Last week, three Adelaide film-makers traveled to Macau to produce a movie in just 48 hours. Finding a city that doesn’t sleep, they decided not to either.

It is a Thursday afternoon and Jeremy Kelly-Bakker (flat-mate/creative genius) steps into my room with his hand over his phone.

“Hey man, do you want to go to Chinese Las Vegas on Monday to shoot a movie?”

I look up from the corporate video I’m editing and through a mouthful of banana reply, “Um, yes. Yes, I do.”

“Okay, I’ll get back to you.”

And with that he disappears back into his room.

Three days later we are in the air accompanied by a second Jeremy. The second one is Jeremy Aubert, a mountaineering film producer with an indefinable accent; we roped him in because he’s the kind of guy who would be up for the weirdness of such an adventure and would not flinch at breaking some rules if need be. Also, as JKB and I are the kind of guys who often forget what month it is, having an organised producer-type on board seemed like a good idea.

Jeremy (and the other Jeremy) in the midst of production.

In the air we got our pens out and started brain-storming.

What do we know? What are we doing? What is happening?

We are being flown to Macau to participate in a vaguely diplomatic exercise – called the ’48 Hours Microfilm International Competition’ – where ten international teams have two days to make a short film.

We know the themes are “Love” and “Beautiful Macau”.

We will possibly have two actors and total carte blanche access to all public spaces in the city.

“Okay guys, thinking caps on.”

“Uh-huh”

“M-hm…”

“Who’s got an idea? Something wild.”

“Something new… invigorating.”

“Um, boy meets girl?”

“Brilliant.”

“Sold.”

We constructed our rough outline about a visitor to the city who has an encounter that forces them to see the city through new eyes and in the process open their heart to new experiences. We were insistent that there be an aspect of pursuit to this journey.

There must be drama to it. No one wants to watch a person wandering around experiencing nice things. There must be struggle – a goal. There must be a story. In a city like Macau where it is impossible to get a bad shot it will be our ability to tell a story that will set us apart. 

Macau – Impossible to get a bad shot.

Happy with our little outline and settled on the fact that we’d have to wait and see what our cast and locations were I settled in to watch the new Planet Of The Apes movie. I should have got some sleep instead – it was my last chance in the next five days.

I have the vaguest recollection of waking up after a few short hours rest on the second morning with the two Jeremy’s standing over me saying, “What should we do with him?” as I tied a tshirt over my eyes and fell back onto my mattress. Lightweight. Yet, an hour later I was awake at the breakfast bar stuffing as much protein and caffeine into me at possible and then we are out and shooting again.

The Australian team – Jeremy, Jeremy and Aaron – with their local actors.

Aided by indispensable and indefatigable local Jess Hao, we shot Macau up, down and sideways. When it came to packing camera gear I knew we needed to travel light and small. I didn’t want anything we couldn’t carry in our hands and change over fast. I wanted to create a film that was kinetic and full of movement. In a city designed to stimulate the senses, locking off on a tripod would not do.

I wanted some of the film to have a glow about it… like I was shooting through cellophane. So I had our lead actor, Oman, guide us to a bric-a-brac shop where I head in to peruse the shelves for a MacGyver-ed grip kit. With improvised methods like this the imperfections and aberrations in the surface you are shooting through give unique results in a way that expensive rigs and filters lack

Aaron’s unconventional kit.

Now here is where my story will fall apart, dear reader. I have a sort of selective autism that kicks in when I am shooting. Everything’s a shot. Everything is a frame. We weren’t walking around a gorgeous intricate city full of history and remarkable culture. I was exploring a set looking for good angles. Don’t get me wrong. It’s the most incredible set I’ve ever seen but it was not until we’d handed over the work two days later that the two Jeremys and I stood on the street and sort of looked at each other with serene, sleep deprived befuddlement.

Something shifted in the wind and amongst all the flurry of movement there was a pocket of silence. Picture the music fading down for a moment, the background honking of cars and casinos slipping away and Jeremy and I catching each other looking around at it all.

“Hey, Aaron.”

“Hey, Jez.”

“We’re in China right now.”

“I know, right?”

“How about that?”

Bearing this in mind, it was with no small amount of self-awareness that we had constructed a story for our film about a workaholic who learns to widen his laser vision and take in the world around him and feel truly present.

For your pleasure we have made the film available for a few days.

http://vimeo.com/109544264

But what of the city itself?

Macau is one of those places that you have a vague idea about even though you’ve never consciously acknowledged the city’s existence. It feels like one of those places pirates were always passing through on adventures. James Bond goes there, probably.

I haven’t given it much space here, but that is because I can’t really find the words.

Part futuristic Babylon, part Star Wars universe mega city, part cobblestoned swashbuckler’s adventure land, part Blade Runner fan’s fantasy – Macau is a place that made me very aware of myself as a small being spinning through space on a rock. The city glowing at night felt, to me, like a beacon trying to make something far off in the darkness above take notice. It’s a city that commanded my gaze. So I made a second film for it:

http://vimeo.com/110334983

And we won the Silver prize, by the way. Adelaide represent.