AWARD-WINNING young filmmaker Gary Lonesborough is preparing to head back to Sydney to begin an Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media at the Sydney Film School in Waterloo.
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He’s been enjoying his summer break at home in Bega after winning the best editor and sound designer awards for second semester last year.
“A Clockwork Orange is my favourite film,” Mr Lonesborough said.
“The opening scene drew me right in.
“After that moment I knew I wanted to get into film.”
Even before that moment he had a keen interest in making videos with his younger brothers after his dad surprised them with a DV camera be brought home one day.
“I used to make stupid films at home with my brothers when we were kids,” he said with a smile.
“I like to bring a story to life.
“That’s what I like the most about what I do.”
Blue Chameleon, a documentary he worked on last year with fellow student Teresa Carante, was shown in January at the Inspiration Film Festival in the United States.
The short film recalls the 1983 misadventures of Australian female spearfisher Susan Dockar, and made the official selections list at this year’s festival.
Mr Lonesborough’s own thesis film, 1942, taught him a lot about the filmmaking process and also about himself as a person.
“I learnt a lot about myself when I was directing, especially working with minors like I did on 1942,” he said.
“You have to keep everyone’s morale up and make sure they’re focused and ready to go.
“Filmmaking is such a collaborative process, and the most important thing I’ve learnt is that we all have to work together as a team to get a film finished.”
Mr Lonesborough wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, while also looking after sound design.
After his production designer had to return to Sweden for a family emergency he also spent hours painting walls on set.
Along with many a late night cutting film and layering soundtracks to tell a story, he has also learnt to be quick on his feet when it comes to working with film stock.
“Using film is more exciting and more risky because you don’t have that much of it,” he said.
“Actually half of our budget for semester one last year went on film stock, and we usually only get about 40 minutes of film stock for an eight minute short film.”
So what about the future after his Advanced Diploma?
“Post-production is where I’d love to work in the film industry and at the moment I’m learning as much as I can about editing,” he said.
After having a novel published while still in High School, Mr Lonesborough’s passion for telling stories still drives him.
“I definitely still have a love for writing, and although now I mostly write scripts I know I will eventually start working on another novel or start writing short stories again,” he said.
