# 2012 Summary – Part Two ## MAY The month of May started off fairly disappointing in the theatres, with films such as [The Dictator](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645170/), [Men In Black 3](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/), [Get The Gringo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1567609/) and my most hated film of 2012, [Dark Shadows](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1077368/) hitting the big screen. However, hope in the film industry was quickly recovered, with two fantastic yet very different films emerging, that truly stood out amongst the crowd – the first being the very sweet, and truly authentic documentary, [Jiro Dreams of Sushi](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925/) (one of Jacqui’s favourite films of the year) and the other being the bizarre and epic crowd funded [Iron Sky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034314/) (one of Chris’ faourite films of the year). Now we couldn’t start May without another bizarre entry from [Michael Shanks](http://timtimfed.com). The talented kid stepped away from video game parodies to come up with this little gem. There were events a plenty this month with our fellow Swinburne Graduate **Andrea Distefano’s** documentary [The Globe Collector](http://theglobecollector.com/) screening as part of [St Kilda Film Festival’s](http://www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au/) Opening Night, **Michael’s** music video screening in competition at the same festival and our film clip for [Huckleberry & Me](./../portfolio/what-is-the-what/) making its debut screening at [Chapel off Chapel](http://chapeloffchapel.com.au/) for the bands EP launch. The great news being that from the above screenings, Andrea’s film won Best Documentary at the festival and **Michael’s** music video won Best Independent Clip and shared Best Overall Clip with [Animal Kingdom](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313092/) director [David Michôd](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2391575/)for his clip for [Children Collide’s](http://www.childrencollide.com.au/) track Loveless. **Nick** continued to juggle a bunch of different hats this month, spending time as both an actor and a director. He very excitedly was slated to shoot his second ad for the **Herald Sun** with Producer **Paul Walton** by his side and also **Chris** and **LateNite** regular [Shelley Farthing-Dawe](http://www.shelleyfarthingdawe.com/) behind the camera for the shoot. He also began rehearsals on the play [Himmelweg](http://www.theatreworks.org.au/whatson/event/?id=127), directed again by a very talented **Alister Smith**, which was to do a season at [Theatreworks](http://www.theatreworks.org.au/). And **Jacqui**? Well she took off with Ash for GoneAdventurin, producing her biggest project yet, [Cycle On Ceylon](http://www.goneadventurin.com/project/cycle-on-ceylon/). Teaming up again with Michael Lutman, the 45-minute Branded Documentary captured the spirit of adventure in a 728km cycling journey from the southern to northern tips of Sri Lanka, to raise awareness and funds for [Practical Action](http://practicalaction.org/). You can read about the behind the scenes filming experience on our [blog](./../2012/07/01/5am-sri-lanka-in-may/). --- ## JUNE June was the month a lot of geeks had been looking forward to from the very start of 2012 with the much anticipated release of **Ridley Scott’s** supposed [Alien](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/) prequel, [Prometheus](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/). Starring a very sexy (and strangely masculine) [Noomi Rapace](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0636426/), the film was incredibly entertaining (especially on the enormous [IMAX](http://www.imaxmelbourne.com.au/) screen) and featured some stunning visuals. However it was (much to the outrage of bloggers everywhere) tainted with some pretty hefty plot holes and lack of character development. My favourite of course being [Charlize Theron](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000234/) having a brain malfunction when trying to outrun a falling spaceship, classic Charlize! All this aside, I did decide to leave out the Prometheus trailer and instead show you the very underrated (and once again little known) [Take This Waltz](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1592281/) starring [Seth Rogen](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0736622/), [Sarah Silverman](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798971/) and a stunning [Michelle Williams](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0931329/). This film will tear your heart out and make you cry like a pre-pubescent boy or girl much the same way [Williams](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0931329/) previous film [Blue Valentine](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1120985/) did. Check it out if you didn’t get a chance when it was on the big screen, a more unique and honest drama about love and relationships you would be hard pressed to find. ![01](/static/blog/12-011-590x246.jpg) So June brought about more shooting which is always exciting for us as it means getting out of the office and back onto set. First up was a music video for the very talented Melbourne rockers [Money For Rope](./../portfolio/misery-lane/) which consisted of covering the guys in baby powder and having them run full pelt at each other on a basketball court. Needless to say some of the guys looked a little nervous in the behind the scenes footage that **Jacqui** (who was back in Melbourne for once!) shot. The clean-up may have been a pain in the ass but everyone had a good laugh at the bands expense as we shot them barreling into each other at 300fps. **Michael** was also keeping busy with some more of his YouTube series shooting throughout June. It was all hands on deck as his next round of videos gave us **Box Art Battle** and **A Day in the Life of Max Payne**. On top of these three projects we were also up for a pitch for a drive safety campaign and, as always, decided we would give some of our wacky ideas a test run before we presented them. Lesson learnt, never EVER give **Chris** and **Michael** Crash Test Dummys to play with. Odds are things will just get weird… ![02](/static/blog/12-021-590x440.jpg) While **Jacqui** was in the edit room for [Cycle on Ceylon](http://www.goneadventurin.com/project/cycle-on-ceylon/) ([#POSTDONTSTOP](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23POSTDONTSTOP&src=typd)), the super-talented composer and musical genius [Dmitri Golovko](http://www.dgmusichouse.com/) was beginning to work on the documentary score. It was awesome to secure such an incredibly talented artist – for those that don’t know Dmitri, composed the score for [Red Hill](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1530983/) (directed by [Patrick Hughes](http://patrickhughes.com.au/)) for which he received a nomination for **Best Soundtrack Album** at the [2011 Screen Music Awards](http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/2011ScreenMusicAwards/index/). --- ## JULY Of course being blockbuster season in the States, I have indeed left out two of the biggest trailers in this blog, those 2 being [Prometheus](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/) and [Dark Knight Rises](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/). However who could possibly resist a foul mouthed Teddy voiced by [Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532235/) and created (visually) by Melbourne’s own [Illoura](http://www.iloura.com.au/film/). Not I friends, Not I. This month was another for events with a number of the **LateNite** crew gracing the stage in some way shape or form. **Nick** finished up his run at **Theatreworks** with the production **Himmelweg**, **Chris** lent his Post Production know how to the **ASE** and their [Digital Workflows](./../2012/07/31/ase-digital-workflows-event-summary/) talk held at [Swinburne University](http://www.swinburne.edu.au/) and **Michael** made his forum debut at the [Adobe Creative Suite 6 Roadshow](http://www.adobe.com/au/special/cs6roadshow/) held at the [Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre](http://www.mcec.com.au/). And as for **Jacqui**? Well she was back in Singapore,being interviewed on Singapore’s biggest radio station [938 LIVE](http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/en/radio/938live/) to talk about her Documentary Adventures with Ash ([listen here](http://www.podcast.sg/radiopodcast/938/MDC110304_0000002/audio/MDC120730-0000005.mp3)). --- If the four trailers above didn’t give it away then you all missed out on **Nick’s** favourite event of the year. The month of August of course plays host to the [Melbourne International Film Festival](http://miff.com.au/) every year and **Nick** was fortunate enough (with the help of **Jacqui** and brother **Ryan**) to win himself a free festival pass. MASSIVE mistake that was. Above are just a few of the amazing films that he managed to catch during **MIFF** 2012. It wasn’t all movie watching though with **Nick** & **Michael** shooting a campaign for German Car Company [Opel](http://www.opel-australia.com.au/). The ads were part of an online competition and were directed by **Nick**, **Michael** and friends **Damien Bodie**, **Kess Broekman-Dattner**, **Eddy Bell** and with the help of **Lucia Smyrk** and **Bella Giovinazzo**. The campaign was once again produced by good friend and master producer **Paul Walton**. Ontop of this **Nick** was also shooting a rather, errr, sexy campaign for the **Cancer Council** which, when released, raised a few discussions on a couple of morning programs and **The 7pm Project**. Nothing like a bit of controversy! As the months rolled on it is important to acknowledge the continuous project development that was going on behind the scenes. **Geoff Wallis** and **Nick** continued to develop their sitcom [The Ushers](./../portfolio/the-ushers/), actress and writer **Amanda Logan** continued to pen low budget thriller [The Grey Between](./../portfolio/the-grey-between/) having already been working on it with **Nick** for over 12 months (and whilst also appearing on stage at La Mama I might add!) and **Nick** & **Lee Beckhurst** began work on their McDonald’s inspired short [Thank You.](./../portfolio/thank-you/) Things certainly were not slowing down as we headed into the end of the year… Stay tuned for Part Three! *[Onwards & Upwards](http://www.chrisjonesblog.com/)!* --- ## Discuss this page