James Robert Woods

James Robert Woods is a Sydney-based writer and director whose debut feature, The Birthday Trip, sends three couples on a birthday getaway in the NSW Southern Highlands.He joins Angus Truskett for a conversation about the movies that shaped him, his sketch comedy beginnings and making his first feature.We get into: Handheld camera sickness, why everyone has a Babe story, shooting Cronulla for Tatooine, discovering Kill Bill and Mulholland Drive, Ted the Stunt Bear, comedy as a coping mechanism, going viral in 2013, making sketch comedy look like TV, the origins of The Birthday Trip, the horror of making new friends, writing bad people, the camera as a character, finding the rhythm in dialogue, formalising filmmaking and the future of Badlands.Music by Gab Strum.Find James on Instagram.Find Badlands on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Musician, composer and Nirvanna the Band the Show co-creator Jay McCarrol joins Angus Truskett to discuss Tony, the new A24 film starring Dominic Sessa as a young Anthony Bourdain.It’s a conversation about movie scores, creative instinct and nearly two decades of making things with Matt Johnson.We get into: the E.T. score that changed everything for Jay, finding the sparse and creaky sound of Tony, how he knows when a piece of music is actually working, his shorthand with Matt Johnson, The Sopranos, what’s next for Nirvanna the Band—and the Canadian film everyone should watch.Watch the video episode on YouTube.Music by Gab Strum.Find Jay on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canadian writer-director Sophy Romvari joins Angus Truskett to discuss Blue Heron, her debut feature, which draws on her own childhood and family history.It’s a conversation about reconstructing memory, turning lived experience into fiction and the movies that stay with us.We get into: childhood movie memories and films taped off television, capturing how memory feels, The Tree of Life, growing up in front of her father’s camera, casting first-time actor Edik Beddoes, making exactly the movie she wanted to make—and what makes the perfect bath movie.Watch the video episode on YouTube.Music by Gab Strum.Find Sophy on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maddelin McKenna is a Melbourne-based writer and director whose debut feature, Mad Rush, is having its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival.She joins Angus Truskett for a conversation about the movies that shaped her, growing up as a theatre kid and making her first feature.We get into: Birthday movies, The Cranes Are Flying, ignoring subtitles, reassessing old favourites through older eyes, formative cinema memories, making movies as a kid, growing up in theatre, rehearsing a movie, the origins of Mad Rush, classy text on screen, shooting Melbourne, Alice in Wonderland, scoring a movie, what debut features reveal about their directors, directing conversations and remembering to have fun while filmmaking.Music by Gab Strum.Find Maddelin on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cameron James is an actor, comedian and podcaster currently starring in the ABC comedy series Bad Company.He joins Angus Truskett for a conversation about small-town dreams, comedy partnerships and the movies that made him funny.We get into: podcast royalty, Netflix activations, forgetting Brett Ratner, second-screen auteurism, McG’s SEO supremacy, Mike Myers in Michael, Bootmen and the Tap Dogs, masking Eugene Levy love, community theatre, Bad Company, Christopher Guestmaxxing, commenting on celebrity Instagram posts, comedy partnerships, the perfect music-to-comedy ratio, The Wedding Singer, Housesitter, being grossed out by Cronenberg, the politics of Deuce Bigalow, Happy Madison’s character-actor ecosystem and Wayne’s World.Music by Gab Strum.See Cameron on tour.Find Cameron on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hyun Lee is a Sydney-based writer, director and photographer. Her feature debut, French Girls, recently premiered at Sydney Film Festival.She joins Angus Truskett for a conversation about making a movie on a microbudget, what films get wrong about the fashion world, and what comes after French Girls.We get into: QCing your own movie, searching for festival laurels, SBS foreign films, learning to tell stories through a camera, making movies feeling suddenly achievable, noble teenage ambitions, 80s avant-garde Japanese designers, what movies get wrong about fashion, models as people rather than stereotypes, finding Mia, working with non-actors, crying on film, the onion as a dramatic device, train nerds, Young Einstein, Sydney films, skate parks and film sets, the beauty in ordinary faces, and Hyun’s five favourite movies.Music by Gab Strum.Find Hyun on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer-director Adrian Chiarella and actor Joe Bird join Angus Truskett to discuss Leviticus, a new Australian queer horror film set in a conservative regional community.They talk about combining supernatural horror with queer romance, creating a monster that can only hurt you when you’re alone, Joe’s first leading role and how the filmmakers managed to pull off the film’s Frank Ocean needle drop.This is the first edition of Close-Up, a new series of shorter, focused conversations from Test Pattern with filmmakers about their latest work. Test Pattern is a podcast about movies and our relationship with them: first watches, deep cuts, lifelong obsessions and the films we build our personalities around.Music by Gab Strum.@testpatternpresents Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elfy Scott is an award-winning journalist, presenter, producer, author and film fan. Her debut book is The One Thing We’ve Never Spoken About.She joins Angus Truskett for a conversation about the movies that shaped her, the unexpected empathy of Jackass, Ken Burns’ documentary magic and Don Bluth’s animated classic Anastasia.We get into: Movie title recall, sophomore slumps, feeling the Ken Burns, Japanese baseball beer girls, Don Bluth’s Anastasia, bushy Sydney, handling horror, Sentimental Value is basically Sex and the City, being the Worst Person in the World, the beautiful empathy of Jackass, The Virgin Suicides was born to the reblogged on Tumblr, accurate portrayals of news rooms in cinema, not liking Barbie, perfect Prefect Days.Music by Gab Strum.Find Elfy on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cody Greenwood is an Australian producer and the founder of Rush Films, the production company behind a distinctive slate of Australian documentaries, shorts, series and features. Her latest film, Zoe Pepper’s Birthright, is in Australian cinemas now.Cody joins Angus Truskett for a conversation about what producers actually do, the films that shaped her, and why making movies might be less of a job than a disease.We get into: Jacob Elordi loving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the rise of Byronwood, group chat origins, Cairns-not-Cannes, watching Eyes Wide Shut on a plane, growing up in a house full of screens, seeing The Blair Witch Project way too young, becoming a producer, “physical producers,” the origins of Birthright, angering Andrew Bolt, walking out of movies, why we need more westerns, Warren Ellis hating 80s synth music, The Girl Who Was Plugged In, learning to switch off and enjoy movies, IMDbPro-maxxing, Australia ruling at horror, Challengers, and Tom “Mr. Movies” Cruise. Music by Gab Strum.@testpatternpresents Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Concetta Caristo — comedian, host of triple j Breakfast, and Australia’s sweetheart — joins Angus Truskett for a conversation about romcoms, Barrymore-Sandler chemistry and The Master of Disguise.We get into: meeting in a cinema foyer, the romance of Before Sunset, what makes a great romcom, why The Wedding Singer is peak, The Mothman Prophecies, the Mary-Kate and Ashley cinematic universe, Italian representation, dressing like Sex and the City, Barrymore-Sandler chemistry, sharing fear at horror movies, Meet Joe Black, the best film performance by a Seinfeld cast member, 90s Julia Roberts, not relating to Star Wars, Italymaxxing with The Sopranos, remembering 9/11 with Master of Disguise, improv, Chet's Letterboxd reviews, and casting the Vanessa Amorosi biopic.Music by Gab Strum.Find Concetta on Instagram and Letterboxd.@testpatternpresents Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.