Suncorp shows us every girl’s endgame

“The priority in casting was to find a real team who had genuine friendships and natural chemistry that would inform the performance moments we chose to shoot,” says Mao. The magic in this film comes from casting real girls who were in a real team together. “I knew from my first Zoom call with this team that they were it.” Mao brought her nuanced, story-focussed direction to this spot to enable the girls to be vulnerable and authentically expressive. 

“It was all about creating an environment on set where the girls could forget about the camera,” Mao explains. “I’d have them come into the spaces and block out the action based on what they would do in real life, and we’d shoot documentary style, floating around to find beautiful, unrehearsed moments as they unfolded.” 

Mao's camera work is rich, textured, and brimming with life, and she worked closely with DOP Tyson Perkins to push the documentary feeling and shoot in the girl’s real environments. “I think this made the process more creative for both of us as we could be inspired by the human details and mood of lived-in locations.” They worked to craft different looks and lighting in each vignette to create the sense of time passing, which strengthened the communication of the bond they all formed through netball.