Director Stuart Willis’ and producer Toby Gibson’s science-fiction miniseries Restoration begins principal photography at Docklands Studios Melbourne today, following a very successful crowd-funding campaign that raised $17,441 for set-building costs.
Nadia Townsend (Knowing, City Homicide) Grant Cartwright (MTC’s The Crucible, Death Star PR), Stephen Carracher (Vanished) and Rosie Lourde (Felony) lead the cast of Restoration, a sci-fi story co-written by Willis and screenwriter Matthew Clayfield.
Set in a near-future world where humans have their memories downloaded for backup, it tells the story of a man, Oliver Klein, who awakes with his memories restored into a body that is not his own.
Filming will take place at Docklands Studios Melbourne for the next six days before moving to a series of locations around the city. Docklands Studios’ CEO, Rod Allan says, “It’s very pleasing when local producers regard Docklands Studios as the ideal facility for on-set filming. The team will find the studio environment perfect for their project and we encourage other local producers to consider the benefits of shooting in our sound stages. We are pleased to support such an ambitious and innovative project.”
Post Production and VFX specialists Cutting Edge who recently opened a Melbourne office, will helm the post production workflow and provide invaluable back end support during the shoot.
The behind-the-scenes creative team includes DOP Hugh Turral, production designer Jacqueline Miller, art director Tao Weis, concept & graphic design director Lisa Cookson, costume designer Michael Chisholm, hair and make-up designer Katie Gibson, 1st assistant director James Short, stunt coordinator Russell Frost, sound supervisor Leon East, VFX and colour consultant Alex Fry, editor Hayley Dinnison, composer David Barber and construction manager Rob MacKenzie. Simon de Bruyn is also on board as Co-Producer.
In the lead up to principal photography, the filmmakers ran a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter, a US-based company that recently expanded into Australia and New Zealand and allows people to raise money for creative endeavours such as films, video games and music in exchange for rewards or copies of the product.
Aiming to raise $15,000 to cover set-building costs for the elaborate Restoration Life Services facility at the centre of the story, the project raised $17,441 and was frequently trending as one of the top sci-fi projects on the site worldwide.
Restorationis a Midnight Snack Production produced by Toby Gibson and co-written by Melbourne director Stuart Willis and writing partner Matthew Clayfield. Designed to be released online, it will tell a single 40-minute story told over three episodes. Development of the project was supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria.
The Kickstarter campaign page can be viewed here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stuwillis/restoration-an-online-sci-fi-mini-series