Sitemap
Index
Print Page
Enlarge Text
Reduce Text
Member LoginJohn Radel, Kodak Filmschool Competition Winner - 2nd year Running
5 January 2005
Australian Film Television & Radio School student, John Radel has been selected as the Australian national winner of the Kodak Filmschool Competition for his work on the film Black Berries.
Originally from Queensland, Radel a former rental manager with Victorian camera rental house, Cameraquip, has benefited from several unique training opportunities over recent years.
1998 saw him seconded to the Kodak Cinematography Workshop with Eastman Kodak Company’s Don Strine, where he offered invaluable assistance to the program whilst learning formal, accurate lighting techniques for exposure tests. He later worked alongside Ian Baker as a cinematography attachment on the Warner Bros. production, 'Queen of the Damned' and more recently, traveled to Budapest to attend the 7th International Masterclass conducted by the Academy of Drama and Film and the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers (HSC).
Produced by Rosie Travers and written and directed by Ema Mulholland, Black Berries was shot in 35mm anamorphic format and is a dark ‘coming of age’ story about two 12-year-old girls from different cultural backgrounds. The win marks the second in consecutive years for Radel, whose entry was one among twenty-seven submissions, judged by Melbourne-based Director of Photography and President of the Victorian chapter of the Australian Cinematographers Society, Bruce Phillips ACS.
'There were three or four films that made the evaluation no easy task however there can be only one and I felt Black Berries had the edge. The excellent interior lighting created a painting-like quality and the use of lenses and camera movement all contributed in a major way to the telling of the story,' commented Phillips of the judging process.
As Director of Photography and Visual Effects Supervisor, Phillips has shot a variety of productions including television commercials, short films and second unit on his first love, drama. 'I always like to see what is being shot by student cinematographers as their projects are often not restricted and become adventurous with look and style.' he comments.
'It can be pretty easy to pick up a light meter and get a picture on film these days but sometimes raw talent emerges and that ‘something special’ leaps off the screen making you sit back in your seat. This happened a few times as we were looking at the entries and the standard was set high very early.'
As a result of this high standard Phillips selected two runner-up films. Victorian College of the Arts student, Adam Arkapaw was awarded the prizes for That Blackbird because of the interesting and graphic camera angles, and Hunter Finklestein, which worked well with traditional black and white cinematography to tell the story without becoming clichéd.
Designed to recognize and encourage outstanding young filmmakers, the Kodak Filmschool Competition continues to generate a growing interest each year. 'Judging is based on the creativity and skill the student cinematographer exhibits in the process of visual storytelling,' says Sean Glasson, General Manager, Kodak Entertainment Imaging, Australia & New Zealand.
Black Berries will now be submitted as part of the Greater Asia regional competition to be judged by Laszlo Kovacs, ASC. National winners from over twenty countries from around the world will vie for the international prize of a trip to the Cannes Film Festival where excerpts of winning films are screened. Regional winners will be announced by March 1, 2005.
'I was very pleased with the overall level of entries and thank Kodak for encouraging development in cinematography at all levels' concludes Phillips.
For more information on the Kodak Student Filmmaker Program, visit www.kodak.com/go/student
Black Berries
Australian Film, Television & Radio School
Producer: Rosie Travers
Writer/Director: Ema Mulholland
Cinematographer: John Radel
Cast: Jessica Rees, Deborah Le, Anne Luise Lambert
To begin to try and understand the nature of relationships is to begin growing up. This is the premise of this story about two 12-year-old best friends, Candy and Lao. While walking home one day, they come to a laneway-the short cut. Lao begins to walk down it but in a moment of loyalty, Candy keeps a promise she made to her mother and chooses the long way home.
- Winner 2005 Kodak Filmschool Competition
- Winner Silver Award, NSW/ACT Australian Cinematographers Society Awards, Student Category
- Winner Best Cinematography 10th Anniversary Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival in California
- Winner Critic’s Circle Award for Best Cinematography
- Screened at the 2004 Cinema Des Antipodes, at Cannes
- Screened at Camerimage 2004, World Panorama of Students Etudes as one of 23 films selected from over 150 films received.
[release from Kodak]