Wanna make a film for $4000AUD & get worldwide distribution? Australian filmmaker Travis Bain’s explosive 2014 adventure feature ‘Throwback’ will stand you in good stead!

An ambitious film with an equally ambitious plot that follows a duo of treasure hunters who tangle with the ferocious ‘Yowie’ (Australia’s answer to bigfoot) in a savage battle for survival…

Though inspired by the classic jungle flicks of the fifties, think The African Queen or Run for the Sun, Bain’s ‘Throwback’ stands on its own two big feet, being one of the first ever to portray the Yowie creature in a feature film (alongside Dane Millerd’s ‘There’s Something in the Pilliga’ released also in 2014).

But perhaps what’s most remarkable about ‘Throwback’, is its stunning production value & cinematic visuals achieved on a budget totaling no more than that of a used car! So, how do you do it?

Check out part 1 of our interview with Travis & learn more about the genesis of ‘Throwback’ & shooting on an uber tight budget.

Travis Bain Part 1:

TRAVIS BAIN’S TOP TIPS FOR SHOOTING UNDER $5000:

• Utilize the natural environment. Mother nature has already built your set. Take advantage of what is available to you.
• You don’t need an Arri Alexa to shoot a feature. Nearly all cameras these days are HD, just pick one you’re comfortable using.

Travis Bain shot ‘Throwback’ on the Canon HV20 palm-corder. You can pick up a Canon HV20 kit with heaps of extras off eBay for around $200AUD. His film has a global DVD & Blu-Ray release.

‘Stop dreaming about 6K cameras and cranes. Story is everything’.

Alot of consumer grade camcorders tend to over-expose easily in automatic mode. Bain discovered that the Canon HV20’s manual mode was super capable when under-exposing his image, & shooting in the early or later times of day, to avoid extremes of contrast which inevitably occurs when shooting under the harsh midday sun.

Bain’s lightweight set-up also enabled him to move fast, get close to his actors & concentrate on performance, without the added practical distractions inherently present on big budget productions.

Check out part 2 of our interview for Travis’ approach to directing & how he sold ‘Throwback’ worldwide.

Travis Bain Part 2:

Travis had a marketing game plan for ‘Throwback’ before he even wrote the script, something that should be at the forefront of any indie filmmaker’s mind if they’re serious about getting their film sold. Queue the festival circuit – an ideal way for distributors to see your film & generate buzz with your genre fan base.

When ‘Throwback’ hit the internationally renowned Famous Monsters Film Festival in California, it picked up Best Foreign Film, & at the Washington-based Tri-Cities International Fantastic Film Festival it won Best Feature. Following the film’s burgeoning success was a distribution offer from Monster Pictures.

‘If you can make a tiny film on a tiny budget and return a profit, that will stand you in good stead for future features on a grander scale’.

Now in pre-production on his crowdfunded Lovecraftian sci-fi/horror ‘Starspawn’, Bain re-unites with veteran actor Vernon Wells (Commando, Mad Max 2) who played an unhinged ex-cop in ‘Throwback’. Upon completion, Wells is working with his US contacts to garner ‘Starspawn’ a cinema release there & in Australia.

Throwback is available now on DVD & Blu-Ray in Australia, New Zealand & the UK.

Godzilla-sized THANK YOU to Adrian Rayner for conducting & filming the interview with Travis for Any Camera Will Do!

More Info:

For the official ‘Throwback’ movie website, go here.
For the ‘Throwback’ facebook page, go here.
For the ‘Throwback’ IMDB page, go here.
For Travis Bain’s IMDB filmography, go here.
For the ‘Starspawn’ facebook page, go here.