Bella Merlino
Award Winning Film maker Bella Merlino has a swag of awards for her short film creations from Australian Cinematographers Society to other local comps. Bella chats with Bloodfest and gives some practical sound advice.
What do you love about film? Why the film medium?
I love telling stories and the best medium for me to tell stories is through film.Watching a movie is a way of escaping life for the movie duration.To me, FILM, is moving art and it is a truly collaborative form of expression. Do you have any film role models? I have no film role models. I appreciate that all actors and directors “bring something new to the table”. Any new film equipment? The latest piece of film equipment that I bought was a new tripod. I cannot express the importance for every film maker to own one. It keeps the film shot steady. There is nothing more annoying that watching a film and the film shots are “jumping around” and “unsteady”. What are some challenges you have when creating a film? The most challenging part of the film making process is choosing actors that work well together. For example, you may have 2 talented actors individually, but when paired , the result might be otherwise. Therefore when choosing your actors, ensure that they work well together and that they are the right actors for your film. Any tips on lighting something to look scary or atmospheric? Easy!!! – get into a dark room – shine a torch from underneath the subject towards the face of who you are filming. Bloodfest knows you're not into horror - how else can the genre be realised? Horror is not all about blood and guts. Horror can be about the demons that one may fights within themselves, e.g. paranoia or depression.Don’t just limit your thinking to blood and guts. Think outside the box. Any editing tips? The best editing advice that I can give is … “shoot the scene well and don’t expect the editing process to solve all the problems.” Bella will be hosting Bloodfest on October 28 Kids Category EVENT CINEMAS BONDI |