Credits finally roll on UOW pair's first feature film

The Wollongong directors made an agreement last June not to shave until their film was complete, and although Way ended up shaving twice, their luscious facial hair still serves as a symbol of their dedication to the project.

'Travis Jenkins' was meant to be finished last November so that the pair could submit it as the major work for a subject in their Bachelor of Digital Media at the University of Wollongong, from which they have now graduated.

Though the whole film had been shot during the semester break last winter, the post-production was more time-consuming than they anticipated. Instead, they created and handed in a trailer for the film, but vowed they would finish the project.

"We had a lot of people expecting us to finish it. We had a lot of actors working for free and we promised them that we'd finish it. You start something like that, you have to finish it," Doyon, 21, says.

The pressure to complete the film was constantly on their minds, but they say the extra time spent perfecting it was worth it because the production values are better than they thought they could achieve, and that their tiny budget would allow.

"We thought it would be done in November last year. The sound post-production and the colour correction post-production are at a much higher level than we ever thought we'd take it," Way, 22, says.

While the co-directors wrote the original script for Travis Jenkins, organised the entire shoot and became proficient in the technical and legal aspects of making a movie, their main interest is in directing.

Doyon says aspiring directors can no longer work their way up to the position by doing other jobs on a film set, but must simply start directing.

Although learning to manage and direct different actors on the job, including some three decades older than themselves, was tough at times, they are proud of their efforts.

"We had to take the leap and be the big guys, even though we have no right to be, we just told ourselves one day that we were the boss," Doyon says.

Already they have made a number of training videos and other commercial work for local companies, and have plans for another feature-length film set in 1940s Australia, and to break into ad-making in the local area.

They would like to move to Hollywood to direct feature films, and are heading to Los Angeles and New York at the end of this year to drum up some interest in Travis Jenkins and make contacts.

"I just want to tell good stories. I like being told good stories and watching good movies, and to give that back to other people is the best thing for me," Doyon says.

"I want to create something people want to watch, to make a difference ... not in a deep, meaningful, helping-the-homeless way, but to brighten someone's day."

Student movie, tale of revenge

Sam Doyon and Morgan Way found being students worked to their advantage when they filmed Travis Jenkins around Wollongong and Nowra last June.

People were happy to help out the uni students, who were calling in every favour they could possibly imagine to shoot and produce their first full-length feature.

Actors worked for free, people gave permission for places to be used as sets and Wollongong band A Slow Rip let Doyon and Way score much of the film with their music without charge.

There were a few challenges though, namely getting everything shot within the five weeks those working for free were available.

‘‘Every day was at least a 12-hour day, if not an 18 or 20-hour day, before we had four hours’ sleep then got back up to do it again,’’ Doyon says.

Written by the pair, Travis Jenkins is the story of a suburban father whose daughter falls in with a local gang. As more and more tragic things begin to happen to his family, he decides to take revenge on the man responsible.

The story was inspired by an act of pointless vandalism on the house of one of Doyon’s neighbours and is influenced by other revenge crime dramas, such as 2010’s Animal Kingdom.  Both Way and Doyon make cameos in the film.

After working on Travis Jenkins for close to a year, they are excited to start showing it to audiences and entering it into several national film festivals, as well as applying to enter it into the festival run by NewFilmmakers Los Angeles.

But even though they have watched the final cut countless times, finally showing it to people has been nerve-racking.

‘‘You don’t watch the film, you watch the audience, so every time they move in their chair, every cough, it gets to you. You’re real touchy about it, wondering if something’s boring or good or bad,’’  Doyon says.