• by Sara
• on January 04, 2023
• with 0 Comments
• filed under News & Press Sons of Summer

Happy new year Isabel fans! We’re starting off the new year well with some news on Isabel’s upcoming film Sons of Summer. The film is set to hit Australian cinemas this Easter, with a multiplatform release in the US slated for mid 2023. A trailer is likely right around the corner now, so check back soon for more updates!

Fremont, CA, USA – Monday, November 28, 2022 – Blackmagic Design today announced that “Sons of Summer,” the long awaited sequel to the 1977 cult classic “Summer City,” was shot with multiple Blackmagic Design digital film cameras and graded in DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.

The film is the third in the series from legendary Australian producer Phil Avalon, with the original 1977 low budget production introducing Mel Gibson to audiences prior to his breakthrough role in Mad Max two years later. The second edition came in 1988, titled “Breaking Loose: Summer City II.”

Directed by award winning director Clive Fleury, “Sons of Summer” features Australian star Isabel Lucas and New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison. The plot takes place in the same universe as the past films, and tells the story of Sean (Joe Davidson) who is a troubled but charismatic surfer trying to outrun his tragic past.

Sean and his surfer friends decide to take a trip up the coast to honor the anniversary of his father’s death. But his attempt to deal his way out of money troubles catches up with him. He has stolen a load of drugs and now a hitman is on a rampage seeking revenge. With each murder the hitman moves one step closer to Sean and with his girlfriend kidnapped, he needs to hatch a plan to set things right.

When Producer Tim Maddocks was putting the film together he reached out to long term collaborator, DP Anthony Rose, who he knew would create a great look for the film.

“Earlier in the year Anthony and I were on a documentary shoot using a different range of cameras and he mentioned the ease of working with Blackmagic Design cameras by comparison. So when the opportunity arose for him to come on board ‘Sons of Summer’ we talked extensively about the look of the film,” Maddocks said. “I mentioned my love of anamorphic lenses and Anthony came up with the package of Blackmagic cameras to suit our shoot. As a producer, the excellent value for the money was a nice bonus to achieving the filmic look we were after.”

Rose explained that he used a range of different Blackmagic Design products to suit the needs of various scenes, including three URSA Mini Pro 12Ks, an URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and two Pocket Cinema Camera 6K digital film cameras. “We used three 12K cameras shooting in 8K for most scenes as the A and B camera along with the third always rigged on a Steadicam,” he said.

“On top of that, we used the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 for high speed shots and two Pocket 6K cameras for hard to get shots on a gimbal inside cars, and for low profile car mount rigs for the chase sequence.”

Rose, who has directed more than 250 videos and countless TV commercials both in Australia and internationally in a career spanning more than 20 years, said he loves working with Blackmagic Design cameras due to their “filmic look and feel.” He added, “With a tight budget I was able to have multiple cameras pre built and ready to go, which saved time and money. We used the SSD recorders on the 12Ks with 960GB cards so we could basically shoot all day which was a big help. And with minimal lighting in some tricky high contrast and low light conditions I could trust the sensors to deliver.”

Using DaVinci Resolve Studio for grading, the film was produced almost entirely within a Blackmagic Design ecosystem. “Grading footage shot with Blackmagic Design cameras in DaVinci Resolve made it easy to get the look we wanted. We used a 1000 nit monitor for grading and the Blackmagic Design footage really came alive. Our colorist was fresh from grading Elvis and was very impressed with the BRAW files,” Rose said.

Rose said working with Fleury and Producer Phil Avalon was a pleasure. “Clive and Phil immediately had confidence in my approach to shooting the film. With a tight schedule we needed to move fast and be flexible. We decided to shoot anamorphic which was a big step but wanted the film to have a cinematic edge and play with widescreen framing,” he concluded.

• by Sara
• on May 27, 2022
• with 0 Comments
• filed under News & Press Sons of Summer

FilmINK | With Sons Of Summer, legendary Australian producer Phil Avalon is set to deliver a thirty-years-later legacy sequel to his 1977 beachside cult classic Summer City.
Phil Avalon is one of Australia’s true stand-alone producers, a man who has bravely toiled away outside of this country’s mainstream, government funded film industry and notched up a lengthy array of big screen credits. Avalon burst onto the scene in 1977 with the low budget cult classic Summer City, which he wrote and starred in. Though best known as the film that introduced local icons Mel Gibson, Steve Bisley and John Jarratt to Australian audiences, Summer City is also an essential example of independently produced Aussie cinema.

And while Avalon has produced a host of polished genre flicks (Fatal Bond, Liquid Bridge, William Kelly’s War, The Pact), Summer City remains his key release. The producer returned to the film in 1988 with the sequel Breaking Loose: Summer City II, and is now set to go back to the beach once again with Sons Of Summer. “I was originally approached by a US-based financier to remake Summer City,” Avalon explains. “He loved the film growing up, and wanted to see it remade in today’s world. But instead of recreating the ’60s period in a remake, I thought, ‘Why not introduce a brand new storyline, characters and sub plot that will appeal to today’s audiences that aren’t familiar with the original?’”

The currently in-production result is Sons Of Summer, which follows on from Summer City’s events 30 years earlier, but stands alone via a story and characters that will appeal to an entirely new generation of filmgoers. Directed by Clive Fleury, the film stars Temuera Morrison (Star Wars, Aquaman, The Island Of Dr. Moreau, Once Were Warriors) and Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Daybreakers, Red Dawn), with local talent Joe Davidson and Alex Fleri playing pivotal roles. Currently shooting on The Gold Coast (“The Gold Coast has rarely been seen like this before on film. It crosses from the glamourous mansions to the dark, rustic backwaters and incredible beaches in between”), Sons Of Summer is set for an Australian cinema release around Christmas.

• by Sara
• on May 16, 2022
• with 0 Comments
• filed under Little Europe Lunacy News & Press Sons of Summer

Hello Isabel fans! We have quite a few career updates for you today. A new article by IF states that Isabel is a part of an upcoming film titled Little Europe, directed by Franco Di Chiera. You can read about the project below!

In addition, we finally have a title for the Untitled Daniel Askill project Isabel filmed a while back – Lunacy. The plot reads “Six strangers receive an alluring invitation to a rainforest retreat from an enigmatic host, but find themselves trapped by a mysterious force in a surreal psychological test.” There’s currently no release information, but the project now has a post-production status – so hopefully we’ll learn something new soon.

And as if that wasn’t enough – Isabel also has a new project listed on her IMDB, titled Sons of Summer! According to the movie website, they’re currently filming. No plot or other information has been released yet, but it co-stars Temuera Morrison, Christopher Pate, Joe Davidson, Phillip Avalon, Alex Fleri, Jonathan Weir, Victoria Fleri and Alex McTavish. Clive Fleury is the director, with Phillip Avalon and Greg Clayton writing the script.

We’ll of course update you with anything new related to any of the three projects – we love seeing Isabel booked and busy!

Australian-born ex- James Bond actor George Lazenby has signed on to a new Cold War spy drama from Franco Di Chiera that is set to be pitched at the Marche du Film in Cannes this week.

Based on true events that occurred at the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre in rural Victoria, Little Europe picks up in 1952 when a spy from ASIO is killed by a Russian assassin, who steals plans for Operation Hurricane, Britain’s first atomic bomb test due to take place in Australia.

ASIO’s director-general (Lazenby) recruits Italian-Australian cop, Joe Rossi (Vince Colosimo) to pose as a new arrival at the Bonegilla Migrant Camp with a mission to identify key communist agitators. As Joe struggles to assimilate and is ostracised by his fellow Italians who are suspicious of him, he enters the murky waters of espionage and grows uncertain of who the enemy really is, placing his assignment and himself in danger. The cast also includes Isabel Lucas as Cynthia, a Soviet spy camp administrator that manipulates the migrants to carry out communist activities.

The script was written by Di Chiera and Jason Agius, whose grandfather’s experience at Bonegilla inspired parts of the plot. Sabella Sugar, of Ultrafilms, is producing the project.

Little Europe is one of fifteen worldwide submissions selected by artificial intelligence platform Largo.ai to pitch at the Cannes Marche du Film.

Di Chiera told IF he approached Lazenby after being reminded of his presence in front of the camera on separate occasions.

“Our memories of him were jolted with the release of the latest James Bond film because they brought out all the former James Bonds to attend the premieres in the UK and US,” he said.

“We thought it was fortuitous he was still working and coincidentally I was walking around our area in South Yarra and there was a big billboard for the Melbourne Gin Company, where he was the subject.

“I thought, ‘oh god I better reach out to him’ because I just seemed to be confronted with him everywhere and thought it must be a sign.

“The wonderful thing is it’s a bit of a play on the idea that from 007 he got promoted to ASIO.”

Di Chiera is hoping to finish principal photography on the project before Christmas, depending on financing.

Of the five-week shoot that is being planned, he said four would be set around the camp, which offered a “pressure cooker” environment.

“I’m interested in (US director) Sidney Lumet’s films as a reference because he often had characters that were stuck in really oppressive and claustrophobic environments, where people’s values get blurred and there are questions over who really is the enemy in this world,” he said.

Di Chiera and Sabella are presently in discussions with distributors about the film.