Mackeral - Short Film May 2012

MACKERAL

'When fear becomes an all consuming appetite'

2 min   Magic Realism

SYNOPSIS

Sophia searches for the tapping sound that brings her down the stairs,
through the passages of the house to where her father sits in the study.
The tapping sound building and becomes deafening, 
The father turns to her, but what Sophia sees is a giant mackeral fish
growling; she flees in horror. The father taps his metal fork on the 

ceramic plate creating a menacing irritant, so much so that Sophia,
who sits on the table with her head on her arms. She lifts her head up
as her father glares at her; 'Sophia, sit up and eat your supper'.
He shoves the plate closer to her, to her shock she looks down and 

see an oversized mackeral spilling over her dinner plate. 

The fish's glassy eye stares back at her... 

                                         Writer, Director                   LINDA DARBY CORING

                                         Director of Photography     WALTER LAWRY

                                         Sophia                                  LUCY CORING

                                         Lawrence                             GREGORY PRYOR

                                         2nd Camera and Lighting    FINN McGOWAN

                                         1st AD                                  LEAH McVEAGH

                                         Production Design               LINDA DARBY CORING

                                         Makeup/Wardrobe               SHANTELL NAIR

                                         Producer                               LINDA DARBY CORING

    Location:  Puhinui House,  Howick Historic Village,
Auckland, New Zealand.

Filmed on 14th & 15th of May, 2012.

This is a 2012 Screen Production project for the
BA Hons program at University of Auckland.

Backbone - Feature film Treatment / Script June - Oct 2019

Backbone, a mystery drama about Anna, a teenage orphaned lighthouse keeper, who uses her ‘mindgarden’ to connect to her predecessors who uncover years of lies finally enabling the truth of Anna’s real story to emerge.

SYNOPSIS  

Nineteen year old Anna is a competent young woman descended from four generations of lighthouse keepers. When Thomas, her father suddenly dies, she is faced with decisions that affect the future of the Island community. several others on the island. After a no fuss burial, Anna realises being an orphan has its advantages; as she is able to continue operating the lighthouse on her terms.

      However Anna leads a double life and has the ability to remove herself mentally from her present world and connect through her ‘mindgarden’ to her ancestral network. She relies on this connection to give direction and open doors to things on earth she can't always find the answers to.  Now more than ever she seems to be tapping into this source of strength and support to help her unclear future.

      JIAN (18), the son from the neighbouring cattle station on the island, discovers EMORY(27) washed up on the main beach from across the channel. Emory, besides having a dubious past, possesses a sharp intellect that he begins to challenge Anna with by questioning her methods of operating the lighthouse. This motivates Anna to initiate a search to prove her techniques are part of an inherited ‘keeper mantle’ accumulated the past 100 years. However during the foraging for proof she uncovers some unwanted truths about her parents. This new information reveals that her father married the sister of his first wife, her being Anna’s mother; GLORIA(53). Logbooks further reveal that Gloria was in fact the backbone behind her fathers ‘keeper’ facade, and that to her horror, Jian’s mother LUI(50), out of greed had been slowly poisoning Thomas over the years to have a 'natural death' in order for her husband HENRY(58)to finally be the keeper of Tiri. Anna knew she had inherited her mother’s inner strength, and she was going to need it in the fight to set the past straight.

       Facing the fact that most of her life, she had been caught in a lie, Anna unleashes her anger on the Meha family, and the washed up intruder, who she dobs in for the Maritime police to come and collect. 

       A cold awkwardness takes over a previous warm island culture. Then to add insult to injury, a huge offshore cold front hits the island quite unexpectedly.  The massive storm wreaks havoc in the surrounding seas and in doing so breaks the seabed power cable

from Shakespeare point to Tiritiri. Just before the natural light completely fades, Jian takes Anna and locks her in the lighthouse for her own protection because Lui has seen an opportunity to sabotage the generator, so no light will be restored in the lighthouse. Therefore, through her negligence, Anna will be reported and removed from the island. But Lui underestimates Anna’s tenacity; and alone in the dark lighthouse tower she connects with her parents in her ‘mindgarden’ and their knowledge of where the secrets lie on earth helps Anna to uncover a 10 year strategy that Lui concocted to subtly take over their family legacy for her self.

      Jian emerges as the key to realising the extent of his parents deceit and through Anna retains his sanity of the whole saga.  Thomas and Gloria are posthumously acknowledged, then Anna is reinstated as the rightful Lighthouse keeper on Tirtiri. Emory returns with a clean slate and runs the lighthouse until Anna returns from a break on the mainland; of rest and recuperation; that the 19 year old deserves.