Celebrating Practitioners
of Post
A growing amount of post-production on international film and television is being executed in Australia. Ausfilm celebrates some of these talented people at the coalface: composers and colourists, editors, sound designers and mixers, and other key post practitioners. Sandy George reports.
Resourceful and Agile
The Power of the Dog Editor, Peter Sciberras, says Australia has “incredibly talented collaborators” and names Academy Award®-winning Sound Designer and Mixer Robert Mackenzie, and Post-production Supervisor, Colleen Clark.
Most Australians have built their creative skills on projects with finite production budgets and this has required them to be resourceful, efficient and adaptable. It also makes them well suited to others’ production processes when necessary.
Academy Award®-winning Sound Mixer, Andy Wright, says working with Australia remotely is straightforward providing there is good communication and the early establishment of trust. “And it can help a US$30 million film feel more like a US$60 million film thanks to the country’s experience and skill and its ability to link up calibrated mix rooms in different locations,” Wright says.
Incredible Rebates
Dale Roberts, Managing Director at KOJO, says there’s no doubt Australia has world-class talent but, ultimately, the sums have to add up.
“We tell Americans they can buy AU$1 million worth of work in Australia for US$430,000 after all the rebates and currency advantages,” he says. (In March 2022, AU$1 million was roughly equivalent to US$720,000).
Calculations such as Roberts’ take into account the exchange rate and principal support mechanisms provided by the Australian government. These include the 16.5% Location Offset and the 13.5% Location Incentive, which together amount to a 30% saving, or the 30% Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) Offset. These can be topped up with state grants and rebates and together can amount to as much as 45% off Australian expenditure.
Qualifying Australian production expenditure (QAPE) of AU$500,000 triggers eligibility for the PDV Offset. The minimum QAPE for the 16.5% Location Offset and Incentive is AU$15 million.
The more sound, picture and music services that are loaded into the shopping cart, the higher the overall savings to the budget. Ausfilm’s new Australian Screen Tax Incentives Calculator can be used to work out those savings across federal and state governments. Use the QR code on page 7 to access this calculator quickly.
This year, we have chosen to profile 18 talented post practitioners whose commitment to telling great stories is abundantly clear. As Wayne Pashley of Big Bang Sound Design put it: “Crews love and respect each other in Australia, and everyone’s ideas are listened to. We band together and leave a part of ourselves in the film – and I think audiences feel it.”
SOUND AND MUSIC FEEDING THE EARS
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CRAIG BECKETT, ROSE MACKENZIE PETERSON AND LIAM MOSES
Scoring team at TRACKDOWN
The team of in-house engineers at
Trackdown is repeatedly told their work
is as good as the best out of Hollywood
and London. Why? Experience,
complimentary skills, familiarity with
the facility, love of music and a personal
bond are among the reasons.
“We have adopted techniques and skills
that elevate the score and it helps that we
enjoy doing it,” says newest team member,
Engineer Liam Moses. “The creativity is in
experimenting with the craft.”
Another factor that helps to beautifully
realise the composer’s creation is the
quality of the musicians hired, most
of whom play with the Australian
Chamber Orchestra, Opera Australia,
or Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Trackdown incorporates Australia’s
only purpose-built orchestral scoring
stage. It comfortably holds 100
musicians. Moses is the Engineer
within the scoring team, Engineer Rose
Mackenzie-Peterson is usually found on
Pro Tools tuned in to small ensembles,
and Craig Beckett – who won a Golden
Reel Award from the US society of
Motion Picture Sound Editors for best
sound editing for The Great Gatsby –
is leader of the pack and Chief
Technical Officer.
Trackdown’s General Manager Elaine
Beckett is also well known. With
Australia being one of the few places
open for filmmaking at certain times
during the pandemic, the team got
even more remote and international
work than usual, broadening their
client base permanently.
Trackdown was one of the first facilities
to undertake remote recording using
Source-Connect and is now using
the software for multi-camera and
multi-location set ups. A recent remote
pickup session for The King’s Man
linked picture sync and 5.1 playback
in Los Angeles, London, and Sydney.
About 70% of all business comes from
film and TV and a growing number of
games producers are making enquiries.
Talking people through key technical
aspects is seen as an important part of
the service.
Recent credits: Star Wars: Visions (The Village Bride), Maya and the Three, The Mitchells vs The Machines, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, Mad Max: Fury Road.
Thrilling moments: Craig Beckett, a self-described geek, without hesitation nominates working on a Star Wars project. Mackenzie-Peterson says every time she hits the record button on a full string section for a new score something magical happens. Moses says a thrilling moment is learning something new, which happens on every job, and the realisation he has developed an understanding of orchestral music since joining Trackdown.
Other interests: Beckett listens to heavy metal music in his spare time. Mackenzie-Peterson plays electric violin and is an indie pop artist who goes by the name VRDA. Moses is an avid cyclist and proud owner of a fixed-gear bike.
CRAIG BECKETT, ROSE MACKENZIE PETERSON AND LIAM MOSES
Scoring team at
TRACKDOWN
ANGELA LITTLE
Composer
Ask Composer Angela Little about
her creative philosophy and she
immediately talks about connection,
including how music can deeply
tap into a person’s emotional core.
Storytellers want audiences to feel like
they’re having an experience, she says.
It might be feeling empathy or noticing
great beauty, and music can help
facilitate that on a subconscious level.
“I have to keep my own connection
to the story and the material when I
work and connection is at the heart
of my collaborative relationships too.
There are so many possibilities and so
many profound ways of using music,”
she says.
Little has a Master of Music in Screen
Scoring from the University of
Southern California, where she was
mentored by American Composer
Thomas Newman. She wants to
continue to work in both Australia and
the US to feed her interest in all genres
and styles.
Little created music for Honor of
Kings 2.0, China’s highest-grossing
mobile game when it launched, and
is eager for more video game gigs.
She composed the music for two
recent features, A Stitch in Time and
Streamline and worked on 2020 film
Never Too Late remotely after getting
stuck in the US. “I was on the other
side of the world in Los Angeles, and
we got a brilliant result,” says Little.
Little is credited with additional music
arranging and composing on Baz
Luhrmann’s Australia, and co-wrote
and sang the film’s end-credit song.
She regards it as important to seek out
stories she feels an affinity for and to
be adventurous in her creative choices.
Recent credits: Honor of Kings 2.0, Never Too Late, Dive Club, Streamline, A Stitch in Time
Thrilling moments: Little recently worked on Everybody’s Oma, a documentary about a woman with dementia. “It’s a very personal and very beautiful film and I wanted to do it justice,” she says. “I sat down to compose, and the idea came to me right away. I had it down in moments! Music is very primal in that way: sometimes it’s almost as if it appears fully formed and you just have a feeling that it’s right. Those moments are humbling and awe-inspiring all at once.”
Other interests: “I’m writing a historical novel set in 19th Century England and France about a young woman who goes on an odyssey to find out the truth about her female ancestors.”
ANGELA LITTLE
Composer
BRYONY MARKS
Composer
“The time difference is helpful for
workload and efficiency when working
with people on the other side of the
world – whether they’re in the UK or
US,” says Composer Bryony Marks.
“You can get straight to work the next
day on drafts approved overnight.”
Marks is an old hand at remote work: her
first was a decade ago on the 2012 UK/
Australian co-production Mrs Biggs, a
TV drama about Charmian Biggs, wife of
the Great Train Robbery criminal Ronnie
Biggs. Recently she worked remotely
on the US comedy series Everything’s
Gonna Be Okay, on which she was the
only Australian head of department.
“Timing is important when working on
music in any format,” she says. “When
doing comedy, it’s even more so. If the
timing is sloppy or not supporting the
comedy, the jokes can fall flat.”
Marks says she leaned towards
“moody, sparse, indie scores” early
in her career but has now diversified
and employs very different styles from
pop idiom to full orchestral. “I often
think there are two sorts of composers:
someone who has a strong voice and
a jack of all trades. I think I’m versatile
without being a chameleon. I’m not
sure if I can completely disappear into
a genre.”
Marks has won many awards including
for Lambs of God, Noise and Berlin
Syndrome, which premiered at the
Berlinale and was filmed in Berlin
and Melbourne under the direction of
Kate Shortland who has since made
Black Widow.
Marks composed the music for the
documentary 2040, footage of which
was screened at the official opening
of the United Nations Climate Action
Summit in New York in 2019. Most
recently she’s been working on two
ballets with choreographer Alice Topp,
one of which is a full orchestral work
for the Australian Ballet. “It’s a new
and exciting medium for me – and a
bit terrifying – because the Australian
Ballet is so high profile,” she says.
“I get such enjoyment from my work, in
part because only rarely would I work
without real musicians from the major
orchestras. Australia has world-class
musicians and fabulous recording
facilities. Australian composers are
used to working efficiently and
effectively to any budget. We all give
good value for money and can make
a 40-piece orchestra sound like an
80-piece orchestra.”
Recent credits: Frayed, Making Their Mark, Mustangs FC, Lambs of God, Sisters.
Thrilling moments: “Nailing a particularly tricky episode during the final mix of Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. I was thrown a wonderfully curved ball when asked to score for a string quartet for several scenes – we usually used a rock band, literally rockers from the ’80s, which suits the fast turnaround of that show.”
Other interests: “My two dogs. They are lying happily at my feet now. And growing my own vegetables.”
BRYONY MARKS
Composer
WAYNE PASHLEY
Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer and Re-recording Mixer BIG BANG SOUND DESIGN
Wayne Pashley says he feels
blessed to be working on Director
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis because the
Australian makes “true cinema”.
Pashley oozes enthusiasm for
collaborating with filmmakers and
for the craft of sound. “There is a
visceral motivation behind what we
do and what sound design can do for
characters and story on a surreptitious
level,” he says. “I ask ‘is it hitting me in
the feels?’ I figure that if I’m feeling it,
others will.”
Pashley and co-owner Libby Villa’s
Sydney-based bespoke sound facility,
Big Bang Sound Design, is a hub for
those handling all aspects of sound
from director’s cut to final mix. “We
have always dug in our heels and said,
‘If we can’t do just sound, we are not
doing it at all’,” says Pashley.
Knowing how sound and music
post are inherently attached to a
filmmaker’s intention, if a US or other
non-Australian director has returned
home after filming in Australia, Pashley
will always offer to join them abroad
for the final mix. He has finished
several Warner Bros. titles in the
US, where he is a member of the
Motion Picture Sound Editors alliance.
“Nothing beats what happens in a big
room,” he says.
Pashley has been nominated for
countless awards, many of which
he has won. Most recently he won
an AACTA (Australian Academy of
Cinema and Television Arts) Award for
Best Sound in a Documentary for the
first episode of the series Life in Colour
with David Attenborough. In a recent
sidestep, he executive produced
Sasha Hadden’s Australian film,
A Stitch in Time.
Credits: Elvis, Life in Colour, Little Monsters, The LEGO Batman Movie, Gods of Egypt, Mad Max: Fury Road.
Thrilling moments: Recording all the 1960s, ’70s and ’80 cars on the set of the Elvis film, including a Cadillac Eldorado.
Other interests: “I love to immerse myself in all forms of art. What we leave behind in our art is the meaning of life.”
WAYNE PASHLEY
Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer and Re-recording Mixer
BIG BANG SOUND DESIGN
Bryony Marks
Composer
ANGUS ROBERTSON
Head of Sound and Supervising Sound Editor
SPECTRUM FILMS
ANGUS ROBERTSON
Head of Sound and Supervising Sound Editor SPECTRUM FILMS
Angus Robertson has been involved
in more than 180 films and 300 hours
of TV drama. He has been a member
of the Spectrum Films family
since 2016. As Head of Sound he
is responsible for the human and
technical resources that the full-service
post house commits to delivering
excellence in sound.
“The technology at that level can be
hair raising but there is nothing like a
big stage,” he says, referring to how
the company recently rebuilt the Dolby
Atmos theatre at Fox Studios Australia
in Sydney. “Mortal Kombat was the
first film to go through and it was
exciting to manage the power of the
soundtrack – the loudness and impact,”
he says.
Robertson also works directly with
producers and clients in the capacity
of Supervising Sound Editor, Dialogue
Editor and ADR Mixer. He has
recorded an enormous amount of
ADR in particular, helping shape the
pitch, projection, energy, speed – and
suitability – of many a performance.
“You pick up a lot about the actor’s
method,” he says. “ADR can be
a powerful tool, but things can
go wrong if an actor doesn’t feel
understood or comfortable. Being
in intimate environments with
fantastic directors and great actors
is a privilege. You’re breaking down
the dialogue and combining takes to
make up a sentence that will add to
the understanding of the audience or
change a scene.”
He nominates certain words to guide
the sound team when working on films.
For the Australian film Babyteeth,
which was “full of humanity and
wonderful relationships, and told a
beautiful story”, the words “innocent”,
“authentic” and “incarnate” were
chosen. He uses the phrase “it takes
a village” to express both the joy and
necessity of working in and relying on
a team of people.
Credits: Babyteeth, Hearts and Bones, Truth (Supervising Sound Editor), Mortal Kombat (Head of Sound, Spectrum), Mad Max: Fury Road (Head of Sound).
Thrilling moments: “The result of the creative collaboration at the final mix still always blows me away.”
Other interests: “My wonderful son just started studying design and commerce at uni.”
ANDY WRIGHT
Supervising Sound Editor and Re-recording Mixer SOUNDFIRM
Andy Wright was nominated for a
Academy Award® for best sound
mixing and best sound editing on
Hacksaw Ridge in 2017. He won
for mixing and “would have been
devastated” had the outcome been
different because his American
colleague on the mixing desk, Kevin
O’Connell, who won alongside him,
would have gone home empty handed
after receiving a record 21 nominations
in 33 years.
Hacksaw Ridge also earned a BAFTA
nomination for sound and a Golden
Reel Award. The month-long award
season festivities were “full-on and
amazing”, and Wright met many
of those who had shaped his
professional thinking. He was also
reassured that Australia’s way of
working stacks up globally, though
budgets are generally lower.
Soundfirm has handled sound for
Australian, US and Chinese films
for nearly 40 years and now offers
full-service post. “We facilitate the
director’s vision,” says Wright. “There
are no rules as long as it feels right
for the story. We want to bring a lot
of energy and vibrance, but if it is too
heavy or hectic or stepping on the
story, it’s no good.”
As designer, Wright recently oversaw
the removal of magpie, currawong and
other Australian bird calls from the
Nine Perfect Strangers soundtrack. The
Hulu series was shot in Australia but
set in the US. “But it was a great show
for sound because of the flashbacks
and drug-induced hallucinations,” he
says. “There was almost disbelief from
America that we hit the drop-dead
finish date.”
Credits: : Wolf Like Me, Nine Perfect Strangers, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, Ladies in Black, Hacksaw Ridge.
Thrilling moments: The first playback after mixing Thomas M. Wright’s The Stranger, the first film to go through Soundfirm’s new Dolby Atmos theatre in Sydney. “It was exciting to turn the mixing console off, the lights off, and be in the dark with the graded image in a brand new room in a brand new facility with a brand new 4K projector.”
Other interests: “I’ve got two kids under 10 with Leah Katz, a dialogue supervisor who recently worked on Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog.”
ANDY WRIGHT
Supervising Sound Editor and Re-recording Mixer
SOUNDFIRM
CAITLIN YEO
Composer
Caitlin Yeo won two AACTA Awards
for best original score in 2021: for TV
for her work on the series New Gold
Mountain and for documentary with
Playing with Sharks: The Valerie Taylor
Story.
“I like to start work on a production
as early as possible so there’s time for
creative ideas to seed and flourish,”
Yeo says. “I get very entrenched and
immersed in the story, looking for
what’s beyond the first layer and
discovering music that is idiosyncratic
to the show.”
New Gold Mountain is a revisionist
western murder mystery with a
Chinese perspective set in the gold
rush of the 1850s. Yeo wanted to
give the show an off-kilter twist and
used Chinese instruments including
the pipa and guqin for the European
miners, and Western instruments
including steel string guitars, fiddles
and low Irish whistles for the Chinese
characters. A gold pan became the
leading percussion instrument. “It was
the one thing that unified everyone;
everyone wanted to find gold and a
better life.”
Yeo is riding Australia’s production
boom and adding to her 60 credits.
“There is so much content out there
and if you want to rise above the rest,
you have to make sure your show
pops – and perks up the eyes and
ears,” she says.
The former president of the Australian
Guild of Screen Composers is currently
working on the drama series True
Colours, filmed in the Macdonnell
Ranges, east of Mparntwe/Alice
Springs, in the centre of Australia.
The series creator is Arrernte singersongwriter Warren H Williams.
“He wanted me to capture the hum
of the country and sent me a bank of
sounds he had recorded on country
just for the show. I feel very privileged
to work with him in this way.”
In 2011 she attended the ASCAP Film
Scoring Workshop in LA. “Immediately
after I composed the music for The
Rocket, which won the Feature Film
Score of the Year in the Screen Music
Awards,” she says. She won the
category again with The Butterfly Tree
in 2018.
Credits: Wakefield, Playing with Sharks: The Valerie Taylor Story, Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, The Pacific: In the Wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neill, David Stratton’s Stories of Australian Cinema.
Thrilling moments: “Being at Tribeca in New York with Director Kim Mordaunt and others when The Rocket won best film in 2013.”
Other interests: : “I’m a pianist, a flautist and an accordionist, a dog lover – and I love to cook.”
CAITLIN YEO
Composer
IMAGERY FEEDING THE EYES
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JUSTIN HEITMAN
Colourist
Justin Heitman could be called a
“mobile” colourist given how often
he’s found engrossed in grading dailies
from the back of a purpose-built van
parked near the on-set action. He
might be helping to establish the look,
ensuring balance and consistency, or
running tests.
“To walk over with an iPad and show a
DP stills of what was captured an hour
earlier is reassuring for them – and it’s
super exciting for the crew,” he says.
The Rebel Fleet van, with its built-in
Storage Area Network (SAN), also
has data wrangling capabilities and
Heitman – or his son James – might be
handling that too.
“Having fingers in many pies and being
part of the big picture means things
flow better,” Heitman says. “And it’s
still exciting to me that you can grab
someone’s vision and enhance it. When
I am given creative freedom it’s like
getting a present every day.”
That said, he acknowledges that some
DPs only want him to ensure everything
is going through the system smoothly.
Heitman understands the whole post
process having come up through the
ranks of a major post house. Wanting
the flexibility to be a good single dad,
he then operated his own video and
photography company, which added
to his understanding of imagery.
The Rebel Fleet was established in
New Zealand in 2015. Its focus is
workflow design and implementation,
including the careful gathering of
metadata for VFX and other purposes.
Heitman was hired by the company
before the 2020 opening of the
Queensland office. Stephen Ceci
recently headed over from the US
to take up the appointment of
Managing Director. The company will
open offices in NSW and Victoria in
early 2022.
Credits: True Spirit, Escape from Spiderhead, The Wilds Season 2. Thrilling moment: “When the van is at a particularly beautiful location with an amazing view, I think, ‘How cool that that’s my office’.”
Thrilling moments: “When the van is at a particularly beautiful location with an amazing view, I think, ‘How cool that that’s my office’.”
Other interests: “Well, it’s not related to being a colourist, but I co-produced a DVD for Midnight Oil that won an ARIA [Australian Recording Industry Association] Award and was Director/DP on Vicarious Escapes, a US magazine program that won a (regional) Emmy.”
JUSTIN HEITMAN
Colourist
THE REBEL FLEET
ANGIE HIGGINS
Editor
Angie Higgins recently worked on
La Brea, her first US series and her
biggest job to date. “It was action
sci-fi, with a big emphasis on family,
and it had a massive VFX component
encompassing CGI sabre-toothed
tigers, giant sloths and a big sinkhole in
the middle of Los Angeles,” she says.
“I co-edited the pilot with legendary
Editor Mr Harry B. Miller III – a brilliant
collaborator – and cut a further
three episodes.”
With Miller in Los Angeles and four
rotating editors in Melbourne, the
production benefited from an extended
editorial day. Higgins had to adjust her
thinking to the differences
in the American system, including
how a cut is navigated through more
people compared to Australia. “But
I’ve always said if you don’t learn
something new on every job you might
as well give it away.”
Good editing is all about rhythm,
Higgins says, just as a song and dance
routine is. Only when the whole
episode is assembled is it possible to
tell if the rhythm is right. A skipped
beat, for example, can distract the
audience. “You must take care of
everything around the story arc so
there is a clear line to follow,” she says.
Higgins has edited about 30 Australian
shows. In 2021, she was nominated for
an AACTA award for Best Editing in
Television for The Newsreader.
In a nice piece of serendipity,
Australian show The Gloaming had its
US premiere on Starz at the same time
Higgins was interviewed for La Brea,
giving her potential employers the
opportunity to familiarise themselves
with her work.
Higgins ensures she surrounds herself
with the best team possible, believes in
collaboration and is a stickler for detail.
Fun fact: : She finds it useful to juggle for five minutes if finding the solution to an editing problem is proving elusive.
Recent credits: La Brea Season 1, The Newsreader, The Gloaming, Molly.
Thrilling moment: Hitting a very tight deadline for getting a cut of La Brea to the network, then hearing that they loved it.
Other interests: : “I’m a mother of four kids, aged 16, 14, 12 and 10, and two pets. A very supportive husband runs the household which makes it possible for me to do what I love and be a mum. The balance is tricky, but we just get there, I think.”
ANGIE HIGGINS
Editor
DWAINE HYDE
Senior Colourist - Commercial and Longform CUTTING EDGE
“Lambs of God was a recent favourite
experience because Don McAlpine
is one of my favourite DPs and
listening to him talk through how he
constructs an image was great,” says
Dwaine Hyde.
“He might manipulate certain parts
of the picture to make the audience
unconsciously focus where the
filmmaker wants them to, for example.”
Colourist Hyde also enjoyed working
on Eden during lockdown because it
was “very visually exciting”.
There were many conversations about
the All3Media/Stan series with the
Londoners on the same line as people
in multiple locations across Australia’s
east coast.
“My philosophy varies for every
job, but overall, it’s to get the best
possible result and look in line with the
filmmakers’ intention,” he says.
Most of Hyde’s extensive experience
has been on high-end TV content
for streamers and broadcasters. “In
my role at Cutting Edge I lead the
research, testing and decision-making
about equipment,” he says.
“The company has vast knowledge and
people available whenever you need
them. It’s great to have a quality brains
trust to depend on and that’s made
possible by Cutting Edge being a fullservice post studio.”
The company undertook full post for
the US reality series The Real Magic
Mike for HBO Max, including live
sessions between Sydney, Los Angeles
and New York. “Just like in production,
in post-production Australia develops
and nurtures some of the better
craftspeople in the world,” Hyde says.
Hyde also worked on HBO Max
series Full Bloom, created and
produced by Australian production
company Eureka.
Recent credits: Mystery Road, Lambs of God, Eden, Total Control, Harrow.
Thrilling moments: : “Getting complimentary feedback.”
Other interests: “I dabble in home brewing.”
DWAINE HYDE
Senior Colourist - Commercial and Longform
CUTTING EDGE
JAEMIE MANNERS
Head of Colour and Finishing SANDBOX
Six-part documentary Shipwreck
Hunters Australia was Jaemie Manners’
first experience of grading in HDR and
his first show for Disney+.
“I have a massive love of landscape
photography and am a keen scuba
diver, and there’s a lot of drone shots
of the WA coastline that made me
want to jump in my car and go there,”
he says.
Manners also recently colour graded
the 10-episode Outback Car Hunters
for Discovery. All the post was done in
Australia on this one.
“I’m a stickler for getting things right
in-camera because it always looks
better,” he says. “I like preserving the
image as it was captured, polishing it,
and making it as attractive as possible.”
Manners, who is a member of the USbased Colorist Society International
(CSI), is aware that some may expect
colour graders to get the most joy
from messing with different looks –
but not him. “It is still a lot of work
to preserve the integrity of what the
cinematographer wanted to capture,”
he says.
Manners is the in-house colourist at
the full-service post house Sandbox in
Western Australia, which recently built
a 4K HDR suite. “We built Sandbox
with the idea that there would be no
egos,” he says. “As the name suggests,
you get to come and play with us. If
you have an idea you want to try out,
you can do that. We always come up
with a lot of ideas and options before
settling on the one we want.”
While Western Australia is the
country’s biggest state, it has less
production activity than states on the
eastern seaboard. However, Manners
believes the number of features made
in WA in the last decade has grown
“almost tenfold”.
After finishing the first episode of
Shipwreck Hunters Australia, he
worked on the homegrown thriller
Avarice before returning to the
documentary series. Other Australian
features he’s been involved with
include Below and Bad Girl.
“When you see the work that comes
out of the state, there is no doubt
that it has a significant talent pool,”
Manners says.
Recent credits: Iggy & Ace, Itch, Crazy About You, Below, Bad Girl.
Thrilling moments: “Grading in HDR was an eye-opening experience – pun intended. We finished building the suite, I was extremely tired, but I thought ‘I might as well try it out’ so I put up some footage I’d already graded in SDR and I physically wanted to reach in and touch everything I was seeing.”
Other interests: “I love flying remote control gliders, in particular discus launch gliders.”
JAEMIE MANNERS
Head of Colour and Finishing
SANDBOX
DEBORAH PEART
Editor
In 2020, Deborah Peart won an AACTA
award for Best Editing in Television for
local show Mystery Road. She was on
location in remote outback Australia
for an extended period for that series,
ensuring the show’s needs were met –
and very much part of the production
family.
Another ACCTA award nomination
was for the homegrown series Total
Control, which screened at the Toronto
International Film Festival in 2019.
Peart’s peers have also nominated her
10 times for Australian Screen Editors
Awards, most recently for Bump, which
played on US The CW Network.
The producers of many of the shows
Peart works on have serious global
ambitions. “They understand the
importance of interrogating the
material, being rigorous, and keeping
an edit unlocked for as long as it takes
to get it right,” says Peart.
Peart is now at work on The Lost
Flowers of Alice Hart for Amazon
Prime Video, produced by Made Up
Stories, which has offices on both sides
of the Pacific Ocean.
“You’ve got to approach work with
humility and an open mind and always
make sure it is evolving,” she says.
“You have to learn to read the room
– and the notes. In TV you get a lot
of opinions from a lot of people and
all the ideas are worth pursuing if it’s
going to make the show better.”
She notes that a growing number of
Australian editors are cutting offshore
series being shot locally.
Her first experience with US
showrunners and distribution players
was working in a range of roles on
the sci-fi series Farscape, including
as Post-Production Supervisor in the
early 2000s.
“Australians have the chops, work
hard, are extremely adaptable and
have the creativity to take on a
project of any size,” she says. “There
is a huge amount of talent here that
can be mined.”
Peart is one of only three editors on
the books of high-profile Sydneybased agency, HLA Management.
Recent credits: Total Control, Lambs of God, Mystery Road, Upright and The Code.
Thrilling moments: “I recently finished editing Director Gracie Otto’s debut [fiction] feature Seriously Red remotely. I saw her in person once at the start and saw her again only at the end when we locked off the picture.”
Other interests: “My partner and I have a property in Kangaroo Valley (a twohour drive from Sydney) and we want to do micro farming. You get crammed into small spaces in post and it is vital to get your body moving in the sun and air.”
DEBORAH PEART
Editor
MARTY PEPPER
Colourist, VFX Supervisor, Executive Director of Post and VFX KOJO STUDIOS
Marty Pepper has been called “the
Swiss army knife of post” because,
unusually, he works as both a Colourist
and a VFX Supervisor. It is perplexing
for some: “US clients think that you
can’t be good at two things and it
scares them,” he says. For the record
he was also second unit director on
Hotel Mumbai in India.
Pepper says he learned fearlessness
early on from his dad, “a stupidly
successful commercials director”,
cinematographer and sound engineer.
“I’m practical,” he says. “If people
present a problem, I solve it.”
When he works on features the
relationships forged are generally
not of a standard client-vendor
nature. “They go way deeper. We see
ourselves as in the trenches too, giving
great bang for buck,” says Pepper. “We
take the rudder and help steer through.
There are some massive efficiencies
in that.”
A record six Australian features
were in Sundance in 2019 and
Pepper was associated with four of
them: The Nightingale, I Am Mother,
the Ireland/Australian co-production
Animals and Top End Wedding,
which KOJO Studios co-produced.
“I have a roster of directors who
literally keep me busy. It gives me a
great feeling of satisfaction.”
Years ago, fellow South Australian
Director Scott Hicks brought his first
US film home for post and expected
KOJO to work alongside him at a
global standard.
The company rose
to the challenge and now offers
everything from pre-production
planning through to delivery. It has
nearly 100 full-time staff nationally and
can expertly guide offshore clients on
Australian regulations, protocols, and
financial incentives. International joint
ventures and alliances are also part of
the company strategy. KOJO was a key
provider of post and VFX services on
Mortal Kombat.
Credits: You Won’t Be Alone, Mortal Kombat, I Am Mother, The Nightingale, Animals
Thrilling moments: “Shooting in the locations we are now, realising many Americans will see them.” (At the time Pepper was in the remote town of Coober Pedy, on the set of Warwick Thornton’s Firebite for AMC.)
Other interests: “My big hobby is muscle cars and I have a 2019 supercharged [Chevrolet] Camaro ZL1. I also like fishing with my kids, the youngest of whom is 21. I have a son who is a mechanic at Mercedes Benz.”
MARTY PEPPER
Colourist, VFX Supervisor, Executive Director of Post and VFX KOJO STUDIOS
BRETT MANSON
Colourist
THE POST LOUNGE
BRETT MANSON
Colourist THE POST LOUNGE
Queensland-based Brett Manson has
colour graded more than 50 features
during his 24 years in post-production
and is known for his creativity, speed,
and precision. He has worked freelance
since early 2017 but has a close
relationship with full-service facility
The Post Lounge.
Putting aside technical requirements
such as matching footage shot in
different light conditions, he sees
colour grading as aiding the narrative
of the on-screen stories he works on.
“It can add flavour to the emotional
tone of a scene or be used to create
suspense or awaken feeling,” he
explains, adding his VFX background
assists him in his work.
“Colour is considered in the props and
costumes, during set dressing and
production design. I love seeing the
culmination of that, then enhancing it.
So many films are beautifully curated
in terms of their colour.”
While working on The King for Netflix,
New York-based Colourist Tom
Poole set up scenes with Australian
Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, who
was unable to travel from the US to
Australia for the grade. Manson then
completed the film with Director David
Michôd. “It worked really well and was
one of the first HDR jobs I’d done,”
says Manson.
The Australian horror film Bloody Hell
was another enjoyable recent project
because of its unusual approach:
it ended up dark and moody but
unusually colourful for the genre.
Manson did colour grading on Tsotsi,
which won the 2006 Academy Award
for Best Foreign Language Film. He
went on the tradeshow speaking
circuit and attracted an offer too good
to refuse from facility DDP Studios in
Melbourne and relocated from South
Africa in 2008
Recent credits: The Furnace, Little Monsters, H is for Happiness, The King, Gods of Egypt.
Thrilling moments: “It is always satisfying when a cinematographer sees the first pass of the grade, after only having discussions on the look, and is really, really happy with it.”
Other interests: “I have a love of wood carving and when not in front of a computer screen that’s what I can be doing. I also have a fascination for forbidden history and science.”
PETER SCIBERRAS
Co-owner, Editor
ARC FILM
PETER SCIBERRAS
Co-owner, Editor ARC FILM
Peter Sciberras edited three David
Michôd films, most recently The King,
before moving on to The Power of
the Dog.
“Jane [The Power of the Dog Director,
Jane Campion] and I went through
look books and talked for two hours in
the interview,” he says. “It was in part a
chemistry test. I had gotten the script
two days before; two days later I had
the job.”
Sciberras was in quarantine for the
first two weeks in Auckland. “A full edit
suite was delivered to my hotel room.
I had to cut on a tiny little table,” he
says. “It was so narrow and the monitor
web cam was so close to me that Jane
could only see my forehead and the
top of my head.”
Editing later moved to Sydney. “We
had the goal to have a film that took its
time, invested in moments and had a
momentum that built throughout. It’s a
slow burn film but we didn’t want it to
be slow.”
While agreeing that editing is about
rhythm, Sciberras says he’s never
had a conversation with a director
about that. “You always want to set
a rhythm and then break it for effect.
Rhythm comes from the cadence of
the performances, the visual language,
your own reaction to the footage, what
the director wants.”
Keeping the focus on Benedict
Cumberbatch’s character and leaving
room for ambiguity and uncertainty
was key. Wide shots, for example,
were used to distance audiences, and
holding shots for longer than usual
created discomfort.
“You rely on instinct and making sense
of it in the moment. You have to be
intuitive and analytical at the same
time,” he says. “If too cerebral you’d
never finish the film because there’s
probably a billion options. You want
the audience to be feeling as much
as thinking.”
The shoot was in two parts because of
COVID-19. During the 10-week break
Sciberras did the whole assembly,
though there were missing scenes, of
course. As a result, the second shoot
started with pickups, mainly to capture
textual material.
“So much of the editing process is
throwing things around and having
a good time – the fun things are the
discoveries,” he says. “The biggest
things you learn as you develop are
how to stay fresh, to have ideas, to
keep up the stamina.”
Quite separate to his work as a
freelance Editor – he is next doing Foe
with Director Garth Davis – Sciberras
is one of three owners of ARC FILM a
boutique full-service editor-focussed
post facility.
Recent credits: The Power of the Dog, The King, War Machine, Mr Inbetween, Hail.
Thrilling moments: “Seeing our new facility for the first time. Being on the press tour in Los Angeles with Jane and others and meeting the cast. Getting out of Melbourne lockdown.”
Other interests: “I’ve got a one-yearold; a beautiful little boy. He was born just before the shoot resumed [on The Power of the Dog].”
FEEDING ALL THE SENSES
Click images to read more
JANE MAGUIRE
Post Producer and Post-production Supervisor
For the five years before a pandemic
forced people to work from home
and across borders, Post-production
Supervisor Jane Maguire was
facilitating collaboration and remote
post across the Pacific on big
budget films with US and Australian
components. Hacksaw Ridge and Peter
Rabbit were among them.
When lockdowns hit, she was already
handling complex workflows on
Mortal Kombat, and relationships with
the many Australian post and VFX
companies involved. On that film she
engineered an arrangement between
Spectrum Films and Animal Logic that
enabled two grading suites to be made
available on the Fox Studios Australia lot.
Mortal Kombat’s director was in Perth
on Australia’s west coast for much of
the post and the editor in Los Angeles
for long periods. Most recently Maguire
worked on True Spirit for Netflix with
the director in Los Angeles and the
editor in Sydney.
“Anything can be achieved in real
time across distance,” she says.
“The key is not only technology,
bandwidth, and great connectivity
but also good organisation across
different time zones.”
She is thankful for her early career
working as an assistant editor and
for her VFX experience. “In postproduction you are providing the
infrastructure, framework and the
interface for all the departments to
work in unison,” she says. “You must
know what they need creatively and
technologically.
The pathways and
processes are basically the same
on every film, but differences in the
storytelling and the attitudes of the
people involved, change how certain
elements are approached.”
With the help of translators, Maguire
has worked as Post-Production
Supervisor on several Chinese films in
Mandarin, including Hero and House
of Flying Daggers. Maguire considers
herself fortunate to usually be in work,
to have met wonderful people through
that work, and to have the skillset she
has given the growing role of post
in filmmaking. She looks forward to
finding some headspace to develop
her own projects.
Recent credits: Mortal Kombat, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, Hacksaw Ridge, Judy & Punch, Peter Rabbit
Thrilling moments: Being accepted as a member at large of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2020 after “kindly being nominated” by a US colleague.
Other interests: “I do archery as a sport.”
JANE MAGUIRE
Post Producer and Post-production Supervisor
LIVIA HANICH
Production and Post Producer
Livia Hanich has worked in Los Angeles
for 25 years, often on stories of great
complexity and scale. Now she’s
applying that experience in Australia,
most recently as one of the producers
of US series La Brea.
“I came back in 2015 to raise my
children. It’s a beautiful country
and it was a lifestyle choice,” she
says. “My husband, who is an editor,
and I thought maybe we would
have to reinvent ourselves. We
didn’t know thow robust the industry
would become.”
Hanich is “insanely proud” of what was
accomplished on La Brea. The 10-part
series was entirely filmed and postproduced in Melbourne and was renewed
before season one was finished.
“It proved what Australia is capable of
and that it can match the talent and
commitment available in the US – and it
was massively cost effective,” she says.
Hanich was one of the producers and
her focus was post-production, just as
it was on the two series she worked on
prior, Hoodlum Entertainment’s Harrow
and Tidelands. “I have the purview over
budget, schedule and hiring. You’ve
got to know where to put the time
and money, and how to embrace and
utilise the talents of others. It’s from
collaboration that amazing things
happen.”
Working on US shows means having
the budgets to make productions
shine. On the other hand, Hanich
is very interested in the Australian
industry’s potential. She consults for
Netflix on post on all its Australian
productions. In 2015, she won a
Peabody Award and a Producers Guild
of America Award for Cosmos:
A Spacetime Odyssey
Recent credits: La Brea Season 1, Tidelands, Harrow, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Thrilling moments: “Seeing the aural and visual spectacle coming together on the very first episode of La Brea, which included the massive Los Angeles destruction scene. Technology makes it viable to do editorial or remote mix reviews, including live changes on a mixing stage in Australia connected to a stage in Los Angeles. The US showrunners could see it and hear it just like we were in the same room together. Anything can be done here when you make it seamless and use great Australian talent.”
Other interests: “Film and TV is so much part of my life that I don’t know if there is a separation between church and state.” Even the not-forprofit she’s involved in on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast where she is based, aims to develop local production talent. “That said, I love being a mum.”
LIVIA HANICH
Production and Post Producer
BRENDAN SAVAGE
Creative Director, Founder NEW HOLLAND CREATIVE
The establishment of niche company
New Holland Creative in 2015 was
driven by Brendan Savage’s desire
to put a value on design, specifically
titles and concept art/previsualisation.
“We offer design solutions. Everything
we do is for the film, TV, and games
market. We are motion designers
foremost, that’s really where our
passion lies,” says Savage.
The amount of longform work
coming through the door is growing
along with the many referrals
from Australia’s highly skilled VFX
outfits, including New Holland’s
sister company Alt.vfx. Savage had
previously worked in this sector,
including as head of design at the
renowned but now closed VFX
studio Fuel.
He recently produced the titles for
La Brea for NBC, and undertook an
intricately designed effects-based
simulation, which turned into the rip
in the sky scene in the series. “It was
a good example of how we dovetail
into what the local VFX companies
are doing. Fin Design + Effects
recommended us.”
About 20% of the clients who need
titles have a firm idea of what they
want and have usually shot specific
footage for the purpose, Savage
says. Such was the case with The Dry,
starring Eric Bana.
“We had beautiful vista shots – a
great base to work from,” says
Savage. “Titles have to capture the
mood and can be a bit of subtext or
a little story in their own right – as
long as they complement the bigger
picture.”
Savage is sanguine about putting his
heart and soul into a pitch but being
unsuccessful: “It’s good to be involved
and we love the creative process,” he
says. “Even when the decision doesn’t
go our way, hopefully it leads to the
next thing.”
Credits: La Brea, Sweet River, The Dry, Penguin Bloom, I Am Mother
Thrilling moments: “Because I’m creative director of a team, I get a buzz when the concept designers, animators and visual effects artists do something the client loves and it’s high fives all round. It was good to hear how many views the trailer I directed for League of Legends: Wild Rift got when the game was released globally.”
Other interests: “I spend a lot of time restoring my Sorrento green 1988 Peugeot 205 GTi. Probably too much time!”
BRENDAN SAVAGE
Creative Director, Founder
NEW HOLLAND CREATIVE
