AUSTRALIA
The One Stop Backdrop for Your Next Production

Churning out maximum number of films every year, the Indian film industry is now making Australia a part of it’s bizarre, boisterous, and bosomy world as “Down Under” becomes the top destination for Indian filmmakers. It’s a jungle of 900 movies every year, in 25 different languages, and 15 million people going to the cinema every day. Film is a serious business. Producers will die and kill for something, anything “new”…Enter, Australia; Destination No. 1 Iconic images abound, from dancing duets at the 12 Apostles to jilted lovers at the Pinnacles; From group dancers at the Sydney Opera House to dream sequences in the Australian Capital, Canberra; From stunt scenes on the Harbour Bridge to chase sequences at the Olympic Stadium……. Australia offers remarkable settings for Indian films and Indian filmmakers are falling in love with every bit of Australia, capturing these locations in ways that have not been done before.

Many come for the song and dance sequences, the most visible and heard feature in every film. The Song is what gives the Indian masala film its strong identity. With 7 – 8 songs in every film, they are the main attraction. The audience goes to the cinema to see and to celebrate the songs and dances. Having discovered Australian locations, filmmakers and audience alike have a lot to celebrate.
Along with an abundance of varied locations, and twelve months filming climate a year, the professional film services and personnel in Australia provide the ideal publicity for Australia as a destination for film production. Hollywood is shifting productions worth billions of dollars to Australia, along with the rest of the world… and now Bollywood is reaping the benefits of this film friendly nation. Proven with over 35 major Indian film, TVC, music video and TV projects being completed in Australia.

Australia - Filmmaking in the Land of Oz
Australia’s reputation as a filmmaking centre grows every year. Filmmakers from around the world go to Australia to take advantage of its beautiful and diverse locations, its low exchange rate, and the talented technical crews and post production expertise. In the last decade, the amount of foreign feature film production in Australia has risen from $A20 million to over $A200 million. Two complete Indian feature films were made in 1997-98, Prem Agan & Soldier, however over 40 films in the last few years have featured sequences shot in Australia. The television commercial sector also does big business in Australia with agencies from across the globe flying into Australia to use the wonderful locations and post production services on offer. And if you can’t make it to Australia for filming, the internet and high-speed communication means that you can do your music, sound, special effects and post-production here. Directors as diverse as Peter Weir, Baz Luhrmann and Zhang Yimou do their post in Australia – whether they have shot in Mexico, Florida or China.

Most people recognize Australia’s icons – the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the red desert of Uluru (Ayers Rock). But what many do not realise is the sheer scale and scope of the locations available for shooting. The majority of Australians live on the seaboard edges of the country – in the major cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. These cities can offer sophisticated high rises, intricate colonial architecture, and family neighbourhoods. These cities are known for their clean, bright image; most are situated on a harbour or river. But often less than an hour from these cities, the metropolitan switches to the natural, and Australia’s unique locations are revealed. The coastline of Australia ranges from beautiful deserted beaches with tropical rainforest to white sandy beaches. If you are looking for “Lawrence of Arabia” type sand dunes, you can find them. In the southern half of the continent, the coastline can also feature dramatic cliffs and rock formations. The water colour can encompass every shade of blue and green imaginable. The coastline also features hundreds of tropical islands - from tiny atolls to luxury resorts.

Many people have not seen the rolling green hills and fields of Tasmania and Victoria. These two States have locations that can easily double for Europe. Queensland is very lush and tropical, while New South Wales can double for North America’s cosmopolitan cities or ‘western’ deserts. South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia offer endless miles of beaches and many unique desert regions. Australia does not have the mountain peaks of Asia, but it does have mountains and snowfields. And importantly, because Australia is in the southern hemisphere, you can film snow in July, August and September.

Throughout the year, the central red deserts of the outback offer a grand isolation. In the northern area of the outback, the deserts give way to the tropical rainforests of Kakadu near Darwin in the Northern Territory.

So, whatever your script demands, Australia has a location! The film offices in each of the States offer location services and some have location libraries online, while others offer location services for individual projects.

Filming in Australia
For information about shooting in Australia, visit the AusFILM website at www.ausfilm.com.au AusFILM is a unique partnership of over 60 corporate companies, the State film offices and the Australian Federal Government.

The federal government has recently introduced a tax incentive for feature films, telemovies and mini-series with budgets over A$15million (approximately 392million rupees). This incentive refunds 12.5% of the budget spent in Australia. The individual state government film offices offer specialised incentives as well, ranging from bonuses for shooting in their state or region, payroll rebates, and funds for post-production and visual effects completed in their areas.

AusFILM can provide helpful advice on visas, locations, tax incentives and services and facilities. AusFILM recommends the use of production facilitation companies to make your shoot a success, especially in the areas of visas, location permits and taxation.

The Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) is an ally and helps Indian film producers in shooting in Australia. You can reach Austrade Mumbai on the following numbers: +91-22-2181071/72 Ext 106 and speak with Mr Rohit Manchanda.

Apart from the Indian and Australian film industries, other players include The Australian Tourism Commission, the State Film Bodies, and Sydney based Director/ Actor/ Film Consultant Anupam Sharma. Anupam has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in film and theatre specialising in Directing and Acting, and has been independently promoting media/ film links between India and Australia through private co-productions, research papers, and a thesis on Indian films. Working as a consultant for Indian film stalwarts such as Yash Johar, Rakesh Roshan, Universal, Sony…. along with Australian organizations such as Austrade, Sydney City etc, Anupam has pioneered film and media links between India and Australia taking the Indo/Australian film trade to a high profile multimillion dollars industry. The exponentially increasing production forced Anupam to launch the company – The Films and Casting TEMPLE, which is currently involved with some of the most high profile and promising feature film projects between India and Australia. In a one of its kind initiative, films and casting TEMPLE, with support from the Australian Trade Commission and the Australian Tourist Commission launched “Your Guide to filming in Australia” - a comprehensive guideline for the Indian Film Fraternity and Advertising community at a star studded Press conference held in Mumbai (Bombay) – INDIA.

We had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Anupam Sharma & gather more information on Filming in Australia. Here’s an interview with Mr. Sharma which might prove useful to our film makers :

1. What has your experience been while working on Films in Australia?
It has been a treat and joy to work on Indian films in Australia. There were lots of ups and few downs. As an Indian it was a pleasure to work on Indian films. Working on foreign films is a different ball game all together. Here we all follow the classic rule “paper is cheaper than film” hence there is a lot of organization.

Having taught film making at tertiary levels I though running a production company catering to Indian projects should be easy and my Australian crew will fly through it, but must admit it has not been that easy. It has been a steep learning curve as my team had to adapt a lot to work on Indian films.
But we were flexible without being judgmental, we know things work differently in India and without classifying them as good or bad we try to work with the Indian productions to make sure that they get the maximum out of Australia.

2. What are the best locations in Australia?
Unfortunately it will be hard to classify and list best locations in Australia. Every location every part of this huge and beautiful land mass has its own character, own charm, and own beauty.
You can have beautiful white sand desert next to some pristine blue waters. We have millions of year old rock formations near some modern visually interesting modern landmark. We have some lovely meadows near some amazing rain forest. The list goes on.

3. How are the locations better than the places in Switzerland, South Africa, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, U.K. and other places vying for attention of the Indian film Industry etc.?
I would not want to compare. Locations are locations and many countries have them. It is what you get with the location is what is important. Services, Technical Backup, and at a price you can afford. And that is where Australia stands out.
If you come to Australia you can shoot in Australia, New Zealand and FIJI. We and other companies offer the three countries together, if required.

4. Australia is far away from India as compared to Europe or East Asia. Is it not time consuming and costly to shoot in Australia?
But it is closer to film then Canada or America……….at the end of the day the Indian producer has to decide whether it is worthwhile coming to Australia. Depending on the script and requirements along with the budget some project may find it useful to shoot in Australia and others may not. We understand that and that is why request the Indian film makers to come to Australia only if it is required and not because it has become a fashion to shoot in Australia. If the script and locations are compatible then only we have a committed crew and committed production values from both sides.
This has been proved by the projects we have done. Dil Chahta Hai, Design and consultancy for Rakesh Roshan’s Koi Mil Gaya, TV commercials for Hero Honda, Scorpio, or Lakme or Bharati etc.

5. Which are the major Indian films shot in Australia and what projects are underway?
There are over 50 films shot in Australia so will not list all of them. The major ones last year were Dil Chahta Hai, Kitne Door Kitne Paas, Aap Mujhe Ache Lagne Lage, Road. TV Serials included Hum Pardesi Ho Gaye, Kuch Ret Kuch Pani, Main music videos included several for Universal, T Series, Anubhav Sinha Productions etc.

Currently we are working as International Consultants for the design of the alien creatures for Rakesh Roshan’s Koi Mil Gaya, also as Australian Line Producers to Feroz Khan’s Janasheen. Also we are talking to Indian partners for the first Indo Australian Co Production called “THE FILM”, directed by Kaizad Gustad and produced by John Winter and myself and written by John Winter. John Winter is one of the leading Australian producers with credits including Rabbit Proof Fence by Phil Noyce, Paperback Hero, Doing Time for Patsy Cline etc.

There is another medium budget Indian film based in Australia, a documentary, and a major Indian film festival next year which are keeping our keeping our office busy.

6. Is there any technical assistance available for producers who go to shoot in Australia?
Australia provides post production to leading film makers from around the world. A number of major American, Indian, Asian and European films are filmed here. They include Matrix I, II, and III. Star Wars, Mission Impossible, The Great Raid, George of The JUNGLE, Jackie Chan films etc. Just there is no shortage of technical support. There are two major studios with state of the art production space and stages. They are Fox in Sydney and Warner Bros in Gold Coast.

7. What about facilities for post production?
There are many post production houses in Australia such as Beeps, Cutting Edge, Ambience, Animal Logic, Digital Pictures. One of them which will interest your Indian readers is Beeps. They have done some major projects for India and have won best production awards in India as well as overseas. Cutting Edge have also done two major features for South India. Most of the leading post production houses have world class post production facility delivering excellent client service and attention to detail. They have a quality track record on Commercials, film, video clips, television series, documentaries and film. AVID, Telecine SD HD and 2K, Compositing, 3D and 2D animation, graphic design, studio and audio. Along with this we have Print Film Projection, High Definition Video Projection & High Definition Digital Intermediate Colour Correction, preview theatrette with interlock projectors fitted with Dolby optical sound or magnetic stripe sound follower. A JVC DLA-M5000SC
High Def. video projector with a contrast ratio of 1000:1, supporting all 1080/720 i/p formats inc. 525/625 Standard Def. video formats is available for projection of film dailies screenings and digital intermediate colour correction. High Def. video replay for projection provided by our ITK Millennium telecine capable of resolutions up to 2K.Full colour correction programmed by a DaVinci colour correction system.

Additional HD video replayed from HDD5 VTR is also available. Further services include, full sync and transfer of processed negative film stocks to HDD5, Aaton timecode / keycode on film and data logging, flex file creation, extensive production database’s created. Ancillary equipment available; Dubbing for 625/525 Digital & SP betacam, DAT, DD8, DVD,VHS, HDVHS, Fibre optical connections and video streaming, multi format down and cross conversion catered for. In short ALL of your high end postproduction needs will be catered for.

Some of recent Indian postprouduction jobs include post production for the launch of Scorpio Car (TVC), Dil Chahta Hai, Boys, Alavindan (Abhay), Cutting edge did Boys, and Alavindan, and Beeps’ Visual Effects Department produced the internationally acclaimed CGI work for “Space with Sam Neill”, Beeps was the first company outside the UK to which the BBC outsourced effects work. BEEPS are presently working on more projects for the BBC and are also on a project for Disney.

8. Which kind of films will benefit most by shooting in Australia?
Ones which have Australia as a part of the script, or which are looking for locations with character, or which require economical spl fx. KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHOOT IN AUSTRALIA to get maximum benefits out of Australia. We have been increasingly sending our crew to work in India on Indian films. This includes actors, stunt directors, spl fx designers, spl fx make up personnel etc. etc.

9. How is the business of Indian films in Australia?
It is reasonably good compared to the Indian population base which is very low compared to UK and America. The major chains of mainstream theatres like Hoyts have now started releasing Indian films. We are not into distribution so can’t inform you much but our close associates at Vaishnavi Entertainment release most of the Indian films and I rarely see them complaining so I guess it would be good.

10. Does shooting in Australia improve business prospects for an Indian film in the overseas market?
Yes as it creates a general awareness about Indian films in Australia.

11. Your Experience of a film shot in Australia (ex. Dil Chahta Hai)?
Dil Chahta Hai was a completely different experience as it was closer to us personally and professionally. Our crew did not have to adapt to any “Indian way of shooting” as Dil Chahta Hai was working to western production structures with shooting schedules, call sheets etc.

12. How easy is it to get travel documents, visa, shooting permissions, if any?
It is easy if all the paper work is there. Visas for Indian crews come in different categories. Film crew visas are now issued in Mumbai. You can get a lot of information on their website or by contacting the local consulate in Mumbai on +91-22-281 1071.

13. Are any special packages available for those who want to shoot in the coming months?
All crews are treated specially by most of the production companies in Australia. There are some rebates and concessions available for films but most of the times, Indian films do not qualify as they only shoot a part of the film and the budgets are very low to qualify for the grants and concessions.

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