Gwen and Rangitawhiao you were both outstanding and we can’t thank you enough… we are so grateful! The surf was massive and the water was freezing, you guys were such troupers!

Here we are filming some of the surf scenes with Canaan’s drone … so awesome!

In the afternoon we shot the Tori being dropped off at school scenes… which was great fun! We were given high vis jackets for safety as it was a carpark! I think we don’t look too bad in orange!

Tense Scenes

Tonight we filmed one of our most intense scenes. Here is our awesome makeup artist Andrea creating a realistic bullet wound on poor Ruby …

We filmed quite late into the night… as explained well by this Snapchat!

Came home to a delicious steak meal cooked by our one and only camp mum Michele! What would be have done without her … probably ate KFC every night for a month! That would not have been a good scenario!

Taped Bums

Today was another really early start to capture dialogue… it’s going to be a long day as we are filming the ambulance scene tonight.

We headed just around past Wainui beach to a more sheltered area… it was absolutely freezing… Yesterday’s mishap had nothing if not that Josh and Sammi’s wetsuits weren’t quite doing their job thanks to two rather large holes perfectly placed in the back. Anyone who is in production knows that gaff tape can be used for pretty much, absolutely anything … here is another use you may not have thought of…

We then headed out into the water. The light was gorgeous and we were absolutely thrilled with the result of the shoot. Also thank you to Paul who came down with Ruby and ended up becoming an assist… there is no room for any slackers on a small crew and you rose to the occasion.

We then headed back to the bach to warm up and get started shooting more of our scenes.

As Josh (Logan) was already wet and in his wetsuit we decided that it would be perfect to film his scene at the beginning of the film with Murphy (Jol).

It was a perfect blue sky day and after the whole journey it was pretty cool to film this scene last in the order as now the guys are comfortable together and have built a relationship over the process … it comes across now like the two have history … couldn’t have been more perfect!

Was a bit emotional wrapping Jol, we all sort of stood around for a moment to reflect on the process and all the incredible people we have met so far … so grateful to have these people now part of our lives.

We then went back to base for a shower and break heading into what became a big night.

We would love to say a huge thank you to the St John ambulance who had to not only turned up to act on set, but had to organise a whole other crew to actually be on duty in real life! You guys went over and above, a special thank you to Mitch and Victoria for your help bringing this together we are so grateful.

We were also joined on set by Murray who went really out of his comfort zone, like he had done the other night to play a policeman… (not like he has had any practise or anything haha) Thanks Perak for making sure he was there on time!

We also took a cool late night crew shot! The shoots are going by so quickly and it’s easy for your anxiousness for things to go well to stop you enjoying the process. You have to make sure that you keep reminding yourself that you are flipping making a movie and that is the dream… how fortunate are we!

Smashed by the Surf

A very early start for the crew today to capture the sunrise and some golden hour shots on Logan. Here we are giving the sun a wee boost with one of our red heads.

It was then time to ‘wet suit up’ to film some of our surfing scenes. Josh told Tarry that the waves were too big to capture what we needed but Tarry is such an optimist that we went ahead…

And here is basically the summary of events thanks to the master photographer Wayne Hapi …

Of course there were no “I told you so” comments at all … haha. We just came in quietly and began to clean the gear. There was a lot of relief that none of our gear was damaged and after a bit of a laugh we all put it down to inexperience… one that we will not repeat that’s for sure!

We will need to give our gear time to dry out so our shoot tomorrow will have to be longer to capture what we need.

To make the best of the time the boys then headed up the coast to get some of the drone shots with Canaan and scout out some more sheltered areas to film the dialogue for our surfing scenes.

The Bach

Today was a great and very long day, we spent it capturing a number of the bach interior scenes. It’s the middle of winter so quite chilly outside but our lighting situation, along with us all cozy inside a small room, made for quite a tropical atmosphere!

We filmed all throughout the day and then into the evening, managing to capture many of Logan’s scenes and scenes with Tori, which was great

The pace of our shooting has picked up quite a bit as our experience has grown. Also without the larger crowds to wrangle and block, it’s quite a luxury to just focus on the more intimate scenes. Got through a lot today.

Our schedule wasn’t too strenuous though, it’s not everyday you get to enjoy a picnic beachfront lunch break … living the film crew dream!

The bach here is quintessentially kiwi, so gorgeous, however, it unfortunately doesn’t have a proper bathroom … so we would really like to take this opportunity to thank Amy for kindly offering your facilities and putting up with us popping over in desperation! You have been a fantastic neighbour!

Tonight we filmed a series of scenes with Logan which was lots of fun and quite the challenge. Here we are creating daylight … how committed are these guys … not only using the flecci to block light, but a boogie board too!

Another day on set!

It is such a relief to have now wrapped all the large gang scenes as we were the most anxious about pulling them off. From here we will only have a few cast members on set per day / night which means I won’t have to worry about managing too many people now.

What we have filmed so far is looking pretty cool, really proud of the team!

We still had our Eps down here in Gisborne with us so they came to set for the morning. It was fantastic to be able to show them another one of our amazing locations. This one is particularly gorgeous as it is a little bach on Wainui beach. We have a number of scenes to film here… truly not a bad location to have to hang out in.

Wainui beach is a stunning surf beach about a 10 minute drive out of central Gisborne and is basically, like Anaura Bay, heaven on earth. This bach here will act as Tori and Logan’s home in the movie… can’t believe we get to film here.

We were also joined by the incredible Carlene, a wonderful friend, cheerleader and mentor to us all. She’s an associate producer and came down last night with the Eps to conduct a number of ‘behind the scenes’ interviews for us which were just gold. Really glad you were able to make it down Carls, wouldn’t have been the same without you!

Filmed a scene with Const Stone midday… Thank you for being such a trouper Lance … really appreciated all your hard work and how you did your very best to act and meet our crazy demands, doing things over and over again.

Mad Bull Headquarters

So tonight we are filming our scenes at the Mad Bull headquarters. We spent the afternoon setting up and turning the back room of House of Breakthrough Church into a gang pad.

We had the key cast arrive early for blocking and rehearsals. We really wanted the night to go very smoothly and to be as exciting as possible as we were being joined by our executive producers. It was great to give them a taste of all the awesome things that have been going on on set… and for them to meet some of our key cast.

Filmed some exciting moments of an MMA fight going on in the boxing ring. Roman our “Reaper” character trains in Brazilian Ju Jitsu in real life so we had him and his poor victim Tulsa going at it in the ring. This created a great atmosphere at Mad Bulls HQ…

We even shot a wee cameo from one of our Eps … see if you can spot it in the movie.

The highlights of the night however, were an impromptu sing along and an epic “family meal” together… such a memorable night!

We got some great footage tonight and our Eps were stoked… very cool! So proud of the team. Tonight was definitely one of our faves!

Truck Smashing

Tonight was great fun.

We shot a stunt with Bas’s truck where the boys worked out a way to mount the pocket camera onto a side mirror. We were stoked with how the shot came out… it has been creativity like this that has really made this shoot really exciting!

Here is our stunt coordinater Augie about to do his first run with the truck.

Augie did a few runs with the truck and then Albert asked whether he could actually do the stunt himself….

And he absolutely smashed it! Go Albert!

We had some of our Mad Bull guys come back so we could film some awesome shots through the fence.

It was a little sad as now we are all wrapped with the Pouakai location. So many memories … won’t miss the sheep poo though haha.

At the movies

Today we went on a team excursion to the movies to check out the local theatre the Odeon. It was quite a surreal experience to be filming a movie and then actually go see one at the movies. Such good times! Can’t wait to hopefully one day have our premiere here!

Mad Bulls Exterior

Had a little bit of a sleep in this morning after not getting home until 3.00am last night.

After a some planning throughout the day we headed to the railway tracks to film our Mad Bulls Exterior scenes. We had a quite a few guys arrive, many we hadn’t met before which was great. Some came through Josh Andzue and others were a few random guys that Meredith had invited. It made for an interesting time as we set up the first scene.

As we don’t have fancy gear one of the hallmarks of this process has been to think outside the box to get great shots.

Josh has really been a champion for getting great and creative shots within a pretty tight timeframe.

Tonight he went right up a ladder … indie film making at its best right there!

The guys had a great time and we managed to film both scenes before night fell.

Here is an awesome group shot of the Mad Bull gang outside the exterior. Thank you everyone who turned up to be a part of these scenes. Feels pretty good to have our Mad Bull exterior scenes completed.

Then as we went to leave and were moving one of the cars up onto a trailer, the wheel slipped and the car was suspended in mid air! Sometimes things just really don’t go your way! We had to get a ramp and all the guys that were still on site to try and lift the car. After a bit of a process the situation was saved… phew! Great job team! Here is the car safely up on its trailer.

Back at the pad

Today a few of us started the day with a much needed visit to a local coffee shop before heading back to the Mill House to update Lops tattoos … that needed reinking from the night before… this guy actually almost cried like a baby from all the vivids going back and forward on his skin haha. Toughen up Lops!

Josh and Tarry then joined us and we briefed for the day ahead. We had some key pick ups that needed to be captured still from the night before so got stuck into them first.

We still have a number of scenes to film at the Pouakai headquarters, so thought it would be good to get the majority done tonight. Bas and the guys joined us there with their bikes again.

A few of us took some cool pictures with the bikes and Ariana even got to go for a ride on the back of Lawrence’s bike… which was pretty awesome!

We started by filming the scene where Cruz arrives back at the gang headquarters and heads in to see Axe. Wayne did a great job of riding a Harley in.

Bas even got a wee bit of a cameo… well deserved! Here is a picture of him wearing his gang patch on his bike! Thanks for everything you have done to help us Bas, you are such a legend!

We then moved onto filming Lops’s fight scene which was great fun. We thankfully managed to capture everything we needed just before the rain set in.

It was then time to officially wrap Lops, which was rather moving. Will really miss having that guy and his “baaaaaaas” on set!

It was now raining quite hard which meant that we weren’t able to film everything else we had hoped to capture on the night so we decided to head back to Mill House for dinner.

It was so lovely to be able to warm up and defrost as it is absolutely freezing outside… it is the middle of winter. Michele had made us a delicious steak dinner which we all thoroughly enjoyed! After we had all eaten, Lops sung us all an impromptu farewell song which was quite moving … love you Lops!

The majority of the crew stayed home to get some rest while a few of us decided it would be good to get the scenes outside the gym finished now that the rain had stopped. We picked up Scotty’s truck in the middle of the night (sorry mate) and then went to film the scene outside the gym. Michele met us out onsite with some warm pudding which was just incredible and it gave us the energy to finish everything that needed to be finished.

This was meant to be Wayne’s last day down with us but he decided that he would like to stay longer and be a part of the crew. So cool!

Big Night Ahead!

Tonight we have what is our largest and most difficult scenes to execute. We are expecting approximately 100 people on set tonight with all our key actors and extras coming, along with the Gisborne branch of the NZ police, the NZ Fire Service and the Redeemed Motorcycle Club riding down to be a part of the action.

To top this all off we have to make sure that we capture great shots of the fights and stunts as we only have this one chance… no pressure, it’s just a really big night and we are all a bit nervous.

Meeting together is the best thing to do to make sure that everyone is on the same page and really has a great handle on the night. A few concerned looks are featured here…

Michele treated us all to a delicious breakfast to make sure that everyone was fuelled for the big day! Great team bonding!

Once we were all fed and ready to go, we headed over to Fred Tate’s… so grateful for how accommodating the guys there have been letting us just have the run of the place!

As night fell the place started to fill up with people and the atmosphere was electric! Once everyone had arrived on set, we did a safety briefing and explained the plan for the night.

We started with the larger, wider shots, acting out the fight scenes which we had shot and choreographed in close-up the other night so that our extras wouldn’t have to stay for the entire night. We then scaled things down until we only had our key cast still there. It was so much fun having the cars there, the fire trucks and everyone watching the fights. So cool!

Amazingly we pulled it all off and got some great shots in the process. This is going to be very cool!

The Pouakai Pad

Today after a briefing at base, we went to start setting up the exterior Fred Tate Wools to become our Pouakai exterior

A big thank you to the Buchanan family for donated / well letting us borrow some gates to fence off the headquarters.  Everyone did a great job of dressing the set to look “protected”… there was a lot of cable tying going on!

Here is our stunt coordinator Augie back again after driving back from Wellington where he had to spend the week working on a big budget  movie. He has been particularly helpful on set  making sure everything is safe and correctly fastened … he’s a bit of a McIver this guy.

Tonight we were also joined by the fantastic Duhan and his gorgeous wife Amanda. They drove all the way down from Auckland just to spend a few days with the team. They couldn’t have come down at a better time as JD had to head back to Auckland for work, which meant we were left a man down on what was going to be some of our largest days of shooting.

Duhan is a lighting specialist and he was just absolutely outstanding. To have a skilful pair of hands pre-empting the lighting situation was just gold! They also arrived with a car full of cakes and treats that Amanda had made! I think there is a bit of theme here, all our amazing friends are not only helpful, but feed us too! It gave the whole team a much needed boost… so thankful, we love you guys!

As night fell the boys started arriving and we set up to film the Pouakai gang leaving the headquarters. We had bikes, cars and everyone had so much fun shooting the “roll out” scene. There were a few cheeky horns and definitely lots of loud rumbling from the Harleys … luckily there aren’t any neighbours too near by.

In order to get the high angle shot. Tarry, Josh, Jay and Priscilla rode on the try of Jol’s truck … it was pretty cool seeing such an awesome shot being captured so creatively.

Here the crew us waiting to roll out… we even filled a car full of our Mad Bull gang members who were there to film some other scenes later on.

We then let the extras go and started to film some close ups shots. Was awesome just having everyone there as part of the night. They boys are getting used to having to wait around a bit, and just hanging.

On another note, it is absolutely freezing… how hard are these boys in just their t shirts and vests! Crazy characters!

Thanks guys for being so patient with us!

Glad we got this photo of Wayne and Josh together… they both worked very hard tonight. So fortunate to have them.

We did the first of a few fight scenes tonight which was lots of fun… along with a few scenes I can’t show you pictures of because they are spoilers … A very memorable night and some epic deaths filmed and achieved! Very cool! Well done everyone!

Filming in the Cemetery

In the film, Wayne’s character Cruz goes to talk to his father at his grave site, so out of respect we couldn’t use a real grave so had to create a really realistic one, on a budget.

Tarry came up with the fantastic idea of getting vinyl to lay over a headstone.

So we borrowed a headstone that had been engraved incorrectly on the back and then added our vinyl to the other side.

This was a really nerve-racking process as we really had only one shot at this. The stone is so heavy that it takes two guys to move it!

Tarry employed Michele to help him steady the vinyl and together, they carefully laid it down.

 The result was incredibly realistic! Check this out … how real does that look!?

Looks pretty awesome. So we set up ready to film the morning cemetery scene first using the evening golden hour light to act as morning. We were really racing against the sun here and unfortunately had to simulate it a bit with one of our lights. It still works because there is last light being cast over the cemetery thankfully. We were thrilled that Bas and his boys were keen to come again with their bikes for this scene. Don’t they look awesome!

Lops had told us that he was able to ride a motorbike but in the end provided us with so much entertainment as he fumbled his way in and out of the shot.

Stu came up with a fantastic idea to print a number plate on the number plate of his car so that it said “poukai”… It is not quite the right spelling but tied the car into the world perfectly. Such a good idea!

We then wrapped the guys and their bikes and then moved into filming the night scene. With the haze machine going the cemetery looked quite moody and creepy… check this out!

Here is Ryan our behind the scenes cameraman sitting on the machine to make sure that the haze was directed in the right direction… toughest job on set!

Wayne did a fantastic job tonight and we were all very pleased after the shoot to come back into the warmth of Mill house for some delicious pudding … thanks Michele!

Getting Creative with our shots

Thanks Michele for feeding us all this morning after a huge night last night.

Still amazed that this guy can have two pies and a coke BEFORE breakfast! Anyway, after a great breakfast we did some more planning throughout the morning before heading over to Fred Tate Wools to film again.

Spent time capturing one of the coolest ad lib shots in the movie which would have looked amazing on a steadycam (Ant, we really missed you so much!).  Josh shot it off the shoulder which works with the raw and rough feel we are going for. We had guys perfectly positioned with their cars, fixing bikes, chatting etc to really create a wider feel of the world they are in.  Thanks Bas, Kyle, Lawrence, Kim and Stu for coming out again you guys are such legends.

We also had Sammi’s brother in law Paul visit us on set and drop us off some very well received pizzas! Paul and the Smith family also donated a whole lot of soups and sachets etc which Michele has put to good use throughout the shoot.

The guys had a great time, here is Kim and Bas with their bikes. We wrapped our extras at a reasonable hour and then started to set up to film more of our office scenes. We got some fantastic footage tonight. Wayne surprised us with a couple of cool tricks.

Josh and Tarry got rather creative with the shooting (pretty impressive considering their lack of sleep) Check them out filming through a window here….

It was a great night and it definitely felt awesome to finally wrap the office scenes. Great job Wayne and Lops … massive couple of nights for you both!

Filming office scenes

A big thank you with all our heart for all the baking church family! You guys are amazing… we are one happy film crew… we really are just running ob butter, sugar and Michele’s cooking! Big love!

Today Wayne and Lops had a bit of a jam outside the house in the sunshine … it was awesome reggae central. We then  headed back to Fred Tate Wools to start filming again.

Throughout the afternoon and into the night we filmed the office scenes with Wayne, Lops and JD. We started in the day and used the same trick we had learnt at the boxing gym of cardboarding up the windows to let cool rays of sunlight flood in through the cracks.

As we moved from the afternoon into the evening and we lost the light, we replaced the sunlight with our lights and then for our “night-time” scenes we created moonlight using diffs and gels over our lights.

Great job Ariana picking up some curtains, finding the perfect laptop for Wayne to view and for going around all those shops looking for surf stickers… you are amazing!

It was really nice having Alison down for her scenes tonight, not only was she absolutely  fantastic on screen, but was such a help behind the scenes, printing a new portion of script for us and even helping Michele feed us all!! We love you Allison!

We really had underestimated how long each scene would take and found ourselves shooting well into the night. That is when the silliness started to happen. By the time we got to Allison’s scene we were all laughing between takes… it was great to bring some humour onto set after a very long day.

Andrea did such a fantastic job of Alison’s makeup and tattoos and I am sure that after all her tattoos on the boys and their simple brush makeup, it must have been a pleasant change to do makeup for Allison.

We realised as we filmed later and later into the night that we weren’t going to get through everything we had planned for the evening, so bumped a few scenes to our shoot tomorrow… a few hours of sleep is better than no hours!

Gang Initiation

We are really back into things now and our awesome stunt coordinator Augie has joined the madness! Welcome! Here is a photo of some serious planning underway.

Tonight we are filming the first of our Pouakai gang scenes and have a really exciting fight scene planned! JD is going to get pummelled tonight… here he is relaxing in the calm before the storm getting his tattoos done.

We arrived at the Pouakai headquarters (aka Fred Tate Wools shed) to realise that where we had organised to film in, was actually where they keep all the sheep poos.

So before we could film in there we had to sweep and clear it all out… and then dress the set. As we swept we kicked up sheep poo dust absolutely everywhere. It was all in our hair, all over our clothes and definitely up our noses… the smell is what won’t be translated across camera. It was great… yeah, good times. Here Tarry is getting stuck in.

It was then time for some rehearsing before all our extras were to turn up. Poor Lops and JD had practiced their fight scene on cushy mats but now they were right in the thick of it… sheep poo that is. They had to fight all through the poo and on the concrete floor! Such troupers! Here is Augie giving them some direction.

This was such a great night as we met so many amazing guys who volunteered their time to come be extras in the scene.

As night fell and once all the guys were full of sausage rolls and quiche, we started filming. This was probably one of the most memorable nights on set. The whole shed was packed and the atmosphere electric. We received a lot of gang advice on the night… so hopefully it will look pretty good!

Here are a few of the cast members hanging on set

The initiation is about to begin.

Bas looking cool with his bike.

The Gorgeous Anaura Bay

Today we headed up to the marae again to film our gang scenes and two of the Wharenui interior tangi scenes.

Here are a few of our Mad Bulls showing their sign they have made up…

Beautiful Wahine relaxing between takes.

We spent the morning setting up with some of Merediths amazing and lovely ladies teaching us  weaving … they are so clever and the weaving looked beautiful placed around Tori’s coffin, along with lots of pretty flowers.

We filmed some of our Mad Bulls scenes right by the beach in the sunshine! Can you believe how beautiful this spot is!?

Jol not posing at all but just casually hanging there!

The Wharenui is just absolutely stunning and we found that in order to really capture its beauty we needed to light it properly.

We also needed to make sure that we have consistent light in the Wharenui as we moved from filming in the day through to the evening and into night so we created our daylight.

One thing you hopefully won’t realise is that the majority of the interior tangi scenes were  actually filmed at night and made to look like the day!

We had brought up white sheets to cover the windows of the Wharenui and had our blond and red heads shining through so we could control the light. As seen below… check this out!

Not bad right? I must say that it got pretty hot in the Wharenui with the lights shining in and the sheets closing it off … definitely a great way of getting to know each other haha.

Thank you to all our amazing extras who were involved in the Tangi scenes. We can’t tell you how much we appreciated you making the drive up!

Michele was fantastic and brought us up lots of delicious food to enjoy together. So grateful to have a camp Mum who knows how to look after crowds of hungry production people! Here we all are sharing a meal together.

Mini Break To Plan our Gisborne Shoots

Here we scheduled a few days to just get everything together that we weren’t able to organise from Auckland. We still had a lot of sourcing to do and a few locations to confirm. This week ended up being one of the best things we did, as it gave everyone a chance to catch their breath after the manic Auckland shoots, tangi scenes and trip down.

Tarry headed back to Auckland, Josh spent some time with his family, Sammi and Michele went for a couple of lunches together and we all did a lot of exploring and a number of skate park visits.

It was really fortunate that we visited church in Gisborne as Sammi connected with Shane’s wife Mandy.

Shane ended up being a major part of the movie bringing a number of awesome guys for our gang scenes. Here Sammi meeting Shane and his friend out at the Meat Works. This guy is a legend.

The girls got stuck into creating a huge “Mad Bulls” sign to hang inside the Mad Bulls pad. This was definitely one of the coolest things that we created on set. It was huge and funnily enough, created on a large sheet of vinyl that was an old billboard.

Here we are at the Calles’ home for a planning meeting.

One of the real benefits of living with production people … whenever something goes wrong with your laptop you are sorted! Thanks JD for sussing this one out for me!

Got a call from Lops saying he was just leaving work and heading down and that he would get there really late. Then got another call in the middle of the night to say that he was completely lost. He had started driving, went the wrong way and was now going to have to drive through the night. Having Lops arrive in the early hours of the next morning was such a relief! Sammi didn’t get much sleep last night. He made it to Gisborne though … phew!

Filming our Tangi Scenes

Today was the largest of our Tangi scenes and we had all our extras there. Meredith brought along a local school to give them some on set experience which was great and we had all our guys there for the haka scene.

This was probably one of the most moving days on set. We had the incredible Frances Rangihura teaching Karla karanga. It was so touching to watch Karla connect with her heritage that some of us were brought to tears. Finding her roots and whakapapa for Karla was quite an experience. Here they are together.

We also filmed the haka at the Tangi which was really, really powerful! Amazingly all the time up Anaura we enjoy blue skies and sunshine and just as we started the haka a dark cloud loomed in the background… it couldn’t have been more perfect! This will definitely be a very powerful moment in the film.

We were then back inside the Wharenui filming the rest of the tangi scenes… late into the night.

This was one of our favourite and more emotional moments on set, the moment we wrapped Brian / Coop.

Brian, we are so grateful to you and your family for coming all the way down to Gisborne to be a part of the project! Your acting is outstanding … you were meant to play Coop! You are such an encouragement, meeting you through this process was definitely a highlight! FOR THE WIN!!!

Our First Day Shoot Day in Gisborne

Today we headed up to the marae at Anaura ready to film our bonfire scene. The first scene we will film here in Gisborne.

The girls went off to find some empty beer bottles and the rest of the team stayed up there to set up the bonfire.

We then had our powhiri and welcome onto the marae.

The night we spent briefing and finishing off gluing our gang patches.

The bonfire scene went really well. Unfortunately our Reaper character went MIA but Meredith brought Roman and Taina up for the scene. We thought Roman would be perfect to audition for  for the role … and he was fantastic! Reaper sorted! Phew.

Singing around the campfire.

Annie and Sammi hang out with the Mad Bulls…

Our Gang Patches are Ready! On our Way to Gizzy…

Today we picked up the freshly made gang patches. A huge thank you to Digitech who brought these visions to life! They look absolutely amazing … and pretty real that’s for sure!

We traveled in convoy down to Gisborne and saw some of the most stunning coastlines in the world.

We were held up in the gorge for a while as there had been a bit of a slip but thankfully Michele had gone down before us and set the house up ready for everyone and put on a lovely meal for us all… Michele coming down to volunteer as camp Mum was one of the most amazing miracles that happened. Quickly realising this would not have been very fun without her!

Meredith Akahata- Brown came around and we talked about extras and the process of getting more Gisborne people involved. She’s awesome and so funny, love her already!

We then spent the night sewing on our new patches … and then hot gluing them when we ran out of time … eek!

“A team that creates gang patches together… um stays together?”

Thanks guys, you really are the best!” In an indie film, there really are no defined jobs … you just pitch in where you can!

Filming our Hospital Scenes

We were then straight into filming our hospital scenes. Had a panicky morning as the hospital we had organised to film in just was not going to work as they were absolutely packed.

Thank goodness for Leanne Mortlock and Aria gardens. One of the rooms there had become available and we were able to shoot there, so we moved all our gear and the team over to Aria gardens. We were now running a bit behind time so had some catching up to do.

Michele made us all a fantastic lunch of rolls which we enjoyed in the sunshine and after dressing the set, we got to work.

We ended up being there until quite late but got all the footage we needed. Wayne and Katy gave great performances as did Josh and Jol. Very cool.

Filming our Boxing Scenes

We were excited to be joined by Jol and Albert who flew up from Gisborne to be part of our shoot! It’s great seeing everyone settle into their roles and pretty much run on adrenalin.  Can’t believe we get to do this! We also received the news that we have permission to film at Hinetametea marae at Anaura bay… so incredibly excited

A big thank you to Jack Papanui for all your help with this and taking a chance on us. We know we will make you proud.

Albert relaxes in between takes at ‘The Boxing Alley’

A big thank you to the Boxing Alley for letting us film in your awesome gym over the two day shoot and also, thank you to Hamish and Lianne and the City Impact Mt Wellington production team along with Louise for providing us with treats and a delicious meal.

So the first challenge we had when we arrived on set was that there was too much light coming in through the windows. So we went and sourced a truckload of cardboard and boarded up all the windows with cardboard and gaff tape. The little streaks of light coming through look amazing and it was a pretty inexpensive way of achieving what we wanted/ needed. We are also using a haze machine to really make the most of our lighting, makes everything look so much better… and moody.

Priscilla gives us the thumbs up, she’s good to go!

Our shoot in the boxing gym also provided the first opportunity for Andrea to try out her special effects make up. She did a great job of making Coop / Brian look like he had been on the receiving end of a pretty nasty few punches.

Thanks to Kerry for bringing his bike over for us to photograph with Zaphira.

We had a few challenges over the two days regarding sound but got some pretty incredible shots.

We were even surprised with a visit from the legendary Monty Bethan… such a highlight!

Getting it Done!

So Tarry and Josh have headed down to Gisborne on another reccie mission. They are going to check out Waipiro Marae which is right up the coast, as a back up marae to film at in case for some reason or another we aren’t able to use Hinetamatea at Anaura Bay.

It is Ariana’s family marae and her Dad worked on a television programme there so we were able to and attend the hui where the leadership at Hinetamatea marae at Anaura bay will make a decision as to whether we can use the marae for the movie.

The boys also sorted a coffin for us to use at the tangi, met with Liz from Wow Surf School who gave us some great contacts for surf doubles and met with Ryan who has volunteered to be our behind the scenes cameraman.

Welcome to the team Ryan! Tarry even got some of our Gisborne cast members together for some rehearsals. Great job boys!

Baking and Food Donated

Arrived today to find a fridge and freezer full of baking and meals for the crew made by a wonderful group of volunteer ladies (who are absolute angels!) We will take these all down with us, along with the two car boot loads full of treats from both the Campbell and Wackrow family. Feeling so overwhelmed by the love and support we have received.

We are preparing for our last shoot here in Auckland and then undergoing all the preparation to head down to Gisborne.

Capturing Footage from our First Shoot

So we have captured the first few shoots worth of footage… and it is looking pretty awesome. Well done everyone!

Filming in Cars

Tonight we are filming our “picking up Jess driving scene”. Had a pre shoot meeting and catch up with cast and crew … and featuring many delicious toasted sandwiches!

We then headed out to a quiet street in Orewa Auckland to film. We had a few neighbours come out to say hi which was great. It was also amazing to seeing how real our fake moonlight looks cast onto our characters. A huge shout out to Aaron Cleland, thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience with us tonight.

Aaron showing the girls how it is done.

That’s some epic moonlight shining there…

Jay clapper loading

Was quite a challenge capturing the driving scenes as we needed Josh, Tarry and Priscilla to all fit into in the car with the actors. Made for cosy times. Great fun!

We are really starting to realise just how monumental this project is. It has taken us three long nights to essentially create only 2 minutes of movie time… A late night wrap celebration of cheeseburgers was just what we needed. Great job team

Our Youth Scene

Today was an absolutely massive day. We had the whole City Impact production team out and set up for the scene in record time. Love our guys!

They worked tirelessly, so thankful to have their support here in Auckland… what are we going to do without them down in Gisborne?! Our youth started arriving and there was such an  buzz…  the excitement and atmosphere was electric.

We had makeup and costume stations. Tables full of food / baking that had been donated. It was really quite overwhelming.

We then kicked the night off with a bit of a party and then moved into shooting. The youth were so patient with us as we made them do things over and over again to capture what we needed.

Taylor- Rose did an amazing job singing an original song written by the talented Kane Adams tonight.

What a night! A huge thank you for all the volunteers who made this night so memorable… and especially to those who arrived early and packed down late! You all know who you are… Big love!

Our First Shoot Day

Today was so exciting as is was the first of our two Auckland shoots. We took a wee team photo (which doesn’t include the incredible Ariana and Michele). The people you see here above  (plus Ariana and Michele) made up the entire core crew of the movie.

To ease into things on this project we decided to film the exterior of our youth scene first, which was really straight forward with no dialogue. We had a number of youth come join us for the shoot which we were so thankful for.

Had the first of many intense moments like when poor Corinth missed her flight up from Gisborne. Luckily the Air New Zealand lady felt sorry for her and put her on the next flight for free. Phew!

So grateful and such a relief. Thankfully Ben was able to race out and get her while we were setting up for the shoot. Corinth was straight off the plane and onto set…

The team talk about shots…

The scene went really well, we are making sure that we get all the standard shots we need before moving onto more creative ones… this feels like it could be a good plan going forward.

Costume Prep and Planning

Costume preparation and planning with Ariana … as we are still unsure of who we will actually have as extras at this point we have gone and grabbed all sorts of pieces in a dull pallet, we can then add these to the scene… should work right?

Special Effects Makeup

Thank you Andrea for all the hard work you did today putting together all the special effects makeup for the shoot and practise and research into tattoos.

The tests you have done look incredible … very grateful to have you coming down with us!

The Fabulous Ariana

A shout out to this amazing girl who has not only been such an incredible help sourcing and planning, but has agreed to take time off work and university to volunteer to come down with us to Gisborne to help. Ariana, you are the best, can’t even begin to express how grateful we are for you!

Shoot Planning

Spent the morning planning shot lists for our first few shoots with Ant and Jay, as Josh and Tarry are away.

Props and Meetings

Today we went on a reccie around Auckland to look for a hall to film our youth scenes in and ended up shopping for some cool outfits and guns for the gang scenes. Here’s Tarry showing off some of our finds… we are only looking at the essentials …  When you have little to no budget, every dollar you can save helps!

This afternoon we had a fantastic meeting with the team who are helping us put together our youth scene as we need lighting, sound and plenty of extras. Going to be great fun!