Week 8 post production...

Hello Friends,

Summer Coda is really smoking now. We're into our 4th draft edit and it's looking great! Starting to get a few expert opinions and we'll soon be playing for our distributors and potential sales agent, so very exciting indeed.

As I've mentioned before it's inevitable that Ricky will like the looonnngggeer version of the edit. What's also inevitable is that Ricky will need to bow to popular opinion -- I'm a tad too close to the production to be entirely objective. So test screenings are the key. But not to friends and fam unfortunately. Hardcore Aussie film haters me thinks. That's the audience I'd love to attract, but then again, that ain't ever gonna happen, so we'll turn to the demographics we think might like to see the film if properly marketed.

It's a delicate subject, but I'm not sure we market our Aussie pride and joy properly. I'm certainly rarely bowled over and hanging out to see a local pic. Maybe you're different? I do love when we have a good year though. I remember seeing The Proposition, Wolf Creek, Look Both Ways and Little Fish all in 2005. Now i didn't love them all, but what a year! Something for everyone and some real quality. I'm hoping 2010 can be the same, and wishin' and a prayin' Summer Coda will be a part of the quality list. I think it can be!

Been having a fab week making final selections on the music in Summer Coda (and hopefully for release on our soundtrack too!). Don't get to hear many Aussie film soundtracks these days, so really pushing for a CD release cause I think we have some super cool tracks. Love a good movie soundtrack. Big shout out to Julie Hodges at Mushroom Music who's been helping me with this for just the last FIVE YEARS! Better late than never.

So we're finally off to the U.S. on March 14th to complete the filming of the final scene in the movie. It feels funny to still be shooting, but it's actually a blessing as we've been able to tinker with the script and ending now that we've seen the film. Ace. It also means I can head to LA with an almost finished DVD, so we've set up sales agent meetings which is a bonus.

Heading to LA of course has other major bonuses: Disneyland and Universal Studios. I am a MASSIVE TOURIST when it comes to those places. Look out for Ricky in front of Hollywood Hills pics too! It's what the fans have been calling out for. Well, me and my Momma anyway.

Lots of love people,

Ricky xo

Week 7 post production...

Hello friends,

So that's where I've been spending my days, weeks, months! In the edit suite with Gaz.

It's getting tough now, really tough. Having to make major decisions on the flow and length. It's difficult because some scenes have to go, a necessary evil for the overall betterment of the film. Of course this is nothing new, you always have to cut things down and even great scenes don't make it sometimes, but that's what DVD Special Features are all about!

It sounds wanky, but the audience's journey through your story is the only thing that matters. So pace is unbelievably important. Of course as the writer / director I tend to HANG ON TIGHT to every little moment, which makes my relationship with Gaz somewhat tumultuous. HOWEVER, it's that good kind of tumultuous because it leads to better results.

We both have the same goal, we just come at it from different angles -- hopefully meeting in the middle. Soooo.... what's it gonna be?  90, 100, 110, 120, 130mins?? TIME WILL TELL. Oh god, that was a shockingly bad pun. As my lovely wife would say "Father humour" -- you know, those bad jokes your Dad once told you... or still does? You know when you start telling Dad jokes that you're almost ready to be a father yourself. It's all a part of no longer being cool to the younger generation. If you stayed cool what else would kids have to cringe about. It's Lion King again... The circle of life. I still got a little cool left in me though, just gotta keep telling myself.

Speaking of cool... check out the co-stars of SUMMER CODA below.

Lots of love,

Ricky : )

PS. Join our FB fan page for heaps more pics and news.

Week 5 post production...

Pic 1) This was one of my fav shoot days. Orange picking with the full cast during the day and then a spectacular sunset from a shed rooftop, just in time for a cracker romantic scene.

Pic 2) I usually get in trouble from publicity for posting cast pics, but if you can't really see them you can't really get in trouble right?

Hello friends,

Well it's been hot as a fire cracker in Melbourne town, and looking out the edit suite windows onto Port Melbourne beaches has been like a slap in the face. Hmmm, let me re-think that. Port Melbourne doesn't really have beaches does it? More like sand and water. I can never really get that excited about our bay, but hey, it's better than nothing. I'm just saying Ricky wont be swimming in it anytime soon. But I digress, BIG TIME, or BT as our "Behind The Scenes" Producer likes to say.

Any-ho, in the air conditioned loveliness of our editing abode we've begun fine-tuning scenes, adding music, and recutting sequences to explore different takes and performances. It's not until we watched the first rough cut that we were able to gain perspective on how the characters where working together, and now it's time to hone in on the smaller details.

I'm loving it, and now more than ever feel so freakin lucky to have cast such fine actors. It ain't hard to find a good take when you're watching Susie Porter or Jacki Weaver I can assure you. I think people are gonna be blown away by Rachael Taylor too. She's in almost every scene and man can she carry a movie. Gold.

I've been cutting a few draft trailers for Summer Coda too. I shouldn't say "cutting" actually, I should say fiddling as I'm a real "hunt and peck" final cut pretender when it comes to editing. But I get by. FIDDLING WITH A TRAILER IS HARD. Man, it is SO hard. The trailer is the single biggest way  to sell your film to the public and you've got 2 MINUTES and 30 SECONDS. Hard core. You can't show too much, but you musn't show too little. Gotta be cool and emotive, but not too cool or hammy.

Gotta sell an audience on coming to see your baby. Cause you gotta see the baby! But if the trailer sux, why would you want to see the baby? Like when your friends have had an ugly baby and you wonder what you're gonna say to them. Who are you going to tell them the baby looks like? Or are you going to go with the "Oh, he/she has soooo much character" OR "What an old soul". That's the movie review equivalent of "Wait for the DVD".  So your trailer, like your new born, must be pretty special otherwise people are going to feel awkward about going to see it. And we can't have that!

Well, I've managed to rabbit on for a whole page without actually saying anything. Is that a skill? I used to try it with book reports back at school. I'd be lazy and not finish the book, but pretend that I had, and then waffle on with analogies and points of view without ever really tackling the issues or the ending -- because I hadn't read it! Well, if it's a skill now it wasn't then, cause my marks were NOT flash. Lets pray that's not the case for the TRAILER!

Booking flights for U.S. shoot tomorrow. BT FUN.

Lots of love,

Ricky

Note from distributors: Ricky is not actually responsible for editing Summer Coda's trailer. A quality UK company is producing that for us. Ricky just likes to "Fiddle", as being the writer/director/producer he struggles with delegation.  As well as other things. ; )