Machination was listed amongst the LA Times ‘films to watch this weekend’. The psychological horror was also in good company, listed amongst other indie films that sounded very intriguing, plus Liquorice Pizza by Paul Thomas Anderson. Have a read of the article titled “Review: ‘Hold Your Fire,’ ‘Licorice Pizza’ and other movies to watch this weekend” here and when done, watch Machination online here.
Machination Picture Lock
We are pleased to say we have reached picture lock on our psychological horror / drama Machination. The film goes into sound design and colour grading now and we are thrilled to collaborate once again with Gerard Mack and Chris Tomkins respectively.
Gerard is a Melbourne based sound designer and composer who is our go-to man for all things sound. We have worked with him previously on In Corpore, Friends, Foes & Fireworks, Choir Girl and more and we are always impressed by the results.
Chris is also from Melbourne, an expert in colour grading, and another past collaborator on Friends, Foes & Fireworks. With both Chris and Gerard we know post production on Machination is in good hands.
We remain on track to release the film later this year. Stay tuned for more updates.
Machination Dreaming
Last weekend we did a short pick-up shoot for our psychological drama / horror Machination, adding more characters to the story and more surreal dream scenes, including this stunning aerial shot (below) of Steffi Thake as Maria floating in the sea.
It was a great day on set, and these new scenes add extra depth to the edit, which is nearing picture lock. We can’t wait to bring Machination to you later this year.
Pandemic Film Machination Film Poster Process Revealed
It was a welcomed surprise to receive an email from our Machination poster photographer Fran Stivala last week. Fran was writing an article for WHAM Malta detailing how she photographed and created our attention-grabbing poster, and it’s now live. The poster image, starring Maltese talent Steffi Thake is perfect, it oozes the tension we needed and pops with the coloured lights. You can read the article here and look at the poster.
The link to the article can also be found in our PRESS section.
Psychological Drama Wraps after Second Week of Production
If week one of filming Machination was a whirlwind, then week two was a hurricane with over 2kgs of worms, blood, moody neon lights, night shoots, early mornings finales and some wicked acting. But damn straight we had the best sleep deprived time of our lives in the process and came out the other end with a treasured film experience to add to our already unforgettable 2020.
Machination took four months of our lives to get from the outline writing to the wrap and we did it all with a minimal crew of no more than six on larger days and just a key cast of four people and had Maltese actor Steffi Thake featuring in 99% of the full-length feature. For those interested in our filmmaking process read how Ivan’s article From Writing to Wrap: Making a Feature in Four Months here.
After 10 days of filming Machination, we wrapped at Selmun Bay around 7am! Picture: Creative Creep Brand
Steffi may have had most of the screen time since the film is about her character Maria and her downward spiral as she deals with mental illness and her past demons during a global pandemic, but Steffi handled it like a champion. The lead actors performance was moving and sad to watch, at times her situation and reaction to what was happening around her was relatable, other times the absurdity of the situation bordered on dark humour.
So now Machination is now in the ‘to edit’ bucket, a task that Ivan Malekin will start taking on in the coming week, while also editing our documentary Cats of Malta simultaneously.
If you want to know more about Machination go to the films official page here and join our Creatively Connected Newsletter for news about the film exclusively here.