Invincibl3

Riley Blakeway directs ‘Invincibl3’.

Exploring fragile masculinity, small-town mentality, and cultural confusion, following a young Australian man and his ongoing spirit quest for significance and identity.

Words from Riley below.

Can we talk about Australian filmmakers/filmmaking for a minute?

RB: My favourite Australian filmmaker is Peter Weir. Learning about ‘The Truman Show’ in High School was one of my introductory moments in learning the power of film as a medium for social commentary. Learning that film could be used to create something so visually striking, and comedic whilst being subversive all at once. I don’t think I even realised until much later how much of an impact that study had on me.

If you google Australian films, there’s an overwhelming amount of red dirt, crime or outlaw stories.

I feel like there’s a lot of Aussie stereotypes that are continually leaned on because of previous success and funding. If you google Australian films, there’s an overwhelming amount of red dirt, crime or outlaw stories. I love a lot of these films but Invincibl3 was created partly in response to this over-representation. A big part of the concept was to reframe the celebration of outlaw culture through a lens exploring the influence it has on young men in society today.

Walk us through one of the visual set-pieces.

RB: The long sequence following Teenage Trevor from outside through to his Ned Kelly shrine. It was the first thing I wrote.

I asked Thom (composer) to write a piece of music that captured the frequency of suburban Australia and floated through 3 different segments. When I received the music, I started visualising this long one-shot through the house, including a lighting change and musical drop. I blocked the shot out and timed it perfectly at the location but once Campbell (DOP) arrived and we both assessed the amount of lighting and film stock available we decided to break the one-shot into 3. It was then a challenge in reshaping the shots and motivating the transitions to complement the ethereal floating tone of the music whilst driving the action in the scene with purpose.

INVINCIBL3 by Riley Blakeway

My favourite solve being the finger in the quiche moment. That might be one of my favourite moments in the film because it says so much about Trevor’s character.

What are you reading at the moment?

RB: I just finished ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ by Murakami.