FEATURE FILM, 2019
Closereef Productions
Umbrella Entertainment
Director: Heath Davis
Producer: Angus Watts
Senior Colourist Angela Cerasi colour graded the feature length Australian film Locusts, tying together bright dusty outback scenes and darker and gritty crime scenes.
Locusts is a 2019 independent crime thriller film, written and produced by Dr. Angus Watts and directed by Heath Davis. Ben Geurens, Jessica McNamee and Nathaniel Dean starred in lead roles. It also marked the acting debut of rugby league player George Burgess.
Chris Bland was the Director of Photography, capturing footage over a 4.5 week shooting periodin Broken Hill, NSW and Sydney. The film was self-financed with a budget of $1.5 million.
Rick Beecroft was the assistant director, Tiare Tomaszewski the line producer, Jason King the associate producer, and Carlo Crescini the production designer. It was distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Bonsai Films.
The plot is set in a fictional remote post-mining-boom town where drugs, unemployment, and desperation have become rife. A tech entrepreneur, Ryan Black, reluctantly returns to his hometown for his father’s funeral. Once there he is reunited with his ex-con brother, Tyson. They soon become the target of an extortion scam at the hands of a gang of violent local thugs. The plot also includes Isabella, a single mother played by Jessica McNamee. George Burgess plays a bouncer.
According to this IF Article, the essense of the film was designed as a modern noir Western. Producer and writer Angus Watts was quoted in the article explaining the meaning behind the title “Locusts”:
“The title is a metaphor for the human propensity to consume the world around us without fear of consequences.”
Watts says he drew inspiration for part of the plot from his own rural upbringing. “I grew up in a small town in NSW… that’s had more than its share of hard times through drought and erosion, and as a Queenslander I’ve seen firsthand the economic roller coaster that’s stemmed from the mining boom in regional areas. So, the fictional town in this film is an extension of this idea.”
To see another Australian feature film colour graded by Angela Cerasi, check out “Emu Runner”.