Over the last decade there has been much debate over Australia’s decaying film industry. Recently announced federal government plans to merge the Australian Film Commission, The Film Finance Corporation and Film Australia pledge only to re-invent the embattled funding bureaucracy, rather than directly assist feature film making troops on the ground. However, in recent years, the proliferation of affordable digital film making technology has inspired a wave of rebel digital filmmakers in Australia to take matters into their own hands, as most recently seen with the multi award winning Australian feature Kenny (2006).

However, the humble predecessor and Madman label mate to Kenny, was Japanese Surfing Road Movie Bondi Tsunami (2004). Shot on a handheld digital camera, edited on a bedroom computer on a budget of 12 credit cards, Bondi Tsunami survived the odds of having a micro budget, a cast of inexperienced Japanese actors, no experienced crew and no theatrical distributor to become a critically acclaimed Australian cult classic; its unique music video motion picture style captivating fans from Japan to the USA.

However in Australian film making folklore, Bondi Tsunami’s bares a legacy as a poster film for ‘outlaw DIY’ filmmaking, it’s guerrilla production and rock n’ roll marketing techniques capturing the hearts and minds of other fledgling Australian filmmakers.

‘I decided to write The Bondi Tsunami Guide to Rock n’ Roll Filmmaking, as since making Bondi Tsunami my life seems to have turned into counselling service for people trying to get their film projects off the ground. I continuously get emails from students and people bailing me up in bars and at parties asking advice on how they can build a career outside the conventional filmmaking system,’ says Bondi Tsunami filmmaker Rachael Lucas.

‘DIY films made on digital cameras are now part of the global filmmaking zeitgeist and the gap between amateur and professional is closing,’ says Lucas ‘The younger generation, particularly generation Y and Z are incredibly media savvy, so community based film festivals and internet networking and exhibition portals like Myspace and Youtube are popping up all over the place.’

In this her debut book, 31 year old Lucas draws tips and tactics from her own experience as an unfunded Australian filmmaker with a rock n’ roll bent. She has carved a career from making over 20 no-budget music videos, two rockumentaries Malcolm Hill: The Last of the Wild Bohemians (2000) and Electra: the Music of Penny Ikinger (2006) and a music video inspired feature in Bondi Tsunami.

‘The book is designed to help you create an intelligent destiny for your film, before you begin, by borrowing a few concepts on marketing and branding from rock n’ roll – most people I meet are tech savvy, they know how to shoot and edit and can find out tech information on the net, so I have concentrated more on the conceptual marketing side of things. The whole self distribution via the internet thing will explode in the next 5 years, so filmmakers will need to craft their concepts and films carefully, to have any sort of impact in this new world of instantly accessible media,’ says Lucas.

In contrast to other books on guerrilla filmmakers (many of which were written by American authors during the 90’s), Lucas writes from perspective of a verite film or experiential film maker (who has to film live scenarios as they are happening), rather than the script based storyteller – a position that will undoubtedly ruffle some establishment feathers.

‘Having to shoot films in real life scenarios, because you can’t afford to stage your films in controlled environments is a key point of difference between the unfunded digital filmmaker and the funded filmmaker. Shooting circumstances effect the whole conventional story telling process, as the digital filmmaker is forced to become more of a real life observer, rather than a contriver of staged outcomes,’ says Lucas.

As guerrilla documentary, `reality TV’ techniques creep into mainstream filmmaking, many films of the digital manifesto are consequently and still largely ignored by funding bodies, broadcasters and distributors. Observation based films that do not have obvious black and white outcomes are perceived as having weak stories.

‘The conservative film industry wisdom is that observational, improvisational based stories, like Bondi Tsunami and Kenny must not have an audience, because, their outcomes are vague on paper,’ says Lucas. ‘They tend to forget that there are plenty of Australian films with well developed scripted formats and well known casts that hold little audience appeal – obvious story line dramas do not necessarily amount to audience, films need to have a soul and a bit of spunk too.’

With a recent spate of Australian mockumentaries flooding our screens, like Suburban Mayhem and Razzle Dazzle, it appears that DIY filmmaking formats are here to stay, and may even be keeping the Australian film alive for the time being, while our incurable film financing authorities continue to sort out their endless restructuring problems. As global, instantly accessible media formats begin to change the entire filmmaker audience equation, we are set for a boom in guerrilla filmmaking in this country. However, the success of the guerrilla film in the global market largely comes down to its ability to endure as a `cult product’.

‘Cult films are infused with strong iconographic characters, and appeal to and represent subcultures,’ says Lucas. Australian films which have survived in the popular imagination have these animated properties. Creating a film that imbeds itself in the collective consciousness is not a stroke of luck, it is a science”.

“The Bondi Tsunami Rock n’ Roll Guide to Filmmaking” will be launched July 19th at 6pm at Planet Books, Northbridge, Perth as part of the 10th Perth Revelation Film Festival. The book will be available from www.bonditsunami.com.au and selected book shops nationally from July.