Just to update: we have submitted a 30 minute edit of the film to the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) committee in the hope of getting a screening at the forthcoming festival in August. Depending on how it's received both there (if we get accepted) and at an earier screening at the ROCKOn Music Summit here in Rockhampton in July, a decision willl be made as to whether or not we'll pursue completing a full-length feature or to leave it at a nice, tight 30 minutes.

Stay tuned...

Jim

Hey people,

there's a new trailer for the film as you have probably noticed. It can be viewed throughout the site. This better reflects the tone of the first part of the film in particular. The edit of the second section of the film is continuing slowly but surely. Here's hoping all runs well!

Cheers.

Jim

Hey there,

in the past few weeks we've shown the first part of the film to several different audiences. Each time the reaction has been totally positive which is, of course, fantastic! The last showing, a couple of weeks ago at a punk rock gig at the Anchor hotel in Rockhampton, was seen by over 70 people. Many of those present were members of local bands. Seeing so many people crowded around, siting on the floor, or around tables, checking the film out was something special. Many people came up to me afterwards and said how good it looked (thanks Pete!) but just as important, they said it inspired them to think that Rockhampton had such a scene happening back in the 1980s. If nothing else, that shows us that we are on the right track.

All we need do is finish the thing! Hah...

Copies of the film are being readied to send off to SBS and the ABC, two Australian television stations for those outside Oz. So watch this space indeed!!

Cheers,

Jim

Hey there,

Well, we have finally been able to show off part one of the film. We showed the first part of the film (15 minutes long) to the Rockhampton Fringe Festival crowd at the Walter Reid Complex on 22 August. We got a very positive reaction from the 100 or so people there and perhaps most importantly, Cameron loved it as well!

Now all we have to do is finish it....

Jim

Hi there,

I noticed today that the jukebox wasn't working. Something to do with the reading of files. Anyway, I've fixed the problem and at the same time added a couple of more archival tracks. Tracks all feature Cameron in some capacity. I'll be adding some more tracks soon including the ones I took down.

Jim

Hello there,

it's been so long since I even visited the site: time just gets away! It seems that I am now also going to be responsible for editing the film hence the extended time frame. You will notice that now the film is 'coming soon'. One should learn never to post a date in the future! I've begun editing the film, learning a whole pile of mistakes along the way. I had to buy a new iMac and I'm editing in Final Cut Pro. This is a very powerful programme that has already helped make a film clip for my band Therapeutic Paradox (http://myspace.com/therapeuticparadox). However transfering all the footage to hard drives and compiling the hours and hours of video and audio as well as converting much of it to digital has proven very time consuming. Still, it's going to be a really top looking film when it's done. No time limit now, but I'm trying for the end of November; yes, this year (2007)!

another highlight in the past few months has been meeting with Helen Slater. Helen used to run an indie club in Rockhampton with her partner Anthony. She was able to supply me with some old Dog Chairs flyers, photos and audio tapes of the Dog Chairs rehearsing in her lounge room! I'll aim to get some of this stuff and some other things up on here soon so thanks again Helen.

Looking forward to seeing the finished film as I'm sure you all are too.

all the best.

Jim

Hey,

please check out the layout of the site and let me know what you think. And vote in our user poll regarding the proposed DVD cover!

cheers.

Jim

Hi there,

some images of the covers to Cameron's APiTO 'zines have been added as a slideshow to the Photogalleries page.

Jim

Yesterday saw us conduct the last of our interviews for the project. This interview was with Cameron, and we held it at his shop, the Inner Light. This was the 2nd interview we've done with Cam and it was also the longest (over 2hours). It was also the easiest though too as Cam was very relaxed. So was I by the way as I was suffering from a dose of medication meant to de-stress me. Felt like a walking zombie all day! It was an interesting interview, with Pete and I helping a gent unload a cupboard in the middle of it all! The backdrop of vinyl and CD releases important to Cameron was a nice touch which I am looking forward to seeing on film.  Cam and I enjoyed a nice chat over lunch at the Wild Parrot afterwards. This brings the total number of interviews we've done to about 22 I think (at a rough guess). We've got mountains of material. Dick Dale is going to do a couple of interviews for me in Adelaide and then that will be them all out of the way. Pete andI now have the task of editing the whole thing. We may even re-cut and update the trailer. Wait and see!

Jim

As I mentioned earlier, with some idea of a budget in mind, we then had to go about looking for funding. Cameron had suggested approaching the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF), which is adminstered by our local Rockhampton council as a partnership with the state government's Arts department. Before finding out anything about it however, I had to take time out until the end of February to finish off my PhD (on music video). With that submitted, I began looking into the funding situation some more. I found out I had until 13 March to submit an application! Without going into too much detail, let me just say that without the help of our local Cultural Development officer Judy Couttie I may never have got it in. To cut a long story short, we made application for about $7000 and got $4650. This was just to get things under way of course. The cheque presentation took place on 11 May at the Walter Reid complex in Rockhampton. A picture taken at this event is on the About Us page of this site. It felt great to get the feeling of support that we did. I also made application for funding from the RCoTA (Regional Centre of The Arts) via Central Queensland University. On 19 June I was advised that I'd been granted $5000 from them! In the meantime, Green Brothers music had also donated $500 to the project and tonight (7 November), I'll be handed a cheque for $8000, again from RADF. This will help take the film through its editing stages.

Ok, that's all the boring stuff about funding brought up to date. I'll recount some of our 'adventures' and stories told from interviews in the blogs that follow. Much has happened in the last 12 months or so since this idea was first hatched but I won't recount all of it. It's been fun so far and the fun is only just beginning!

Regards,

Jim

Hi,

some more images added to the 'Band' section of the photogalleries page.

Jim

I believe some people have been trying to send emails via the site. This takes some time to come into operation but hopefully all should be working by later today. If you wish you can contact me via: j.douglas@cqu.edu.au in the meantime.

Thanks.

Jim

Hi, note that some images have been added to the photogalleries page. More to come!

Jim

Hi, my name's James Douglas, producer, writer, co-director and editor of the documentary film 'A piss in the ocean: ripples in the mainstream'. Welcome to my first blog. It's been a while, but now the website is off and running. Updates will be added steadily in order to make the whole thing more interesting. Here's a little bit about how this whole project got off the ground.

The film project initially began as an idea to wite a book about regional music experiences via the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). This was in late 2005. A friend suggested making a film instead as it had more impact. Having never made a film before, I naturally thought, why not!

I met with Cameron Borg, someone who is now my friend although then he was more like an acquaintance. Cameron had, and still does, run an independent music distribution service, music label and fanzine all with the same name - APiTO - or, 'a piss in the ocean'. As Cameron had lots of contacts within the local and national independent music scene, he seemed the natural person to approach to help with the type of film project I was interested in.

Over a cup of coffee on 24 November 2005, Cam related some of his own experiences and listened carefully to my unformed ideas. He gave me the names and details of possible contacts such as Tim Steward (Screamfeeder), Johhny Busby (Clergy/St Jude/Halfway), and Judy Couttie (Rockhampton City Council) and we agreed to meet again.

I came away from the meeting though with a brainwave: it was Cameron's story that was really worth telling! All the rest could be woven around it. Actually, I had been toying with the idea of writing about Cameron's 'zine and label for a number of years anyway.

That night, I sat down and wrote the first draft of a treatment for a film then titled, 'A Piss in the Ocean: Cameron Borg - the Last Punk Rocker?' A couple of days later I met with Peter Lawrence, cameraman and manger of our university's media unit. I discussed the idea of amking a large scale documentary but also discussed making something smaller, like the APiTO treatment I had written. Pete was rapt in the latter idea. We met again on 30 November where Pete read the treament and gave me a rough idea of a budget. He thought we might need about $30,000. Now, how did we go about getting that sort of money? And who could we get on board?

to be continued.....