Hedgeneering Blog

My Country
and my edit to Dorothea MacKeller’s poem.

When the snows fall, adding a different flavour to the natural beauty of Yaouk Valley, it makes me want to edit the second verse of Dorothea Mackeller’s My Country, and substitute the word ‘snowy’ in place of ‘ragged’. Perhaps Dorothea never visited the Australian alpine region during winter before she wrote her often quoted poem.

The following four photos were taken in the valley on Wednesday 26th June 2025.

Music-video clip made for the band:

Age Of Menace

The inspiration for the editing style in this video came from the quick cutting technique Sergei Eisenstein used during the machine gun firing scene in his film Oktober (Ten Days That Shook The World). Einstein’s Oktober was made in 1928, the silent era of film, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The alternating short cut edits work as a visual imitation of the rapid firing sound of a machine gun.  

Google says of it: In his film October, Sergei Eisenstein used a rapid-fire-montage during the machine gun firing sequence. This technique involved alternating quickly between shots of the machine gun and artillerymen, with each shot lasting no more than a frame, creating a sense of chaos and violence. This “dialectical montage” aimed to synthesize the cause (the machine gun) and effect (the firing) into a single, powerful image.

The live footage was shot with four cameras during an Age Of Menace gig at the Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt, Sydney, in 2011.

Rob Smith – Vocals

Matt Lyon – Bass Guitar

Adam Breakspear – Drums

Peter Ross – Guitar

Cameras: Caroline Birkett, Bianca McMahon, Hedge

Video Edit: Hedge

Stock footage from Eisenstein’s 1928 film, Oktober.

In celebration of May Day.

Cheers, Hedge.

“I’m an executive driver.”

This post is for you Tim.

I learnt many lessons in this project. One memorable piece of advice that Matt expressed in frustration, while trying to steady the camera on his shoulder, filming you from the back seat through the back streets of Stanmore, is still lodged firmly in my brain and reinforced every time I step into a vehicle and drive off: “Try and separate your emotions from your foot on the accelerator.”

Pawn

by

Spookyloop

This gem from the last century was written by Rose Ertler.

Bazil Ertler is on Bass Guitar.

I play the drums and operate the camera.

The film clip is a single 100 foot roll of 16mm film double exposed and shot using a Beaulieu camera. All the edits are in-camera. The footage was shot in the Troy Horse studio, Redfern, while we were recording our four track EP.

Cheers, Hedge.

The photo below is of a square revolving stage that I had a large role in fabricating. It was a Sydney Theatre Company build designed by Marcus Kelson. The photo shows it being tested for the first time in the wharf workshop.