Professional Profile - March 2012
This Sunday night, 'SICK', the Optus MTV 180 project winner will premiere at the Moonlight Cinema in Sydney's Centennial Park.
Director of Photography, Tania Lambert shot the TV pilot over three action packed weeks last September in Glenworth Valley and Sydney with the actors/writers/directors Christiaan & Connor Van Vuuren.
Tania has been shooting award winning commercials, music videos and shorts over the last three years since she graduated from AFTRS. 'SICK' marks the first hour long drama that Tania has shot and she hopes there will be more feature length dramas to come.
"I enjoyed the intensity of the month long collaboration and coming up with creative solutions within our restrictive budget to be able to create the fantasy world that the van Vuuren brothers wanted to capture."
'SICK' is an action/fantasy/comedy based on the true story of Chris (Christiaan), who contracted a highly infectious form of tuberculosis whilst travelling in Africa and was forced into hospital quarantine for 6 months. During his isolation he immersed himself in Youtube, Facebook and video games and produced short rap videos as "The Fully Sick Rapper" which skyrocketed him to internet stardom. The pilot follows his journeys throughout all these different online worlds and his battle to overcome his disease and the internet "trolls" who don't want his videos to succeed.
Tania loved the challenge of creating various real and virtual worlds that all asked for different looks and styles. She employed a mix of cameras ranging from the Alexa, Red MX, Canon 5dmkII to GoPro which were complemented by different lighting styles.
"The exterior video game “Battlecraft” locations were predominantly uncontrollable lighting wise within the low budget, so the Alexa (kindly discounted by Cinoptix) was invaluable in creating a soft romantic yet epic style for “Battlecraft.”
"To contrast the grungy reality of the stark hospital room from which Chris desperately wanted to escape. In the hospital we mainly shot on Red MX (also kindly discounted by Red Apple) for our drama sequences, but used the GoPro for its tiny size and high contrast video look for music montage sequences which follow Chris and his blood samples as he is admitted to hospital. "
"The Canon 5dmkII saturated compressed look served as the perfect tool for Chris’ “self-captured” music videos that he originally shot on his MacbookPro webcam. "
"The entire cast and crew were so generous with their time and energy, however it was everyone’s passion for ‘SICK’ that made the pilot come together and will hopefully make it a success."
‘SICK’ will also be screening on MTV and online in the months to come.
