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Stu Jamieson
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#51

Post by Stu Jamieson »

Geofish: Mexico Vol.1

"Gentle" is not a word to describe Geofish: Mexico. If there were a rock'n'roll fly fishing movie, then this would be it! Fishing, filming, editing, running out of money and fuel, run-ins with the law, living by the seat of their pants and generally having a rad time. Rockstar fishermen, Jay Johnson (AKA The Bassassinator), Chris Owens (AKA Basshole), Brian Jill (AKA Weapon of Bass Destruction) and Thad Robison are living the dream; fishing their way from California to the southern tip of South America in their vegetable oil-fueled 4WD. This instalment covers their journey through the Mexican badlands and living up to their motto: "Fish. Drive. Survive."

In the very crowded market of the travelogue fishing film there are two broad subgenres: the anoraks and the jocks. The former features a relatively sedate, informative presenter who places particular importance on the locations of each fishing "adventure" while we quietly titter at their mildly amusing and inoffensive jokes. The latter category features a raucous bunch of slightly redneckish guys exhibiting fratboy tomfoolery as they document all manner of extreme fishing for our viewing pleasure. In short, the former generally appreciates and savours the quiet, comtemplative spirit of nature; the latter attacks it with some gusto. In shorter short, the jocks are noisier! Geofish is firmly in the latter category.

And in the "jock" genre, the Geofish guys stand on top of the heap. For although this category can become tiresome with the oft-times juvenile hijinks which can dominate such films, these guys manage to maintain a mostly mature tone; never getting so "blokey" that you couldn't sit down with the missus and a bottle of plonk and have an entertaining night in. Sure they get in to and out of some shit but, above all, there's a purity in their infectious enthusiasm for fishing and adventure which rises to the top and remains throughout.

Geofish: Mexico Vol.1 finishes with a tantalising taster of Vol.2 Central America due in 2013??? This film has yet to materialise, however the boys have since followed up with a number of "GEOBASS" webisodes: Mexico Part 1, Mexico Part 2, Columbia and Nicaragua. Mexico Pt.1 is a highlight reel from Geofish: Mexico Vol.1. The other three webisodes feature all new material and presumably act as trailers for the next feature length segment of the Geofish series. If Geofish: Mexico and the released webisodes are any indication, Vol.2 is going to be a cracker!

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Stu Jamieson
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#52

Post by Stu Jamieson »

Leviathan

I know I have a tendency to bang on about the quality of Gin Clear's films. Well look out, I'm about to do it again.

Leviathan rounds out Gin Clear's current trilogy which also includes Predator and the brilliant Hatch. All the elements which made those films wonderful is present in abundance here: spectacular photography, detailed slo-mo shots of monster fish supping flies and, naturally, lots of sexy drippy fins. ;)

Some wonderful locales are visited for trophy species: Jurassic Lake trout in the Andes, Bonefish in French Polynesia, Tarpon in the Caribbean and Giant Trevally in the Great Barrier Reef. But the highlight of the film is it's first segment, hunting huge browns on skinny overgrown creeks in the Bay of Plenty in NZ. Thankfully this seems to be the inspiration for Gin Clear's next film (and presumably the beginning of their next trilogy), Backcountry - North Island, previewing at this year's RISE film festival.

After reviewing 5 previous films to date from Gin Clear, it's increasingly difficult to come up with new adjectives to praise their work. It cannot be understated how important the use of professional cinematic cameras, dollies, booms and flying foxes is to the results that Gin Clear achieves. They've captured images that are either superior to their peers or uncaptured by anyone else. That they lug all this stuff into the wilderness to obtain the shots that they seek is a testament to their dedication and ambition and the rewards for doing so are there for all to see. Quite simply, Gin Clear represent the pinnacle of fly fishing film making, blazing the trail for all others to follow.

If you haven't seen a Gin Clear film yet, you need to, and Leviathan is as good a place as any to start.

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Jason Stratford
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#53

Post by Jason Stratford »

"... the bulk of the films out there and the gung-ho piss-it-up nature of some of them. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these guys are having drunken head butt contests off camera. :whistle: This is not what I call fly fishing."


Heya Stu old mate...funny....my first post here on Sexyloops in response to your's (and Paul's) discussion on fly films - which you know I love!

I think the appeal of the various styles of fly fishing films out there varies wildly - dependent in the most part on what the viewer is looking for from the 'film'. Stunning visual backdrops, documentary knowledge, instructional casting advice or dudes 'whoop whooping' it in an exotic location we might like to travel too one day but may never actually achieve the dream.

I think film expectations vary as much as why people 'fly fish' as well...is it to trek to an unknown place up a wilderness creek where no one has been before, is it to bag every fish species on a fly, is it the challenge of fooling a fish with a home tied fly, is it the beauty and grace of effortlessly placing a fly where it needs to be, is it a love of the gear...or something more primal like just catching a feed.

You are right in that fly fishing films are in their infancy...but wouldn't it be great to see the evolution of such films to cater for all tastes...to have the whole fly box and dice of film genres catering to the fly fishing tragic! Comedy, Instructional, Travel / Trek, Documentary etc etc!

Cheers mate - see you soon!
A perfectly laid down 60 foot cast will catch more fish than casting to the backing knot on your 120' fly line...particularly when most times you'll just throw an 80 foot 'wiggle cast'.
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Stu Jamieson
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#54

Post by Stu Jamieson »

Hey mate, welcome to the Board!

The quality of fly fishing films does continue to evolve and you can see this in the selection of films at this year's RISE festival. I consider Gin Clear to be on top of the pile in terms of production quality but, man, this years festival shows that others are catching up fast!

Of course none of the specialist films have hit the heights of A River Runs Through It yet but those kinds of budgets will remain out of reach for the specialist guys simply because they don't have mainstream appeal. But with the falling cost of technology, the gap will surely close.

I can't think of another mainstream fly film other than Redford's movie with the singular exception of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which is certainly worth a look if only to learn how to dispatch an assassin with a snake roll - you never know when that skill may come in handy!
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#55

Post by Paul Arden »

Welcome to the Board, Jason! Our small dabble in to film making was a bit gung-ho, no question! But you know we have a really traditional image of fly fishermen in the UK, tweed, rather posh and all a little bit JR Hartley. So going out there and blowing something up to my mind makes a lot of sense.

Of course none of our films were actually about fly fishing. I felt that this was really important and could lead to some good humorous moments, bouncing the theme of the film off against the fishing which was almost incidental. And for Ronan and I the fishing IS incidental - it is the reason for being there and we both believe our purpose for existing - but as such it is simply always there and the backdrop that makes up our lives.

I'm not sure if that makes sense :p but that's certainly how I saw it!

Cheers, Paul
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Stu Jamieson
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#56

Post by Stu Jamieson »

Black Torpedoes

No, it's not an inter-racial stick flick, it's the debut film from Aussie fisherman Tarron "Taz" Jefferys, or to give it it's full title, Strip Strike - Fraser Island: Black Torpedoes. But for the sake of brevity I shall hereafter refer to it simply as "Black Torpedoes".

Black Torpedoes was one of a selection of very high quality films presented at the 2014 RISE Fly Fishing Film Festival and although it could reasonably be considered the most amateurish effort presented that year, in the company of those other films, this is no criticism. When the baseline is as good as Black Torpedoes, then the quality of fly fishing films generally is becoming very high indeed.

But RISE only presents highlight reels of it's featured movies and now that we have the opportunity to see the complete film, it's clear that the best material was extracted for the RISE cut. This is evident in mostly two ways: the RISE cut lacks much of the "talking head" commentary of the finished film; and it is heavily weighted towards the end of the DVD where the best footage is located.

On the first point much of the commentary is provided by a handful of fishing guides and whilst they clearly know their stuff, their Ocker laid-back nonchalance translates as indifference on TV, even though it actually likely belies their discomfort before the camera. Put a rod in their hands, however (preferably with a fish on the other end), and they quickly lose themselves in the moment, letting their true personalities shine through. This is how we like to see them and, no doubt, how they would like to be seen.

In retrospect, the film would probably have benefited from Taz providing most all of the narration himself (with advice from his guides) and leaving the pictures to his subjects catching fish. This is, of course, what we really want to see - catching fish, casting, tactics and flies - not talking heads. There's no shame in this drawback as a first film, however, even Gin Clear's debut The Source - Tasmania suffered from this until they quickly realised that pictures speak louder than words and it is the pictures that the audience wants to see.

Secondly, the film is divided into chapters representing the species targeted, beginning with permit, Trevally and Queenfish - species of which many many videos have been made - nothing new here. The RISE cut, however, chiefly takes it's content from the latter part of the DVD which features tuna. In retrospect this is no surprise as this is where Taz's footage really shines. Indeed Taz himself seems to recognise the significance of this chapter - longtail tuna being the inspiration behind the film's title.

Tuna on fly is a unique subject amongst the fly fishing film fraternity, indeed I've not seen this species featured in a fly fishing film before. Taz has acquired some fabulous footage of these "torpedoes" hunting in packs across the flats and peeling off one at a time to investigate rapidly stripped flies. It's edge-of-the-seat stuff which results in many near misses but when a fish does take, it's game on! I've never caught tuna on fly before - now I want to!

This segment does contain the occasional cut from high quality 16:9 widescreen footage to lower quality 4:3 full screen footage stretched to 16:9 which can be a little jarring. But I suspect this to be a consequence of budgetry constraints and the resulting lack of access to a second hi-res camera. On the whole, though, it's a small point that many probably won't notice.

The film concludes solidly with some great footage of the Wildfish man, Peter Morse, and retired guide, Mark Bargenquast, nailing marlin off the sand flats before using more traditional methods of teasing the fish from the depths.

Whilst the film initially embarks on a well-trodden path, by the conclusion we will have witnessed something special, not the least of which is the passion of Jefferys, the quality of the fishing at Fraser Island and the technology at the disposal of the film maker to capture it all.

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#57

Post by Stu Jamieson »

Back Country - North Island

Gin Clear's prior Planet Fly Fish trilogy (Hatch/Predator/Leviathan) were nature films showcasing the behaviour of various species around the world. Their first series of films, the Source trilogy, examined the essence of trout angling in some of the great fishieries of the world - Tasmania, New Zealnd and Iceland. The steady increase in the quality of photography and story telling is apparent insofar as their last trilogy set the high water mark for others to follow. So where to go now?

Gin Clear's next film, Back Country North Island, seeks to personalise the fishing experience by examining what fly fishing means to all of us on an intimate level. The film follows an eclectic bunch of guys-next-door from all walks of life who show us what fly fishing means to them, how it centres them amidst the stresses of the now. Specifically, it's the small back country streams, the isolation, the serenity which results from the occasional divorcing of one's self from the bustle of everyday life which is the focus of this film. Unlike the bulk of fishing cinema, Back Country North Island is not about the big fish (though the fish caught here certainly wouldn't embarrass anyone), it's about the beauty of the experience - it's about the soul food.

Given the range of backgrounds of the subjects (photographer, retailer, parts distributor, fishing guide, office worker) there's someone here that we can all relate to, if not all of them. Just like ourselves (perhaps), regardless of their diverse backgrounds, they're all chasing the same things: escapism, beauty in nature, inner peace.

As we've come to expect from Gin Clear, the storytelling is compelling and the photography is superb. Which makes it all the more puzzling that there's still no Bluray release of these films. This is surely overdue. The spectacular video footage shot by by Gin Clear would be well served by an HD Bluray release. Given the cinematic quality of the video equipment employed by the film makers, the source material would presumably be sufficient for this purpose. We live in hope.

While less academically informative on the whole than the previous Hatch/Predator/Leviathan trilogy, Back Country North Island's showcase of the escapism that flyfishing provides and the stunning locations our pursuit guides us to is a worthy cause.

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#58

Post by Stu Jamieson »

Aquasoul

Image

If there's one thing that has become apparent with each successive RISE Film Festival it's that technology is shrinking the equipment requirements for making professional-looking feature films. Gin Clear set the bar by shooting their films on expensive RED Epic cinema cameras - cameras which list in the tens of thousands of dollars - and the results have always spoken for themselves.

But the landscape is changing rapidly.

Aquasoul director, Benny Godfrey, shot his film on a prosumer DSLR - a Panasonic GH4 - a camera body which retails for less than $2000! And the video quality from what is primarily a still camera is nothing short of superb!

His underwater footage is shot on a Go Pro and, again, the quality is very, very good. It illustrates how accessible film making has become. What was once the domain of moguls is now in the hands of Average Joe.

This is great news for anybody who wants to pick up a camera and give movie-making a go but the flip side is that this leveling technological playing field brings into sharper focus the quality of the storytelling in the film. This further raises the bar of fishing film making and will be the main point of differentiation of films in the future. This, of course, is no bad thing, representing a wonderful challenge to future film makers and can only lead to great movies for us humble viewers.

Image

We have already seen significant inroads into the adoption of quality story telling in fishing films such as Gin Clear's documentary style Planet Fly Fish films, the more recent Carpland, and most notably Rolf Nylinder's Only The River Knows, which is a fully fledged attempt at fly fishing fiction. (Let's not include Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It here as Redford was at a clear advantage!)

Which brings us to Aquasoul.

The subtitle to Benny Godfrey's film is "Two Paths, One Destination" - a clear suggestion of an impending narrative. The film has celebrity Aussie fisherman, Peter Morse, and the lesser known Brett Wilson, two fellas from disparate backgrounds coming together to fish the Great Barrier Reef aboard the Nomad sportfishing vessel.

The film is moderately successful in relaying the "two paths" of the featured fishermen. We learn a fair bit about these guys as it pertains to their fishing but it would be nice to hear more about them as people. As fishermen, they're quite similar with similar interests, but what does their everyday life look like? What makes them different? What are their respective origins? We don't hear a lot about their "paths" outside of their passion for flyfishing (with the exception of Brett's clear passion for surfing).

The "destination" side of the equation, however, is amply catered for. The reef location is exquisite and Peter and Brett pull some very pretty and exotic fish out of the blue expanse.

As noted above, the video footage is spectacular; each fish presented in glorious, colour-popping detail against a backdrop of purest oceanic blue. Benny Godfrey's shot composition is also uniformly impressive. One close-up shot of Morsie's casting sees the fly sail through the frame over his shoulder. It's detail like this that sets Aquasoul apart - just superb!

Unlike most films in the saltwater fishing genre, Aquasoul doesn't linger on any given species but rather showcases the multitude of species which the Great Barrier Reef has to offer. The one exception to this rule is the "Blue barstool" but given the scant documentation of this species in previous films, this is a justifiable and indeed worthy inclusion. On the whole, though, the number of different fish species caught are so numerous as to be difficult to recall at the film's end but rest assured each one caught is a wonder to behold.

Image

The presentation could be further improved by a bluray release but alas it is not be. The reality is there is insufficient demand for fly fishing blurays which makes for an unfeasible proposition. Hopefully over time the accelerating adoption of hi-def televisions will betray the outdated capacity of DVD and we will see films such as these presented in a format befitting their quality. On the plus side, RISE patrons will have been treated to a superb presentation of Aquasoul in all it's uncompressed glory - a presentation even better than bluray. But, in the meantime, the DVD presentation will impress nonetheless.

Close observers will spot our own Paul Arden in the background who, while not a featured participant of this film, was present on this expedition.

On balance, Aquasoul is a very fine film. In some ways, it's a fishing film of a kind that we've seen a fair bit of before (flats fishing, offshore pelagics etc.), and it's narrative elements would benefit from more depth, but if you have a sweet tooth for salt, bluewater fishing then this is a candy store. The video quality has rarely been better - and probably never better on this budget. The locations depicted are as exquisite as the myriad of exotic species hooked and Benny Godfrey has a good eye for a great shot. Recommended.

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P.S. Apologies for the reference to the Blue "barstool". The fish isn't actually called a "barstool" but is rather a fish which is deemed to have been the illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents and is coloured a rough shade of blue. It seems my nomenclature has fallen afoul of the forum's censorship settings which, in turn, saw fit to label this poor, hapless, innocent creature a "barstool". That's justice for you. Life is, indeed, a barstool.
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Jason Stratford
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#59

Post by Jason Stratford »

Hi Stu!

Unfortunately missed Aquasoul at Rise and instead purchased the DVD on the strength of the excellent trailer (on Vimeo).

In addition to your comments Stu...I felt the film visusalised how easily people can be 'bonded' by a common passion for fly fishing...regardless of personal histories, fishing expertise, age or occupation. Something that doesnt seem to abound as well in other forms of fishing!

And yes...Benny has done a great job of showcasing the astounding beauty of the Barrier Reef region and it's fishy inhabitants which will no doubt raise the heart rate of many a 'salty fluff chucker' AND even inland bound saltwater dreamers like me!

Thanks for another great review Stu and thanks also to Benny for Aquasoul.

PS: I understand Benny is planning or may even already be working on another film. As you touched on Stu...fly fishing films are often produced as an object of passion and not as a means to make huge...or in most cases...any profit. It would be great to see this Aussie filmmaker continue producing works of this quality...so cant help but encourage as many people as possible to get out there and buy their own copy of Aquasoul (it's worth it!)...as I would expect this will help fund another gem from this guy!
A perfectly laid down 60 foot cast will catch more fish than casting to the backing knot on your 120' fly line...particularly when most times you'll just throw an 80 foot 'wiggle cast'.
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#60

Post by JanMan »

If there's one thing that has become apparent with each successive RISE Film Festival it's that technology is shrinking the equipment requirements for making professional-looking feature films. Gin Clear set the bar by shooting their films on expensive RED Epic cinema cameras - cameras which list in the tens of thousands of dollars - and the results have always spoken for themselves.

But the landscape is changing rapidly.

Aquasoul director, Benny Godfrey, shot his film on a prosumer DSLR - a Panasonic GH4 - a camera body which retails for less than $2000! And the video quality from what is primarily a still camera is nothing short of superb!

His underwater footage is shot on a Go Pro and, again, the quality is very, very good. It illustrates how accessible film making has become. What was once the domain of moguls is now in the hands of Average Joe.

This is great news for anybody who wants to pick up a camera and give movie-making a go but the flip side is that this leveling technological playing field brings into sharper focus the quality of the storytelling in the film.
Hi Stu,

I couldn't help smile when I read this :)

I would argue that the landscape is not changing rapidly - it changed a long time ago! Daniel and I shot Tapam - a flyfishing journey on a prosumer DSLR (primarily a Canon 5D Mark II) more than half a decade ago, and made it available in full HD on BluRay. People said it couldn't be done but it worked out very well and lots of people have used prosumer DSLRs for high quality flyfishing movie production since then. The 5D Mark II sparked a real revolution in indie movie production back then and although expensive systems like RED have advantages, you can still produce stunning cinematography with prosumer DSLRs :)

Very nice review, btw.

Best regards,
Jan
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