Our excursion to the set of Total Control!

Recently our Canberra Accessible Film Studies class went on an excursion to the set of Season 2 of the ABC TV series Total Control! Our amazing patron Rachel Griffiths welcomed the students in a break in shooting. We asked two of our students, Nikki and Max, about their experiences…

What did you do on the excursion?

Max: We saw the filming of a TV show.

Nikki: Well, first we arrived and I was given a cool pink face mask to wear (pink is my favourite colour). I said goodbye to my mum and then we went upstairs to where they were shooting series 2.

We all took turns to sit and watch the actors do multiple shoots of their scenes – they had to get it right!! We all got to meet and say hello to Rachel Griffiths who plays the Prime Minister in the series.

She was so lovely and friendly. She really loved the Bus Stop Films clothing we gave her! Deborah Mailman, who played a political newcomer in Series 1, also smiled hello at us!

One of the writers also came and spoke to us about what he did. It was so exciting to see them make a real successful series!

What was one thing that you learned? 

Max: I learnt a bit about sound recording.

Nikki: I learned that more than one person worked on the script – it’s a team effort and it adds to the creativity!

What was your favourite part? 

Max: Watching the crew do the filming.

Nikki: Watching the actors perform was definitely my favourite part – it was great to see how hard they worked in getting each scene right.

What was the crew doing? 

Max: setting up scenes and filming.

Nikki: There were a whole range of tasks being done by the crew: camera people, lighting, and also people who checked that each scene is consistent and that things are not out of place between all the takes.

Tell us a bit about what you love about filmmaking and the roles you are interested in?

Max: I love how all the parts come together. I particularly like the sound recording process.

Nikki: I love film making because it allows you to be very creative and to express yourself in many different ways. I’m interested in so many things like costume design, make-up, acting and script writing. The film environment is also very inclusive which is really important to someone like me. Diversity can only add to the creativity and sparkle of films.