Melbourne, 1999. 20-year-old Sam Voutas sits on the beach with Emmy winning editor, Jim McElroy.
They are discussing Crash Test, an idea Voutas has for a feature film about crash test dummies.
McElroy's advice: don't wait around, go out there and shoot something! By the middle of that year
Voutas has found two rolls of 16mm film, equalling about 6 minutes of raw footage.
He has access to a wind-up Bolex camera and a Steenbeck editing table.

Over two weekends Voutas and a handful of friends shoot Crash Test on a virtual one-to-one ratio.
If the shot is over-exposed, it stays. If the acting is off, it stays. For special effects, Voutas loosens
the film from the sprockets, creating an eerie double exposure effect. As they have no access
to sound, Voutas and the team record all sound straight to a tape recorder - in a single take.
Voutas sends the film out to a few festivals and is rejected from all of them.
Melanie Ansley, who crewed and starred in the film, urges Voutas: send it to one more festival.

Crash Test opens at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, where it wins 2nd Prize for film.
That is followed by the Best Experimental Film award at the Woodford Film Festival.
Then Crash Test hit the big time, official selection at the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto.
Crash Test suddenly picks up a sales agent and an Australian television sale.

But for Voutas there is a bigger story to be told. The short is just the beginning…

Next is the feature film.

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