“Cooee” By Toby Morris
A group of wild young girls roar across the foothills of Australia’s Snowy Mountains in their beat-up, solar-powered Holden Commodore. While recharging the car, the girls come into contact with what is real and what is fake about themselves.
Check out Toby’s inspiration and approach for “Cooee” below!
Credits
Directed by Toby Morris
Written by Sam Burnett & Toby Morris
Producer - Sam Burnett
Production - Longneck Films
Starring:
Odessa Young
Airlie Dodds
Sapphire Blossom
Maddy Madden
Director of Photography - Aaron McLisky
Editor - Toby Morris & Ben Zemanek
Production Designer - Laura Murray
Sound Designer - Michael Newton
Casting - Stevie Ray CSA
Wardrobe - Caitlin Murray
Makeup & Hair - Kirsten Pawlicki
1st AD - Stuart Beedie
Steadicam - Timothy Walsh
First Camera Assistant - Anne-Sophie Marion
Drone Operators - Tommy Hankinson, David May
Gaffer - Tommy Hankinson
Grip - Kristian Joel Bruneteau
Sound Recordist - Jared Transfield
Foley Artists - Mario Vaccaro, Michelle Kaszai
VO Recordist - Pete Covington
Music Supervisor - Tommy Faith
Colourist - Matt Fezz
VFX:
Chris Thompson, Chris Angelius, Christian J Heinrich, Gerad Gray, Matt Fezz
Titles - Reg Mombassa
Cooeenuity - Margo Lowry
Stunt Driver - Christopher Stalley
Vehicle Dresser & Set Mechanic - Nicholas Ford
Stills Photographer - Johnny Diaz Nicolaidis
Production Accountant - Gregory Leung
Beyond the Short
COOEE is everything I believe cinema can and should be; a thoughtful meditation on our place and purpose in the world, a sensitive insight into human nature and an escape from reality which allows us to more effectively reflect upon it. All of this injected with the relentless pacing of an action film and a healthy dose of humour.
Over a year ago Sam Burnett and myself wrote a feature script called “Cooee”. Over several months this script evolved into a series of inter-connected narratives exploring how different groups of youth in the future are affected by the popular culture of today. When we stepped back and looked at the whole script we said to ourselves “I think this is something special”. We then said “We cannot afford to make this”.
Not willing to let costs kill a dream, we got creative. With will, determination and a belief in this story, we took a sequence from this feature script and adapted it into its own short film - giving us an insight into the characters and world of Cooee. The process of adapting a feature film’s worth of ideas into a short film proved to be equal parts challenging and rewarding, the end result is a screenplay I’m exceptionally proud of.
I have been creating films non-stop since I was thirteen years old and have never felt this excited about a project. I firmly believe that Cooee is the film which myself and my crew have been working toward; the culmination of a life-long fascination with both youth culture and cinema.
As a director there is nothing more thrilling than looking through a lens and seeing a completely different world before your eyes. After directing for more than half my life, I’ve had no greater experience than looking through that lens and watching the story of Cooee come to life.
The idea for Cooee came in 2016 when Toby Morris described to his mate Sam Burnett his vision for a sprawling, Richard Linklater-esque anthology film set within the snowy landscapes of a futuristic Australia.
Working with Sam Burnett, the two developed the idea through a range of iterations, writing numerous drafts of a feature screenplay. It was one scene from this feature screenplay, the idea of a group of punk girls exploring a house in which a family is addicted to virtual reality, that formed the basis of the short film adaptation of Cooee.
This simple idea held within it larger conceptual explorations of identity, reality, perception and ultimately connection. It was through the discussion of these themes that Sam and Toby were able to craft a narrative which captured their vision whilst also developing characters through which to explore these themes.
A location scout to the Snowy Mountains revealed an enormous wind-farm and the perfect house, and within weeks cameras were rolling on Cooee...
“Rock & Roll filmmaking” was the go-to description of the process of Cooee’s production, with a cast & crew dedicated to the pursuit of making it happen no matter the costs, which were often significant.
Filming on location in Bungarby, New South Wales, the production saw car chases filmed amongst the spectacular Boco Rock Wind Farm - providing a visually stunning and otherworldly quality to the opening of the film.
The rest of the film was shot at a real family home, with the production doing their best to work around around the six home-schooled children living there. These kids gave affectionate nicknames to the whole cast and crew, a standout being “ponytail bonehead” for Chris Stalley, production assistant & driver.
Cooee is the result of over a year of constant work by an incredibly talented and passionate cast & crew.
“Cooee” was submitted to us by Toby Morris. Have a film of your own you’d like us to check out? Click here!