After more than 30 years in business, it was only recently that I took the time to go back and reminisce over some of the more memorable projects that I have had the privilege of working on. My sudden urge to go back was triggered by last years 35th annual BAD Awards for which we were asked to source and compile TVCs from past winners that went back to the late 70’s. During this process I became aware of how blasé we’ve become when it comes to keeping historical records for our industry. More recently, and thanks to that wonderful search engine YouTube, I stumbled upon a music video for Aussie music legends Australian Crawl which I edited and post produced in 1981.

The hit single ‘Errol’ was directed by George Muskens of Muskens Movies fame and features some amazing underwater shots from legendary surf photographer George Greenough. This clip was regarded to be one of the most innovative of its time and it also contained a number of scenes featuring scantily clad beauties – the song was a dedication to the life and times of Aussie expatriate Errol Flynn after all. I recall the editing process like it happened yesterday spooling through thousands of feet of 35mm film on my 6 plate intercine flat bed editing desk and it took me around 3 weeks just to complete the edit. In the early 80’s we were still finishing everything through a traditional film laboratory and once the edit was locked off we had the original negative cut to match and the final print was completed through Atlab Film Laboratories in Sydney. The editing and post production process took more than 7 weeks, something that could be done in well under a week these days.

Coops