I learn from my mistakes

2:50.

Two minutes, 50 seconds. Is that all? Should be a breeze.

Think again. Make that a half-day of preparation, two days of filming at 10 locations, 12 edits, and six months from pre-production to a finished film. Countless hours of pleasure and pain.

The journey started when I met Suzannah Lyons from ABC Open at the Denmark CRC last year. I had made some short films before so Suzannah suggested I might like to have a go at ABC Open's Video Postcards project.

Mission accomplished, I made two postcards, and was hungry to make some more videos. I had recently got my first proper camera, a DSLR that could shoot in high definition and was also the same camera that my hero Devin Super Tramp used.

Suzannah suggested I have a go at My Crazy Passion, a more complicated film project that required me to weave an interview with the main character of my story through the piece. I had never made a documentary-style film before but was confident I could give it a go.

Suzannah promised me fame. Fortune? No. Definitely, no fortune.

I found my talent, Roy Mercer, a geocache (watch the film!) legend, and I set up an initial chat to make sure that Roy was ok with the idea. Roy was great and we arranged a day of filming.

Suzannah couldn't make that day and suggested another. Arrogantly I wanted to forge ahead and just get it done, and so went on my own. "I learn from my mistakes," I said. This was October 2013.

Armed with camera, various gadgets like tripod, two microphones (one on the camera and a digital recorder), the first setup was an inside shot for the main interview. I was trying to operate the camera, check focus, exposure, framing, lighting, and sound through headphones, and, oh yes, interview Roy. It was a lot to juggle.

We filmed multiple takes and then had to ditch one of the microphones because it was picking up rustle from Roy's beard! Frustration was getting to me, but I kept my cool. At least I had a backup mic.

We moved outside and spent an hour filming Roy digging holes in a field, but the scene got dropped in the edit. Other setups and scenes followed including a memorable 'bomb' sequence and we wrapped at 4pm.

I thanked Roy and went home tired, but happy.

Before I went out to film, I didn't have a good idea of how the story would flow, which sometimes happens in documentaries, so I had to make it up in the edit.

In retrospect, maybe I should have had a better idea of what shots were needed and some thoughts of how it might end up. I learn from my mistakes.

I like editing as it is very creative part of the process. For each take, you decide what, if anything, to keep. You then have to decide the sequence of what goes first, second, third. You get the idea.

You also have to choose which pieces of audio to use, including sound effects and music. I discovered that the interview audio I recorded with Roy inside sounded different from the interview audio I recorded with him outside.

It would have been simpler if I had just recorded an interview with him in one location, but as I like to say I learn from my mistakes.

After a couple of weeks I had finished the first cut of the film and published it on the web for Suzannah to review. I like the word subjective, it gets me through the day. Suzannah didn't like the film, the order didn't make sense she said. Subjective, I thought, but Suzannah knows best.

So, I arranged to see Roy again, on my own, for another day of filming. We reshot various scenes and also added a few more for good measure. The first day was clear, this one had clouds – a problem when you are combining shots across different days.

Another edit ensued. We eventually went back to an audio edit with no images, just Roy's voice to get the sequence correct.

In February 2014 we achieved a major milestone - a final version that we published on the internet and with Suzannah's help, it made the front page of ABC Open.

All done? No!

Our aim was TV. We got some feedback from Scott Gamble, ABC Open's Video Executive Producer and, guess what, a TV edit was needed. So more re-sequencing, moving, shaping, colour grading, audio mixing and eventually a new final TV ready version. The film was shown at Flickerfest in Denmark!

So, let's reflect on learning from my mistakes.

Yes, I know I've learnt a lot of what not to do through this, but also that it is OK to accept help and learn from others, and that Suzannah does know best!

Was it all worth it? I'll let you decide - the film was initially shown on ABC News24 on 16 April.

Follow your crazy passion, stick with it and as Devin would say "It's all about the shot."