As promised, here are some absolutely gorgeous photos taken by the incredible Michelle Leong from Day Two of the Sakooz shoot. There will be lots more of these fantastic images to come in the weeks ahead, but until then, enjoy…

Also, just to give you a quick update, we are still madly cutting together the trailer. We’ve gone through a few drafts now, and are still experimenting trying to put together a trailer that explains the story (but doesn’t give everything away), introduces the characters, looks and sounds amazing, and isn’t boring or clichéd. It’s not an easy task, as we’re limited to what we shot on our very hectic five day shooting schedule – but it’s a lot of fun just messing around with the edit and trying new things. One of the big problems I’m finding so far is putting together a sequence that won’t confuse the audience too much – because I know the story so well, it’s easy to forget what the audience do and don’t know. Also, a lot of things that looked good on paper, simply don’t translate through to the screen – so it’s a challenge thinking outside of the box, and messing around with the edit to give certain shots new meaning and context.

I’m off to Sydney tomorrow for a few days for work (so that I can pay off some of my Sakooz debts!), but when I return it will be full steam ahead again in the edit suite. Also, still on the to-do list, we will eventually put up some more detailed posts on what happened during the shoot, and add some more videos and photos. We’ll also start putting an official Sakooz website together, in which you’ll be able to view and download higher resolution versions of the above photos (and lots more)! So stay tuned – lots of exciting things are certainly coming up! We’ll also EVENTUALLY put up all the camera test stuff we talked about months and months ago, plus some R3D files for people to mess around with.

Until next time… Chris!

Once again, apologies for the lack of communication since my last post. It’s been a very, very busy time! Not only have I been flat out with everything Sakooz related, but I’ve also been working non-stop on other students third year films. I’ve had a pleasure of working on some really AMAZING student films the last month or so. One of the most recent films I worked on, was filmed on a breathtaking farmland location out past Ballarat, and had Adam Arkapaw behind the camera (shot on Super 16mm). Having just seen the rushes – I must say, the footage looks INCREDIBLE! Congradualtions to Tim, Bec, Cec, and Jordy – you have done an amazing job pulling together such a fantastic crew, and I can’t wait to see the finished result. It’s going to be one very beautiful and moving short film. Congradulations! I really can’t wait for the 2nd of December, which is the Swinburne Graduation Film Screening at ACMI. There really is going to be some amazing work up there on the big screen.

Ok – so what’s happening Sakooz related? Well… unfortunately it’s been quite a slow couple of weeks. After completing principle photography, I started on a hunt to try and lock down a professional trailer editor. Although I had an AMAZING response, and lots of people really wanted to help out (especially as many of them hadn’t had a chance to cut together RED footage yet), no one was willing to sign up given the deadlines. And so, after many discussion with various editors and mentors, I have decided to cut together the rough cut myself, and then get advice from various people to complete the edit. So yes, I guess I’m also going to have to add “editor” to my credit list. Luckily however, because the footage just looks so good (and I really love what footage we ended up with) – it’s quite fun to cut together. It’s hard work however, because you have to cut basically mute – as there’s very little location sound, dialogue and we don’t have any music yet. But hey, nothing like another challenge!

So yeah, we’re basically stuck in “post production hell” at the moment. Hopefully we’ll have the picture locked by the first couple of weeks of October. Fingers crossed! As promised, we’ll also be adding stories from the principle photography on this blog, as well as photos over the next few weeks. Here are some little happy snaps for you to have a look at for the time being… Enjoy!