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| Sonnigsburg, episode one by Fiona Eloise Bulle |
Episode one of Sonnigsburg
airs tomorrow night on C31 (Digital 44) in Melbourne & Geelong and on
Channel 44 in Adelaide. It was written by Fiona Eloise Bulle and directed by
Glenn Triggs & John Erasmus.
So much happened between the start of principal photography
and the end of production. I’ll probably talk more about that in the coming
weeks as the series airs.
The bulk of episode one was finished shooting first, though
the final version of the opening sequence was shot only a few months ago. We
learned a lot from shooting episode one. Having seen footage from the premiere,
the writers were able to keep the actors’ performances in mind when working on
the next drafts of their scripts.
We could also see parts of episode one that needed to be
strengthened; a pilot episode does a lot of work to set up the characters and
the world and we could see things that didn’t quite work. Scenes were
re-written and re-shoots happened later in the process. Episode one was a
learning experience for everyone and as production progressed, we got better
and better at knowing what we were doing.
Production for the rest of the series was based mostly
around locations and actor availability. With a cast the size of Sonnigsburg, it’s not always easy to get
the actors you want, where you want, exactly when you want. Sometimes that
meant re-writing scenes or setting them somewhere else. Sometimes it meant
shooting most of episode six before episodes two through five.
Early in 2015, we launched a crowdfunding campaign throughIndiegogo. We raised $10,000 to cover some costs we’d already incurred – hiring
equipment, buying equipment, paying for food and we were set for a little while
longer. We got contributions from all over the world including from writer/producers
of US TV shows like Chicago Fire and Angel.
We crossed the $10,000 barrier just before the deadline by a
generous donation from Quest Payment Systems, a local tech company – ie. my
actual day job. It was very heartening to have such strong support from people
who had only heard me talk about my creative pursuits. Can’t wait to hear what
they think on Tuesday.
One of the major issues that reared its head during
production was the fact that the Federal Government was cancelling C31’s broadcast
licence. For a long time, it looked like Channel 31 would cease airing on
December 31, 2015. Could we meet that deadline? There were times when it didn’t
look possible; and if it was possible, it would have been a rush.
Thankfully, the transition from free-to-air to online-only
was given a twelve-month extension and everyone on Sonnigsburg breathed a sigh of relief. We had another year to
finish off the show and make it the best we possibly could.
Principal photography finished in January 2016 and
post-production began soon after, though in some ways it had been happening all
along. We had wrapped all of our cast members by then, but as editing
continued, we knew – if we could manage it – some reshoots were necessary.
Then there was special effects and music and colour-grading.
There was so much still to be done.
Reshoots were done not so long ago. Insert shots even more
recently. Episode one’s credits were finished last week and the episode sent to
C31 and Channel 44 only days ago.
Work on the other five episodes continue, but we’re excited
for you to see the finished product of episode one.
Please enjoy. And if you could do me a small favour, please
check in as “watching Sonnigsburg” on Facebook. Tweet at us on Twitter with
@sonnigsburg or #sonnigsburg #comefindme
Leave a review on our Facebook page or sum it up in 140
characters on Twitter
Or reply to this post. Or email me, if you want. My email
address is in the About section.
Come find me. Come find us. Watch Sonnigsburg.
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