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Trying My Best

Combining intensely colourful, head-twisting art with apocalyptically dark humour, ‘Trying My Best’ is the ramshackle product of a joyously demented host. Featuring sparkle-eyed puppets, mutated set pieces and a catchy soundtrack, the show quickly descends into a perverse surrealist nightmare. The result is a children’s variety show, which must never be seen by any children. Ever.

  • Nelson Gardner
    Director
    Slutmonster and Friends
  • Lucas Heil
    Writer
    Slutmonster and Friends
  • Jessie Ngaio
    Writer
    Slutmonster and Friends
  • Wes Gardner
    Writer
    Slutmonster and Friends
  • Wes Gardner
    Producer
  • Jessie Ngaio
    Key Cast
    Slutmonster and Friends
  • Lucas Heil
    Key Cast
    Slutmonster and Friends
  • Wes Gardner
    Key Cast
    Slutmonster and Friends
  • Adam Lyon
    Key Cast
    King Kong Live on Stage
  • Hannah Fredericksen
    Key Cast
    Molly
  • Broderick Gordes
    Assistant Director
    Room and Board
  • Liam Gordes
    Director of Photography
    Room and Board
  • Llewellyn "Lewy" Perrott
    Sound technician
    About Tonight
  • Chris Goodes, CAS, MPSE
    Sound Designer/Mixer
    Predestination
  • Bobby Harrington
    Colourist
  • Sian Horrocks
    Production Assistant
  • Jessie Ngaio
    Production Design
    Slutmonster and Friends
  • Emelie Rain
    Makeup
  • Project Type:
    Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 9 minutes 33 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 5, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    12,639 AUD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Trying My Best premiere screening
    Melbourne
    Australia
    March 10, 2017
    Australian Premiere
    n/a
Distribution Information
  • YouTube
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: Internet
Director Biography - Nelson Gardner

A performer by trade, Nelson has studied music and acting for the better half of his life and has been performing professionally since 2012, working with some of Australia’s most accomplished theatre directors. Aside from obtaining a Bachelor in Music Theatre at the Victorian College Of The Arts (2011), he has gained experience in making short films, web series and TV pilots from both sides of the camera. His quest for knowledge has also led him to work as a lighting designer, assistant audio technician and set builder.

It was Birthday Loyalty Club’s debut musical 'Slutmonster And Friends' that drew Nelson closer to directing. Originally, he was asked to come on board as the acting and vocal coach, before officially becoming the director and choreographer for their highly commended season in Melbourne Fringe (2012), followed by a sell-out season at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (2013).

Performer credits include The Producers, Chess, Beauty And The Beast, Company, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Twelfth Night, Third World Blues and Ned - A New Australian Musical.

He would like to thank Trying My Best’s tremendous cast and crew for their passion, artistry and wisdom.

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Director Statement

I have a passion for the absurd that goes hand-in-hand with a rebellious and somewhat disobedient nature. I have always wanted to inspire people to ask questions, think critically and laugh shamelessly. I also get bored very quickly. Trying My Best promised to satisfy my deep-seated hunger for complexity and excitement, which I know so many people have. The era of sitcoms has come to a close. It’s time to stop putting ourselves through the same recycled, decades-old, 21-minute-long formula that does to our brains what the couch does to our bodies. Directing Trying My Best was a liberating opportunity to create and explore a brand new reality, with its own rules and laws hidden under a haze of colourful mania.

Trying My Best is a comedy about an online variety show, seemingly and very wrongfully aimed at kids. Things aren’t quite right and, through glimpses of the outside world, we watch them gradually get worse. The audience is forced to decipher this story from inside the confines of a seemingly pointless and bizarre studio, with a frighteningly enthusiastic host who gives no answers.

Attention to detail is very important to me and I needed this series to make sense in its own world, to be consistent in its nonsense and precise in its chaos. It doesn't explain, it doesn't cradle and it doesn't apologise.

Trying My Best is frustrating, intriguing and stupid entertainment for twisted, curious and clever people.