A focus on a group of Melbourne-based LARPers and their armour.
Synopsis
LARP (Live Action Role Play) can get pretty rough, so some form of protection is needed, and that’s when armour comes into play. Chainmail, loricas, helmets, it’s all needed. This documentary looks at a group of Melbourne-based LARPers, asking why they LARP, but mostly about their armour and how they make it. Watch the film to find out all of these questions.
Director’s Statement
When I first had the idea of making the documentary, I thought of doing something that interested me a lot so that I would be motivated enough to make a good film. As such, LARP seemed like a great thing as everybody was doing mostly depressing focuses and it’s a general interesting subject to people.
However, it was quite difficult to find the time to actually do any filming, as my contact with appropriate interviewees was minimal. Thankfully we had an event, which put us in a national park for several days that meant I could film at any point during the day over most of a week. However, RMIT wouldn’t lend any equipment for that length of time, so I had to make do with a small hand-held camera for all video and audio gathered, with a short battery-life and practically no chance of doing a re-shoot.
I like to think I’m just a talented filmmaker but luck was on my side as my raw footage was really great; the background noises added a level of authenticity and there were plenty of great opportunities to see people in their armour and
Editing was a pain, though, as I had to make everything look and sound perfect at just the right moment. The editing suite at RMIT was so convoluted and impossible to understand that it took about two hours to make a segment black and white, so I just used the editing software on my laptop. After all my troubles in the filmmaking process, the film turned out great in the end, and people liked it. I’m happy about it.
Oliver Clark – Director
Oliver Clark was born in France to British parents but he was raised in Singapore. This often causes confusion when people ask where he comes from. He went to RMIT for university and studies Media, making lots of outstanding films. Many of his works tend to have a strong comedic edge to them, but he can also do dramatic works – he just doesn’t want to. His latest film, a documentary about armour within a LARP-group, “Always use protection”, is expected to garner a large opening weekend and a tidal wave of accolades.