"Drop your hand a little bit; show a bit more peach . . ."
Matt Conway's instructions to actor Greg MacLeod risk invoking an Adam and Eve image, particularly given Eden is the name of the film he is directing.
However, it should be stressed MacLeod's character, Cam, is fully clothed for this scene, though should he wish to strip off because of the rising heat, there would be no shortage of strategically-placed leaves.
Here, among the rows of grapes at Bannockburn's Kingsmill vineyard (and also at Olssen's, nearby) close to a dozen people have been collaborating for four days on a short film project that has connections well beyond Central Otago.
Written by Rebecca Tansley, a Dunedin playwright, restaurateur and freelance writer, Eden follows two itinerant workers "struggling with their own demons, who meet on a vineyard and must learn to trust people again".
"They've definitely got issues," Tansley explains.
"It's about how they end up in this land. It's really about how damaged people can come back through relationships with other people. It's about hope and trust. I should point out it's not a love story; there is no romance in it."
Directed by Matt Conway, of Alexandra, Eden has a small cast, comprising Dunedin actors Adetokunbo Adu, who plays the character of Sylvie, Greg MacLeod (Cam) and Murray Davidson (Fullerton) and Morag Bonney (Jean), of Alexandra.
The film is a low-budget affair, its production allowance of $10,000 provided by Short Film Otago, a Dunedin-based trust which in turn receives funding from the Community Trust of Otago.
Short film is widely acknowledged in the industry as a learning ground for feature-length movies.
Thus, in promoting the production of the shorter form, Short Film Otago aims to build a thriving feature-film industry in the South.
"It's aimed at developing talent and skill down here," Tansley says.
"But if you threw a whole bunch of inexperienced people at a film, you might get really lucky and get something special. However, a lot of the time it would show. So I think being able to involve experienced people in key areas lifts everybody's game.
"It was a truly regional collaboration, so from the point of view of what the spirit of Short Film Otago is about, I think it is a good example of what can be achieved.
"Ten thousand dollars may sound like a lot but it's not," Tansley says.
"Pretty much everyone working on the film did it out of goodwill. It was about doing it for the love of it.
"I also took on the role of producer. I made all the arrangements, organised everything from access to catering and accommodation, to putting all the people in place, making sure we had a crew.
"I was running around like a headless chicken, getting batteries, being the gofer . . . I wasn't standing around watching every single take from a writer's point of view.
"I think I had, over four nights, the amount of sleep you're meant to get in one night. I wasn't alone in that."
Still, the effort has been worth it, Tansley believes.
Following a good night's sleep back in Dunedin, she is "incredibly happy" with the progress of a story which first formed as an amorphous outline early last year.
"I just had an image come into my head of the Sylvie character; a young black African woman, walking through a vineyard with corn-rows in her hair. The corn-rows echo the lines you see in the vineyard. The image was really strong: who is this person? How did she get there? It sort of grew from there.
"It was hugely emotional for me. I was extremely attached to the story and you have to let it go. In some ways, it is difficult, but in other ways it's fantastic because I've lived with these characters in my head for so long, I know them so well, that's it's really nice to see them come to life.
"I think the actors did that so well. It was enormously gratifying. On some levels I feel like I can move forward. There is room in my head now and I can think of other ideas."
Eden follows Tansley's 2008 effort The Waiting Game, which screened on Maori Television last year as part of an initiative by Dunedin producer Richard Thomas.
Thomas, a veteran of television production in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, established a low-cost series, Table Plays, in an effort to stimulate local television drama.
Also the key driver of Short Film Otago, Thomas contacted Conway, an award-winning journalist who has worked for print media and television, and asked him to direct Eden.
Conway, in his directorial debut, says the short film has been something of a learning curve.
Take, for instance, the order in which to shoot scenes: "Any scenes which required being shot in half-light mean there is a narrow window of opportunity. You've got to wrap your head around that. Also, you have to look after your actors so they are not doing an emotional climax first.
"It's so different from television. Here, every second has to be filled with visuals, story-telling. Just the layering that's required . . . that's what I have loved. Once you get into it and have beautiful light, great pictures and acting, you don't want it to sag," Conway explains.
"Once I got the call, I came up and scouted locations. That took a while, because you'd see a great cottage but it'd be next to a highway."
Tansley concurs: location was crucial to the film.
"We found Kingsmill and thought, 'this is it'. Then that was all dependent on the Kingsmill owners being happy with us being there. They've been really supportive. It was the same with Olssen's.
"We filmed two key scenes at the homestead, Heather McPherson's own home, and she was incredibly supportive. She let people into her home, let us take it over for a night and morning."
Like Conway, Tansley says the experience of Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Mike Single, of Dunedin, has been invaluable to the project.
"Mike Single - it's a great name actually," Tansley reflects.
"He was the single biggest influence on the film. Mike brought huge amounts of experience and also an understanding of the story, so every shot was framed with the idea of supporting and moving the story forward.
"Also, NHNZ does a hell of a lot for the local film industry, lending gear and expertise, often for free," Tansley says.
Yet, this film still has a way to go before it makes the screen.
Post-production looms, with editor Chris Teague lined up to piece together the work.
Music, too, is an important element, Tansley says.
Hence, she has asked musician Graeme Downes, frontman of the Verlaines and a senior lecturer in music at the University of Otago, to create a sonic background.
"Graeme has been integral from the start. I knew him because I'd interviewed him for something else. You just want the best of everybody for your story; you want to bring the best possible people into it."
