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When Australian drama is being hawked to the international market it doesn’t hurt its chances if it features liberal doses of sun, sand and buff teenagers. It’s a formula that has served long-running soapie Home & Away very well indeed and it’s also something the producers of Blue Water High are banking on.

In the world of Blue Water High, “it’s always a sunny day and it’s always Saturday”, jokes director of photography Russell Bacon. Filming began in September 2004 with the cast (and their doubles) decked out in summer wetsuits and rash vests. Kiely jokes that most of the fellow surfers in the chilly spring surf looked like “black seals” by comparison but the use of polarising filters that Bacon says “blue up” or “Haymon [Island]-ise” the sky completed the summer look.

By Fiona Williams, Encore.

NSW-based DOP Russell Bacon has won the 2002 MILLI award for Australian cinematographer of the year for his work on the mini-series My Brother Jack, at the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) national awards, held in Sydney on May 11.

Rising Sun Pictures Tony Clark won the Golden Tripod for best feature film for Tempted, with Mandy Walker earning a distinction for her work on Lantana.

Russell Bacon also won a Golden Tripod in the Telefeatures, TV Drama and Miniseries category for My Brother Jack, with Tristan Milani (The Road from Coorain) and Kim Batterham (One Night the Moon) taking distinctions.

The awards were presented by actor Jack Thompson who was made an honorary member of the society. In his speech, Thompson said the cinematographer was “the actor’s best friend”.

By Staff Writers, Encore.

First episodes are notoriously challenging because storytelling and production are new, yet they set the tone for everything that follows. It’s not unlike asking first-year medical students to perform brain surgery – a risky venture by any measure.

Rescue: Special Ops, a modern spin on the Southern Star classic Police Rescue with some subtle but noticeable changes, is shrewdly played, putting character development to the side momentarily and diving headfirst into the action. It’s a smart strategy, taking the pressure off some aspects of the show and rendering is more accessible to the audience than most new television dramas…

Article: Michael Idato.

An American-funded but Australian-made series is boldly going beyond where sci-fi series have dared to go.

Article published May 7th, 2000.