‘Sons of Summer’ recupera ‘Summer City’ con Blackmagic Design

The spirit of the 1977 cult classic Summer City come back with Sons of Summer, tape shot with cinematographic cameras Blackmagic and post-produced with DaVinci Resolve.

The film represents the third installment from this series of films produced by the legendary Australian producer Phil Avalon, who in 1977 released the first low-budget feature film of this trilogy, which featured Mel Gibson in his early days, before the role that would bring him fame two years later in Mad Max. The second edition of the saga was released in 1988, with the title Breaking Loose: Summer City II.

Under the direction of award-winning director Clive Fleury, Sons of Summer It stars renowned Australian actress Isabel Lucas and New Zealander Temuera Morrison. The plot takes place in the same environment as its precursors and tells the story of Sean (Joe Davidson), a charismatic yet troubled surfer trying to overcome his tragic past.

Sean and his surfing friends decide to take a trip along the coast as a tribute to his father's death. But the protagonist's maneuvers to escape his money problems are exposed after stealing a shipment of drugs, and now a hitman begins an unbridled search with a thirst for revenge. With each victim, the hitman gets closer and closer to Sean, who after the kidnapping of his girlfriend must devise a plan to rectify the situation.

Shooting with URSA Mini Pro 12K, 4.6K G2…

To Sons of Summer, the producer Tim Maddocks decided to trust the director of photography Anthony Rose, with whom he had already collaborated on several occasions: “At the beginning of the year, Anthony and I were filming a documentary with a variety of cameras, and he mentioned how easy to use the cameras are. Blackmagic Design. So, when the opportunity arose for him to join the production of this film, we talked at length about the look we wanted to achieve. I mentioned how much I like shooting with anamorphic lenses, and Anthony sourced different Blackmagic cameras for the shots we were looking for. As a producer, the excellent price-quality ratio that these units offer was a welcome advantage to obtain the desired cinematic aesthetic,” he recalls. Maddocks.

Specifically, the team Sons of Summer decided to use three units URSA Mini Pro 12K, the model URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and two film cameras Pocket Cinema Camera 6K. Rose provides more details: "We used three 12K cameras to film most of the scenes in 8K, both for main and supporting shots, and a third unit that remained mounted to a Steadicam gimbal at all times. In addition, we used the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 model to record scenes at high speed and two Pocket 6K Pro units with a gimbal inside the cars to capture more complex shots and others combined with low-profile mounts. for the chase sequence.”

Rose, who throughout his 20-year career has directed more than 250 audiovisual productions and countless television advertisements both in Australia and internationally, said he enjoys working with Blackmagic Design cameras, thanks to their Composition and cinematic appearance What they offer: Despite having a small budget, we had access to a large number of cameras already configured and ready to record at all times, which allowed us to save time and money. For the 12K models, we used digital recorders with 960GB storage cards, so we could basically shoot all day, which was a huge help. Even in minimal lighting and complex high-contrast, low-light conditions, I was able to trust the performance of the sensors.”

Color correction, with DaVinci Resolve Studio

The film was graded with the program DaVinci Resolve Studio and, consequently, production was carried out almost entirely with products of Blackmagic Design.

Rose shares more details: "Using DaVinci Resolve to grade footage shot with the Blackmagic Design cameras, it was very easy to achieve the look we were looking for. For this task, we used a 1000 nit monitor which allowed us to really make the images come to life. Our colorist, who had just finished grading Elvis, was completely surprised by the benefits of the BRAW files.”

It is expected that Sons of Summer hits the big screen in Australia in Spring 2023, and then reaches different digital platforms in the United States.