What do you get when you bring together film maker Jason Jones, a handful of other writers/film makers and a group of actors? - A Western Australian horror anthology set in the suburbs, oozing with monsters and bursting at the seams with blood. That is the up and coming film Bleederville currently in pre-production.
We had the opportunity to talk to Jason Jones about himself and Bleederville.
Hi Jason, welcome to The Australian Short Film Network Journal.
Jason – It’s a great pleasure to be here.
When did you realise that you wanted to make films?
Jason – I don’t remember the exact moment, I would have been a teenager at the time. I remember talking with a friend about grabbing a video camera and shooting a little sci-fi horror thing when we were kids, I guess we would have been about 14 at the time. We never actually did anything at that time, but that was probably the first time I considered putting a film together.
What advice would you give to Indie film makers trying to navigate getting a film off the ground and finding funding?
Jason – For our current film, ‘Bleederville’ we’ve gone down the crowdfunding route. A few people have donated, we’d love a few more. We’re talking about other fundraising ideas at the moment too, hopefully it will all come together with enough to get the film off the ground.
If I were to talk to my teenage self I’d say to get a well-paying job that still gives me enough time to make movies in my spare time. If you can finance them yourself, that’s the best way to get what you want.
Do you think there is adequate support for Australian film makers from the Government?
Jason – I don’t know that it’s the Government’s responsibility to look after the film industry; I’m sure they’ve got Health Care and Education and everything else to look after.
It would be great if the Australian film industry was self-sustaining. We filmmakers need to make movies that people want to see, and audiences need to get into cinemas to see them. Then investors will come, budgets will increase and the whole industry will grow. Then Australian actors and filmmakers will achieve a certain level of fame, but won’t feel the need to go overseas to have a career, and they’ll continue to make films in Australia.
I do like the era of Australian film from the 70s where there were tax breaks for investing in Australian films, maybe they could bring that back. A lot of interesting Australian filmmakers came out of that time like Peter Weir and George Miller. I guess what we’re doing with the ‘Bleederville’ crowdfunding campaign, by going through the Australian Cultural Fund website is a similar idea; all of the donations are 100% tax deductible.
What is your favourite Australian film?
Jason – My favourite Aussie film is a western from 2005 called ‘The Proposition’; excellent film.
What is your favourite genre of film?
Jason – That’s a tough question, I love them all. There are good and bad films of all genres. A lot of my favourite films are War movies, and Crime dramas. The genre I probably watch the most is Action.
If I look at the films I’ve made, more than half would be Horror films – ‘Bleederville’ is Horror; that certainly the most fun genre to make; but I don’t want to only make Horror films, I’d like to make all kinds of films.
You are currently working on a film project called Bleederville, could you tell our readers what that is about?
Jason – ‘Bleederville’ is a nine-part, horror, anthology film which all take place in the same suburb over the same couple of days. Each story has its own flavor and style, but there are a couple of characters which appear in more than one story.
(Production Meeting)
Is it difficult coordinating a film project like this?
Jason – Yeah, it’s not easy. We’ve made a fair few shorts before, and when we started I thought it would be like making shorts, and then once they’re done we’d simply stitch them together, but there’s a lot more involved than that. It’s really like putting together a jigsaw without the box.
You are acting in, directing, writing and producing Bleederville, do you have a preference to what you prefer doing film wise? Or are you happy wearing many hats?
Jason – So ‘Bleederville’ has three directors; Hugh Buttsworth, Matthew Lister and myself; we’re directing three segments each. We have eight writers; Hugh Buttsworth, Bec Caldwell, Vanessa Gudgeon, Carrie McCormack, Steve Lloyd, Roy Obal, Peter Watts and myself; I’ve written two of the segments. For a little while we didn’t have a producer, so I was doing the kind of things the producer needs to do, then Stephanie Davis joined us and we’ll work together to produce the film. And I have a supporting character in one of the stories, it’s not much bigger than a Hitchcock cameo, but I did want to be in it.
If I had my choice I would only direct, but since we started ‘Bleederville’ I’ve been writing more, and I’m quite enjoying that, so I’ll probably continue to write more.
Carrie McCormack Hugh Buttsworth Matthew Lister
Peter Watts Roy Obal Stephanie Davis
Vanessa Gudgeon Bec Caldwell Steve Lloyd
If you could remake any film what would it be and why?
Jason – On the most part I don’t really like remakes, I’d prefer to see films with new ideas. Though there was a time when some friends and I were wondering what it might be like to have a version of ‘The Running Man’ which is more like the book.
What is your greatest achievement so far?
Jason – I don’t know, I like to think that the best is yet to come.
Film-wise, we’ve had some short films win some competitions; it’s always nice to have your work acknowledged. A couple of years ago we put on a showcase of some of our shorts, that was really good to give our friends and families a chance to see the films we’d done, I liked that.
Where can our readers find out more about Bleederville?
Jason – The best way to keep up to date is on our facebook page.
Thank you for talking with us.
Jason - Thank you for having me.
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