Gene-X, the first Australian feature shot on Sony’s cutting edge HDV format, has finished a successful six-week shoot, coming in on-time, on-budget. The cinematography in the new format is simply stunning, the performances electric.

My enthusiasm for the look and feel of the picture has only intensified having examined in detail in the edit suite what’s in the can.

The picture brings two new stars to the screen, in the beautiful and intense Ayse Tezel, and Patrick Magee, whose performance has been described as the best young Australian film debut since Nicole Kidman’s.

The making of Gene-X has been an exciting and satisfying experience for all concerned, compared by cinematographer Vincent Monton to the feeling on the seminal Australian film Newsfront.

In the low budget environment, the joy of film-making is in the bringing together of a small but willing group of multi-skilled movie makers, eager to operate at the cutting edge of technology and artistic endeavour with scant regard for anything but the work. This type of film-making has the camaraderie (no pun intended) of youthful enthusiasm and allows the appreciation of every crew member of each other’s work. This group bonding experience is sadly missing from large budget productions where cast and crew are estranged and a rigid hierarchy divides the departments and prevents the cross pollination of ideas and artistic solutions.

On Gene-X, the intelligent, well-schooled and enthusiastic support crew were largely feature film inexperienced, but they rapidly climbed the steep learning curve at the beginning of the shoot, having to quickly adapt to the efficiency demands of tough veteran cinematographer Vince and the bedrock crew of gaffer Mark Newnham and key grip Greg Molineaux.

To the crew’s great credit it didn’t take long for them to develop into a well-oiled machine and now, after six weeks of very hard work, they can all be proud of the results, for they have succeeded in producing world-class cinema.