It’s a given that we all love hearing, seeing, writing about and supporting local music, but unless you’re in a band, no doubt there’s a whole world inside our local community you know nothing about.
For example: What exactly does it take to get your music out there, tour, and still afford to eat? Is passion enough? Where do you write and rehearse? How do you get on festival bills? What does being ‘Unearthed’ actually mean for your career? How do you deal with family members who insist on you getting a ‘real’ job?
Yana Amur, a Melbourne based music photographer and documentary film maker has explored these questions with her beautifully shot new film Breaking the Sound Barrier – a mini documentary feature on Melbroune’s passionate and iconic indie music scene.
Yana explains how her latest foray into film came together “I filmed it at the end of last year and initially wanted to turn it into web-series featuring different bands, but decided to release what I’ve got so far as a combined piece.”
What we have is a beautifully shot, refreshingly honest but hopeful 11 minute film documenting the Melbourne independent music scene through the eyes of five very different bands.
Capturing the inner workings of the Melbourne based bands: The Casanovas, Stonefield, Slow Chase, DARTS and My Piranha, the documentary features a candid look inside just the what drives some Australia’s most loved artists.
We had a chat with Yana about to find out a little more about the film which you watch and read about below. For more info on Yana’s work visit www.yana-amur.com.
How The Film Came About
My interests have always evolved around music photography and journalism, so after five years of shooting live shows I decided to explore a new field and partly switch to video.
My first serious video project that I filmed and edited all by myself was a «33.3%» documentary about Black Rebel Motorcycle Club which got released on their latest DVD in June 2015.
As soon as it was complete I decided to find something else where I could incorporate both beautiful imagery and storytelling. And of course it also had to be music-related!
Connection To The Local Music Scene
I’d been inspired by Australian music long before I moved to Melbourne in 2012.
Prior to that, back in Russia, I was already a huge fan of bands like The Living End, Silverchair, Jet, The Vines and many others. I was fascinated by the idea of a secluded continent with so many great new bands to discover.
To some degree my interest in local music helped me make a decision to move here and get a bachelor’s degree in photography.
How Long The Short Film Took To Create
I started filming in the middle of August and finished within three months. I had additional footage with two more bands but decided to leave it for another project since I already had over 15 people featured in this short doco! Gets too hard to follow.
Hopes For The Doco
[include_post id=”412692″]Most artists learn the hard way just how enthusiastic you need to be to take your art to the next level and make a splash in today’s competitive environment.
Be it music, film or fashion industry – everyone is fighting for exposure and recognition, sometimes making painful compromises and often not even getting paid for all the hard work they do.
One has to be really passionate about their art in order to be noticed and start making a living off it. So in this video I wanted musicians to share their own stories to give some confidence to others.
It’s some sort of proof that everyone is in the same boat and experiences similar issues, but still this dream is worth fighting for, even if it takes longer than you expected. This goes for any dream, really.
The Bands Featured
Melbourne is such a special place to be if you’re an aspiring musician, which is why with this project I decided to focus just on local bands for now.
Mostly people I met here over the years, those whose music and attitude appealed to me and whose opinions I trust.
I also wanted to have an array of quite different characters and personalities, as well as some diversity in their current status so that we can hear different points of view depending on where these bands are standing.
Lessons Learnt
That I either need to double/triple myself or finally start working in a team! Haha.
Finding a nice filming location to fit a band of five people plus yourself is almost as tricky as finding a place for a date when you were a teenager.
Future Plans
I’d love to keep filming music documentaries but maybe focus on one band at the time, as I prefer to fully immerse myself in one thing before moving on to the next.
Also it would be fun to make a music video soon, it is somewhat different but also very exciting!
