Hey guys, it’s that time of the year again – Jake from Clicker Productions here, and we’re back after another trip ‘round the sun and it’s time to reflect back on a crazed 2019 calendar year for the company.
That’s right, we’re jumping right in – ‘dis connected’ finished and premiered this past year! It was a strange feeling to go back to the previous “look back” videos from 2016, 2017, and so on… and see ‘dis connected’ repeatably mentioned as something to look forward to in the future. The time has come and gone, and ‘dis connected’ is now imprinted into film history (if IMDB or Letterboxd have anything to say about it that is). The film premiered at the Backlot Perth on the big screen to a near full house – The film looked absolutely gorgeous, fully rendered at 2K and was showcased alongside the short film ‘CRADLE’ and a Q&A with myself and the cast of the film. It was definitely a night to remember! Since then, ‘dis connected’ has had a home release on DVD and is available to purchase right now on our website.
Keeping in line with our slate of Clicker originals, I like to call them, we also dropped a 21min documentary called ‘Ex-Rental’. For the uninitiated, it’s a doco shot by my good friend Nakeesha Moody, and edited/directed by yours truly that focuses on three local video-stores, all of whom are in different stages of operation – including the late, great Blockbuster Morley. It was a side project we’re been slowly shooting and editing throughout the year and was finally dropped in mid-November to an amazing reception. Tears were shed to say the least.
Despite the originals, you may call them, we’ve also kept super busy collaborating with other outlets this year. Our biggest collaborator, of not just this year but others too, is ZKJ Productions. While we assisted them on productions such as Home Again, The Pretender and Hitched earlier this year, our main presence resided on a weekly joint-podcast: The Cinema Sideshow podcast. Each and every Monday, having started January 21st, myself and Zeke Morgan-Hind have co-hosted the show, reviewing our own film careers and hundreds of wider released films spanning a century. We just dropped our 50th episode the other day, leading us into a new decade of podcasting-goodness. The Cinema Sideshow podcast is available on Spotify, PodBean and Apple podcasts.
Our collaborations have extended further with promotional/factual video content for FanBase Collectables, The Backlot Perth, Bone Moe, the City of Cockburn, Eco Shark Barrier and Murdoch University – As well as the externally produced OTTO and Waiting Room. As you can see, this is a lot of work, and unfortunately these projects are at various stages of completion – Whichever ones are complete, should be available for viewing on our social media pages or website. And last but not least, we’ve also invested in some new gear, most notably a DJI Mavic Air drone, which we’ve tested out on a sole video you can find on our social media pages as well.
And of course, we’ve kept up on our social media presence as usual, most notably surpassing our number of posts on Instagram by 30% and Facebook by 35%.
That’s right, 2019 was a huge year for us.. but that’s to be expected at this point I’d gather. We haven’t slowed down a single bit since we launched in July 2016 – despite, and on a personal note, facing many challenges and hurdles along the way. I’ve completed my university studies as a film student and in a lot of ways I still very much feel like a student of film and, life really.. This is why I do what I do, film is a time capsule and how dare we try to eliminate or hide our earlier, perhaps embarrassing works. Am I tremendously proud of everything I’ve put out into the world? No, but that’s the point. We’re growing and changing, and so should the things we pass out into the filmscape.
I say this, in-place of a preview on the next year of plans because, frankly, we don’t have any solid ones. That’s right, 2020 is currently a blank slate. We, of course, intend to continue the Cinema Sideshow podcast, but beyond that we have a clean calendar. I personally am very excited by this. ‘dis connected’ was the bug that bit my creative loins for more work in a feature-sized capacity. I have feature film ideas, husks of what will become scripts very shortly and now, hopefully, the time to commit even further into those dreams. Clicker Productions offers an outlet for me to develop my filmmaking skills, and now seems like the perfect time in my lil’ old 22 years of life to push my limits to the absolute max – not for a lack of already trying these past several years.
We’ll continue to create, shoot and distribute short films, factual content and hopefully more future films – That won’t change, in fact I can’t promise any changes to Clicker Productions in the new decade, except for a level of determination I’m always striving for. So with that little motivational piece out of the way, I bid de’ a wrap on this past year’s reflective video. The future is misty, unclear and very, very invisible.. but it might be the most exciting one yet. As a good friend of my says.. onwards and upwards, my fellow filmmakers. C’ya at the next one..