Hot up and coming film maker Oscar Bailey talks to Bloodfest, about filmmaking family and juggling life and the screen.
Tell is about yourself?
Hey, I’m Oscar.
So….(**taps feet / flicks fingers / rapidly moves eyes left to right **)
What do you call a fish without eyes?
Fsh.
…….…(insert crickets)
………(insert tumbleweed blowing across a deserted town)
………(insert more crickets and tumbleweed from aforementioned town)
The end.
As part of my Diploma studies I created my and my brothers’ small in-house production company “Triple O Productions”.
I’m fortunate to live on acreage with my parents, my brothers Oli (12), Orlando (10), hippopotamus-sized Maremma/Kelpie “Honey”, a few 5th-generation-carpet snakes, rainbow lorikeets, a family-of-9 kookaburras who say G’day daily, as well as in the home adjacent to us, my beautiful and always-positive 74 year old Oma & Opa. Living on acreage since I was a little fella has allowed me to include a sense of earthy adventure in my film. My brothers and I have trained intensively at AP8 Stunt Academy, and try to incorporate as many cool tricks into our films as we can. We live an adventurous life and are lucky to have been on some pretty extreme roadtrips (Uluru, Cape York, Nullarbor, snow-camping), so a sense of physical boundaries and respect is a brilliant thing to have.
You and your brothers are prolific film makers - we see you around the competition circuit a lot - what is it about film that you love?
Ha, we’re so honoured to have you say that, Nat & Curly, thank you. As mentioned above, I very much believe in, and follow my own motto of “Don’t expect. Respect”. I have always treated any film industry opportunity as a privilege, regardless of role; whether I was fortunate to be lead, to being cast as a homeless extra. I have had gratitude for all opportunities as they taught me so much including the even greater appreciation of the mammoth task involved in creating a film, the insane dedication and hard-long-hours required, to the importance of team work. An incredible filmmaker once told me “Tough times don’t last – tough teams do”, and it’s so true. Attitude, respect and teamwork are integral to success.
What do I love about film?
Pretty much everything. I’m lucky to be involved in both sides when I create my own content – the creation as well as the execution. I love acting. I love creating films. At the moment, it seems to be juggling quite well. The satisfaction from seeing a tiny idea grow into a script, morph into shot lists, be captured, then fixed in post (ha, all too often) to then see it come to life is exceptionally empowering and gratifying. I love the creative freedom I have. The fact that any idea I feel compelled to explore, I can. Any story I feel compelled to share, I can. Film is a unique way for people to connect with life experience and express their wildest dreams, desires, hopes and passions. On the other side, it’s also the perfect forum to shock people with detached (from reality) craziness and twisted, bizarre philosophies that sometimes have absolutely NOTHING in common with daily life or views. It’s the creativity you can unleash and the diversity of what you are able to bring across that’s pretty unique about film. Plus, for 90% of the roles I’m cast, I play a real piece of work – which is pretty wicked because in real life, I’m actually a nice guy ;)
Your family are incredibly supportive with your film making and acting career. What advice would you give a young filmmaker that maybe that doesn’t have that support?
Yep, I absolutely am VERY fortunate to have such an incredibly supportive family backing my and my brothers’ every move – 3 generations of support, actually. Very lucky. And although it does make the entire film-industry journey more enjoyable and easier to navigate with their support, it’s still all achievable if you are flying somewhat solo.
Making film does not necessarily have to be an elaborate or expensive experience. Most kids my age have a mobile phone – and there are some incredible films being shot without all the elaborate equipment. #filmbreaker is a wonderful page to follow of a brilliant filmmaker who follows exactly this principle – creating films with what’s in your pocket!
The biggest tip I would give anyone is to just go for it. If you have a brilliant idea, make it happen. Collaborate or go solo. Be as creative and elaborate, or as simplistic and minimalistic as you want to or can. Just go for it though. The worst thing to do is think about doing without actually doing. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Write down your ideas, turn them into a storyline and script, work out what you want to achieve / what message you are trying to convey and just shoot! My first (aged-5) handicam selfie-docco as Steve Irwin crossed with Steve Backshaw and a bit of Bear Grylls thrown was……..well pretty pathetic, but I kept going at it and learnt new skills each time the record light turned red. A few years on, and my brothers and I are grateful and honoured to have received several national and international laurels for the short films we have created.
What is it about the Horror Genre that you love? And What other genres of film excite you?
Horror is such a unique genre. It’s the perfect portal for anyone to be as creative as they want. It’s really a fantasy-world of morphing your wildest dreams, or NIGHTMARES into something, which will shock, disturb and even turn people off. If you can manage any of those three, you’re on the right track! Most of our films have been a little more tame and rather more twisted. We hope to shake this up for the 2019 Bloodfest International Kids Horror Film Festival. But we’ll see. Maybe it will work, maybe it will be a big flop – but as always, we’ll have a blast creating something unique with our mates!
Other genres of film that excite me…I really like everything! Mum tells me that I could recite pretty much the entire Nemo film from when I was little (and may or may not still be able to ;) ) Although these days, I balance up Marry Poppins with action-packed Matt Damon / Hemsworth films, edge-of-seat Liam Neeson, hilarious Rebel Wilson / Rob Shehadie humour to more soppy Hudson/McConaughey romcoms. I’m a bit of a kaleidoscope in terms of styles. Maybe that’s a bad thing, although I see it as a positive as it enables me to tap into all types of emotions when creating new ideas / films.
And let’s face it, many genres cross through into different styles. A horror film with a sweet (and at the same time totally creepy) nursery rhyme or a comedy with a touch of devastation is sometimes not a bad move. Our films “Don’t” and “Urban Myth” which both picked up national & international laurels, were both examples of where characters you wouldn’t imagine to put a foot wrong, being the epitome of horrific. So it really is beneficial to sometimes mix it up and blend a few genres into one – for that unexpected moment.
Favourite Top 5 movies?
So many! It’s too difficult to narrow them down to 5, so I will try and incorporate a bit from each genre instead:
1. Nemo
2. Fool’s Gold
3. The Conjuring
4. Black Hawk Down
5. Heath-Ledger-films (Dark Knight, Ned Kelly, A Knight’s Tale…)
How can you make a film easily? What advice do you have?
Plan 10 times, film once (ok, or a few times as well, but planning is the key!)
As mentioned above, as long as you have a great idea and at the minimum, have access to a mobile, you’re ready to shoot. Obviously though, the more you are able to plan, the more articulate and flowing your storyline will be, the more polished your cinematography will come across and the more cohesive in general your film will turn out.
Having a great crew and cast on board is also important. You don’t necessarily need experienced people – we absolutely weren’t. But it’s important to really work towards the same goal and iron through issues before they get out of control.
Our very first Bloodfest submission, my brothers and I created, “Careful what you wish for” was probably a great example of this. We absolutely did not have an experienced crew nor really cast, we had very limited equipment but we did spend significant time mapping out what, where, why, who. We even applied senses to our planning stage – once we had our main ‘fear’ down pat, around which the story focussed, we further brainstormed what you would FEEL, what SMELLS may have been important in the scenes and which SOUNDS would bring a creep-factor to the overall production. We looked at it from many angles until we were satisfied that we were ready to give it a go. We shot it, and re-shot a few scenes. Some worked out well, others, in hindsight, we could have executed a lot better, but in the end, we were proud of our final cut and extremely grateful to have been awarded “Best Death” for our first Bloodfest entry, “Careful what you wish for”, at the Bloodfest 2017 International Kids Horror Film Festival in Sydney.
Favourite piece of Film Equipment?
The 3 of us saved a lot over the years to be able to add to our film equipment selection, but our favourite piece at the moment would have to be Oli’s Phantom 4 Pro. It’s sacred though. No one can touch it. It lives in his room. Under lock and key. Ha. No honestly, it does – and he looks after it as much as he looks after his room, which is in MINT condition btw (I often tell him he’s more than happy to give my room a bit of a clean up, but he never takes me up on the offer….)
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Still doing what I love, which for the past 7 years has been acting and more recently film-making with my two legend brothers, Oli 12 and Orlando 10. I formed our own little in-house production company / logo “Triple O Productions” as part of my Diploma studies, so we hope to keep chipping away. Oli has recently been honourably awarded the title of “Youngest person in Australia” by CASA for having received his remote pilot licence, and captures all of our drone cinematography incredibly well. He is also at the moment, a semi-finalist for the prestigious Queenslander Young Achiever of the Year Award. Orlando is the creative mastermind and loves putting funky ideas and spins to props or general aspects of the film. We work together really well……and I’m sure we’ll keep doing so. We’ll see. We’re a bit excited at what is in store. We do work hard though, which is important in any area of life.
I recently created a film (which was a finalist at Tropfest 2019) entitled “Own You” – the morale behind it is to ‘be your own you and not let anything/anyone own you’ – I think we’ll follow on from this. To be positive, encouraging and supportive and see where the future takes us. “Don’t expect. Respect”.
Follow Oscar @oscarbaileyofficial on INSTA
Hey, I’m Oscar.
So….(**taps feet / flicks fingers / rapidly moves eyes left to right **)
What do you call a fish without eyes?
Fsh.
…….…(insert crickets)
………(insert tumbleweed blowing across a deserted town)
………(insert more crickets and tumbleweed from aforementioned town)
The end.
- I’m just a typical 14-year old kid, that clearly can’t tell jokes but is pretty funny (even if it’s just to look at!)
- I love sushi and pizza; wakeboarding & snowboarding; healthy green drinks & Redbull
- I don’t love algebra, but my budgeting skills make up the YANG of my non-existent-algebratic-YIN!
- I have some pretty special people in my life who hopefully know who they are
- I love, and am grateful for the opportunities that I have been involved in since I was 7 in the film industry and more recently, being fortunate to create my own content
- I am proud to be represented by Gilchrist Management
- I believe in working hard and living life by my “Don’t expect. Respect” attitude
As part of my Diploma studies I created my and my brothers’ small in-house production company “Triple O Productions”.
I’m fortunate to live on acreage with my parents, my brothers Oli (12), Orlando (10), hippopotamus-sized Maremma/Kelpie “Honey”, a few 5th-generation-carpet snakes, rainbow lorikeets, a family-of-9 kookaburras who say G’day daily, as well as in the home adjacent to us, my beautiful and always-positive 74 year old Oma & Opa. Living on acreage since I was a little fella has allowed me to include a sense of earthy adventure in my film. My brothers and I have trained intensively at AP8 Stunt Academy, and try to incorporate as many cool tricks into our films as we can. We live an adventurous life and are lucky to have been on some pretty extreme roadtrips (Uluru, Cape York, Nullarbor, snow-camping), so a sense of physical boundaries and respect is a brilliant thing to have.
You and your brothers are prolific film makers - we see you around the competition circuit a lot - what is it about film that you love?
Ha, we’re so honoured to have you say that, Nat & Curly, thank you. As mentioned above, I very much believe in, and follow my own motto of “Don’t expect. Respect”. I have always treated any film industry opportunity as a privilege, regardless of role; whether I was fortunate to be lead, to being cast as a homeless extra. I have had gratitude for all opportunities as they taught me so much including the even greater appreciation of the mammoth task involved in creating a film, the insane dedication and hard-long-hours required, to the importance of team work. An incredible filmmaker once told me “Tough times don’t last – tough teams do”, and it’s so true. Attitude, respect and teamwork are integral to success.
What do I love about film?
Pretty much everything. I’m lucky to be involved in both sides when I create my own content – the creation as well as the execution. I love acting. I love creating films. At the moment, it seems to be juggling quite well. The satisfaction from seeing a tiny idea grow into a script, morph into shot lists, be captured, then fixed in post (ha, all too often) to then see it come to life is exceptionally empowering and gratifying. I love the creative freedom I have. The fact that any idea I feel compelled to explore, I can. Any story I feel compelled to share, I can. Film is a unique way for people to connect with life experience and express their wildest dreams, desires, hopes and passions. On the other side, it’s also the perfect forum to shock people with detached (from reality) craziness and twisted, bizarre philosophies that sometimes have absolutely NOTHING in common with daily life or views. It’s the creativity you can unleash and the diversity of what you are able to bring across that’s pretty unique about film. Plus, for 90% of the roles I’m cast, I play a real piece of work – which is pretty wicked because in real life, I’m actually a nice guy ;)
Your family are incredibly supportive with your film making and acting career. What advice would you give a young filmmaker that maybe that doesn’t have that support?
Yep, I absolutely am VERY fortunate to have such an incredibly supportive family backing my and my brothers’ every move – 3 generations of support, actually. Very lucky. And although it does make the entire film-industry journey more enjoyable and easier to navigate with their support, it’s still all achievable if you are flying somewhat solo.
Making film does not necessarily have to be an elaborate or expensive experience. Most kids my age have a mobile phone – and there are some incredible films being shot without all the elaborate equipment. #filmbreaker is a wonderful page to follow of a brilliant filmmaker who follows exactly this principle – creating films with what’s in your pocket!
The biggest tip I would give anyone is to just go for it. If you have a brilliant idea, make it happen. Collaborate or go solo. Be as creative and elaborate, or as simplistic and minimalistic as you want to or can. Just go for it though. The worst thing to do is think about doing without actually doing. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Write down your ideas, turn them into a storyline and script, work out what you want to achieve / what message you are trying to convey and just shoot! My first (aged-5) handicam selfie-docco as Steve Irwin crossed with Steve Backshaw and a bit of Bear Grylls thrown was……..well pretty pathetic, but I kept going at it and learnt new skills each time the record light turned red. A few years on, and my brothers and I are grateful and honoured to have received several national and international laurels for the short films we have created.
What is it about the Horror Genre that you love? And What other genres of film excite you?
Horror is such a unique genre. It’s the perfect portal for anyone to be as creative as they want. It’s really a fantasy-world of morphing your wildest dreams, or NIGHTMARES into something, which will shock, disturb and even turn people off. If you can manage any of those three, you’re on the right track! Most of our films have been a little more tame and rather more twisted. We hope to shake this up for the 2019 Bloodfest International Kids Horror Film Festival. But we’ll see. Maybe it will work, maybe it will be a big flop – but as always, we’ll have a blast creating something unique with our mates!
Other genres of film that excite me…I really like everything! Mum tells me that I could recite pretty much the entire Nemo film from when I was little (and may or may not still be able to ;) ) Although these days, I balance up Marry Poppins with action-packed Matt Damon / Hemsworth films, edge-of-seat Liam Neeson, hilarious Rebel Wilson / Rob Shehadie humour to more soppy Hudson/McConaughey romcoms. I’m a bit of a kaleidoscope in terms of styles. Maybe that’s a bad thing, although I see it as a positive as it enables me to tap into all types of emotions when creating new ideas / films.
And let’s face it, many genres cross through into different styles. A horror film with a sweet (and at the same time totally creepy) nursery rhyme or a comedy with a touch of devastation is sometimes not a bad move. Our films “Don’t” and “Urban Myth” which both picked up national & international laurels, were both examples of where characters you wouldn’t imagine to put a foot wrong, being the epitome of horrific. So it really is beneficial to sometimes mix it up and blend a few genres into one – for that unexpected moment.
Favourite Top 5 movies?
So many! It’s too difficult to narrow them down to 5, so I will try and incorporate a bit from each genre instead:
1. Nemo
2. Fool’s Gold
3. The Conjuring
4. Black Hawk Down
5. Heath-Ledger-films (Dark Knight, Ned Kelly, A Knight’s Tale…)
How can you make a film easily? What advice do you have?
Plan 10 times, film once (ok, or a few times as well, but planning is the key!)
As mentioned above, as long as you have a great idea and at the minimum, have access to a mobile, you’re ready to shoot. Obviously though, the more you are able to plan, the more articulate and flowing your storyline will be, the more polished your cinematography will come across and the more cohesive in general your film will turn out.
Having a great crew and cast on board is also important. You don’t necessarily need experienced people – we absolutely weren’t. But it’s important to really work towards the same goal and iron through issues before they get out of control.
Our very first Bloodfest submission, my brothers and I created, “Careful what you wish for” was probably a great example of this. We absolutely did not have an experienced crew nor really cast, we had very limited equipment but we did spend significant time mapping out what, where, why, who. We even applied senses to our planning stage – once we had our main ‘fear’ down pat, around which the story focussed, we further brainstormed what you would FEEL, what SMELLS may have been important in the scenes and which SOUNDS would bring a creep-factor to the overall production. We looked at it from many angles until we were satisfied that we were ready to give it a go. We shot it, and re-shot a few scenes. Some worked out well, others, in hindsight, we could have executed a lot better, but in the end, we were proud of our final cut and extremely grateful to have been awarded “Best Death” for our first Bloodfest entry, “Careful what you wish for”, at the Bloodfest 2017 International Kids Horror Film Festival in Sydney.
Favourite piece of Film Equipment?
The 3 of us saved a lot over the years to be able to add to our film equipment selection, but our favourite piece at the moment would have to be Oli’s Phantom 4 Pro. It’s sacred though. No one can touch it. It lives in his room. Under lock and key. Ha. No honestly, it does – and he looks after it as much as he looks after his room, which is in MINT condition btw (I often tell him he’s more than happy to give my room a bit of a clean up, but he never takes me up on the offer….)
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Still doing what I love, which for the past 7 years has been acting and more recently film-making with my two legend brothers, Oli 12 and Orlando 10. I formed our own little in-house production company / logo “Triple O Productions” as part of my Diploma studies, so we hope to keep chipping away. Oli has recently been honourably awarded the title of “Youngest person in Australia” by CASA for having received his remote pilot licence, and captures all of our drone cinematography incredibly well. He is also at the moment, a semi-finalist for the prestigious Queenslander Young Achiever of the Year Award. Orlando is the creative mastermind and loves putting funky ideas and spins to props or general aspects of the film. We work together really well……and I’m sure we’ll keep doing so. We’ll see. We’re a bit excited at what is in store. We do work hard though, which is important in any area of life.
I recently created a film (which was a finalist at Tropfest 2019) entitled “Own You” – the morale behind it is to ‘be your own you and not let anything/anyone own you’ – I think we’ll follow on from this. To be positive, encouraging and supportive and see where the future takes us. “Don’t expect. Respect”.
Follow Oscar @oscarbaileyofficial on INSTA