Ever dreamed of the perfect occasion to binge on doughnuts, lounge around in a car park & have a boogie?
Meet Carpark Clubbing (AUS), a four-episode web series about three young women individually trying to escape their responsibilities by hanging out in the car park of a doughnuts shop, only to fall into a surprising friendship triangle and a series of adventures.
Melbourne WebFest spoke to Director Sarah Bassiuoni about the series.
What inspired the concept behind Carpark Clubbing?
The truth. The creative team spent many Friday nights hanging out at a Krispy Creme’s carpark in South West Sydney, talking shit and dancing to bangers blaring out of other people’s sub woffahs!
What was your greatest challenge creating the series?
The most unexpected challenge in the series was that almost every character who was scripted to drive turned out to be played by an actor who didn’t hold a driver’s licence – absolute nightmare!
Carpark Clubbing Trailer
What is your favourite aspect of the series that you’d love your audience to know about?
The score – each episode we chose a musical genre to inspire the score for that episode. Our fabulous composer Ryan Sørensen did an amazing job of delivering an original score for each episode that made us feel like we were on the dance floor of the club.
Your attention to detail within the “Carpark Clubbing” vibe was extremely fascinating (and at the same time, an absolute beautiful piece to watch!) How important was the production design/lighting for the series?
The look and feel of the show had to be visceral and had to make us feel like we were in a club that was our central aim. We wanted to deliver each episode like it was a night out at a club. For example; a crazy night where you get separated from mates but make brand new ones; a night out where you pick up; and so on. The challenge for us was that we’ve got two main settings for the show; a car park and a car; neither of which are naturally visually interesting or emotive. But we didn’t have any other settings nor much movement to play with we needed to make sure those spaces told us everything we needed to know about our characters, our world and why this car park and this car become so special to our hero trio. Our fabulous and dedicated production designer Emma Burke; DOP Jaxson McLennan and Costume Designer Stephanie Puni both put enormous energy and consideration into every aspect of the look. They each did a kick-arse job.
If they only took one thing, one message, what would you like the audience to take away from the series?
Real friends help you face anything.
For most Australians, Carpark Clubbing felt a little like reality with the COVID-19 restrictions. If you could only bring 3 things to the Carpark Club, what would you bring and why?
Disco ball – because you should never leave home without one, they make everything better. Doughnuts – because they are a vital food group. (And finally), deodorant – because it always gets sweaty in da club.