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In the editing room you get a chance to really study things in detail. I had a shot of Bud Browne I was saving for a transition into the "image makers" sequence we are making. The plan was to have the Marshall Brothers drive into the sunset, having a sun ball disolve into the shot below. Only when we pulled the shot out and had it in place did I stop to notice what he was doing.

I often tell the young kids I teach film making about the old days. Days when we loaded a roll of actual film into the camera. Days when you had to do everything including the exposure and focus. If your focus or exposure was off, the picture would most times be unusable. Your exposures were critical, if you were 1/2 of a stop off, over- or under-exposed your shots were either too dark or too thin.

A seasoned professional however understood his lighting so well, all he had to do was hold his hand up, point his palm at the sun, and he could tell within 1/4 of a stop where he should set his exposure. This was an art I learned myself after several years of guessing the stop and then checking what the meter told me. When I tell the kids this, they laugh and think I'm nuts. Even a lot of Hollywood professionals never learned this art and when I tell them they too laugh me off. I do know however from my results that I'm on it.

When I looked at the shot, Bud was doing EXACTLY what I'd done in the last few years of my 16mm career. It blew my mind. Here is a frame grab to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. The film shot shows him putting up his hand and looking at it. I knew immediately what he was doing. No light meter hanging around his neck!

Aloha for now ~ Jack

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A Deeper Shade of Blue, from Hawaii, with Aloha

Jack McCoy shows glimpses of his tribute to Hawaii and its greatest gift to the world: surfing and the surfboard

Jack McCoy standing out of the blue and in the shade, holding a piece of paper explaining his new movie, A Deeper Shade of Blue.

Photo: Ben Marcus.

Jack McCoy is one of the most prolific movie makers in the surfing world. While he is probably best known for his series of Billabong movies that include Bunyip Dreaming, The Green Iguana, the Challenge series and Blue Horizon, his credits go back to the mid 70’s and include two dozen movies, bringing to the world everything from the original Coolie Kids blazing the Queensland Points in the 1970s, to Laird Hamilton changing the word of extreme surfing with his Millennium Wave in 2001.

According to Wikipedia, McCoy's film-making career began as a "poster grem" – putting up surf movie posters for Bruce Brown in Hawaii. From 1968 to 1970, working with Randy Rarick and J&R Productions, McCoy promoted the movies of MacGillivray-Freeman in Hawaii, including Free and Easy, Evolution and Innermost Limits of Pure Fun. From 1970 to 1975, McCoy promoted and distributed the movies Waves Of Change, Sea Of Joy, Seadreams, Five Summer Stories and Salt Water Wine throughout Australia.

In 1975, McCoy partnered with Dick Hoole to make his first movie, Tubular Swells and then it was off to the races, with a list of credits as long as Superbank connecting all the way through J Bay: A Day in the Life of Wayne Lynch (1976), Storm Riders (1982), Kong’s Island (1983), Trade Wind (1984), The 1987 Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational (1987), Surf Hits, Jungle Jet Set (1988), Bunyip Dreaming (1989), The Green Iguana (1991), The Sons of Fun (1993), Sik Joy (1994), Rhythm of the Sea (1994), The Billabong Challenge/Mystery Left (1995), The Billabong Challenge 2/JBay (1995), Psychedelic Desert Groove Challenge Three (1996), Alley Oop Billabong Junior Challenge 1 (1997), Wide Open Billabong Junior Challenge 2 (1998), Occy: The Occumentary (1998) Sabotaj (1999), 9 Lives Billabong Challenge 4 & 5 (1999), To' – Day of Days (2001), Blue Horizon (2003), Solid (2004), Ioarana (2005) and Free as a Dog (2006).

Round round get around, Jack McCoy gets around and if you added up all the hours and miles McCoy had put in over the last four decades putting these movies together, they wouldn't quite be as long as the miles and hours of film and digital images he had shot.

In May of 2010, McCoy was on a blur mission through Hawaii and California to get the okay from all of the photographers and filmmakers who contributed material to tell the story of his new film: "I could not do it without the help of all involved," McCoy said. "It's an honor to be able to work with still images by my peers like Steve Wilkings, Art Brewer, Jeff Divine, and my hero filmmakers like Bud Browne, Bruce Brown and MacGillivray-Freeman. We have over 60 contributors and this film would not be possible without all of their efforts. I thank all of them first and foremost."

On Thursday the 20th of May, Jack McCoy got around to Southern California to show glimpses of his latest movie – and his first movie in four years – A Deeper Shade of Blue, at the Mollusk Surf Shop in Venice.

The preview was presented by Dave Olan and the Association of Surfing Lawyers and the crowd was a mixture of local surfers, surfing attorneys and hipsters from Venice and Santa Monica drawn to the stunning visuals and sounds like moths to a flame.

And Chad Marshall, who is a combination of all three, except he's not an attorney.

Jack McCoy and one of his bigger fans, Chad Marshall, standing tall under Old Sol: The creator of Waves.

Photo: Ben Marcus.

McCoy came armed with samples from the past, present and future: "I kind of had a little plan of what I was going to do," McCoy said. "I was going to give these guys a surf history lesson, but then I threw it all out the window the minute Dave Olan introduced me. I decided to show some sequences of my films."

McCoy began with Tubular Swells, his first movie which he said "got lost in the Free Ride hysteria. I thought Tubular Swells was as good a movie surfing-wise as Free Ride, but Delaney and Merkel had a high speed camera and I didn't. Bill and Dan created a classic and gave Dick and I something to aim for."

McCoy saved his money for several years to buy his own high-speed camera and next made Storm Riders, again with Dick Hoole, which featured Rabbit Bartholomew surfing Burleigh Heads, shot with a high speed camera: "My water photography became a signature sort of shot," McCoy said. "Totally inspired by Bud Browne."

McCoy then showed clips from the Billabong era: a sequence out of Green Iguana and then from the Billabong Challenge series. In 1999 McCoy won the Surfer Magazine Surf Video Award for Occy: The Occumentary and in 2000 he won Best Cinematography for 9 Lives.

McCoy showed the Dave Rastovich sequence from Blue Horizon which shows Dave Rastovich surfing about as fast as any human has ever surfed: "That was all shot with high speed slow motion," McCoy said. "All water shots taken over a two-year period. That allows the viewer to have a good look at the finer details of Rasta's dance to a remix of Hendrix' If 6 Was 9.

And then the moment all the surfers and hipster and attorneys were waiting for: "I showed the opening sequence to A Deeper Shade of Blue, my 25th film on surfing..." McCoy said, "...but I'll let Chad Marshall give you a review of that."

Chad Marshall is one of Malibu's best longboard surfers and also an employee at Mollusk: "Jack's movie starts off with these guys cutting down a tree and making the first surfboard," Marshall said. "It's a history lesson on surfing, but for real. No fascinations. No theories. It's real."

The movie then goes into a riff on how the soul of surfing starts with Old Sol: "The sun's energy travels 93 million miles to earth," McCoy said, as he took his shirt off and let some of that well-traveled energy hit his skin. "That solar enegy creates heat, which creates wind energy, which is converted to wave energy," McCoy said.

When McCoy was asked to describe his latest surf movie, he said: "It's not a surf movie. It's a film about surfing and the evolution of the surfboard and all the people who dreamed of creating a surf culture and riding waves in all their fascinating forms."

To which Chad Marshall added: "F@%k it’s good."

To make A Deeper Shade of Blue, McCoy took over four years of his life, and travelled all over the world. He worked with everyone from five-year-old Isaac Blake – great great grandson to Tom Blake – to under-the-radar, Hawaiian legend Terry Chung to Jamie O’Brien, who McCoy described as "a modern day Beach Boy who lives on the beach and makes a living from surfing. After I'd spent a couple of weeks with him at his home on the beach at Pipeline, I found Jamie O'Brien was not the arrogant punk that the media lead me to believe. We share the real J.O'B in A.D.S.O.B – a sensitive, respectful soul surfer with a spiritual love for the ocean."

Jack MCoy shooting with the Water Scooter. A frame grab from Jack McCoy's new film: A Deeper Shade of Blue

McCoy used every trick in the modern surf movie book to create images he'd always dreamed of, but he didn't want to give away any secrets just yet.

And then Chad Marshall said: "You should see the Water Scooter sequence. It's f%@*%#g sick!"

The Water Scooter is to 21st Century water cinematography what the high speed camera was to the Free Ride era of the 1970s. We've all seen underwater shots of a surfer flying through a crystal tube and then going off into the distance. But now there is no distance: "I'd always dreamed of being able to follow the action as seen from under water and behind the wave," McCoy said. And that dream became a reality when McCoy was turned onto an underwater PWC by a good friend. The Water Scooter weighs 150 and will do 12 knots under water, but: "It ain't no party, ain't no disco, it ain't no fooling around," McCoy sang. I shot Manoa Drollet at Teahupoo. But that took over two years and six trips to Tahiti to work my way up to shooting an eight to 10-foot day."

But for the first time ever, McCoy gives the world an underwater dolly tracking shot that is always moving with the action: "Using wide-angle lenses, I had to get close to the impact zone where one mistake and I could get caught inside or sucked onto the reef with the scooter turning from a tool into a weapon. With time and experience I learned to work my way up to bigger surf and that allowed me to take the risks necessary to bring to the screen images I'd only dreamt about."

The Curious Quiver of Derek Hynd. A frame grab from Jack McCoy's new film: A Deeper Shade of Blue

A Deeper Shade of Blue is also all about surfboards, from ancient Hawaiian olo and alaia, to the wide array of modern surfcraft that surfers are evolving and experimenting with, from Noosa to Malibu to the Mentawai. Many who saw the movie commented on the Derek Hynd sequence showing the clever Australian ripping all around the Lucky Country on a wide range of modern bizarre boards – ranging from a 3'6" to 11-foot, free-friction, finless blades: "Derek started working with me on all of the research for the film four years ago, and we came to Tom Blake putting a fin on a board," McCoy said "Derek started thinking what would have happened if surfboards had developed without them. He went home and ripped the fins off his entire quiver, including old sailboards. He even cut the nose and tail off one of his six-foot thrusters so he could see what it was like to ride the middle rail of the board only."

"For a year and a half while we researched everything else, he was surfing finless boards, with no leg rope. When we're about to start production I went on a surf trip with Derek and Richard Tognetti and they both blew my mind with their surfing. I immediately insisted on doing a sequence with Derek. Now four years later I rate his surfing as good if not more inspirational than any of the top pros at J Bay. I'll let the viewers be the judge."

McCoy also previewed a sequence of Tasmanian Marty Paradisis and crew boldly going where few men have gone before on a giant day at Shipstern's Bluff, which McCoy claims was one of, if not the biggest day ever ridden there.

Chad Marshall agreed: "When you looked around the room as that Shipstern's sequence was going on, it seemed like the air had been sucked out of the place. It was so intense."

There are many things old, many things borrowed and many things new in A Deeper Shade of Blue, and the sections McCoy showed at Mollusk got the crowd buzzing to see the final product.

The next day, McCoy was on a plane back to Australia, where he reckons he has about two months of final touches left on his project. "I need to find a good narrator, someone who can appreciate the story Peter Hock, Derek Hynd, Garth Murphy, Graeme Davey, Campbell Wilson, Calli Cerami, Gary Seegar, Sarah Longhurst and I have been post-producing the past 10 months. Then we can do our final sound mix and start looking for a distributor. Hopefully it will see the light of day by the end of this year. It's really everything I've learned over the years, going back to me sitting in my intermediate high school auditorium at 12-years-old seeing my first surf movie. It's sort of like watching my life's work. Soooo, here it comes, with aloha."

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Finless and friction-free (Jack McCoy is larger than life)

Derek Hynd and I just came back from the USA shooting a couple of young guys who are doing their own thing with finless free friction surfing. Both DH and myself were blown out at these two surfers living their own dream their own way. Check out the story surfline.com ran with from our recent visit.

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Shipsterns Bluff, Marion Bay, SE Tasmania

A few months ago we were able to shoot some of the locals in Tassie at their favorite spot and we scored one of the biggest days ever surfed there. We went back a couple of weeks ago during another swell to shoot some pick up shots.

It's no picnic to get there as it's very remote but the stunning beauty of the place is well worth the effort. A few shots from the big day and also our last trip.

Also on this day Dom Wills had a crack at bodysurfing a couple. Check it out here and on our Trailers page.

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Selecting the songs

Although it's early days in the post production editing stages, I've started choosing some songs that I'd like to work with. Sometimes I hear a song and know exactly what sequence it should go with. The creative way it works for me is that after a trip away shooting I'll come home and string up some shots to give me a feel of what we came back with. I'll lay a song down to make this little string up.

Sometimes the song I pick is a huge hit at the time and it causes my music producer headaches, knowing it will be a mountain to climb should I become attached and want them to try and clear the rights. But I'm passionate about the music in my films; music is 50% of the film experience, the emotion that I’m trying to marry with the images.

When I cut a sequence to the song of the year by Coldplay "Viva La Vida" I just had to keep the faith that the band, who have a big say in getting it cleared, would like to be involved in another one of my productions (we were honoured to be able to use Coldplay's "Clocks" in Blue Horizon). Knowing they were coming to Australia to tour, I made a DVD of the sequence I wanted to use it with along with a letter to each of the band members. I then gave the packages to good friend Gary Birkinshire who was organizing the Bush Fire Appeal concert. Gary got it to the band and a week later Gary Seeger, our music producer submitted our request.

Within a couple of weeks we got ½ of the clearance thru (to use a song you need to get the publishing rights and the recording, or performance rights), a good sign that we'd be able to clear the other half. Then one night I came home to hear on the news Joe Satarani and Cat Stevens were suing Coldplay over the notes being simular to songs of theirs. When I heard that, my heart sunk. The next morning I called Gary and he said to hold my nerve and he'd keep working on it.

Last week I got an email from Gary and it said that we’d been given the band and the publishing company's blessings. I was so stoked. It all started when I came home from a great trip shooting with a great friend and became totally stoked in how the song worked with the sequence. I hope you, our audience feel the same way.

I have a couple of other sequences that I'm sure will work with the music that I've chosen for the rough sequences that I've asked Gary to clear them also. So far they are from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Angus and Julia Stone. As our music list grows we'll keep you updated.

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Thanks very much for checking us out here on the web. Any questions or thoughts, please drop us a line from our Contacts page.

Thanks and Aloha ~ Jack