ASSG State Update – July 2024

Meet the sound crew behind George Miller’s latest blockbuster film,“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

On Monday 17th of June 2024, ASSG NSW members gathered at Spectrum Films to experience the immense sound of George Millers “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”. The members were treated to a unique experience of hearing select scenes from the film, in Dolby ATMOS, in the room it was mixed in, directly from the Pro Tools mix session with the sound crew on deck.

ASSG President Nigel Christensen then mediated a very open discussion on the processes used to capture, create and mix the sound and music for the 150 million dollar film. Rob Mackenzie promised to reveal the ‘secret sauce’ for this monumental mix and he didn’t disappoint!

What a pleasure it was to experience the incredible processes and stories behind the work of Production Sound Mixer Ben Osmo, Boom Operator Sue Kerr, Dialogue & ADR Supervisor Yulia Akerholt, Supervising Sound Editor & Re-recording Mixer Robert Mackenzie, Sound Designer James Ashton (flown in from Melbourne courtesy of the ASSG), Sound FX Editor Jessica Meier and Dialogue Editor Marisa Marsionis.

There was creative banter, in depth tech talk and plenty of socialising after the screening. Huge thanks to Catherine Armstrong and Spectrum Films – long time sponsors of the ASSG – for hosting the event in their spectacular theatre.

We’d love to see more events like this, so if you have a production you’d be happy to showcase in your facility, or maybe invite post people to location, consider hosting an event with the support of the ASSG.

The discussion will become available on the ASSG Website shortly. Find all the details here.

The Mercury South Australia Screen Awards where held June 22nd, where the winner of the Best Sound Design won a free ASSG Membership. Tickets to the awards go towards supporting the Mercury, who are instrumental in supporting emerging SA film makers. Find more on the Mercury here.

At SAFC, there have been a couple of new key appointments with new Games Dev. Executive and new Head of Production and Development.

We had our screening and Q&A of Talk to Me at the start of the May. The film played really well (and sounded great!), and the feedback that I’ve received from participants was all very positive. The audio from the Q&A was recorded and is now available for members to listen. You can listen to it here.

The St Kilda Film Festival celebrated their 40th year this month. This years festival spanned over 11 days, bring their biggest program to date, with 50+ sessions packed with over 150 short films.
The ASSG continued their support of the festival, with a free membership prize joined with Music & Effects donating $2,500 worth of in-kind services.
You can find all the winners of the festival here.

Screenwest are putting together a new strategic plan for the industry’s next 5 years. Round tables from the industry were held in Broome (June 12th), Perth (June 18th), and Busselton (June 25th).
And ‘Perth Film Studios’ starting breaking ground this month in Malaga.

Production Update

Shows Sunny Nights and Season 5 of Bump start production this month. Play Dirty the Amazon Feature is currently in Production. Season 2 of NCIS: Sydney is mid-way through shooting, with post starting later in the year. Production on the series Return to Paradise and Ten Pound Poms (Season 2) has just wrapped Production.

The Comedy feature One More Shot has just wrap, as TV series Blood on the Tracks and All Her Fault start Pre-production. Next month, US Feature Film The Rising is due to start Production

Top End Bub, the spin-off series of the hit film Top End Wedding wraps this month, with locations across Adelaide and Darwin. The next horror hit from the Phillippou brothers Bring Her Back, starts production this month. Series Teenage Boss is currently in production, along with feature ilm Jimpa.

Production is booming in Queensland, with Dangerous Animals and Good Cop Bad Cop wrapping shortly. Returning series Hourglass starts next month. Rock Island Mysteries (Series 3) is halfway through production. Several Features are due to start shooting soon including The Bluff, Tango, and Beast of War.

The second season of Scrublands – Silver, makes it’s way to WA’s south west. Production kicked of this month with a rainy welcome. Post Production the Westcoast Vision Feature Birthright and the Stan series Invisible Boys started this month.