Outpost / Blog

It never ceases to amaze me, the life that this little film has!

In 2003, my wife and I wrote and produced a short film called “My Small Italian Shotgun Wedding”. We assembled a great little crew (including myself as Director and Editor), and made the Tropfest Shortlist that year. Since then, the film has featured at or made the finals of about 7 short film festivals.

And there’s life in the old girl yet, as the film has made the final of the ViVa Leichhardt Short Film Festival this coming Long Weekend!

Along with 13 other finalists (including Dianne Ellis from the Parramatta Filmmakers Club), the film will be screening at Martini Bar, 99 Norton Street from 5pm Sunday, 10 June.

For more info check out the CO.AS.IT website.

After a couple of solid weeks, I’m now settling in nicely to my Supervising Editor role on “Things To Try Before You Die”. We have no firm air date yet, but it looks like July. Stay tuned for a firm date when it comes to hand.

For a sneak peek: http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/firstlook.aspx?_cobr=optus

The show’s looking great, and the more stories come in, the better they are looking - it’s really good stuff, and a nice mix of adventure and heart.

Yesterday I received the biggest compliment I have been given in regards to my TV work - after screening a cut for a Producer, his first remark was: “Thanks for keeping the heart. You’re obviously thinking about what you’re doing and not just going through the motions.”

The poor guy was expecting all the life and soul to be sucked out of his story, and was genuinely surprised to see that the story still had the depth and emotion he had shot.

Awesome.

Last Sunday night was the latest meeting of the Parramatta Filmmakers Club, started by Dianne Ellis.

I gave a little talk about Post-Production and the merits of various Editing platforms for the crew while we sipped the awesome brews that Mars Hill Cafe have on offer.

Little did I know that we had the local Parramatta paper in attendance - I might have dressed a little better

Go here for the full article.

Valentino del Toro’s short film will be screening at the Cannes Short Film Corner this year from May 16 to May 26.

I think we’re all pretty stoked to see Love Always xx make it to an very upmarket French film audience.

Also worth a notable mention at the Short Film Corner is The Haircut, a great short film directed by Carlo Ledesma of AllOrange Films, with whom I will soon be collaborating with on the exciting new project The Last One. I haven’t been this excited by a script in a long time, and filming is set to begin in June. Keep your eyes peeled here and on Carlo’s blog for updates on the project.

Vive la France!

…. or something like that….

The current issue of AC Magazine is running a review of Love Always xx, a short film I edited late last year.

The film was directed by Valentino Del Toro, shot entirely on 16mm by DOP Steve Williams and completed and mastered at Outpost.

The review is glowing, and is a vindication for the filmmakers, who dared make an emotionally confronting 15 minute film with only 4 words of dialogue. This was a challenge for me as an Editor - to find and tell a story almost exclusively in moving images, working closely with Composer Tom English.

The film is currently doing the rounds of the International Film Festivals, and has been included at The Cannes Short Film Corner.

You can read the whole AC review here:

Australian Cinematographer Review

and find out more about the film, and the great people behind it here:

Love Always xx Official Website
Love Always xx on MySpace

Stay tuned for screenings at a film festival near you…

Alright!

I’m not sure why it’s a surprise given the pedigree of the production company (a win in 2005 for Cooking for Kids with Luis, and nominations for three years running..), but Gardening For Kids With Madi took home the Most Outstanding Children’s Program at the ASTRAs last Monday night…

Kind of a big deal - the ASTRAs are kinda like the Logies for Pay TV.

Kudos must go to the team over at Total Perception for another great effort.

While I can’t post an episode here or on YouTube, you can see the entire series on the Nick Jr. website - very badly compressed though…

Here’s a little write up I did for the ASE website:

ASTRA AWARD FOR “GARDENING WITH MADI”

On Monday night, 23rd April 2007, Gardening for Kids with Madi edited by ASE member Enzo Tedeschi, was awarded Most Outstanding Children’s Program for the year at the 2007 ASTRA Awards.

The program is a five minute interstitial series teaching children how to garden, and hosted by Madi, a six-year-old girl. Madi was also nominated for Most Outstanding Performance by a Presenter, the category rounded out by seasoned talent like David Speers, Brendan Moar and Antonia Kidman.

Gardening for Kids with Madi won its category despite the company of the other esteemed nominees such as Camp Orange - Slimey Hollow (also produced by the same production company, Total Perception), Weather Ed and The Upside Down Show, featuring The Umbilical Brothers, all being full-length half-hour TV series.

“It’s a testament to the production company Total Perception, who in the last three years running have been nominated in the Kids Category, having also won in 2005”, Enzo said.

“It was a pleasure to work with them, and working with Director Phillip Tanner was great. It’s a great format for kids, and Phillip’s skill and instinct in creating five minutes of compelling kids TV is pretty impressive. I learnt a hell of a lot about working with kids, and had to flex the creative muscle out of necessity in order to work with footage from a six-year-old presenter. It’s the most fun I’ve had cutting in a long time!”

“Gardening for Kids with Madi is hosted by a six-year-old so you get humour, speed, spontaneity and tantrums but what you don’t get are long coherent pieces to camera delivered by a professional presenter - you get grabs delivered by an inspirational kid,” Phillip stated.

“We shot with two cameras to provide edit points and on location I know when we have the coverage, but still this is a show that really requires great editing skills to make a smooth, compelling and humorous five minute story with a clear message. Enzo was the perfect editor to have on board; he brings ideas, a wealth of experience and patience. He also has kids so instinctively knows what works and what doesn’t work for our target audience. It was fun working with him and we will do it again soon. “

Gardening for Kids with Madi is currently screening on Nick Jr.

Image from Nick Jr. website, GFKWM wallpaper.

Welcome on and all to the brand spanking new Outpost / Blog!

In the coming weeks, I’m going to be posting Outpost News about current and upcoming projects, video tidbits of the stuff I’ve been working on, and (hopefully) generally interesting stuff.

To whet your appetite, the coming weeks will see me working on two new shows for Channel Nine, an experimental short film, a more traditional short film, and a kids show pilot. You’ll be seeing reviews, diary-style entries and tidbits of the work (when they let me!!), and maybe the odd-spot of post-production tech-talk… I’m ultimately a geek at heart… *sigh*

Hope you stick around. It’s gonna be a fun ride!