Surfscape Productions ::

Epic ocean inspiration

2009-05-19T09:51:00.002+12:00

Ever seen TED talks? Most of us are already aware our ocean playground is in jeopardy. World renowned ocean guru Sylvia Earle gave an award winning TED talk that all of us should devote time to listening to:

So what? Im just one person what can I do!? Two choices: nothing - and watch our seas become acidic as the marine ecosystems breakdown and all life perishes; or something - positive action - at the very least talking about it with other people, showing them this clip; changing the way we consume these resources - being conscious about the industries we support with our dollar; influence other people's behaviour; write letters to key places (surf mags etc); and finally, get politically active. The stakes are high and the consequences are real - even in New Zealand our marine ecosystems are suffering dramatically - we simply cannot allow a 'business as usual' approach to the raping and pillaging of our oceans. Every good surfer/ocean enthusiast understands this.

April 2009 Yo!!!

2009-04-27T14:34:00.004+12:00

Yep, I still exist!!

Haha, and I'm still studying at University in Dunedin - full time, in the final year of a two year Masters in Natural History Filmmaking. Have had some epic surf lately too - also, cousin Tom just finished his mini-ramp - quite possibly the best 3ft half-pipe I've ever skated - yew, shot Tommy! Man the past 12 months have been amazing - lot's of learning, research, and networking with some really influential people. Been getting into stills photography heaps too (hence the image above - T-Bay, West Coast, homeland chea!)

Currently co-producing a 24-minute doco. It's looking to be epic, and act as a catalyst for the Aotearoa Youth Revolution. Also writing a thesis in 'how media for public benefit could flourish in the NZ corporate environment' - intent on driving positive social and environmental change.

Looking to make another surf film in 2010 with some serious new gear - Red (Scarlet) cams with water housing - 120 fps - i.e, the most bullshit quality imagery around....

Our production company Splashroom Media Ltd :: www.splashroom.co.nz was the second most successful business on campus in the 2008 year - quite a feat considering we only launched in September 2008 and have all been studying full time since...

Exciting times!

Best NZ Film!!!

2008-07-15T15:57:00.002+12:00

Guess what!!!

I recently re-edited a version of the infamous Otago Surfing film First Light with the intention of submitting it to the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival (Wanaka, 2008)...

Two weeks later I get an email from the Festival Director casually saying 'Hi Guy, just writing to let you know our judges have selected you're film 'First Light' as Best NZ Film' !!!

Madness! Absolutely frothing!!! So watch this space and I'll post the vid up soon...

Long Time!

2008-04-08T16:20:00.005+12:00

Apologies for the serious lack of posting in recent times!

Some recent updates... you can check the youTube 'First Light' version (released with Kiwi Surf Magazine, December 2008).

Also other things in the pipeline...

check out Splashroom Media Ltd :: www.splashroom.co.nz - the ultimate edge in filmmaking (yew!) - born out of a collective of Natural History Filmmaking students - operating out of Dunedin, and rapidly evolving...

As well as running the business (haha) I'm studying full time towards a Masters in Natural History Filmmaking at The University of Otago. It is comprised of a series of papers in the first year - the business of filmmaking; technical learning (shooting, editing etc); storytelling; and design. In the second year we make a feature length documentary of our choice, fit for the likes of Discovery networks in the states... Right now im in the second year, self directed - writing a thesis, and producing a 24-minute doco.

Epic Pk Labour Weekend

2007-10-22T21:53:00.000+13:00

Best surf in the country over Labour Weekend? I reckon it had to be here. Sunday & Monday 4-6ft solid smoking pits and heavy as - Brian and Mitch both snapped boards. I heard Occy and the pro's were tryn 2 surf papas at the time.. ???

film package design

2007-10-09T15:36:00.001+13:00

premier party hits record turn out!!!

2007-10-08T13:18:00.000+13:00

Hey huge thanks to everyone who rokd along to the 'first light' premier party at Backstage last week it went off!!! We hit record numbers for the bar on a Wednesday night with 300 people turning up to see the film! The vibe was amazing and everyone seemed super stoked! Thanks heaps to the bands - both put on sweet acts. Thanks heaps to Hydro and Boardbase for the spono prizes too - made for some happy campers and some savage crowd action!

Hope everyone enjoyed the film, and if anyone wants a copy on DVD (with bonus features) flik me an email or a txt at g.ryzle@gmail.com - $20 per copy (excluding postage). Chur!

2007-09-25T15:57:00.000+12:00

'First Light' Premier

2007-09-14T12:44:00.000+12:00

The Otago surf adventure film
Premier screening at Backstage Wednesday 3rd October 8pm
Followed by two bands - 660 and The Taliband

It's gna be sic!!!

Word!!!

2007-08-30T22:31:00.000+12:00

Just got word that me film project 'First Light' is gna get released as part of a DVD with works on from Cozza and Damon Meade, for the Kiwi Surf Magazine Photo Annual October issue.. 12,000 DVD copies mounted on the cover of KSM.

Frothing!

Also in the process of susn a mad Dud's premier!

More Frothing!

Uni Holidays!

2007-08-28T18:31:00.000+12:00

Epic! what more could you want than a bit of time off to go surfing and get footaj?
Went to pk last thursday was pretty gnarly and outa control, not really doin it..

Day after that went to allens with Jak and Brian - was a bit of a washing machine...

Then yesterday (Monday 27th Aug.) the head was firin and got some pretty sic footy with Natty Day, Lyndon, Danny, Brian, Cornys, and Jak even turned up... Plenty o ripn goin down, think DC landed 4 air revvos?

Swells lookn good for tomorrow!

First Light

2007-08-21T09:11:00.000+12:00

Check the huge south swell about to pulse thru cattys and duds over the next cuply days - gna be madness! Definately hit the cattys up thurs, tryin to get work so can go 2mo as well...

Heres a cuple of still shots from some of the latest footage... Just been tryn 2 suss sponoship and distribution for the D'town, NZ film, currently titled 'First Light'starring locals/scarfies Jack Lewis, Lyndon Hutton, Nat Day, Natty Parsons, Kaniela 'cornys' Lyman-Mersereau, Luke Murphy, Pete Maloney, Danny Carse, Mitchell Rakatau... hopefully premier'n end of Oct 07...

Papas 24/07/07

2007-07-26T21:33:00.000+12:00

Went down to papas at 6am a cuple days ago with Pete and Jessie. We rocked up to the hell set, looked clean as, but then nothn for a while... The thought of smokn pits at pk crossed our minds but the boys were frothn to hard for some papas burgas!

Heres a cuply stills ripd from the footage.

Coldest in 30 years

2007-07-11T11:20:00.000+12:00

Had one of the most amazing camping experiences on the weekend of the 7/7/07 at pk's. Surf, sounds, and a couple of sic firewood mishns kept the crew (Josh, James, Tom, Claire, Michelle and I) pretty bloody well entertained.

The swell was only little but the waves were fun as, theres a sic right hander right in the corner now that holds its form all through the tides and onshore. So we surfd that about four times.

Outside of the surf James was ripping on the didgeridoo - it bellowed throughout the whole valley and sounded soooo sic - and mixd well by Toms freestyling!

Woke up sunday morning to the most intense frost i've ever seen - I think it was like -8 degrees C during the night - everything was white and even our wetties were frozen solid. Before I knew it Josh had the gassy cranked and was pooring boiln water all over his gears - that guys a legend! The poor basterd was so amped to get out there (it was pumping 3 foot, perfect off shore), he sprinted on to the sand and slid like 5 metres cos it was fully frozen - savage!

Raglan expedition

2007-07-06T15:33:00.001+12:00

Got a day o good surf at indies 5-6 ft mid week was fun as just me and a few of the older generation, the bigger sets were a tad on the fat side but some o the smaller ones were peeln pretty nice all the way through.

Spent most of the time round manu bay, got alright a cuply days but heaps o frothers on it!

Compared to Duds the temperature was amazing so it was kinda rude not just to go out in shite surf!

Progress

2007-06-20T01:18:00.001+12:00

Teaser' for the new film in development... releasing October 2007

Go the escape vans

2007-05-28T21:23:00.000+12:00

The graffiti initiative on those 'Escape' vans is such a sic idea! Shot a quick snap of this one on the way to uni this morning - pretty dope, theres some cool ones around! I reckon its popularised graffiti a whole lot more among the wider community too - cant be a bad thing especially if we want more legal paint sites!

The photo below is my old wagon that I painted up at the start of summer, unfortunately he passed away just after the drive back to Duds.

The dredded walk up the hill

2007-05-14T16:16:00.001+12:00

Went to treasure trove yesterday arvo with corny's. Decided to do the hill so I could get some footy - always seems like a good idea on the way down!!! Anyway got down and could see it was smokn, a few out. There was a lot of yellow eyed penguins and sea lions loitering on the rocks so I took the high line mishn - best to leave the wildlife at peace, which worked out all g cos I got some sweet footage from looking down on the break... Natty Day was destroying it!

Filmed till the sun went down and the light was mint! Although maybe this wasn't such a wise move as we had to walk back up the hill and through the forest in the dark and that was intense - doing it in the day's bad enough but when you cant see? crazy mo fo's!

signage - often a part of the journey taken for granted

2007-05-09T16:04:00.000+12:00

06/05/07

2007-05-09T15:46:00.000+12:00

The old saying 'the early bird gets the worm' defenintely proved a charm on this day.. scored some pretty gnarly waves with Jak an Corny's soon after this shot. Got some mean footy... hehe

cattys mish 14/04/07

2007-05-09T14:39:00.000+12:00

Did a mish south of here with old mate Jues an Doogle... we were so stoked to rock up and find no one around and the joint was pumpn... mmmmmm

An oath to document surfing

2007-04-20T10:24:00.000+12:00

Thought that since i'm gna b surfing and filming all my life I thought I might as well start a wee digi diary to remember those epic sessions...

Fully amped on being a student in Duds at the mo its fukin sic! Thinkn I might hang around for another year or two and maybe do some post-grad stuff - maybe the natural history film makin course - a good excuse to tie in making surf films!

Been sussing out how to use motion - for doing little animations and special effects - that programs so mean!

Anyway... start of the surf diary... went to st kilda yesterdy arvo with cornelius from the south shore of Oahu, Hawaii and it was pretty sic! Dean Morrison and Dion Agness were out and shooting for campaign 3!!! Good time to be at kilda I guess cos I got sm pretty dope footage - everyone was ripn, and the light was perfect golden sunset!

2007 NZ surfing film

2007-04-09T17:59:00.000+12:00

Bought a new video cam at the start of 06/07 summer - real sic, Canon Xm2, 20x optical zoom! Been adventuring and filming heaps since then and am aiming to produce a South Island, NZ surf film by november 07... Got sooo much uni shit on though its gna be a tight schedule!

South Island Surfing Champs 2007

2007-04-09T17:57:00.000+12:00

'Lines of Creation' trailer

2006-10-10T14:41:00.000+13:00

check the trailer for 2006 years project at uni. Showcasing surfing and skateboarding talent from around opposite corners of the South Island - Dunedin and the West Coast, with a particular focus on surf/skate style. Featuring an exclusive soundtrack sourced from talented Dunedin artists. Full length feature available October 2006. Yeowzaaaa!

Westport Skatepark repz

2006-10-10T14:25:00.000+13:00

Painted summer 05/06 for the Buller District Council...