RISING TALENT - HOW TO RISE AND SHINE

HOW TO RISE AND SHINE

Established industry practitioners from each of the 12 disciplines offer their advice on the best way to build a successful career.

COSTUME DESIGNER: MARIOT KERR

MARIOT KERR

Be outspoken but listen as well. A good designer is also a diplomat, so learn to collaborate with directors, DOPs, actors and production designers. Stay open to different influences and opportunities, even if they don’t seem as grand as you’d ideally like. Small productions can be a great way to build skills and form connections, which can lead to lasting creative partnerships. There is no set pathway to succeeding as a costume designer, so make the most of your individual talents. You don’t need to be head of department straight away, so enjoy the journey. Celebrate your wins and learn from your mistakes. Respect the crafts that go into making a costume perfect for screen – research, costume making, art finishing, on set and behind-the-scenes roles. Always remember you’re part of a team – it’s a collaborative endeavour and is as much about the process as well as collecting credits.

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PRODUCER: KYLIE DU FRESNE

KYLIE DU FRESNE

For producers, it’s important to find creative collaborators that are your peers and who do the roles that you don’t, such as writers and directors that are at a similar career stage, so you can then find projects as a collective and move forward on them together. Producing is very much about having a slate of different types of projects. Projects are king but it’s equally about the relationships that surround the project you are making – creative relationships on projects are like marriages, so they can be as important, or more important than the projects themselves. As a young producer, finding some kind of mentor is often an underrated and underutilised thing. Finding your own way through is an incredibly important part of learning how to produce, but you can learn a lot from using other producers as a sounding board and sharing experiences, as well as observing and listening.

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ACTOR: RYAN CORR

RYAN CORR

It’s not a race. Not against anyone else, or with yourself. Enjoy the process of growing with each job, and celebrate the successes of those around you. That way you can’t lose. With trust in the process comes trust in yourself. There are so many different paths and different timings in this business. If you can find joy in your personal journey, and the journeys of others, you take the pressure off yourself. You can remain about the work. Which, let’s face it, IS the important part.

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HAIR AND MAKEUP: ROSALINA DA SILVA

ROSALINA DA SILVA

Take every opportunity that is presented and use it to its fullest, whether you are meeting people or getting a new job. It’s important to gain knowledge and experience where you can because you just don’t know how that is going to pay off down the road. There are always going to be challenges, whether through locations, people, or product, but as artists, we love challenges, so you have to embrace them and ask, ‘What is this going to teach me?’

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EDITOR: ANNETTE DAVEY

ANNETTE DAVEY

You have to be very willing to spend a lot of time with the material, and also be patient. It’s not dull in any way – I find everything really exciting – but you have to be willing to spend a lot of time there and keep trying different things, so I think it’s not the kind of job for you if you don’t like being alone, for instance. I feel like there is a real difference between people that head into production and those that go into post. Most production people crave that group feeling of everyone being part of the set, whereas with post workers, it’s mostly just you, your assistant and a couple of other PAs.

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SOUND: BEN OSMO

BEN OSMO

If I was starting in the industry now, I would definitely go to university or film school and get that kind of education first, which would speed up the process a little. It took me a long time to learn my craft through the guidance of mentors and by making mistakes. Nowadays, we have good film schools and there are a variety of them. Getting that education and then starting as an assistant somewhere would probably be the most worthwhile thing I could say. It’s also important to love your job.

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COMPOSER: CAITLIN YEO

CAITLIN YEO

One of the first pieces of advice I would give myself is to start as I mean to go, and what I mean by that is employing best practice from the get go. Making sustainable business choices is incredibly important because often those clients, directors, or producers you work with in the beginning are the people you end up working with throughout your entire career. If you start by working for free, you set a precedent that that’s what the value of your work is. So I think it’s really important for young composers to start with good business choices, in terms of charging for what they do, advocating for their own interests, and making sure they retain their rights and read their contracts. If they don’t understand their contracts, they should pick up the phone and ask a colleague, or get in touch with the guild. It’s not enough to just get the gig – you need to negotiate a physical schedule with money to pay you to produce quality music.

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CINEMATOGRAPHER: GREIG FRASER

GREIG FRASER

I think what is important for a young cinematographer to establish is their visual voice. It’s important that they look to work that has already been created but ultimately ignore it, thereby creating their own sense of place and their own voice. Every image that is created now is built on the shoulders of an image that has come before it, which makes it harder and harder for young cinematographers to create unique images and unique stories with their directors. If they can start drawing from their own backstory and their own history and their own personality to create images, then this will benefit the industry and give them a singular voice that people seek out. Another thing that I am looking forward to seeing with cinematography in the future are voices that have possibly been underrepresented in the past. We have an opportunity as an industry now to encourage those voices and to learn from their vision. I always say to anybody asking the question about ‘How do I get a foothold in the industry?’, ‘Shoot. Shoot. Shoot’. This will make you better cinematographer and will invariably put it in front of a lot more people.

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DIRECTOR: ROBERT CONNOLLY

ROBERT CONNOLLY

I feel like emerging directors need more than ever to have a clear idea of what they want to say with their work. Cinema is looking for points of view on the world from filmmakers more than ever, rather than just gun-for-hire storytellers. Looking to the films ahead, there are examples of this coming to our cinemas, from Sarah Polley’s Women Talking at one end to James Cameron’s environmental ambition for Avatar at the other. The best way to get ahead is to have a clear idea of what you want to say with your work, embrace your own personal and idiosyncratic qualities as a filmmaker, and be bold and distinctive creatively. There is no room in such a crowded world of screen content across so many platforms for filmmakers to choose the middle ground.

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VFX AND ANIMATION: TONY CLARK

TONY CLARK

I think the key thing that is valuable for new starters out there is to start working with good people and to learn, listen, ask questions, and work as part of a team because the team skills are fundamental to what we do. In our industry, there tends to be a lot of fear around things like AI, which we should probably set aside and think of AI more of as an enhanced paintbrush rather than a replacement for people. Throughout the years, people have built more advanced technologies for realising art but there is still a creative person at the helm of that art.

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WRITER: DOT WEST

DOT WEST

My advice to emerging writers is for them to commit to their writing. Find the best time of the day to feel inspired and write every day. Connect with likeminded people you can trust. Share your stories with each other, and give and receive feedback. Connect with likeminded mid-career and/or established writers, many of whom are very generous to help and see whether opportunities can be realised. Above all, remember you are only as good as your last job or task, so make sure you do it on schedule and to the very best of your ability every time.

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PRODUCTION DESIGNER: FIONA DONOVAN

FIONA DONOVAN

Seek mentorship as early as possible, either through your education institution, networking events, or a professional organisation like the APDG, ADG or ACS. Create a connection with a head of department or colleague. They can be a wonderful advocate and sounding board when you start out in the industry. Every job is an opportunity to meet your next collaborator. Don’t be afraid to take on different roles within your field or even in different departments. This is especially the case if you have directing or producing aspirations. By gaining experience in different roles, you will develop a greater understanding of the entire process; the work, technical skill, craft and professionalism that come together to create an entire production. Even as a mid-career professional, be open to learning new skills as it keeps you sharp.

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